Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and the Hunger Games trilogy. They belong to the amazing Suzanne Collins. (Despite how much I wanted Peeta to be mine)
Summary: In the middle of Catching Fire, Katniss left District 12 with Gale and their family without bringing Peeta along. Feeling abandoned and betrayed, Peeta learns that love can only hurt him, and he grows to only care for himself and his father. What would happen if Katniss returns? Will Peeta accept her back? Will the Star-crossed Lovers be back in action? Characters might be a little OOC. K/P
A/N: Just a bit of information here: Peeta's 'bad' side is based on a character from a Korean dark-melodramatic drama (Innocent Man), Kang Maru who is acted by Song Joong Ki. To make it short, both characters have the same tragedy: falls in love with a girl, gets ditched and changes personality after that. I find it might be interesting to combine both of them, though Maru's part of the story is WAY darker. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
"Bullshit." The word keeps on echoing in my head like the sound of a huge bell.
"What," is the only word I can muster in my confused state.
"You heard me," he said, "bullshit. What you said just now was all nothing but lies."
"You… don't trust me?" The realization hits me hard that my chest aches painfully.
He continues to stare at me emotionlessly as I try to hold back the tears that threaten to spill if he says another painful word. Unfortunately, he does.
"Why should I? The last time I trusted you, you left me like piece of gum that sticks on the floor, wishing it would stay there where you left it."
I grab his worn-out shirt to force him to look at me in the eye, hoping he'd see the sincerity in there. "What I did was a mistake, Peeta. Didn't you forgive me for lying to you at the Arena and you trusted me again? Give me another chance and I'll-"
Very harshly, he grabs both of my wrists and pushes me away with a huff. "A chance for what? To make a fool of me again? To break my heart into pieces again? Oh no, Katniss Everdeen. It will never happen again, because it has never been repaired after you stepped on it like dog shit."
Guilt rushes into me as he keeps on mentioning himself as something worthless and reminding how badly he was affected by my sudden disappearance. At the same time, my misery slowly grows into anger with his stubbornness. "You know that's not true," I insist. "What I'm doing right now is something that I decided on my own and I'm sincerely doing it for you. What should I do to make you believe in me? Kneel down and grovel for your forgiveness?" I add a bit of sarcasm in my tone in my last sentence.
He smiles, but not the way I want because somehow his smile seems wicked and devious. "You know what? That doesn't sound half bad." And then his voice softens, "But no. Trust doesn't just come back if you beg for it, Katniss. You have to earn it with a lot of effort. Bad luck for you because I will never trust you again. Not after you left with Gale and…" He suddenly stops and his eyes suddenly turn sad. He looks conflicted whether to continue or not, but decides not to. "Now, I think you should leave if you have nothing more to say."
He gestures to the door and opens it willingly, and I find myself oblige his order without a word. Once I step both of my feet on his porch, he's not hesitant to close the door. As I walk down his stairs and then on the road towards Haymitch's place, my mind repeats the conversation Peeta and I had earlier. Adding all of his words together, I come into one conclusion.
He doesn't trust me. He doesn't want to trust me anymore. I've lost his trust the day I set my foot into the forest six months ago. The worst thing is that, the last thing he said sounded as if he thinks Gale and I are together and probably… more than we should have. The thought sickens me.
"Hey sweetheart! Where've you been?" I hear Haymitch's voice echoing ahead of me. "Wait. No need to answer that. From the look of yours I'm guessing you've been at the boy's place. Tell me if I'm wrong."
I'm surprised he's quite sober despite the amount of alcohol he had last night. Either way, I don't say anything to him. I simply sigh and walk past him and then into the kitchen to grab some liquor.
Before I could chug the whole thing into me, he stops me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses, girl. I'm keeping that for later."
"Shut up," I snap. "I don't care what you say. I just need some drink right now." I take an attempt to drink the stuff, and once again he stops me.
"What happened that is so bad that you need a morning drinking?" He demands.
I stand abruptly in front of him. "I don't want to talk about it. Just give me the damn alcohol!"
But he pushes me against the kitchen's chair and grumbles, "I don't care if you don't want to talk about it or not. I just want to know why you want to steal my precious drink."
"It's Peeta, alright?! He's what's happened!" I tell him angrily. "He doesn't trust me and he hates me. What's worst is that he assumes I left just because I wanted to be with Gale and he thinks we had been sleeping together all along!"
"Aren't you?" His eyebrow quirks in confusion.
"Hell no! I never wanted that kind of relationship. I never even want to marry or have a child!" I yell. "Where the hell did he get those ideas anyway?"
Haymitch shakes his head in annoyance and puts the liquor into one of the kitchen's shelves. "I'm not surprised with his reactions and I can't blame the boy."
I glare at him. "So you're on his side now?"
He tells me firmly, "I'm on both of your sides. But listen, sweetheart, you suddenly vanished to nowhere and you've been gone for six months without saying anything to neither of us. In addition, you left with the guy who has been his rival for years, whom he also thinks you're in love with. What do you expect he would assume? Besides, what he had been through for the past six months isn't as simple as you expected."
This time, it is me who is confused. Haymitch's face expression immediately looks as if he regrets for saying the last sentence.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask. "What happened while I was gone?"
He rubs his temple. "The boy's gonna kill me," he murmurs to himself, ignoring my question.
"Haymitch," I approach him and stare into his eyes. "Tell me what happened to him," I say strictly.
He glances at me for a while before asking, "Is there any reason why you're interested in him right now?"
"I care for him," I immediately answer without a doubt.
"That doesn't sound convincing to me. If you cared for him, you would've taken him as well."
Not this again. I groan and heatedly rise up my hands. "Alright, I get it! It's entirely my fault! I fucking messed up good, okay? It already happened so I can't do anything about it!" After screaming, I finally lower my voice. "I know it's my fault that he's angry with me and I really regret it. So please tell me what happened."
He gives in with a low, deep breath. "You're not taking 'no' as an answer, won't you?"
"You bet your ass I won't."
He sits down on the chair and I do the same in front of him, patiently waiting for him to start.
"After you left, Snow thinks that he's cooperating with you. So…" He gulps. "As a punishment, Peeta's family has been killed."
Stay tune for more Peeta's story in the next chapter! Reviews make me smile.