If Nel had ever been stunned, it would've been then.
Was she… was she this obvious to people?
Too startled to disobey, the green-haired woman plopped into the nearest chair. Her object of attention sauntered to a seat across from her. He placed his elbows on the table, resting his chin on top of his overlapping hands.
"First off, I'd like to applaud you of your sense of… integrity, I may say. Many people wouldn't raise a finger when it comes to respecting others, but clearly you make an effort to put people above yourself. But there is something bothering me. Forgive me if I am treading fine lines."
She hadn't recovered from the first shock of reality. People… people could read her like a book. A book! That's what Tatsuki did, right? Tatsuki knew she was keeping way too many secrets, but Nel believed she was better off by herself. But she wasn't. And Tatsuki knew it. Tatsuki knew the girl couldn't hold herself up alone.
She nodded hesitantly to egg him on.
"Um, well, I couldn't help but notice that there seems to be some kind of… tension between you and Nnoitra Jiruga. Are you… are you alright?"
She searched his face for any wavering expression, but found none. The guy was serious.
And she slowly felt herself beginning to trust him.
"No, I'm not. Not at all."
She surprised both herself and Mr. Jaegerjaquez at her blunt statement. Perhaps she was expecting herself to deny it.
But it was time to stop running away from the past. Tatsuki said so, right?
Yes, it was time to let it all out… and Nel actually didn't mind telling the man in front of her.
"I… I don't even know what really happened myself." She averted her gaze from his eyes to her folded hands on the table as she proceeded to tell him her past… from losing her parents to how Nnoitra Jiruga kidnapped her that day in the high school parking lot.
"H-He knew I didn't have a permanent home. He said he had a place for me to stay if I could rent it out. I wasn't working a lot—I was in 10th grade—so I told him no thanks. And then–"
Her voice caught in her throat as her eyes glistened with tears. She blinked them away and continued, strained.
"I-I think… I t-think he raped me…" She buried her face in her hands.
So she had been deceiving herself this whole time. Oh God. She'd lost her virginity to the man she feared and loathed the most in her life. She couldn't remember, but she knew she was right.
Across from her, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez seethed in rage. He'd guessed that much.
Oh, the bastard was gonna get it when he saw him next.
He gave her a couple of seconds, his face emotionless and cold in the silence.
"I… I know he did… b-but… I… I can't recall…"
Her shoulders shook as she held her face in her palms.
"I don't know why either! I should remember something like that… why don't I?" she whispered.
The blue-haired man stayed silent, unmoving.
"A-And Tesla… oh, I w-wasn't supposed to t-talk to him! Otherwise, h-he'd… he'd…"
The tears were freely running down Neliel's face. She lifted her head to look Mr. Jaegerjaquez straight in the eyes.
"Why can't I… remember?!"
Her voice was almost inaudible as she mouthed each syllable slowly, her golden eyes rounded, wet, and bloodshot.
Mr. Jaegerjaquez's expression mended into that of alarm.
"Neliel, it doesn't matter if you don't remember. At all. You don't need to remember shit like that. Calm down, okay? I'm… sorry I brought it up."
What was he turning into?!
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez never apologized, to anyone!
So why was she so different?
"N-no…" she stammered. "I've been lying to myself too long… I needed someone to talk to… you… you don't have a clue as to how… grateful I am for you. I… I'm not okay. But I'm doing better… and it only goes higher once you hit rock bottom, right?"
Mr. Jaegerjaquez didn't respond.
"Well, you've heard my story," she admitted, laughing in spite as she cleared her tears with the sleeve of her sweater. "Not everyone has a happy ending…"
"You're alive," he pointed out. "That's a happy ending."
"I-I guess… if it wasn't for Ms. Tia and Starrk and Lilynette, I don't know if I would be here right now…"
That was right.
Halibel Tia had sent Starrk and Lilynette to infiltrate Nnoitra Jiruga's premises to get her out.
But… why did she?
Nel knew she had been involved with Mr. Jiruga. She had seen her in his compound once or twice, and every time they locked eyes, Ms. Tia's reflected remorse.
"Tia got you outta that hell-hole."
"She sent Starrk and Lilynette to get me. I don't know why she did it…"
"She did it because she knew your parents."
Neliel started blankly at the man across the table from her.
"W-What?!"
"Tia knew your parents. She was a friend of your mother's. Do you know why they disappeared?" he asked quietly.
She shook her head, a sick feeling making its way into her throat.
"They… they were all in some bad business. It… caught up with them, I could say. Tia… Tia watched them…" He stopped, scrutinizing the girl for any signs of rage, discomfort, fear, or extreme sorrow.
"They're dead, I know. I've been lying to myself for a while… I know they're long gone."
"Your mother told Tia to watch over you as you grew up. Neliel, she watched them being tortured to death. Please, if it's the last thing you do, trust her. She… she blames herself for their deaths. She can't bring herself to look at you anymore without feeling guilty and depressed. Can you forgive her?"
Nel gazed silently at Mr. Jaegerjaquez, her lip trembling slightly.
"W-Why should I forgive her… when there's nothing to forgive?" she whispered. Mr. Jaegerjaquez let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"T-Thank you, Neliel."
"Mr. Jaegerjaquez."
Halibel Tia looked straight at the man whose attention she flagged.
"What?"
"We need to talk."
She pulled him into her classroom.
"Neliel… you need to confront her as soon as possible. Something's going to happen soon. I don't know what, but that bastard Jiruga's planning some shit," she roughly whispered.
"'The hell?! Why?"
"'Cause life hates me. Did you know… that her parents died because of me?"
Mr. Jaegerjaquez's eyes doubled in size.
"Excuse me?!"
"Eight years ago. I was twenty-three." She sighed. "All three of us went out just for the hell of it when… a rivaling company of ours sent out assassins. Jaegerjaquez, I used to deal drugs. And they wanted to know some of our company's secrets, but I wouldn't tell them. They took… her parents, and… oh my God…"
She didn't finish, instead bowing her head, sobbing uncontrollably. She had finally told somebody.
"They what, Tia?" he asked quietly.
"They tossed 'em in a deserted alley… then doused them with gas, and lit them on fire. And held me at gunpoint and threatened to shoot if I even twitched the wrong way. A-And they told me... they forced me to watch…"
She choked.
"And then, when I dated that… creature, I didn't know he had her in his grasp. Until it was too late. He's a trafficker, Jaegerjaquez. Him and that bastard Tesla Lindocruz. They knew I was a retired drug dealer—I stopped after Neliel's parents' deaths—and they threatened to snitch to authorities if I got in the way of their plans. Of course that would mean they'd be exposed too, but I wasn't selfless enough to sacrifice my freedom for Neliel's. I managed to snatch her away before something devastating happened, but he'd already instilled some emotional stress in her by then."
She grabbed his shirt forcefully, meeting his gaze evenly with tears cascading down her face.
"And her mother's last fucking words were to protect Neliel. Do you know how painful it is to watch someone shrieking in agony to save their daughter? And then, you still fail them and their daughter gets harmed? All because of your selfishness?!"
Grimmjow didn't utter a word.
"I will kill you, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, if you think this is some sick, twisted game of hit-and-run. Do not open Neliel's wounds if you don't plan on staying to help 'em heal. And if you allow Nnoitra to lay a finger on her because you even blinked too slowly, so help me God, you will not live to see the bastard pay for his shit. Do you hear me?!" she growled, twisting the man's shirt in her fist.
"…I got you, Tia. Don't worry about a thing."
Mr. Jaegerjaquez sighed at the memory from earlier that morning.
"You will be setting her free if you tell her she's forgiven. She's the reason foster care didn't come after you, Nel. She wanted to adopt you, but deemed herself unworthy of it, so she simply watched and waited. You're not the only one who needs help," he stated.
Nel digested the information that had been thrown in her face unexpectedly.
Halibel Tia was basically her mother.
The woman had been watching Nel since the day her parents died, and Nel knew nothing of it.
"I owe my own life to this woman," Nel whispered. "I would've died in Mr. Jiruga's hands…"
"You don't owe her anything, and she doesn't owe you either. Clean slate, no shit: That's the way it should be."
Neliel pondered on his input for a couple of minutes before laughing humorlessly and changing the subject.
"Jaegerjaquez, I couldn't help but notice that, uh, those clothes upstairs don't fit your style."
He sighed.
"A story for a damn story I guess."