"You have no right to mention my sister any longer or fake concern. Against my better judgment, I trusted you. I thought there was something between us worth exploring. You played me like a fool."
"John, please—"
"What could you possibly say," he said, his face pale.
"Let me explain."
"No, this has gone on long enough," John said, pacing around the small room which, upon second thought, might just be a storage closet. "I want you gone. You are going to go to Hawthorne to pack your bags and then you are going to leave and not come back."
"Don't do this; I haven't done anything wrong," I pleaded. I grabbed John's bicep and stopped him in his tracks. John looked me straight in the eyes.
"I forbid you to talk to my sister. If she does see you, you will say nothing and fake an excuse. I'm sure you can lie one more time; it must come natural to you by now," he said, with a bite.
- Excerpt from Rose Through Time by Harmke Buursma