Chapter 470: Explaining to Rebecca

"Rebecca..."

Rachel’s voice barely carried through the dark room, but Rebecca reacted as if the sound itself had struck a nerve.

Her head snapped up.

The expression on her face made Rachel stop immediately.

Rebecca’s eyes were red from crying, her cheeks damp despite the way she had obviously tried to wipe the tears away, but sadness was no longer the strongest emotion there. The moment she saw Rachel standing beside me in the doorway, whatever hurt she had been holding inside twisted into something much sharper.

Anger.

She looked betrayed.

"Don’t," Rebecca said.

Rachel froze. "Rebecca—"

"I said don’t!"

She stood so abruptly that the armchair shifted backward and scraped against the floor.

Rachel took a step toward her, but Rebecca immediately raised one hand.

"No. Don’t come closer."

Rachel stopped again.

There was something painful about how quickly she obeyed.

Rebecca looked from Rachel to me, then back to Rachel, and the disbelief on her face somehow made the anger worse.

"You actually brought him with you."

Rachel swallowed. "We thought it would be better if—"

"Of course you did."

Rebecca laughed, but there was nothing amused about it.

"You two seem to decide everything together now, don’t you?"

Rachel flinched.

I could already tell this was going to be bad.

I had known Rebecca would be angry. I had expected shouting, accusations, maybe even her trying to hit me.

What I had not properly thought about was what this meant from her side.

She was not simply discovering that Rachel had a boyfriend she disliked.

She had discovered that her older sister had been hiding an entire relationship from her.

For months.

And worse, Rachel had hidden a relationship with me.

Me, while I was already involved with other women.

Rebecca’s hands trembled at her sides as she stared at Rachel.

"How long?"

Rachel hesitated.

That hesitation was enough.

Rebecca’s face twisted.

"How long, Rachel?"

"About three months."

The answer landed like something physical.

Rebecca stared at her.

Three months.

Her lips parted slightly, but for a few seconds no sound came out.

Then she laughed again, quieter this time, and shook her head as if she genuinely could not believe what she had heard.

"Three months."

Rachel lowered her gaze.

Rebecca repeated it.

"Three fucking months."

I had rarely heard Rebecca swear.

"Since the beginning then?"

"Rebecca, please—"

"Don’t tell me please!"

Rebecca’s voice rose again.

"You’ve been with him for three months, and you didn’t tell me?"

Rachel looked up. "I wanted to."

"Oh, you wanted to?"

Rebecca took a step forward.

"That’s great. That makes everything so much better. You wanted to tell me."

Rachel’s expression tightened.

"I didn’t know how."

"You talk!"

Rebecca threw both hands out in frustration.

"You open your mouth and tell me!"

She pointed toward me without even looking in my direction.

"You say, ’Rebecca, I’m sleeping with Ryan while he’s already with half the girls around us.’ That’s how!"

I winced.

As expected, from the outside, I probably looked like the worst kind of man.

Fair enough.

I would rather Rebecca see me as the problem than blame Rachel, Cindy, Sydney, Elena, or any of the other women involved.

But I could not keep avoiding this.

Rebecca deserved the truth.

Even if the truth made everything worse before it made anything better.

"Rebecca," I said carefully, "I told you there were circumstances."

She did not look at me.

Her head remained lowered, her hands clenched together in her lap.

"I told you three months ago," I continued. "It was when I found you crying for help because Infected were trying to get into your apartment."

Rebecca’s expression shifted slightly.

"That day," I said. "Your sister was bitten. Do you remember?"

"She wasn’t really bitten," Rebecca said quickly.

Her voice shook.

"That was a mistake. And anyway, it had nothing to do with this..."

"It wasn’t a mistake."

Rebecca finally looked up at me.

Her eyes were red.

"I told you the bite wasn’t deep enough," I said. "Then I told you there might be a way to cure it. I said I knew a doctor."

I paused.

"And then I went to check on Rachel."

Rebecca’s face slowly changed.

"When I came back," I continued, "Rachel was completely healed."

"S...She wasn’t healed," Rebecca said.

She looked toward Rachel.

"She told me the bite was shallow. She said it was fine."

Her voice became less certain.

"She said..."

Rebecca stopped.

The memory must have been returning to her.

The fear in the apartment.

Rachel being bitten.

Me going alone with Rachel.

Then coming back, acting as though everything was fine.

Rebecca’s gaze moved between Rachel and me.

Rachel lowered her eyes.

"I lied," Rachel said quietly.

Rebecca went still.

Rachel took a slow breath.

"Shallow or not, an Infected bite turns you," she said. "That day... Ryan saved me with his Symbiote."

Rebecca stared at her.

"I don’t get it."

Her voice had become small.

"You hid it because you didn’t want me to learn he had an alien inside him?"

That was the simplest explanation.

And it was partly true.

But it was not enough.

"I can cure Infected women by transferring part of my Symbiote into them," I said.

Rebecca looked toward me again.

"You already know that Sydney, Elena, and Cindy awakened abilities," I continued. "You know they became stronger after being around me. That happened because of my Symbiote."

"Yeah," Rebecca replied. "Because you gave it to them."

"Not willingly."

She frowned.

"They were bitten."

The room became quiet.

"I had to transfer a part of my Symbiote into her before the Infection Virus spread too far," I continued. "The Symbiote destroys the infection inside their bodies. Afterward, a part of that energy remains. Their bodies get stronger. Sometimes they awaken abilities."

Rebecca’s eyes widened.

She was listening.

But I could see that, to her, none of this answered the question that mattered most.

Why had Rachel hidden their relationship?

Why had I?

Her hands curled into fists again.

"T...That still doesn’t explain why you hid the relationship from me."

Her gaze moved toward Rachel.

"I asked you so many times, big sister."

Rachel flinched slightly.

"Why would you get into a relationship with him when he’s already with Sydney and Cindy?"

Rebecca’s voice rose.

"And Christopher..."

She looked back at me.

"The way he acted that day. The way he suddenly stopped being close to Cindy. That was because of you too, wasn’t it?"

She was connecting everything.

Much more than I had expected.

"You came in and took her from him," she said. "Or something like that."

I felt a bitter feeling in my chest.

She really did think I was a scumbag.

I could not even blame her.

From her perspective, I had entered Rachel’s life when everything was falling apart. I had hidden secrets. I had been involved with several women. And I had somehow become close to her older sister while Rebecca had been left outside the truth.

"It’s complicated," I said.

Rebecca’s glare did not soften.

"And the Symbiote transfer," I continued, "isn’t done through a touch. It isn’t done by holding hands or shaking hands."

Rebecca stared at me.

"Then how?"

I took a breath.

Rachel’s face was already becoming red beside me.

But there was no point hiding it anymore.

"Through sexual intercourse," I said.

For several seconds, Rebecca did not react.

Her glare stayed in place as though she had not understood what I said.

Then her eyes widened.

Slowly and widely.

Her expression completely froze.

Rachel looked away, her cheeks turning slightly red.

I mean, was that something to tell to your little sister?

"T...That..." Rebecca stuttered.

"It’s the truth," I said.

The words felt ugly in the silence of that dark room.

"That day, after Rachel was bitten, you left me alone in her room to speak with her."

Rebecca stared at Rachel.

"I didn’t only speak to her," I continued. "I cured her."

Rachel stayed quiet.

Her embarrassment was obvious, but she did not deny it.

Back then, Rebecca had been outside, terrified that her sister might die. She had been waiting for an answer. Waiting for someone to save Rachel.

And inside that room, Rachel and I had been dealing with a kind of danger neither of us had known how to explain.

I understood why Rebecca felt betrayed.

"As for the relationships," I said, forcing myself to continue, "yes. I’m with Sydney, Cindy, and Rachel."

Rebecca’s face twisted.

Then I added the rest.

"And Elena."

Her eyes widened further.

For a second, I honestly thought she might stop breathing.

The truth was too much.

Too strange.

Too complicated.

But it was still the truth.

"The Symbiote inside an unprepared body can become dangerous," I said. "After someone is cured, they need repeated stabilization so their body can adapt to Dullahan’s energy safely."

Rebecca did not speak.

"That was why it happened more than once," I continued. "Not because I wanted to lie to you. Not because Rachel or the others were being forced into something they did not choose."

I looked at Rachel.

Then back at Rebecca.

"But I know how it looks."

I let out a breath.

"You might think what we have is messed up. I’m not going to argue with you about that."

Rebecca’s eyes stayed fixed on me.

"But you also can’t blame people for developing feelings when they keep having sex with each other," I said. "When they survive together. When they go through things nobody else could understand."

My voice became quieter.

"That’s what happened between Rachel and me. And with the others too."

The room remained silent.

"We hid it from you because we didn’t want to make anything official yet," I continued. "We knew that, sooner or later, we would have to explain the entire situation. But the real explanation is complicated."

I gave a humorless laugh.

"And the fact that I can cure infected women is not something I can reveal easily."

Rebecca looked down.

The anger had not disappeared completely.

But the shock had pushed through it.

Rachel stepped toward her.

"Rebecca..."

Rebecca did not move away when Rachel reached for her hand.

Rachel held it carefully.

"I’m sorry," Rachel said.

Her voice trembled.

"I’m so sorry that I hid this from you. I hated lying to you."

Rebecca’s fingers tightened slightly around Rachel’s.

"But I didn’t know how to explain it," Rachel continued. "I didn’t know how to tell you about Dullahan, the cure, the stabilization, or any of it without making everything sound worse."

Rachel lowered her gaze.

"Maybe I was ashamed too."

Rebecca looked at her sister.

Rachel took another breath.

"But it’s true."

Her voice steadied.

"I love Ryan."

I stayed silent.

"I know he has relationships with other women," Rachel continued. "I know it is not normal. I know people will judge it. Maybe you are judging it too."

Rebecca did not deny it.

"But Ryan saved my life," Rachel said. "He saved yours. He has saved people over and over again, even when he was hurt, even when he was scared, even when he thought he was too weak to make a difference."

Rachel looked at me briefly.

Then back to Rebecca.

"He is a good man."

The words hit me harder than I expected.

Because lately, I had not felt like one.

Not after the secrets.

Not after Summer.

Not after Carmen.

Not after watching people die during the Screamer attack while I was too far away to save them.

Rachel held Rebecca’s hand more firmly.

"And I accept that he has feelings for other women. I accept that he has relationships with them."

Her cheeks were still red, but she did not look away.

"I cannot imagine forgetting him now," she said. "I cannot imagine pretending none of this happened and trying to move on someday with another man."

Rachel’s voice became softer.

"That would be impossible for me."

Rebecca watched her.

For a long moment, she did not say anything.

The anger in her face began to fade.

"No one else knows about this?" Rebecca asked.

Her voice had become much quieter.

"Except the women you cured," she added.

I looked at her.

"Christopher knows."

Rebecca blinked.

"Christopher?"

"Yeah. That day when we fought the Frost Walker, Cindy had been bitten. I had to tell him what was happening."

The memory was not a good one.

Cindy had been dying.

The Infection Virus had been spreading through her body, and I had known what I had to do to save her. But Christopher had been there. He had known Cindy before me. He had cared about her. He had loved her.

Telling him had not been easy.

Nothing about that moment had been easy.

"It was difficult for everyone," I said quietly.

Rebecca lowered her gaze.

Then something seemed to click in her mind.

"That’s why he left."

I looked at her.

Rebecca’s expression changed as she remembered.

Christopher had suddenly left the house in Jackson Township after the Frost Walker incident. At the time, she probably thought it was because of some huge argument. Or because he was angry. Or because he simply wanted to be alone.

But now she understood.

He had needed distance.

He had needed to figure out how to live with something painful.

"He needed to move on," I said.

Rebecca stayed silent.

"And he did."

At least, I thought he had.

From what I had seen between Christopher and Lucy, he seemed happier now. They had grown close quietly, without making a big deal of it. I did not know whether anything serious would happen between them, but I hoped it would.

Christopher deserved something good.

After everything he had been through, he deserved someone who made him feel wanted instead of left behind.

"There’s someone else who knows," I almost said.

Ivy.

But I stopped myself.

Just thinking about her made my thoughts twist together.

Ivy knew too much.

She knew about Dullahan. She knew about the Starakians. She had known things she should not have known. And after what she told me about my future, about the Starakians coming for me, I did not know what I was supposed to think about her anymore.

She was not part of this conversation.

Not yet.

So I said nothing.

The room became quiet.

Rebecca looked at Rachel, still holding her hand.

Rachel looked back at her with an expression I could not fully read.

Then Rachel turned toward me.

"Ryan."

I met her eyes.

She gave me a small nod.

It was silent, but I understood what she meant.

It would be fine.

She wanted to speak with Rebecca alone now.

Not as my girlfriend.

Not as someone defending a difficult relationship.

But as Rebecca’s older sister.

I nodded back.

"Alright."

I stepped toward the doorway.

Before leaving, I looked once more at Rebecca.

She did not look at me.

But she was not glaring anymore either.

That was enough for now.

I walked out of the dark room and into the corridor, leaving Rachel with her sister.

The door closed quietly behind me.

For several seconds, I stood there alone.

Then I let out a long breath.

Damn.

It felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders.

Rebecca knew.

The secret was no longer sitting between us, waiting to explode at the worst possible moment. She might still be angry. She might need time. She might never fully approve of what Rachel and I had.

But at least she knew the truth.

And maybe, from now on, she would understand a little more.