Flawed Love

My Life Mystery

After stuffing her mouth, Kayara took a deep breath and calmed herself down before she turned towards her friend.

The kitchen fell silent. The atmosphere around the dining table dropped to freezing point from the cold vibes emanating from Sophie's aura.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Don't you know how much I hate boys and their 'so called' love?" Sophie responded in a firm voice.

"But we were just informing you. This proposal looks legit. I think he really truly loves you, Sophie," Kayara protested, standing up for the non-existent proposer.

"Love..." Sophie shook her head, "Love is the kind of bug which doesn't affect only that particular person but also deprecate the whole clan."

"But Sophie! This guy is too hot and sexy for you to miss out on! I think you should take a look at him before refusing his proposal," Kayara suggested evilly.

"We both fell for him at first sight-" Anna added to the charade, "-but...ah…unfortunately he had you in his heart. How unlucky we both are, Kayara." Anna shot a dejected look at Kayara.

"Both of you stop your blubbering and don't irritate me. I'll break his head if he tries to appear in front of me. You should give him a heads-up about that," She warned, banging her chopsticks on the table and rattling the plates.

Finally she said, "I'm going to sleep." Sophie stood up to go to her room but stopped midway and turned around to glare at them, "I don't want to talk about this topic again, okay?"

"Hey, at least ask his name as a reward for his bravery," Anna teased her.

Ignoring her, Sophie turned and left, stomping her feet on the tiled floors to show just how angry she was.

Clearly, Sophie had a strong disliking towards boys. There was not even one male in her long friend list. She also hated it when her two friends talked with any guy. God knew how many boys in their college had been the victim to her beatings. So there would be no exaggeration in saying that no guy in their college dared to talk to her.

This abhorrence for boys in Sophie came from her childhood. When she was young, she lived with her grandparents in a village which was not so developed. She had seen how the boys there lured naïve and innocent girls into their trap of fake love and assaulted them mercilessly in the name of 'so called' love.

To them, girls were just pleasure machines.

Because of those incidents, the meaning of love for her twisted into a curse in life which had the power to destroy her whole clan. These things had led Kayara and Anna to play such a prank on her, to make her understand that love may not be as bad as she thought it was.

Hearing Sophie's bedroom door shut close, Anna burst out laughing like a maniac, "It worked! Yes!" She broke out in more laughter.

"Shhhh..." Kayara closed her mouth with her palm, giving that same teasing but attractive smile. "Keep your laughter under control. If she realizes this is a prank then we'll be killed right here and now," she warned and then giggled.

"You are superb in irritating people Kayara, bravo! Hahaha!" Anna cackled, lowering her voice a little this time.

"This angry bird is too much," Kayara let out a sigh, sadly glancing at Sophie's closed door. "Will she ever love anyone in her life?"

"Time delivers the answer to every question."

"I pray to God for her. She deserves the most handsome man on earth."

...

Time [11:15 PM]

After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen following a hearty dinner, Anna and Kayara just washed and dried the dishes by hand, humming random songs in unison.

"Let's go to bed then, I'm feeling sleepy. Good night," Kayara yawned.

"Good night," Anna replied drowsily. It had been a long day.

They both entered their respective rooms and closed the doors with two soft thuds.

..... 

Sophie's room was tucked in the right corner of the house, the room in the middle was reserved for Kayara and the last remaining one for Anna.

Inside the room on the far right, Sophie hadn't slept yet. The room was dimly lit by a lamp on the study table tucked into the corner with a bookshelf above it.

In another corner of the room, Sophie was sitting on a chair and busy writing something. Almost after an hour of writing, she closed the black diary titled 'My Life Mystery'.

This diary was gifted by her beloved late grandfather. It was his last gift to her. She talked to her grandpa through this diary by writing everything that happened in her life including every best and worst memory and other trapped feelings that she couldn't share with any other person.

To some extent, Kayara had also become her secret diary. But still, there are some secret chapters in every person's life which they don't want to unfold or open to anyone. Same thing with Sophie.

She could feel her grandpa's presence around herself whenever she wrote in her diary. This gave her a unique pleasure and a different kind of satisfaction in her heart. Once she was satisfied with her writing for the day, Sophie got up from the chair with a relieved smile and placed the diary inside the side drawer of her study table. She reached towards the glass of water on her bedside table and gulped from it before snuggling on the bed with her blankets.

On the other side, Kayara's room was completely filled with darkness. Instead of sleeping, the girl was sitting on the windowsill gazing outside at the dark night and the bright moon, engrossed in her own thoughts. Loneliness and sadness reflected on her face. Looking at her this moment, one could confidently say that the happy face from a few moments ago was now disillusioned by a state of monachopsis.

Despite portraying herself as a cheerful and jovial person in front of everyone, she couldn't help but feel some emptiness in her life. Even she herself didn't know what was lacking.

"Gosh! You should sleep, Kayara," she chided herself, "What have you started thinking about again?" Heavily sighing, Kayara shook her head as if to let those useless thoughts fall out of her tiny head.

Lowering herself from the window sill, she went to bed.

A few minutes later, she drifted into her own dreamland sleeping soundly.

...

Next morning. Time [8:00 AM]

Two girls walked out of their rooms almost at the same time for breakfast.

"Good morning, buddies," Anna greeted them with a bright smile. "Breakfast is ready, come on."

As they had no maid or cook in the house, they had decided to compensate for it by taking turns doing each of the chores. "Hey, wait," Anna realized, "Why are you up so early Sophie? Aren't our classes scheduled after today's noontime?" She asked Sophie as she noticed her friend all dressed up for college, wearing a white crop top paired with blue vintage skin tight jeans and white thong sandals.

"Morning Anna. I forget to tell you both, I guess. I need to go to college early today to complete that important thesis," Sophie said reluctantly in a low voice, like she didn't want to go in the first place.

"Oh!" Anna exclaimed, "Okay, then," she nodded.

Sophie readied herself, "Right, I'm leaving now. Otherwise I'll be late, bye."

"Wait Sophie...eat something before you go." Kayara turned around from her seat and stopped her. She dragged the girl back to the table and made her sit on her chair.