Way Back Into Love

Chapter 9

"Hey lady," the landlady called Estelle who was shocked upon her arrival. She spared a glance at her calendar located near the door and saw that her due date is still far so she looked at the landlady who was glaring at her with a puzzled expression. "Uhm, my due date is still far...so why are you visiting this early?" Estelle asked the landlady politely as she could be but in return, the landlady just looked at her as if she was irking all over her body to kick out Estelle.

"Why am I here?" the landlady scoffed before pointing at Estelle using her pinky finger, "...you should ask that to yourself, lady, you sent me a letter saying that you'll give up your apartment and would immediately get out...when I read the letter, I immediately accepted some tenants and when they came here, they found that the room was still occupied and now that I came here you're still here...why are you still here?" the landlady looked at Estelle with eyes that would pierce one's body.

When Estelle heard this, she was speechless. She didn't remember writing any letter, especially a letter that would contain words that she'll give up her apartment. If she would give up the apartment then where would she live?

"I-I did not remember sending you a letter," Estelle said stuttering as she spewed each word out. The landlady who was in front of her fumed in anger, "are you playing with me huh?!"

The landlady grabbed something from her pockets and threw it to Estelle who immediately picked it when it reached the floor. She straightened it out and read its contents. When Estelle finished reading it she immediately knew who it was from.

'Alice!'

"Madam, I really did not send this letter to you. I-" Estelle wasn't able to finish her statement when the landlady stopped her, " how can you say that you didn't send me that letter when you even got the money you paid for this month!" the landlady shouted which made Estelle cover her ears, she is sensitive from loud voices just like this situation.

"Madam, I really didn't," Estelle tried to persuade the landlady but the woman was not bothered even for a bit. "I didn't get the money from you, you can go inside my room and find your money...I promise you that I did not receive it," Estelle was about to kneel as if her life depended on it.

"You don't have it because you already spent it!" the landlady accused her. Hearing this made Estelle mad but she hid it because she doesn't want to hurt the landlady since her house is depending on it. "I really didn't, you can rummage inside my trash cans and if you can find grocery bags and receipts there then I'll gladly leave this apartment," Estelle tried to negotiate with the landlady but it seems that the woman firmly believed that it was all Estelle's doing.

"No! I won't play with your games anymore, I've had enough of it. I'll give you 'till tonight if I still see you here at the time where I come back then I'll mercilessly kick you out," the landlady said then leaving Estelle hanging and on the verge of crying. How can she not be? She's currently at the lowest point of her life right now. First, she lost her love and now she's about to lose her home, what's next? Her job?

"Hah," Estelle came inside her apartment and leaned towards the door before letting herself slide downwards as she felt everything becoming a mess. "Why is everything not going on my way?" Estell asked herself as she took a look at her apartment when her eyes landed on a poster with a cat hanging on a branch and it quoted, 'Hang in There,' Estelle then laughed a bit trying to recall her memory where she became a super optimistic person to the point of buying herself shitty things that were supposed to cheer one up.

"Ah, where should I go?" Estell stood up and started to go over her things and pack them. While she was in the middle of packing, her mind can't get rid of thinking about Alice and how she managed to collect her rent this month. "Why would she steal my rent if she herself has the luxury to hire some maids, dumb, dumb, dumb b*tch," Estelle cursed and talked bad about Calyx's mother until she felt herself relax a bit.

"One bag, finished," she exclaimed and took a rest for a bit before going out and buying herself some food. "I'll come back later, I need to fill myself up first," she mumbled and then left her apartment and went to the nearest convenience store. When she arrived, she saw multiple teenagers doing something, with her curiosity doing its work, she slowly tip-toed and stole a glance at what the youngsters are doing and there she caught the exact moment where one of the students puffed out smoke, "ah, what type of generation is it right now? I thought 'The youth is the hope of our future'? That's pure b*llsh*t they're doing the exact opposite. See? They're even destroying their health. Nicotine is bad for the lungs," Estelle was doing her own monologue when one of the teenagers heard her and made his way towards her.

"Hey lady, what did you say?" one of the boys smugly looked at her with disgusting eyes. "What we're doing is b*llsh*t?" he looked at his friend who was at the back, obviously asking for some support. "What we're doing is the exact meaning of fun lady! Wanna join? Wanna experience the fun?" the boy asked Estelle and handed her a cigarette that was already lighted and used.

Witnessing this made Estelle scoff, "The youth is the hope of our future, hah! That's pure b*llsh*t...I'm sorry Dr. Rizal if I'm tarnishing one of your famous quotes but if you see this right now then you would totally agree with me," she started and stole glances in front of her, where the teenagers stood, clearly agitated at what she just said. She looked at them with innocent eyes and said, "I'm not wrong though, just look at what you're doing...you're already making the Earth's atmosphere worse than before. And look at your garbage..." Estelle pointed to the garbage that was scattered everywhere and she was sure that these teenagers right here are the ones doing it, "...if you want to prove me wrong then start cleaning this mess you made and stop smoking, you're already giving problems to your body and to your parents. Aish these kids," Estelle scratched her head as her sign of frustration.

One of the kids who finally had enough of Estelle's words spoke up, "what if we show you how wrong you're judging this generation lady," he stated as he slowly walked up to Estelle while his fist is tightly clenched, "here I come lady...have a taste of my fist!" he exclaimed as he tried to land a punch into Estelle's face but she gracefully avoided it and was about to go on her way, ignoring these bunch of kids when the one from earlier grabbed her and dragged her in a dark alley.

"Ah, what do you all want?" Estelle whined because she was worried that her landlady will grab all of her things and throw them out. "Lady, you really made us angry when you said that this generation is b*llsh*t," one of the kids said and Estelle scrunched her eyebrows since she did not remember saying any of that at all, "when did I say that?" she asked and it mad the teenagers even angrier.

"You said it earlier when you mentioned Dr Jose Rizal's famous quotes," a cute voice said, Estelle went up and looked at who it was and there she saw a boy with glasses on, obviously a boy who enjoys studying but at the same time doesn't want to be bullied and so decided to enter gangs like this. Knowing this, Estelle sighed and looked at the boy and shouted, "Hey you! If you want to study then you should study! Not indulge yourself in useless kinds of stuff like these. It'll only destroy your future...if others don't like you then let them be and continue doing what you want, time will eventually come where a person will come into your life and love you for who you are," Estelle said hoping that the boy would be knocked back into his senses but sadly, the boy only replied, "b*llsh*t, this is where I belong! I don't belong at the library where it's full of geeks and nerds, I belong with the cool ones!" he shouted back to Estelle and this response made Estelle shake her head with disappointment.

"See? This is why this generation is b*llsh*t. People are convinced to change themselves when they feel that they are different from others, why can't they just be themselves?" she shouted and walked away only to earn a punch but thankfully she avoided it, thanks to her honed reflexes. Ever since Estelle was a child, she was different from others. Others might see her as a weak and fragile child but thanks to her parents' abuse she was honed to another level. Her reflexes became fast and her punch would even knock a person out. This was because of how trauma Estelle suffered when she was a child and did her best to learn some self-defence for her to use when she finally separates from that toxic house.

"Look kid, just let this girl go. If you let me go then I will never bother your mini-session because there will be no use if I intervene since you people are so hardheaded," Estelle said and walked away and was only surprised when someone pulled her hair, hard. It was not like Alice's grip though, Alice's grip is much more brutal than this one. "Let go!" Estelle screamed and thankfully, the person who grabbed her hair let go so Estelle made a turn and looked at the person who did that to her. She was surprised that the one who grabbed her hair was a girl, "don't you dare say that to my boyfriend!" she shouted but Estelle wasn't moved by it and so she initiated another action and that was to slap Estelle but Estelle beat her into it. Estelle's palm landed on her cheek first before the girl's.

"HEY WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY GIRLFRIEND!" the boy from earlier shouted and made a move on Estelle but was only tackled on the ground in just a few moves, "that all you got?" Estelle mockingly asked but the boy just smiled, "there's more," he said and his friends from earlier jumped their way in and tried to beat Estelle up but ended up the ones who were beaten into a pulp.

"Huh, that's all? Bunch of weaklings," Estelle scoffed and looked at the boy from earlier whom Estelle tried to persuade earlier, "if you followed me earlier then you wouldn't have ended like this," she said then got up. "Weaklings," she was about to turn around when one of the boys who were at the ground earlier got up and found a pipe nearby and attempted to slam it unto Estelle's head but thankfully, a hand caught it.

"Weaklings indeed but you too are careless," said the voice who held the pipe tightly making it a little bent. Estelle who was stunned at this turned her head to look at her saviour, it was the doctor!

"Dr. Luke?" she managed to speak out and the man just smiled as he grabbed the pipe from the teenager's grasps and threw it far. "If you continued your plan then you could end up in jail little boy," Luke said calmly but there was something in his voice that made the teenager accidentally pee on his pants. Estelle who saw this felt pity for the boy because she was imagining the embarrassment that the boy felt so in her response she said, "go home, boy, change your pants before you'll get bullied because of it," she tried to shoo the boy off but his group of friends already saw it and made fun of him, "some friends they are," she mumbled and walked out, leaving the group and Luke behind.

Estelle made her way inside at the convenience store and got what she wanted, it was instant noodles paired with coffee. It was a weird combination but she liked it since it was the only thing that she could currently afford in her budget. She really needs to lower her expenses in food since she has nowhere to go and needs to find a new place to stay in.

After eating, Estelle hurried her way back home, only to see her things thrown outside. This sight made Estelle angry, not because of her being kicked out but because of how they carelessly handled her things, they treated it as if it were all garbage. "F*ck it, can't even respect my things and carelessly threw them out," she grumbled as she arranged her things neatly inside her luggage. After arranging it, she stood up took a deep breath.

"Now...where would I find a place to stay in?" she asked as if someone will immediately answer her but no one did, well that was what she was expected since earlier. "Then in the empty bench, it is!" she shouted and made her way to the nearby park since that's the only place where they are empty benches in.

Estelle made her way, pulling her two luggage at once and walked slowly as she herself was also admiring the beauty of the night sky, "beautiful," she said and continued looking at the star that she didn't even realize that she had bumped herself in a tree, "ouch," she hissed as she rubbed her nose and forehead. She looked at the tree with hate and glared at it before leaving, continuing her way to where her destination is.

When she arrived at the park, she noticed that there are still many people inside it. Most were couples who are enjoying their late-night walk with their significant others. Seeing this made Estelle think about Calyx again, oh how she missed doing things together with Calyx. But when she recalled the letter that was written by Calyx, it made her slap herself, "this is no time to be like this Estelle, we have to be happy, I need to be happy" was what Estelle said to encourage herself.

"Curse this," she said and then proceeded to a bench that was no longer occupied. She sat there first and then positioned herself so that she can finally close her eyes. "Oh how tiring this day truly is," she said and then closed her eyes. The next thing Estelle knew was that she felt as if she was floating like a cloud in the sky.