Erina's Curse (ENGLISH VERSION)

Chapter 13.1

"Here, drink this….."

Kesha handed me a glass of water while I sit in the sofa. Leina, Sassy and Raqi all went out of the room to check on me, and to try and make me stop shedding tears. I want to stop, I do, but I don’t know how. If you think about it, what’s the purpose of tears? Of crying? Why do we have the need to cry when it will only cause us pain and dehydration? This is making me insane!

"What happen?"

I tried to answer Sassy, but my tears cannot stop from falling. I beg myself to stop sobbing because I’m starting to feel difficulty in breathing. Breaking news! Erina Lee of GreyArea died of a broken heart! A total embarrassment!

"Please stop crying, Erina." 

Leina rub my back while trying to wipe my tears. My two hands are not enough to catch all my tears that I needed help from others. f**k Erina! Stop crying now, you’re killing yourself!

"I-I can't breathe…."

The four of them panicked as they made me stand and pat my back gently. I tried breathing deeply through my mouth in the hopes of stopping my sobs. Breathe…. Breathe……Erina….come on….

Kesha tied my hair in a ponytail while Raqi made me drink water. Little by little, I calmed down. But tears are continuously falling. Except now I’m crying silently, hurting silently.

"It hurts," I said while pointing at my chest. "It hurts so much."

I started telling them what happen from the day that Silas and I went out to buy my car. I just feel like I needed to tell them everything because I needed the burden in my chest to at least subside, even for just a little so I can breathe. They let me talk and despite the many pause and stops because of my cries, they did not attempt to interrupt me even once. They’re too precious to be my friends indeed.

"Erina, maybe you just got it wrong? Do not come to conclusions without knowing the whole truth," Leina tried to convince me.

"You were not there! You didn't see how his eyes sparkle while he's looking at her!"

"Okay, calm down. Rest first and then we can talk about the situation you’re in okay?"

Kesha smiled warmly at me. The look on her eyes is like telling me that everything will be okay. But deep in my heart, I knew that everything's not okay. The fight is not even started yet but I already lost. I already lost him. Just by looking at his eyes, I know that I needed to back off because no matter the circumstance, no matter the timing and no matter the universe we’re in, he will never choose me over her. He will never leave someone like her for someone like me. and I hate that I know that, that I admit to that. I hated it.

The girls led me to our bedroom. Sassy took care of my luggage by putting it in my walk-in closet. They made me lie down my bed and covered me with blanket and comforter. I thought that after they took care of me, they’d go straight to bed already because I knew they were all tired, but no. They pushed Kesha’s bed towards mine to form a very big and wide bed that can fit the five of us.

The girls joined me in bed and they even put their legs above mine like cuddling a big baby. Even though I can still the pain buried in my chest, I surprisingly felt better because of their presence. I would forever be grateful that I have them as friends.

The next day, the girls left early for rehearsals. I was in no mood to go anywhere and just wanted to sulk inside my room, so I decided to call Sir Leo to cancel my supposed recording session for the day. I just told him that my headache is killing me as an excuse. I lied because what’s really killing me is my aching heart.

I was kind of hoping that Silas would at least take the time to send me a message. Even just a short one, but lunch passed, and his message never came. Why am I even surprised?

Since I am the one who’s not busy and have a lot of time, I volunteered to take care of Raqi’s surprise party tomorrow. I ordered food and started to make the decorations by cutting colored and special papers we bought one time we were at a crafts store. I’ll hide all these in my closet first so Raqi won’t be able to see them when she gets home.   

Around 8pm, the girls arrived. I already cooked dinner, so I led them to the dining area to eat. I can see from their faces how tired they are. I’m so selfish that I failed to notice that I’m not the only one with problems. We were talking, not as loud as before but still, we speak to each other, but Raqi was unusually quiet. We didn’t force her to speak so that the surprise tomorrow with be a little more surprising. I just hope that it would be successful enough to mend the c***k that was visible in our tight friendship. 

We went to bed early, but Raqi didn’t notice that we temporarily removed her in our group chat to talk about our plan for tomorrow.

leinaelizabeth: what do we do if she come home earlier than what we expected?

sunheesassy: stupid aren’t you the one assigned to keep her in the company building? If you have to pretend you’re sick or dying just to stop her from coming home when we’re not ready yet, then do it!

erinalee: I wont go to work tomorrow, I’ll take care of everything just in case you’ll be late

keshapark: hey why are you skipping work? I don’t want to go to work to! Let’s just ditch training tomorrow!

leinaelizabeth: bad influence/demon spotted

sunheesassy: high school all over again

After a while, we’ve finally decided that they’d go to work and just do their best to come home early so that they can help me set-up all the decorations and food. Leina will do her best to keep Raqi in the company for a little longer.

Everything went so well that Leina didn’t even need to think of stupid excuses to keep Leina from coming home early because she informed us that she has to go somewhere important and she might be home late.

Raqi texted that she’s already near, so I took the cake from the refrigerator and Kesha lighted the candles. Leina's holding a camera while Sassy’s on standby near the door while holding a party popper.

We heard the door opened and even though we don’t see her because the lights are out, we know that Raqi's wondering about what’s happening. We heard her footsteps and we counted up to three before walking out of the kitchen and walking towards the living area where she at. The second she found the switch, we all cheered for her.

"Mary Raquelle, you’re getting old!"

Raqi stood there like a rock. It took time before she realized what’s happening because her face screams confusion.

We were about to sing her the happy birthday song when she suddenly burst into tears. I immediately put the cake on the center table and then we hug and comfort her. I remembered how I cried a while ago with the way she’s crying now. You know… the sobs that screamed unbearable pain. But I felt better when they comforted me so I just hope she will also feel a little bit better because of our warmth.

"Hey! Are you that happy that you really cried like a f*****g hyena?" Leina started to tease her while taking pictures of her while crying. This girl! Such a tease, Raqi probably looked crazy in those photos.

"I'm sorry," Raqi said while still crying. 

We almost can’t understand a word she’s saying because of her continuous sobs.

"Hashtag GreyArea crybabies! We’ve been crying too much already! Come on girls, cheer up now!" Sassy said.

"Let’s stop crying and just eat," Kesha said then hauled us in the dining area.

We happily ate and talked animatedly. We were down on the dessert when Raqi suggested that we watch Crash Landing On You in Netflix. 

We all went to the living room to abide in what she wants.

"You know what, I can say that Erina’s like Yoon Se-Ri," Sassy started the conversation.

"What do you mean?" I was confused so I asked her.

"You both loves moving from one place to another. The only difference is that she moved from south to north while you moved from here to Silas, " she answered. 

"So true! She made good use of the situation and used it to her advantage! Slut of the year goes to Ms. Lee indeed!” Leina added. I knew they didn’t mean harm. That’s just the way we talk to each other because we’re comfortable enough to use words like slut, b***h or sometimes even the word w***e.

I saw Kesha using her elbows as a sign for them to stop talking. I wasn’t hurt by Leina calling me slut. I was hurt for other reasons that must have slipped in their minds. I just smiled sadly at them and they must have realized that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about that man so they smiled apologetically at me. I think I will be never in the mood to talk about him.

We just watch the show until midnight so that we can properly greet Raqi. After the mini party, we decided to finally rest and sleep because they still need to prepare for tomorrow.

The next day, I woke up super late. Its almost 12 noon already and I expected for the girls to be gone already but I was shocked when I saw Raqi still sleeping in her bed. 

I walked towards her to wake her up because maybe she just missed her alarm or something. 

"Raqi…," I tapped her back repeatedly because I’m getting no reaction at all from her.

She slowly opened her eyes and smiled sadly at me.

"Aren’t you supposed to be home by now?"

"Nope," she answered.

I was about to ask her why she’s opting to not go home when it’s her birthday, but she immediately went back to bed. She looks tired so I just let her sleep some more.

I checked my phone hoping to receive a message from someone but still no vail.

To distract myself from the disappointment, I decided to cook for Raqi since it’s her birthday and I wanted to do something for her because she looks extremely sad.

I reheat the pizza from last night then fried some chicken. I cooked different flavors, but I especially made garlic parmesan more because its Raqi’s favorite fried chicken favor.

I haven’t even finished cooking yet when Raqi stepped out of the room and sat in the ding chair.

"Special lunch for the special birthday girl!"

I happily announced while I put the foods on the table. She smiled at me but her smile suddenly vanished when she looked at the food on the table. 

She immediately covered her nose and acted like she’s about to puke just by the sight of the food I cooked.