chapter 13
1153 Words
Liya***
No words gathered strength nor courage to escape my mouth. Only tears kept crawling my face, glaring into her eyes. I could not see my friend, it was as if she was a different person.
“You will always be my best friend at heart. Take care of yourself,” that was all I was able to say.
Her eyes filled with disgust, she looked into mine. I noticed the tears filling up. Unable to blink them back, she let them crawl.
“I am sorry for the pain I have caused you,” I said, moving close to her, tears crawling down my face.
“Can I at least pinch your nose and hug you before you leave?” I asked, still moving towards her, but she did not flinch back. It was a sign of acceptance.
I pinched her nose, she let out a painful smile, then I hugged her for what I knew would be the last time.
The most painful thing was that she did not hug me back. I hugged her tightly, knowing I would not get a chance again.
She pulled away from the hug, glanced into my eyes, then she turned to leave.
“Come here my child, don’t cry,” my mother said from behind me, wrapping her warm comforting arms around my body. I turned to her and relieved myself.
I cried.
I cried right there in her arms, but her arms were too comforting, so in no time, I dried up the tears and went to my room.
I locked the door behind me, Juliana’s words ringing in my ears.
As the memories raced in my mind, I did not realize how far I had reached. I glared at the huge black gate that stood tall in front of me.
I was finally about to face her.
My heart began to race rapidly inside of me.
'Calm down' I said to myself.
'knock knock knock'
I received no response.
'knock knock knock"
Eventually, my ears caught the sound of footsteps approaching the gate from inside.
It was the gateman. He peeped through the small window on the gate before he could finally open the gate.
"Liya, it's you?" he asked, his voice full of amazement.
"Yes it's me," I let out a small chuckle.
"Where have you been?" he asked, closing the gate behind me.
"I have been around. Working around my life, you know"I responded, a smirk escaping my lips.
"I understand. Ahem…"he cleared his throat before he continued, "So what brings you here?'
I looked down at my fingers, fighting back the emotions that arose inside me.
"Ahem… I have brought these folders."
"Oh, yeah I see"
"Mr. Royd directed me to give them to Juliana."
"Sure, she is right inside," he pointed his arm in the direction of the house.
" I think it's okay to give it to you, since he is your boss right." I stretched the folder over to him, but he did not reciprocate.
He took a step towards me and parted my shoulder.
"She will be happy to see you," he said, his hand still glued to my shoulder.
"You know she is happy without me," I said, forcing a smile.
"She is your friend Liya"
"We broke up," I quickly interrupted, fighting back the tears that were about to escape my eyes.
"Ever since you parted ways, she hasn't been herself," his eyes full of concern locked with mine.
"I don't know what to say," I said, as a lump formed in my throat.
"Go up over there, give her the folder and say hi to her," he turned and entered his room that sat beside the gate.
I headed towards the house. With every step I took, my heart would not stop pleading with me to turn and leave.
I missed her.
I missed my friend.
But she was gone, and I couldn't do anything about it.
My unsteady, shaky feet finally reached me at the main door.
Back then, when we were friends, there was no need for me to knock, because it was my
My home.
But there I was standing at the door, feeling like a stranger in a strange place.
I took a deep breath as I gulped before I could finally convince myself to knock.
'knock knock knock"'
When the guard noticed how idle I was standing, he peeped through his window and raised his voice over to me and said,"Maybe she is sleeping. Just drop it in the living room."
I nodded my head in response.
I reached for the door handle. I slowly opened the door before I dragged my body in.
With my heart pounding against my chest, I entered.
Just as I entered, my heart stopped beating for a while as my glare fell right on Juliana's bare body.
Her face looked horrible, as if she was frustrated.
It seemed like she was arguing with a man that was standing right in front of me.
Of course, I could not tell who he was. But he looked familiar from behind.
Before Juliana could alter a word, the man turned.
'Boom'
My eyes widened as I felt the sweat rushing to occupy my body.
It was the strange man. I met earlier. The one I fell in love with
He was with Juliana.
A sharp pain enveloped my heart as our eyes met.
For a moment, I was fooled again by my feelings. How would I have possibly fallen for a stranger?
"Hey, Juliana, ahem… sorry for intruding," I stammered, taking my eyes off of him.
"Hi, I had no idea you were coming," she said, taking a deep breath as she wrapped a table cloth around her body.
My heart hammered harder against my chest.
I wanted to scream. But no, I didn't have to. After all, he was just a stranger.
"Yes, I...I"
"So how have you been?" she interrupted, her voice holding no anger. It wasn't what I expected.
"I have been fine thank you, how about you," I forced a smile.
"Nice."
"Yes. I hope you are okay."
"sure I am"
"Let me not waste your time. I have brought this folder. It belongs to your father," I abruptly spoke as every bone in me and every flesh on my skeleton screamed at me to leave.
"sure. Thank you," she said, as she took steps towards me and collected the folder.
"I will take my leave" I turned to leave, making sure I didn't throw my glance at the man who had just been standing mute. I was sure wondering what was going on.
"It was nice to see you. I missed you,"her words echoed in my ears.
Not knowing what to respond, I turned to face her. A smile formed on my lips as I caught her smiling at me.
I was glad.
I opened the door and left.
- Writer
