The Trip

Betrayal

" Hahahahaha …. " Frank suddenly started laughing. " I understand " He said only that, nothing more. Calmly he stood up and gave each and everyone of them one last stare. As soon as Bethel saw this, she too stood up and called out his name, " Frank, calm down ".

Frank's reply was silence. He wasted no saliva and walked towards the door. The two boys who sat beside him stretched out their hands, trying to hold him back, but he swiftly evaded them and continued on his way.

He stormed out of the house and closed the door behind him. Leaving a silent crowd behind him. No one stopped him. Guilt could be seen in their eyes, including the rude Cynthia and the nonchalant Blessing. They all knew they had messed up.

After a while of silence, Blessing took a bite out of her toasted bread before " He would get over it, we all know him ". The eyes of a few of the crew lit up as soon as they heard her words.

" Sigh..., get over it...., of course we know he would, but... Frank is very stubborn, we are probably in for an extremely high level of malice. Maybe this is where the friendship might end. " Bethel spoke in a ridiculous tone, her eyes filled with sarcastic glint.

Everyone whose eyes lit up from Blessing's words immediately dimmed back. No matter what, it was a sad experience to lose a friend whom they had known for such a long period of time. They were like a part of each other's life's growth and so losing even a single person would cause a piece of them to feel missing. Even the careless Blessing felt the sting.

" Blessing, what exactly is your problem? Couldn't you look for a better way to say it? And even if you can't, then you should allow another person to do the job. See what you have caused now " Samuel yelled angrily. Even though he was quite close to her, he couldn't help but blame her for her actions. She went unneccesarily overboard this time.

" No, no, no, no, don't you dear. Don't forget you were the one who brought the idea up " Blessing replied angrily, not giving him any face. Samuel was about to reply to her when Reuben held him back.

" Look, when you guys are done, see yourself out " Bethel said as she stood up and walked to her room. She didn't bother waiting for their reply. The only thing on her head right now was the repeatedly flashing image of Frank's disappointed gaze at her. The gaze seemed to be feeding off her strength.

Blessing, who was still exchanging glares with Samuel, hissed and stood up. She scurried to and out of the exit door. No one stopped her or spoke any word to her. Everyone seemed lost in their own world and thoughts.

Sooner than later, the sitting room had been cleared of people. Everyone leaving one by one. Frank's singular action of walking out seemed to have left a stigma in their group.

Somewhere out there, on the streets of the village, A young man walked slowly with his hands dipped into his pocket and his head facing the ground. His gaze flashed occasionally with anger.

A lot of thoughts ran in his brain at the moment. ' How could they? ' He thought. ' Am I really that bad in their eyes ', ' How do they even see me? ' Thoughts after thoughts like this scurried around in his head. He occasionally attracted people's attention due to the way he was walking, but he paid no heed to their gazes.

Back at Bethel's house, Bethel laid on her bed. She kept on having flashbacks on the scene when Frank leisurely stormed off. Others might not know, but she had grown close enough to Frank to know that walking out with an expressionless face was anything but simple. It defined the kind of pain he felt.

If there were others who were unaware, it might have been a better situation as he wouldn't feel so left out. Alas, being the only ignorant one, the feeling of loneliness he felt wouldn't be anything nice. Knowing him for so long, she knew at least this much.

The reason for her not telling Frank a word was her fear of him jeopardizing everything. It was the same with the others. She knew very well, even more than the others, how Frank was when it came to matters concerning his brother. Even though knowing it wasn't his fault, she was still unwilling to risk it. She knew she had to make her father proud, and so she saw his anger as a worthy sacrifice. After hearing Samuel's suggestion back then, she was the first to support the notion. Truthfully, she was also the one who came up with the idea of not telling Frank for the time being.

She was afraid of him dragging her and the others down. To put it in a more simplified way, she didn't trust that Frank would make the right call.

Her plan was to first finalize everything with the others and go over. After they had reached the city and settled down, she would then find a way to apologize and convince him to come over, though she didn't know how she would do that. She felt like she had betrayed someone she deeply cared about and the person in question did care immensely about her too.

Truthfully, somewhere deep within, she knew that what she felt for Frank was nothing as simple as siblingship.