She saw her mother walking toward the door, where Gina held her.
"Back home already? Why so late? Overtime, huh?" Her mother bombarded her with questions, worried that Celine was coming home late due to meeting Leo after work.
"Um... yes, Mom. Just a little overtime, chasing the targets," she lied.
"Seems like Celine just cried, Mom," Gina added, observing her sister.
Celine shook her head vigorously and quickly replied, "No, Mom. It's just that I opened the helmet visor, and a bit of dust got in my eyes."
Gina and her mother exchanged glances without suspicion. Celine was too introverted to be open about her problems, even to her mother. She left her naughty sister, who was still nodding knowingly. There was a slight sense of guilt in her heart for lying. But what can she say? She didn't want her mother to know the actual situation.
She hurriedly went to her room. It was the safest place to pour out all the heaviness in her chest. She threw herself onto the bed with a Bugs Bunny-themed bed cover. Yes, she was a fan of the Bugs Bunny cartoon character. Her entire room was all about Bugs Bunny, from the hanging door decorations, dolls, stickers on the makeup mirror and wardrobe to various wall accessories.
There was no specific reason. Celine just liked the grey color dominating the cartoon character. She felt that grey suited her calm, shy personality and aversion to being the center of attention. As she lay face down, she cried again. No, she wasn't crying over losing Leo. She was crying over the misfortune in her fate—whatever great sin she had committed to fall in love repeatedly, and each time ended in misery.
When she decided to accept Leo's confession of love, she thought he could be a replacement for her ex. She felt that Leo seemed excellent and faithful. Turns out, he was just like the others. He is good in front but duplicitous behind her back. Celine continued to sob in silence, covering her face with a pillow so that her sobs wouldn't be heard outside the room.
Flashes of memories of the early encounters and the journey of her love story with Leo seemed to surface in her mind. Making the broken pieces of her heart feel even more painful as if being sprinkled with salt. She felt a throbbing pain in her chest, like a piece of flesh stabbed with a dagger.
At that time, she was attending a wedding event of one of her colleagues. After work, she came with a few friends, wearing a jacket to disguise the still-worn work uniform. They jostled with other guests under a large tent adorned with ivory-colored tassels with golden edges that looked elegantly set up in the yard and half the street in front of the bride's house. Rows of tables and chairs were arranged in circles, covered with matching-colored cloths.
The sound of wedding tunes playing during the wedding event mixed with the noise of the guests, who seemed lively after sunset. Celine approached the wedding stage and found her friend sitting with her mate. Truly beautiful and handsome, a perfect combination with the beautiful gown and the groom's stylish suit.
"Ouch!" Suddenly, a man's voice groaned behind her.
Celine accidentally stepped on someone's foot behind her when she suddenly moved backward because someone blocked her path as they stood up from their chair. She immediately turned around, apologizing repeatedly without looking at the unfortunate man's face.
As the man's groans were unheard, she had to tilt her head and saw the man in front, who seemed quite handsome, with thick eyebrows and slightly curly hair, trying to suppress his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand.
Instantly, Celine became annoyed, feeling as if she was being laughed at, wondering what could be so funny to the man.
"Does it hurt? Well, then, no need to apologize!" she said curtly, turning back to join her friends seated in the row of invitation chairs near the wedding stage. She ignored the man in a maroon short-sleeved shirt and gray jeans, who continued to stare at her after the minor incident.
After dining and taking photos with the newlyweds session, Celine's group bid farewells. The six returned to the motorcycle parking area and said their goodbyes, heading home to their respective houses.
Two days later, there was a message on Celine's messaging app from an unknown number.
'Hey, foot-stepper!'
Spontaneously, Celine's eyebrows furrowed as she read the strange message. "Who is this?" she mumbled with a questioning tone while typing on the screen keyboard.
'Oh, you forgot already? You stepped on my foot until it swelled at Kate's wedding yesterday.
Celine immediately remembered the handsome man with the annoying expression who had laughed at her that day. She quickly typed a reply,
'Oh, it's you! How did you get my number?'
'Remember now? Take responsibility! My foot is swollen.'
'Oh, come on, it can't be swollen! My feet are tiny, and I wear sneakers without heels; how could it cause swelling?'
'Oh well, you're the one who stepped on me, and now you're getting angry at me?'
'Fine, I'm sorry, sorry. Who are you? Did Kate give you my number?'
That was the beginning of communication between Celine and Leo. It turned out that Leo was Kate's neighbor helping at the house as a form of neighborly solidarity. He claimed to have convinced Kate to give Celine's number by showing a photo on his phone. Luckily, Celine had a photo taken with the newlyweds on the wedding stage, so Leo had the chance to take a picture with his phone.
The two communicated more intensively because Celine liked Leo's humorous style. After they seemed increasingly interested in each other, Leo dared to ask Celine to be his girlfriend. Six months had passed since they started their relationship, which had always seemed beautiful and delicate in Celine's eyes.
Leo ran his motorcycle repair shop near his home. Because of that, his working hours were flexible, making it easy for him to go to Celine's workplace during lunchtime to invite his girlfriend to eat together. Or suddenly come to pick her up after work, even though he knew Celine had her motorcycle. He always said he missed her.
Ah, it seemed that everything was just a fleeting illusion. Their happiness and togetherness meant nothing to Leo at all. He quickly said he was reminiscing momentarily with his ex and hoped Celine could understand because that woman was his first love!
"Damn!" She hit the innocent pillow she had been hugging.
"All guys in the world are the same, scum!" She grumbled in frustration. She continued to hit the innocent pillow to release some of her anger after being tired of crying.
"Celine! Come here to dinner, dear!"
Suddenly, her mother's voice called from the dining room. Celine instinctively looked at the wall clock and found it was already late evening. Oh my! She had been crying for too long without realizing the time.
"Celine had dinner outside earlier. You can leave it, Mom!" she replied, sounding as normal as possible.
Her appetite was gone entirely. There was no hunger, even though she hadn't eaten anything since noon. What she felt now was only heartache. The pain felt like being stabbed by sharp objects, growing deeper and leaving prolonged agony.
Celine quickly got up from the bed and then went to the dressing table to check how puffy her face was. After feeling it didn't look too bad, she went to the bathroom next to the kitchen.
"Have you eaten for real, sis?" Gina asked as Celine passed by the dining table.
"Y-yes," with her face slightly hidden behind the towel she was carrying, Celine answered softly.
"If that's the case, all the meal is mine, okay?" Gina's eyes sparkled with joy.
"Fine!" Celine replied casually.
"Yeayy!" Gina cheered while transferring her sister's portion onto her plate. Fortunately, her parents were busy commenting on her sister's antics, so Celine escaped their attention.
***
Celine Andrews is what her father named his firstborn. She was born on July 11, 1996, during the beautiful twilight on the western horizon. She was born after her mother endured the pains of contractions since dawn at a nearby midwife clinic.Firstborns are always a special surprise. Back then, there weren't widespread ultrasound examinations to determine the baby's gender. However, the elders in the family, her maternal grandmother in particular, believed in predicting the baby's gender based on the signs exhibited by the pregnant mother.At that time, Celine's maternal grandmother believed their future grandchild was a boy. Consequently, the family prepared a name for a boy. But, when the baby was born, it turned out to be a girl. With little planning about the character, her father quickly decided."Let's name her Celine; what do you think, Dear?" Mr Felix suggested to his wife while cradling the tiny baby. He was enchanted by the hues of the sunset that infiltrated through the win
"Celine, please come to my office for a moment?" Mrs. Jane, the Head of Department, approached her desk a few minutes after the start of work.Celine, who had just started arranging the shoe materials from the preparation department to be checked and then deposited to the sewing department, looked up and replied, "Sorry, Ma'am. Can I call Kylie to continue checking this material first? Because today it have to enter the sewing job line."Line is a term for the division of the sewing department because of the shape of the work team, which is lined up lengthwise. Mrs Jane nodded as she said she was expecting Celine soon."Yes, Ma'am. I'll follow you right away."She hurried towards the sewing department room and called Kylie, one of the Line members who often filled in for her when Celine was assigned to another department or helped her when multiple jobs came up. Celine was overwhelmed by checking alone."There, Kylie! The boss came calling." A person Celine later found out was named E
"Where are you, Kylie?" Celine briefly supervised Kylie's work at the materials check table, which she usually occupied. Kylie looked up briefly and answered smoothly as she refocused on the shoe materials she was arranging by series. "I only have sizes 37 and 36 left. Tomorrow, I can finish and help Eva with her new job.""Sip, you're my favourite," Celine said as she pinched Kylie's arm anxiously. Kylie, who has an adorable chubby body with fair skin and curly hair that is always put in a bun, pouted her lips cutely.Celine chuckled as she left her desk to go to Eva's desk on the other side. The owner was taking the materials to the Cutting department, so Celine only checked the book containing the size report table and the amount that had been reviewed and deposited to the Line. For the past two days, Celine has never sat at her desk. She had to go around constantly to supervise the performance of the team working on the new job carefully to avoid any mistakes."Eva already got two
A barrage of message notifications and missed call lists immediately filled the top screen of Celine's phone as soon as it was turned on.Sure enough, all of them were from Leo, and some were labeled with Kate's name. She had no intention of reading Leo's messages. Immediately, she aimed at the chat from Kate, which only read, [Test]At length, she typed a message in the chat column explaining the actual incident.At the bottom of the explanation, she ended it with a question sentence,[Well, if you were in my position, would you break up with him? You would too, right?"] She also put an angry emoticon. Sent. Two black ticks."Huff, what a relief ...," sighed Celine as she put her cell phone on the table and leaned her very sore back on the back of the wooden chair with soft foam. It was too much if Kate defended Leo just because they were neighbors. She is a fellow woman; she should know how painful it is when the one she loves turns out to be a cheat behind her, Celine thought si
"Honey," Celine squinted in surprise at her mother's soft voice. She had been there for some time in the corner of the living room. "M-Mom ... you surprised me," Celine stammered, wondering if her mother had overheard her conversation with Leo or not."Are you alright, Dear?" the usually chatty mother asked gently as if she knew her daughter was struggling to contain her inner turmoil.Celine let out a weak sigh. Her mother must have heard her argument with Leo just now. There was no point in denying it, she thought.Wordlessly, Celine slammed into her mother and burst into tears in the warm embrace of the middle-aged woman. She shed the tears that had been welling in her eyes since she saw her mother's worried face.Mrs. Maggie stroked her back and also stroked her long black hair, trying to give her peace. She let Celine cry contentedly so that she could be relieved and lose the burden in her heart."It's okay, just keep crying until you're satisfied," she said wisely. Usually, sh
Mrs. Maggie, sitting next to Celine, immediately poured water from the teapot into a glass and held it out to her. Celine immediately drank in one gulp."Oh, I'm so satiated. I go to the room first," she excused herself, trying to avoid Gina, who was starting to bug her. She thought she would let her mother explain it to her father and Gina later. She didn't want to bring it up or hear about it again.She continued collecting items and photos of her memories with Leo in her room. After blocking Leo's number and account, he deleted digital traces from his cell phone and social media accounts.As soon as possible, she had to move on. Life must go on. She will find other happiness out there. The family she loves, the job she loves, and the achievements she is striving for all deserve more attention than just remembering the past with her cheating ex.After collecting all the prints, Celine put them in a cardboard box to be taken to the back storeroom."Well, now this room is clean from t
Celine spent the next few days focusing on her work. Some of the sneering and dismissive looks she received from fellow employees who seemed to feel envious or rivaled, she considered as self-encouragement to further improve her achievements.The important thing is to give the best, and then the best results will follow. That is an undeniable law of nature.To forget the pain of losing the love of her life for the umpteenth time, she devoted all her energy and attention to work. Kylie, who witnessed how hard Celine worked, sometimes asked her curious questions,"What did you have for breakfast? How come humans don't seem to get tired?"Celine just laughed at her friend's joke. She has grown closer to Kylie since working on jobs together. Little did she know that the giggly girl was quite understanding and caring. She often checked Celine's desk drawer to see if the lunch box was there or not. She said she was worried that Celine would eat late and that she would get sick if her energ
Gina was very upset with herself. She had spoken a sentence that might have been very hurtful to her sister. What could she do? She got angry because her sister didn't want to share her story with her. They are sisters who are women; the age difference is not so far; they should be able to talk to each other without playing secrets, she thought.She had just heard from her mother about Celine breaking up with her boyfriend. The mother also did not tell the exact reason, only saying that they were not yet a match. Gina's curious soul, of course, immediately thrashed. In addition, she was also furious with her sister's habit of changing boyfriends. She didn't know that it wasn't Celine's wish. If only they could open up to each other, Gina would have felt sorry for her sister's bad experiences in romance. Celine's introverted nature was so dominant that even her sister had no idea what she had been through. She preferred to keep her feelings and heartaches to herself. Finally, with Le