“Fine! You stay and I’ll go.” I was about to maneuver around her but was stopped by her strong gripped on my wrist, pulling me to face her.
“Then what?!” She exploded, throwing her hands up in the air before pointing to my bed.
“I cannot let you crawl back onto that stinking bed and cry for my as*hole brother, Elle,” Breathing in deeply, she then continued, “Can’t you see?!” She growled, stomping indignantly, “You deserve better, Elle. A whole lot better than my brother.”“I’m tired, Anna.” I pleaded in a soft voice, tired and pleading.
Though I had been in mine and Brad's apartment for two days without leaving, well it's actually mine since I'm the one paying it for the last three years after we got our degrees. I felt drained physically and mentally.
“When was the last time you eat?” I shrugged my shoulders looking away from her.
“Okay, you need to eat Elle. Now, go get a shower while I cook something up for you.” She ordered, pointing to my bathroom.
“I'll eat and shower, okay? Just—just leave me alone.” I murmured, dismissively.
Clear exasperation painted on her face at my stubbornness.
“Wait, are you mad at me too?” Her face suddenly fell when realization rushed through her.
I slumped on my bed defeated. I just want to crawl back on my bed and shut the world around me, maybe pretend that I was sleeping the whole and just having a nightmare. But instead, I stared at my friend in the eye and give in to my inner turmoil.
“It’s one thing that I caught your brother cheating on me, but being betrayed with someone I thought was my friend was like a slap hitting squarely on my face. And that’s a whole lot different f*cked up story, Anna.” I was about to turn my back from her again, and fall back to bed when she gripped my shoulder and stared at me furiously.“You thought I am here to gloat and tell you that I’m happy for them? That I approved of what my brother did to you? What kind of person do you think I am, Elle?”
“I brought you that invite because I thought you need to know the truth. Because I know that keeping it from you would only hurt you more.”
“I–I don’t know! And to be honest, I don’t know anymore what to think and who to trust.” I whispered-yelled as I balled my fist on my side. I want to hit something, to scream.
But above all, want to breathe.
“I didn’t betray you, Elle. Not once,” That shut me up. And by just looking at her I know she’s telling the truth.
“I won’t betray you, Elle. We’re friends, we’re sisters with or without Brad in your life.” I blew out a breath in resignation.
“And I'm not here to justify my brother's mistake, I'm here because we're family. And family lifts each other up not bring them down.”
In a small voice, I said. “Can you forgive me”
“Nonsense, there's nothing to be forgiven. We're okay.”
“Thank you, Anna and I’m sorry for assuming the worst in you. I just thought that since you’re his older sister—” I can’t even finish the sentence, too ashamed to even say it.
“That I knew?” Anna supplied for me. I nodded my head.
“That I’ll just accept every bad decision that he made because we’re siblings?” Again, I nodded my head shamefully.
“Come here,” she said pulling me for a hug.
“It's not your fault, okay? You’ve been lied to and betrayed by my brother, so it’s normal to feel like you can’t trust anyone including me.”
“I’m sorry.” I apologized as I returned the hug.
“Trust me, I’m just as shock as you,” She admitted suddenly turning somber.
“Come. Let’s sit outside and then you can tell me everything.” We walked side by side as we crossed the small distance of the balcony.
“How much do you know?” I asked as I position myself on one of my plastic chairs outside. I slightly shivered at the cold kiss of the evening as the wind whipped through us.
“The moment he handed the keys and invite on me with someone else’s name on it, saying it’s over for the both of you before dashing off, I know I have to talk to you fast,”
Her arms circled around me while patting me on my back before taking a sit on the chair beside me.
“Don’t worry when I see him I’ll give him good pounding for you.” That earned a chuckled from me.
There’s a moment of silence before she broke it.“What happened?” Then like a damn was suddenly opened, I poured out everything on my ex-fiancé’s sister. As I cry she cry with me too. She let me pour it all out. She let me scream my heart out, the hurt and anger I bottled up for days since I caught him with another woman. When I’m finally done I felt drain but more lighter than the past few days.
I wipe the last remnants of my tears with my hand as I peered at her in my peripheral vision.
“I don’t know,” I started suddenly shy. “One moment I thought we were deeply in love, well I thought he did love me, and the next he’s just a memory,” I whispered, letting it carried through the wind.
“Did you talk to him after— you know?” I shook my head, “I’m too hurt to speak to him and besides part of me still thinks that everything was just a nightmare.”
“Oh, Elle. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,”
“You'll be okay. A man does not complete's us, it's us, we complete ourselves. Somehow we need to accept our past and made peace on it.”
“I can’t face him. Not yet anyway. My emotions are all over the place to think clearly.”
“I understand and I'm not forcing you or anything to just forget and forgive what he did. What I am telling you is, you need to forgive yourself for all of your regrets.”
“Thank you for coming here tonight.”
“Again, I’m sorry, Elle.” I shook my head, no, before smiling sadly at her, “I’m sorry too,”
“But I guess this is for the best.” I covered the space between us before engulfing her in a brief embrace.“And I wish you all the happiness in this world, Elle.” She said looking up at the starry sky.
‘Me too.’ I murmured as a falling star passed through the vast expanse of the evening sky.
•••
There are moments in the past that all I wanted to do was run, to escape, and never look back. But I held on. I had Brad with me. And besides the young and naïve part of me always thought that he’s more than enough reason for me to stay.I won’t deny that at an early stage of our relationship I become too dependent on him that I thought I couldn't live without him in my life. Those days were over now. Brad left me without any warning or explanation. But the thing was, it’s more than that, and though it’s not as complicated as people around me thought it would be, the destruction of his leaving wrecked me apart.My confidence level hit the bottom level while my insecurity level reached its peak.What he did to me is more painful than being abandoned and left behind. It’s the thought that despite everything we’ve been through together I am still not worth an explanation.Now, while looking at the man I was supposed t
Twelve hours later after a lot of wandering around and revisiting the places Brad and I used to visit, you know for old times sake, I ended up in front of the club Arya and my bridesmaids set my bachelorette party at. Luckily the two bouncers at the entrance already knew me so they let me pass through without any hitch.“You're hot,” I slurred, looking at the guy sitting next to me. He's not even drinking, he's just staring ahead.“And you're drunk, darling.” I tilt my head to the side, and the whole club spin out of control that I almost fell from my seat. Lucky, the hot guy caught my shoulder as I lean dangerously close to the floor.Good job tequila.I gripped his arm tightly as I blink my eyes. “Me? Drunk? Nonononono.”He suddenly swept me off from the stool on the bar, carrying me to the comfortable-looking couch on the second floor where the music doesn't hit so hard on my eardrums.We're on the VIP
When I awoke, the sun was already peaking on the horizon. I lazily stretched out on the softness of the bed, face pointed toward the luxury hanging on the ceiling with a look of utter contentment on my face.I smiled to myself as the warm feeling and contentment settled within me. I’m lucky I’m not one of those people who got an ugly hungover after drinking too much. I know it’s way better than I deserve after that binge drinking. Though I think it was life’s gift for me.And, I regret nothing.Now that I think about it, it’s a long way coming. After I went into a coma for alcohol poisoning and lost my memory on the same night. I never drink anymore least look at the whole aisle of them in a grocery store. And Brad leaving me put it perfectly into an occasion to get wasted.Hello, freedom. A voice in my head purred.I smiled despite the fact it’s Brad and Stella’s wedding in a week,
It's been an hour since I discovered the gigantic cut of diamond sitting on my ring finger and I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I may or may not got married the previous night.It was the first time I got drunk after seven years. The first time I let myself crumble, yet here I am making a mess again. But this was not like going into a coma for alcohol poisoning all over again. This might be bigger than the mess I made seven years ago.“Damn, what did I get myself into?” I murmured just as my stomach rumbled in complaint having not eaten since the day before.Arya, bless her soul had gone down to get us breakfast so I was left with my thoughts. I love Arya to pieces but there are times, such as this that I rather be alone than seeing her patronizing smile.I was deep in my thoughts, twisting and turning the ring on my finger when an annoyingly consistent knocking pulled me back to real
While mourning for my slaughtered dream wedding and the man I was supposed to marry, I couldn't help but wish that my life was like my favorite rom-com movie with panty-dropping hot, sexy, and charming guys and a one-hundred percent guarantee of happily ever after.A life without hard-core drama, a fiancé that would never ghost you like Casper, or a life without the trivial things like snot on your decongested nose, cramps, and bills to pay.How I wish life was that simple.As I looked at Killiad's face I couldn't help but wonder how are we going to make this arrangement work. How on my vulnerable state I could stomach another relationship doomed for failure.After Brad cheated on me I have this extreme paranoia of being left alone again.Yes, I'm scared of being left alone.But I'm more terrified of trusting again.So when the shock wears off the f
“Sure,”Then for a fleeting moment, my mind drifted back on my friend’s words. And then, it clicked. My eyes nearly bugged out from its sockets when I realized who Killiad is. I’ve been so dumb not to put two and two together. The elite club where we meet. The hotel, which I designed myself and decorated with my team.It falls on one Empire since the luxury chain of hotels was my first huge project after finishing my degree in Interior Design. Fortunately, I passed the initial interview to join the bidding and got awarded with a two-year contract. The project itself was demanding which prevented me from taking clients. Knight Empire's Luxury Hotels are world-class which needs a good amount of attention when it comes to the perfect design based on the location and the kind of people that visits the place frequently. Two years with them helped me so much in my career and in building my business. And now I'm
"Yohooo!" I was abruptly pulled from the trance the moment I heard Arya's screeching voice while shoving Killiad as fast as I could."Arya!" I fumed, mortified as stared at my grinning best friend as she raises her phone above her head and started waving it.I tried taking her phone from her but she immediately hides it from me, running behind Killiad for protection.Now I realized she used her old trick to gossip.I threw a finger at her face as I stared at her accusingly. But instead of cowering behind Killiad some more, she jumped on her feet while both hands clasp together gushing out. "Oh. My. Gosh! It was so beautiful, Elle!"“Delete that!”“No, this picture would help make my life easier when dealing with you.” I scoffed. Am I the difficult one?“And you really thought that you could use that against me? B*tch, I have a lot of demeaning picture of you that would surely vanish you on the Pet
“Elle?”“Hmm.” I hummed noncommittally. It's been a week since I saw Killiad. He said he needs to fly out of state on a merger in Dubai but he promised to be back the day before the wedding. Also, I finally pulled myself out of the apartment and decided to pass my time in my office working productivity than moped around.For a week, every day a message would pop up early in the morning before I left the bed and at night before I sleep wishing me goodnight.It was Killiad. The act may be simple but the fact that he hadn't forgotten me as he goes on his busy schedule makes me smile and feel giddy inside.“What are you doing?” Arya's voice penetrated through my musings had immediately snapped me out from the thoughts of my husband.I shot her a glance. “Working,” I said in a duh tone.“Ahm. Do you want to hang out with me?” My hand froze for a split second before I started typing again as I was finishing a business propo