𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀, f4 thailand: bof

𝟎𝟎𝟐

THOUGH ARA WAS STILL UNSURE as to where exactly she was and why she looked like a completely different person, she tried familiarizing herself with her new surroundings the next few days. Ara had initially thought that everything she was experiencing was some sort of dream or test before being able to actually enter the afterlife, or possibly even that she was in a coma. But, when it had been more than a week since she'd woken up in that strange new place, she decided to simply accept her reality for the time being before she could really take action.

The girl that had warned Ara to be on her best behaviour wasn't anywhere to be found for a while. Naree on the other hand stuck with Ara and was a great help to her. When Ara was confused on anything, whether it be silly little questions or just help for anything small, Naree was there by her side.

Though Ara still didn't know who Naree was, according to her, they were sisters. Apparently, Ara — who was in the body of someone named Mayura had just recently returned from an overseas stay with their dad who lived separately from their mom due to their divorce.

She'd been getting settled into her new room when she'd somehow slipped whilst putting away some boxes and fell on her head, giving herself not only a minor concussion, but also temporary memory loss — hence why she was so "confused".

To help get rid of her confusion and jumpstart on her lost memories, Naree suggested that the two visit a bunch of places that Ara, as Mayura, apparently loved visiting, one that included a nearby cafe that they seemed to have visited constantly over the last couple of the days. Even now.

The two sat, facing one another as they drank their orders. Though Naree was beaming, glad that the batistas had managed to make it perfect, Ara sat in silence, pondering through her thoughts in wonder of the place she'd ended up, trying to get some sort of understanding of it.

Naree noticed her sisters silence, which caused her to wonder, "What is it? You don't like the drink or something?"

This caused Ara to break out of her daze, "No, no. It's good." she assured her, "I'm just not that hungry."

Naree tilted her head in confusion, "How could you not be hungry? You barely ate this morning during breakfast or during lunch." she stated, recalling the events, before turning back to her sister in concern this time.

"Are you okay Yura?" she asked, "You've been acting kind of strange these days."

Ara nodded, "I'm fine."

Naree, however, wasn't fully convinced by this as she then resorted to asking, "Is this because of the switch?" 

This caused Ara to tilt her head in confusion this time, "Come again?"

"The switch? From schools?"  Naree repeated, "I mean I know moving schools in the middle of the year wasn't exactly on your mind, but Köcher is great."

Ara nodded, pretendinf like she remembered what it was that Naree was talking about, "Yeah, I know." she said, glancing down at her hands and beginning to play with her rings, "I guess I'm just nervous."

Naree smiled, "Don't worry, you'll have a familiar face there to keep you company." she assured her, now grabbing her hands to give them a slight squeeze, which Ara had to admit was comforting.

After a couple of moments, Naree stood up after seemingly dropping some droplets of her drink onto her hand, "Hang on, I'm going to go grab some napkins."

Ara nodded and simply went back to sipping on her drink. Though the drink wasn't something she was accustomed to drinking back in her world, it was something that she, as Mayura, apparently liked, which Ara herself had to admit wasn't that bad.

Ara got lost in her thoughts, yet was broken out of them when she felt the impact of a harsh shoulder against hers. When she looked up, she saw someone that was wearing the exact same jacket as her running past her and out the door in the rush. If Ara was an outsider, that person could've definitely been mistaken as her.

Strange.

Ara turned back around to continue sipping her drink when a harsh habd suddenly yanked hers, "Hey!"

Ara turned around to see a girl around her age. Although Ara herself wasn't super tall, the girl was much shorter than her. She had medium black hair, which was styled in a half up hairstyle and an expression that told Ara she wasn't approaching her to give her a compliment.

"Hi?" Ara asked in confusion.

"I saw you snatch my friends wallet from her bag and make a run for it." the girl stated, which caused Aras eyes to widen in the size of saucers.

"Huh?"

The girl crossed her arms as she eyed Ara now in suspicion, "Just hand it over I won't call security." she threatened.

Ara was unsure where this girl had picken up on the idea that she'd comitted thieft, but she wanted to settle the situation down before it got any worse, "Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding." she told her, "I didn't take anyone's wallet. I'm not a theif."

"Please." the girl laughed, "That's what they all say."

Ara frowned, "I'm telling the truth."

This caused the girl to lean towards grabbing Aras bag, which caused Ara to hold it away from her in defense, "Then give me your bag and we'll see for ourselves if your lying or not."

"You can't just—"

Before Ara could respond, another voice interrupted the pair, one that Ara had now seemed to recognized, "Is there a problem over here?"

Ara looked over and saw it was none other Naree, standing before the two in confusion over the whole ordeal. Whilst Ara responded in a quick no, the girl next to her responded with a yes.

"No." Ara stated once, standing up as she clutched her bag in one hand and drink in the other, "She was just leaving."

Ara stated before gesturing Naree towards the door to avoid further conflict, "And so are we. Come on."

Though Naree was confused, she began to follow Aras lead towards the door with no further questions asked. But before the two could make it that far, the girl decided she wasn't done talked and grabbed Aras arm again.

However, from the suddeness of the whole ordeal, Ara found herself yanking her arm away in defense. Both the girl and Ara seemed to have underestimated Aras strength because as she yanked her arm away, the girl stumbled back from the impact, but not onto the floor like Ara had expected her to. She somehow bumped into an employee that had conveniently been passing by with a tray full of drinks and food and caused it to fall all on top of her before crashing to the ground.

Both Ara and Naree gasped at the action. Ara felt guilt wash over her. She hadn't meant to push that girl at all, let alone towards the employee.  Yet she'd still gotten hurt. As people began gathering around the scene and laughing at the girl, Ara felt even more guilt wash over her.

How humiliating.

Setting her drink aside, Ara gave the girl an apologetic look as she grabbed Narees arm. After muttering a quick sorry, Ara turned around and ran out of the cafe, not wanting to be associated with the incident any longer.

All she could hope now was that the girl would be okay and the two would never have to encounter one another again.

( note: any spelling errors or mistakes indicate that this chapter has not been edited yet )