Lilith's POV:
I watched helplessly as Hui Jie walked off.
"What a loser," Eric hooted.
"She couldn't even take a joke. Poor baby got her feelings hurt," Xander cooed in a mock, condescending baby voice.
They were reduced to fits of hysterical laughter again. I felt my hands clench and roll into fists, as something inside me imploded. Before registering what I was about to do, I swung my fist at Eric, and before Xander could react, I slapped him too.
"What the hell, man?" Eric yowled.
"Fucker, you used to be fun to hang out with, what happened?" Xander shouted, drawing the attention of people around them.
"If 'fun to hang out with' meant to be a racist jerk, then that would be the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. I was never racist toward anyone. I had just been too much of a coward to stand up to people like you, and I see that now. I hate you. Leave me and Hui Jie alone," I felt my voice tremble.
I straightened my posture and went out to look for Hui Jie, dismissing a remark Xander passed about "women being so emotional". Blinking away the tears that had formed, I frantically looked around me, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.
Finally, I found her sitting on a bench outside the temple grounds.
"There you are! Come on, let's—"
I was cut off as Hui Jie shot me a dirty look.
"Look, I'm sorry about just—" I said.
I was cut off again as Hui Jie let out a hollow, mirthless laugh, saying, "Oh, so now you're sorry? You fucking coward. You didn't stick up for me and yet expected me to believe you truly cared about me enough to feel sorry?"
"I- of course, I care about you!" I exclaimed.
"Save it," she sneered.
Just then the bus back to the hotel stopped beside us. Hui Jie hoisted herself from the bench and walked away with her shoulders hunched. She always did that when she was upset. I felt tears brim my eyes again as I watched her enter the bus without another word.
Back in the hotel room, I tried to talk to her again, and yet she shrugged me off coldly.
"I'm going out," she stated, discarding her bag on the floor and shoving her wallet and phone in her pockets.
"To where?" I asked worriedly.
But all she did was slam the door in my face.
It had been several hours since Hui Jie left, and the sky outside had already turned inky. I glanced at my phone screen nervously. 9 p.m. I fidgeted with my fingers. Why wasn't she back yet? I bounced my legs, checking my phone every few minutes.
I guess at one point, I got so tired that I fell asleep, my head still in the turbulence of thoughts; so many voices whispering, so many emotions, all of them extreme— confusion, sadness, anxiety, none of them peaceful. It was like plunging into the deepest part of the ocean.
