Lotus

Rina - 6: Tears

“What a tiring life.”

Please don’t fall for Jason.

     Ren had deleted his original message and sent Rina that text. She never replied to it.

     For almost a week, Ren wondered if she ever received it. There was no way to find out if she did except to ask her, but he was too afraid to do so. He just waited… and waited… and waited. In class, all he could think of was: What if she did read it? What if she replied to it, but my phone never received anything? At home, he thought: What if my message upset her? She probably doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. Before he would fall asleep, he begged the gods: Kill me. Just kill me, please.

     It was a Friday when Ren found out that Rina had not contacted Jason either. She’s definitely upset! She probably thinks that I’m being possessive! He rushed home after school and waited for Rina to return home. It was a warm day, so he hoped that Rina would walk home by herself.

     Finally, he spotted her. She had her head hanging down as she dragged herself down the sidewalk. Her face was pale, her eyes were darkened with despair, and her usually bright and fresh aura was replaced with a gloomy atmosphere.

     “Rina!” Ren shouted.

     Rina looked up at him with her puffy, lifeless eyes. Ren had never seen her so miserable before.

     “What’s wrong?” he asked her.

     Rina turned away, reluctant to show Ren this side of her. However, Ren could see that she had begun to cry.

     “What the hell?” Ren asked angrily, running over to her. “Rina, tell me what’s wrong.”

     Rina instantly embraced him, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his chest. Ren immediately accepted her, holding her even more tightly in his arms. Rina could hear and feel his gentle heart beat against her face. This put her at ease, allowing her to feel a sense of safety and comfort.

     “Can I come over?” she asked faintly.

     “I don’t understand why you thought you even needed to ask me that,” he replied kindly. “Of course you can, idiot.”

     Ren took Rina’s schoolbag and escorted her into his house. They sat in his room in sheer silence for a little while, except for the sound of Rina’s sobbing.

     “Sorry,” she said. “I got your message, but I didn’t answer. I didn’t think you would be so worried about me. I’m sorry.”

     “It’s okay. You don’t need to answer it.”

     Rina pulled out her cell phone and opened a window of messages sent to her from an anonymous number.

     “I didn’t even know that you could send messages from a private number,” Rina said, handing her phone to Ren. “But here.”

“You’re pathetic and all you do is lie to impress. That’s sad.”

“Psycho bitch... Actually an understatement. What’s even worse is you’re fugly.”

“No boy will ever like you.”

“Don’t talk about love like you know what it feels like. You’ve never had a boyfriend.”

     Blood rushed throughout Ren’s body as he read the messages to himself. He slammed the phone on his bed, startling Rina.

     “Rina, do you have any idea of who sent you these messages?” he asked.