No strings attached |(UNDER REVISION)

Chapter 33- Letter

"You left me like I was nothing."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips, my tears mixing with the cold evening air.

"Ganito ba talaga 'yon, Aiah?" I whispered. "Ganito ba kasakit ang magmahal? Ganito ba dapat ang ending natin?"

I pressed my forehead against the gate, my fingers gripping the metal so tightly it hurt.

"Ipinaglaban kita..." I choked out. "Pero hindi mo ako ipinaglaban pabalik."

Silence.

The house remained dark and lifeless, as if it had already erased any trace of me from its existence.

And maybe... so had Aiah.

"Kung papakawalan ba kita... maipapangako mong magiging masaya ka, Aiah?!" My voice cracked, raw and desperate, echoing into the cold night air.

Sheena and Gwen grabbed my arms, trying to pull me away, but I fought against them, refusing to move.

"Mikha, tama na!" Sheena begged, her grip tightening on my wrist.

"Hindi! Hindi ko titigilan 'to hangga't hindi ko nakukuha ang sagot niya!" My throat burned, my vision blurred with tears, but I didn't care. I just needed to know. I needed her to hear me.

I turned back to the house, my fists slamming against the gate.

"Aiah! Sagutin mo ako!" My voice wavered, my heart hammering in my chest. "Kung mawawala ako sa buhay mo, magiging masaya ka ba?!"

The silence that followed was suffocating.

I waited. I waited for a door to open, for a shadow to appear, for her voice to break through the darkness.

But there was nothing.

A sob racked through my chest as my knees gave out, and I collapsed onto the pavement. Sheena and Gwen knelt beside me, their hands on my shoulders, but I barely felt them.

"Kung papakawalan kita..." My voice was nothing more than a whisper now, broken and weak. "...maipapangako mong magiging masaya ka?"

Still, nothing.

And that silence... hurt more than any answer she could have given me.

Sheena and Gwen wrapped their arms around me, their warmth barely reaching the cold void inside my chest.

"Dinurog mo ako, Aiah..." My voice trembled, my hands clutching at my chest as if I could hold myself together. "You killed me."

Sheena tightened her grip, pressing my head against her shoulder, but it didn't stop the sobs that wracked through my body.

Gwen rubbed my back in soothing circles. "Mikha, tama na... please."

But how could I stop when everything inside me was breaking?

I gave Aiah everything-my heart, my love, my soul-and she still left me.

And worse... she didn't even have the courage to say goodbye to my face.

The silence from that house was deafening, a cruel confirmation that I was nothing but a discarded memory.

"Aiah..." I whispered, my tears falling onto Sheena's shoulder. "Bakit hindi mo ako nilaban?"

Sheena and Gwen carefully helped me into the car, their hands firm yet gentle as if I would shatter at any moment. Maybe I already had.

The ride back to my apartment was silent, except for my quiet sniffles and the occasional deep breaths I took to stop myself from breaking down again. My mind kept replaying everything-Aiah's letter, her last words, the cold, unfeeling walls of her parents' house.