When Love Fills Up The Empty Spaces

Chapter 6

I kept silent until we arrived at the said arcade. It was a three story building and was currently packed with students from different schools. Some of the female students locked their eyes on Caillen. They didn't look at me, not even once. His mere appearance can overshadow me.

We went up to the second level. This time, there were a lot of male students. Caillen slowed down his pace and chose to walk just beside me. I stared at the ground as we walked. I've become too nervous to gaze up at him.

"Hey." He spoke.

"Kei, there you are! What took you so--."

I slowly looked up because I thought I heard a familiar voice. My eyes went wide and I couldn't speak for a moment.

She had short hair with an undercut. She was taller than before and she was wearing gym clothes.

"Kei, what the fuck?" She said, staring at me.

"Ume." I uttered softly.

She stared at me, with teary eyes. I gritted my teeth.

"Em Em." She said. "Em Em!" She moved forward and hugged me.

"Em em, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Ume hugged me tighter.

I wrapped my arms around her. I wanted to cry out loud.

"Can you give me one moment?" She lets me go and moves backward.

"Oh yeah, sure." I waved my hand, as a gesture that I don't mind.

"Kei, you're an asshole." She pulls Caillen by his arm. "Why'd you bring her here?"

"I got annoyed at how you tend to complain to me about how stupid you are for leaving your best friend, whose name is Emmanuelle Mendiola, so voila dumbass." He answered as if he was trying to mock Ume.

"Don't call me dumbass, dumbass." She narrowed her eyes. "You should have told me you knew her."

"If I told you, you would give me continuous death threats. You would go like, 'if you tell her that you know me, I'm going to kill you' or maybe 'if you ask me to meet her personally, I will stab you multiple freaking times'." Caillen sarcastically answered. "That's twenty times more irritating than your complaints and rants."

"I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done that." Ume placed one hand on her waist.

"I'm pretty sure you would have done that because you're too afraid of facing your past, you're too afraid of facing her." He pointed at me.

There was an awkward silence between them. He hit a vulnerable spot.

"You're scared of facing me?" I tilted my head. "Why?"

"Because I left without saying anything. I thought you would hate me for that." Ume bowed her head and clenched her fists.

"I thought you hated me." My voice cracked. The tears that filled my eyes up began flowing down.

Ume embraced me again, this time it was tighter.

"I thought you hated me." My throat hurt. "I thought you did."