The discovery of the messages was the last straw. The pictures were nothing. Pictures can be manipulated either by editing or by what one's mind sees. They were friends; naturally they'll have photos together. They must've had a drinking game and it might have happened there or what. Maybe. Maybe not.
But the messages.
I had a good time at the party last night. Thanks for inviting me and the ride home.
And about the party...
Did you mean them?
When you said…well, you said you never saw me as beautiful as last night. That you don’t think of me as just your sister from the same company now. And when you...you know. That kiss.
Thanks for the shoes. See you tomorrow night.
You said to send you a message when I think of you. I know you were kidding but I was just thinking about when you kissed me...and I realized...I’ve known you for years since we were scrawny kids in dance class, where did you learn to kiss like that?!
You forgot your jacket here :p
See you later tonight. As always. I'll wait!
Wrong. They sounded wrong. They were wrong.
She didn't mean to see them. He went to the bathroom after watching a DVD at her place and she took her chance to delete their photo on his phone.
It was taken late one night, after he finished all his schedules for the day. He called her out to the park across her place and they went to a nearby street which had shops and food stalls still open. Not a lot of people were out due to the time (and the increasingly cold weather). A few groups were drinking on the balconies of some buildings they passed.
It was late for dinner but he said he was craving for something. So they went and marched to a place they both knew. It was owned by someone like him, frequented by people like him, and so no one bothered them there. The owner knew him personally; knew her by profession. The circle they were in was where one knew the other and the other knew the other.
They ended up staying for a few hours, just talking and listening to each other. She didn’t work with and for him often, she was under someone else from the same company he was contracted to but it was the same building, same faces of staff members, often the same events. He was talking about his week of performances; the funny incidents that occurs with staying with two other boys in a hotel room.
They had a lot of fun even if all they did was eat and talk. It was a moment to remember nevertheless.
They agreed on having no photos of them together on his phone at least, but it didn't stop him from snapping a shot of their polaroid hanging above her work desk at her place. 'It's a picture of a photo! It doesn't count!’,he had argued relentlessly, refusing to remove it from his phone.
She deleted the photo quickly on his phone, feeling a little bit sorry. But it was necessary. If any photo of them leaked out...even if it was impossible for a staff member not to rub shoulders with someone like him…if anyone outside found out about them...
As she exited his albums, she accidentally clicked on his instant messaging app, and his conversation with Jane appeared. ‘See you later tonight. As always. I'll wait!’ The latest one read.
Tonight?
She asked him when he came back from the bathroom if he and the guys had anything planned that night and he had said no. Probably just going to sleep in because of scheduled rehearsals the next day.
Wrong.
Everything felt wrong suddenly.
It would never be right again.
