My head was suffering as soon as I opened my eyes. As soon as my vision focused, I realized I was in my room. My window was dark now, and I looked down to find that I was wearing a plain black tee and sweats. Mom immediately stood from her chair as I groggily sat up, feeling a slight headache.
"How are you feeling? You slept for a while, it's 7:30 now. Do you want any water?"
"Water, please," My throat felt hoarse, and my face felt puffy and warm. She handed me a glass, and I drank the whole thing in one go. I wiped my mouth, giving the glass to her. She sets it on the bedside table, "So, do you remember anything?"
I nodded, "Is. Is uh, Ren...?"
Mom said, "He dropped you off and stayed for a few minutes to wait for me to get home. He left as soon as I was here. He apologized and said he had something important to do."
I nodded, and I motioned to my attire.
"Did you change me?" I said as I picked at the sheets.
"I did, you were sweating a lot when you wore your uniform."
Mom asked, "What happened? Ren said you had a panic attack but, he didn't tell me what it was about. Was it because of him?"
I looked up at her and was hesitant of telling the truth.
Mom sent me a solemn look as she pats my hand, "I've been thinking of what's been happening to you. I don't want to see you like this."
She sniffed as she asked, "Do you want me to break this off?"
"But, what about debts we owe to them? Wouldn't you lose your job?"
Mom shrugged, "I would give up everything. So, you could be happy. I see how miserable you've been, Nova. I was ignorant in thinking this engagement would help. I'm sorry."
I bit my lip as she sent me a genuine look of regret and sympathy. I shook my head, "You can't. It's too late Mom. I don't want you to sacrifice anymore. Besides, it's just a one-year commitment."
She caressed my face, "You always put a strong front for everyone. You're the strongest young woman I've come to know. However, I wish you'd be kinder to yourself."
I blinked as she continued, "I'll respect your wish. I just want you to be safe. Also, if you have one of those attacks again, I don't want you driving...ok?"
I weakly smiled, "Yes mom, I won't drive."
She caressed my hand and said, "You rest now. If you need anything, call any one of us."
"Thanks, mom," I said. She takes the glass, and walks out of my room, closing the door softly. I took the sheets off and sat at the edge of the bed. My body felt groggy, the drugs were wearing off. I wore my slippers to walk to the bathroom. After I used it, I looked at myself in the mirror.
'Ugh, I look like a mess,' I said as I looked at my tear-stained face. I pumped some cleanser in my hands and cleaned my face. I blended in some moisturizer and brushed my hair afterward. I walked out of the bathroom towards my phone and saw notifications from MJ, Gorya, and Kaning.
MJ: Are you feeling ok? It's been a mess over here.
MJ: Thyme took Ren out of F4. I don't know why. Text me as soon as you feel better.
Kaning: Did something happen? Kavin told me you had a panic attack, are you ok?
So he did tell them, I thought to myself.
Gorya: Can we talk?
Gorya: I'm outside of your house.
I snapped up after reading her message. A knock on my door and I turned, "Come in."
Mom pops in and opens the door wider to reveal Gorya. She gives me a small smile and a sad look on her face. Mom says, "She came to see you. I'll leave you two alone."
Gorya smiles, "Thank you Ms. Sansithorn." Mom smiles before leaving us alone. I felt awkward in my own room as she wipes her hands against her lap. She looks at the ground as she breaks the silence, "I wanted to clear anything up. So, we don't have a misunderstanding between us."
I stayed silent as she continues, "The reason why I was with Ren on the rooftop was because of the news that broke out. I pieced things together, and when the news broke out at school...I felt it was right to be there for him as a concerned friend." My ears perked up as I asked, "What news?"
Gorya paused as she asked, "You didn't see? P'Mira has a fiancé. It was all over the tabloids this morning. It was broadcasted on the monitor in the cafeteria." She shows me her phone as I saw numerous articles on Google, about Mira's fiancé–Dominique Shun. It got out faster than I thought. My expression remained unfazed as I gave her back the phone. She asks me, "You knew?"
I nodded as I sat down on my bed, "I knew about it two days ago. Ren's parents asked to meet with mom and me." Gorya nods in understanding and I pat the spot next to me. She takes a seat next to me. "Ren was angry about everything. His dad was headstrong and wanted us to showcase this engagement for publicity."
I looked down at my hands, "I guess it was a matter of time before the shit hit the fan."
"I'm sorry."
My eyes met her as she sincerely says, "I'm sorry for this morning, and for not looking after you right away. I promise it was just a hug and nothing more. Ren told me to run after Thyme so I did. I should've followed you. I didn't know you had a panic attack again."
'Are you mad at me?'
I stayed silent as she waits for my response. "I'm not mad at you. I was angrier at Ren." I spoke.
I sighed, "When I saw you together, I got to admit I was jealous. I thought to myself, why couldn't he be attentive to me, why is he like this with others but not with me?"
My face hid from her through my hair as I blushed from embarrassment, "I felt entitled...and that makes me feel so bad for myself. I don't know Gorya, he hurt me too many times to count."
Gorya hugs me as she pats my head softly, "You deserve to be entitled. Ren should be more attentive to you; at least shows he respects you. Even if he doesn't like it or not, you two are connected. I'm sorry I didn't see how much you've suffered."
Her eyes fill up with tears, and I chuckle, "You're so dramatic."
She cries in my arms when I hug her, and I pat her head, "Gorya, you aren't responsible for any of this."
Gorya breaks our hug and says, "But I'm your best friend. I should take care of you."
"But, how am I supposed to help–when you don't say anything? You endure everything on your own to the point where it explodes in your face," she lectured.
I blinked and said, "I'll try to tell you everything, ok? But I don't want you blaming yourself because of my problems."
Gorya smiles, "Ok."
I sniffed, "So, how are you going to mend things with Thyme since your argument and what happened this morning?"
She sighs, "That is another person I need to apologize to. I don't know how to do it."
"You don't know or you don't want to?"
"I just...we're always fighting—"
I interrupt, "You two are too prideful. He's overbearing at times, but you aren't so perfect yourself."
Her mouth gapes as she places her hand over her chest, "What is that supposed to mean?"
I placed my hand over hers, "Let me explain. You assume too much. You assume the worst of Thyme. Sure, I don't know him very well, you know him better than I do. But, I think you should give him a chance, right?"
She ponders over my statement, and I continue, "Plus, he did you a favor for the date. He bought you a phone, and treated you nicely...I guess."
She chuckled, "Until he yelled at me and threw a chair."
"He did that?", I said, shocked. She nods, "I got scared for a moment. But, I knew I was responsible for his outburst."
I touched her arm, "Gorya, if you feel like he's being abusive, you should tell me or someone."
"No, no he's not like that. He's never gone that far."
I bit my lip and said, "You should've told me at first, I wouldn't have been so forgiving to Thyme."
She weakly smiled, "No, you're right. I promise to be safe, I'm safe."
"Ok. You both need to talk to each other," I said.
Gorya asked, "I will. By the way, do you want to go to the mall?"
"All of a sudden? Don't you have work?"
She shook her head, "I'm off. Kaning isn't but, she's working half the day. I don't know if she could."
I smiled, "Let's go to the mall tomorrow."
...
I sipped on my strawberry smoothie as Gorya, and I walked through the mall—window shopping for things we didn't need.
Gorya sighed, as she sipped her water cup, "This is nice."
I agreed, "This is why we need to hang out more after school."
She snorts, "Don't we hang out at school?"
"That's different."
"Psh..wait," Gorya stops walking and I look at her.
I looked around as I asked, "What's going on?
She points straight ahead at a store, she says, "Isn't that Kaning?"
"What?!", I look to where she's pointing and see Kaning walking in front of us with a guy. He was tall, and his arm was around her shoulders. I looked at Gorya, "Did she tell you she's on a date?"
"No."
I looked at Gorya and exclaimed, "Let's spy on them."
She slaps my arm, "No, that's invading her privacy." I ticked my lips and the guy she was with turned around as if he senses we were talking about them. We duck to avoid seeing us and realize they're looking at something else. I look to my right, ahead of us, and see Tesla with a girl.
"Oh my gosh, that's Tesla," I gasped.
"That's Kavin!" she whispered. "What? The guy over there is–oh my god that is Kavin!?". Gorya shushed me as we watched Tesla. I turn to see Kaning and Kavin talking to him outside of the store.
"Let's get closer, come on," I said, tugging Gorya along. We stopped behind Kaning, a few feet away so we could hear their conversation and, just enough so they wouldn't notice our presence.
"It seems that all of F4 is into low-class women." Tesla spits out.
He smirks, "I knew one. Thyme, right?"
I looked at Gorya to see her listening to every disgusting word he was saying. Tesla continued, "He's into that poor girl, who doesn't hold anything special to her. You know the kind you nail and bail."
My mouth gapes open as he continues, "I don't know what he sees. He even beat me up for her, ha. Your money can buy everything, except your taste."
Gorya hands me her bags and stares at Tesla, "Hold these for me."
I nodded, "I got you, go." I pat her shoulder as she walked up to him, slowly, and with a vengeance. People around us were filming everything going on so, I took my phone out too.
Gorya says in a loud voice, "What's wrong with a girl like me?"
Tesla looks at her surprised, and says, "It's good you're here. So, I can say how much of a worthless, poor fil-", he gasps air as Gorya kicks him directly on his mid-section. My hand covers my mouth as I silently root for her. Tesla grunts as he falls to the ground.
Gorya shouts, "My boyfriend beat you up because you are scum!"
She continues, "So what if I'm poor? You have no right to look down on me or Thyme. He's ten times better than you! He is worth more than you think."
Tesla looks at her in shock as I smiled, touched by her speech for Thyme, Finally, she realized her feelings for him.
"Don't you dare say anything to insult Thyme ever again? Got it?" she shouted. Then whistles from security guards ran past me, yelling and shouting for Gorya–as she and Tesla ran. I stopped recording and tucked my phone into my pocket. Kaning spots me, "Nova?"
I smiled as I waved at them, and walked over. "I didn't know you two were in the mall together," Kaning said.
"Neither did we," I said as I looked between them. Kavin scratched the nape of his neck as Kaning looked away from me. I whistled as I pointed toward the bag, "You even bought her a bag on the first date?"
"Hey, it was for the Tesla thing," Kavin said. I smirked, "Sure."
Kaning shook her head as I winked at her. "So, what are you going to do now?" Kavin asked.
"I'll just wait for Gorya, she knows where we parked the car," I said. Kavin nodded as he asked, "Do you need help with that?"
He pointed at the three bags in my arms and I gasped, "Why thank you. Kaning, you didn't tell me your boyfriend was so nice!" Kaning frowned, "We aren't a thing."
Kavin motioned in annoyance, "Come on, give it to me." I handed my bags and he said, "What's in these? Rocks?"
I shrugged, "I needed new clothes."
He shook his head as he faced Kaning, "Let me hold yours."
"But you have a lot."
"This is light work. Let me hold it for you," his hand points towards her. Kaning reluctantly hands the bag to him as I gushed silently. She blushed as she twirled a tendril of hair behind her ear,
"Thank you."
Kavin winked at her and walks a little ahead, towards the parking garage. I snaked my arm around Kaning's arm, "You guys look good together."
She says, "What are you talking about?"
"So, have you heard anything from Ren?", Kavin interrupts.
"Nothing, way to bring the mood down," I teased.
Kavin says, "He's been M.I.A since yesterday. I don't know what he's doing. Are you two doing all right?"
"No, things have been intense between us ever since the engagement was exposed. And the Mira situation. Every time we speak, we fight." Kaning rests her head on my shoulder and pats my arm comfortingly.
Kavin ticks his lips, "I don't know what is going on with him. MJ wants to get to the bottom of this, he's with Thyme right now. If I was with Thyme, I don't think I could ever take his temper."
We made our way towards the parking structure and, we say our goodbyes. I turn to Kavin and he hands me my bags, "Thanks for holding these for me. You guys drive safe."
He hummed, "You too. Hopefully, Gorya's all right."
"She will be, I'll be here for her once she's released."
I pat Kaning's arm and say, "You should go home and rest."
I sent a suspecting look at Kavin, "I trust you'll take good care of her? Right?"
He smirks, "Don't worry, she's in good hands." Kaning blushes as they meet glances, and I chuckle as I wave, "See you."
Kaning smiles at me as she follows Kavin to his car, in the opposite direction from me.
...
I dozed off in my car, waiting for Gorya to be cleared from mall security. A series of knocks emitted from my passenger window, jolting me awake from the sound. I looked through the window to see the sun's setting. I swallowed and wiped my spit from my mouth as I unlocked the door for Gorya. She comes in, sulking, and sat in her seat.
"So... what happened?"
"They kept us there for three, excruciating hours. I'm banned from the mall for a month. Well, thanks to Tesla. He didn't want to press charges so; we were let go."
I shook my head, "He probably didn't want this tainting his reputation."
"He deserved more than that kick. This is so infuriating!" Gorya yelled.
I quirked an eyebrow, "You know what you should do next, right? You should apologize to Thyme."
She played with a frayed thread on her flannel, "Yeah."
Then, her phone rings in her pocket, and she accepts the call. She mouths, 'P'Tia'.
I tilt my head in confusion as she listens to the call, "Hi P'Tia, is there something wrong?" Her expression turns from normal to alarmed, which makes me curious. Gorya asks, "What? What do mean?"
I start my car as I mouth, "What's happening?"
"Where are they?", she says as she wears her bag on her shoulder. I look up at her in confusion and worry starts to cloud my mind, "What's going on Gorya?"
"Ok, I'll go to them. Thanks, P'Tia. I'll make sure to text you when I'm there."
She ended the call as I asked, "Why are you so nervous? Did something happen?"
"Drive to Kocher Stadium."
...
Note:
We got Kavin and Kaning scenes in this chapter! 🐿 🐿
I've changed things from the main story to this one. I think it was better for me to mend the friendship between Nova and Gorya, rather than following Ren's date with Gorya. Too much angst lately LOL. Thank you for reading!