[Thalia's POV on the night of the confrontation]
What is this? Why am I crying? I never meant for him to see me cry. I pulled my hand away, stormed up to my room, and slammed the door. I hesitated before turning the lock , locking it from the inside.
I guess some part of me was hoping he would chase after me. But that idiot never did. I hate him so much. After everything I said, he didn't even have the decency to come after me, to hold me and tell me everything would be alright, to say things would go back to the way they used to be, all those many years ago.
I went over to my drawer and pulled it open. Inside was littered with all sorts of useless junk, but at the bottom of those junks was an old photo—a family photo of me, my brother, my mom, and my dad. This was right before he died.
Looking at the old photo, my legs went weak, and I collapsed onto the bed.
We were so happy then. We took this photo when we went on our camping trip. My mom and I hated it—the bugs, the heat, the sweat sticking our clothes to our bodies, all of it. But Liam and Dad, they loved it. They always loved those stupid stuffs.
I remembered making a fuss, crying about wanting to go home until Liam comforted me. He told me all sorts of stories. We stayed up the whole night laughing and talking while Mom and Dad would wake up and shout at us to go to bed.
Those memories of happier times were enough to make my heart ache. I couldn't take it anymore; I wanted to wail so badly, and I wanted him to comfort me and tell me everything would be alright.
That idiot!
I chased after him so much, but he never bothered to turn around to see that I was right behind him all along. I missed the days when we would huddle together, and he would tell me stories, even if the stories were total garbage. During those days, I felt special, as if I were his treasured little sister, but now… I'm not even worth chasing after to be comforted.
BZZ! BZZ!
My phone buzzed, and the screen lit up. There was a message from Kei.
'Had fun today♥️ Never thought boxing could be so much fun 😂 My boyfriend said there's another match tomorrow. Wanna come?'
I stared at the screen blankly before replying to her message.
'Yes, sounds fun. I'll come with you guys again.'
When I was done, I threw the phone on the bed. It buzzed again shortly after, but I didn't care. It must've been Kei's reply to my message. The next morning, I found that idiot waiting outside my room.
"Thalia, I—"
I didn't even give him time to speak; I rushed into the bathroom and closed the door. I was done talking. My heart couldn't take the strain of whatever hurtful words he might say next or the fake apology he would muster.
It would change nothing. He would never see me. I just needed to accept that. My mom came up the stairs shortly after; I heard the two of them talking about me from outside the bathroom. I didn't need to hear any of it, so I quickly turned on the shower to drown it all out.
Luckily, by the time I came out of the shower, he was gone, so I quickly got dressed and left the house. Just as I stepped outside, I caught sight of someone waiting. It was a beautiful girl with blonde hair, wearing the school uniform of my brother's school. She looked like a model cosplaying as a high school student.
Yesterday, it was another girl waiting for him and that girl looked even older than this one.
How many girlfriends does he have?
I bet they knew more about him than I did. He didn't even have the decency to introduce me as his sister.
"Hey, this is where Liam lives, right?" she asked.
I frowned. The least I could do was get payback for last night.
"He has another girlfriend, you know. You're wasting your time when he obviously doesn't care about you," I said.
The girl opened her mouth as if she didn't know what to say but I didn't give her the time to respond. With that bombshell, I walked off, feeling a little satisfied with myself.
When I got to school, my best friend Kei was already there. She rushed over and gave me a big hug, then a kiss on the cheek.
"Bestie!" she shrieked.
She smelled of jasmine, exotic and sweet. My best friend Kei was by far the prettiest girl in our middle school. She had blonde hair and a figure so gorgeous that she turned heads wherever she went. All the boys in our class liked her but she never gave any of them the time of day.
We've been friends since kindergarten. When my father died, we found each other, as we were both going through the same thing.
"Last night was so fun," she said, pulling me down to sit beside her. "Jake had fun too; he said I should bring you along again. I think he likes you."
I instinctively frowned when I heard the name Jake. Jake was her boyfriend. He gave me bad vibes; he would constantly try to make passes at me whenever Kei wasn't looking. Not to mention, he was way older than her, probably the same age as my brother, which would make for a two-year age gap between them.
Kei was constantly on the lookout for her soulmate. I didn't know why, but it was an obsession of hers. She never seemed able to find her soulmate, and every time it would hurt her deeply. Every guy she dated, she said, wasn't good enough, but for whatever reason, she liked this guy Jake.
I wanted to be supportive of her since this was the one guy she seemed to really like. Another thing about him was that he was a high school dropout who spent all his time betting on illegal boxing matches.
Kei asked me to go with her to a few of the matches. I refused at first, but when I saw the boxing match playing on my brother's screen, I began to feel curious. Then I heard from Mom that he had joined the boxing club. He didn't even have the decency to tell me himself.
I hate that jerk.
Learning that he was in the boxing club made me even more curious about boxing. I thought that if I learned more about it, then we would have more things to talk about and could grow closer.
But what did that get me?
"You're still on for tonight, right?" Kei asked with a worried expression. She might have thought I would back out again. "My boyfriend has a lot of money on tonight's match. He said when he wins, he'll take me out for lunch since I'm the one always paying for his meals."
Hearing that, anger began to boil inside me.
"You're still doing that?!" I shouted. "You can't starve yourself for that guy; he's only using you for a free meal!"
Kei visibly recoiled at my words. I could see that I had shocked her.
Dammit!
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," I said, trying to fix the damage I had done. "Forgive me; I was wrong."
Kei forced a smile and placed a hand on my head.
"You're always forgiven, bestie. I understand what you were trying to say, and I'm glad you're worried about me. But Jake is my soulmate. Things are just a little hard right now, but it will get better soon. Anyway, are we still on for tonight?"
I could see the resolution in her eyes as she said those words. I knew she had more strength than I would ever have. In some ways, I wanted to be like her.
"Yeah, I'll come with you guys."