Whenever Wendy remembered how flustered and scared she had acted at the memorial garden, she couldn't refrain from scolding herself for being such an idiot and coward. At the same time, she also couldn't stop the strong welling of disgust, aversion and all negative emotions in her heart toward Mr. Dimatrionez. The man was seriously obnoxious. It was ridiculous how he could look at girls her age with such eyes full of desire. Disgusting! Seriously disgusting! Goodness, he's a married man but he had acted like that? And right in front of her daughter's remains? Truly the epitome of shamelessness!
"Wendy, you look like you're going to murder."
The Gomez family were in the middle of dinner and were noisily chatting and eating over the table when Wendy's brother, Simonne, noticed his sister digging food with her spoon and fork noisily. The way she glared at her plate of rice and vegetables was odd, actually murderous if he would speak of, thus he said that.
The beautiful princess of their family raised her head annoyingly at her brother's direction. Her eyes reflected anger as if she's just been offended, but sadly the person who received her glare didn't even flinch. Simonne remained stoic. To people who don't know him, they would think he's too indifferent and cold, a waste of his handsome face. Well, aside from his default face, he didn't wince due to knowing that he's obviously not the reason why she's acting like this. The guiltless has none to fear.
"Wendy, if you have something to say, speak up."
The girl sported a wronged expression at her stern father's barking but didn't speak up nonetheless. Dinner ended with her mood as foul as it started and her family could only stare at her baffled. With no explanation coming from the her who retired early to her room, the other Gomez could only blindly speculate.
And as for Wendy, it was like she had been triggered by that ugly encounter this afternoon. Once back to her room, she started pulling up a large stack of documents from her drawer and browsing the papers one by one. Her mind was preoccupied. She thought of what happened one month ago, that since Floyd's case was more or less hopeless for a simple citizen like her, it would probably be good to divert her attention to something else. Floyd was nowhere within her reach and even her brother's colleagues were having trouble with that guy, so she decided to focus her mind to what was within her hand's reach.
'I'm a normal girl, it's absolutely not weird to get freaked out by a pervert's stares. Safety and security first. But since I'm now outside of that lowlife's shameless sight, and thinking of how a middle-aged man with a daughter, albeit dead, with the same age as me, eyed me like that, I began to doubt if this world is still in its normal orbit. It's even suspicious that he visited without Felicity's mother.'
Wendy blinked and let out a soft, 'Huh?'
She froze for a moment. A realization suddenly struck her and allowed her to see one of the many weird things about the Dimatrionez. She lowered her gaze to the blue-tiled flooring and with her hand raised in the air, she subconsciously started snapping her fingers and producing rhythmic sounds. She always do this whenever there was something that sparked a deja vu or some sort in her mind, like what was currently happening to her.
Five seconds later, the sounds stopped, but her hands both got lifted to mess with her long wavy hair.
'Agh! How did I miss the fact that after Felicity died, her mother seemed to have vanished! No one heard of her ever since!'
At this realization, Wendy's face darkened and the sinister smile of Felicity's father came to mind again. This time, she felt that the man was not only a lowlife - but probably more immoral than that. She couldn't stop herself from storming her way into Simonne's room and relaying her insights and strong wish to expose the dirty laundry of that contemptible old man.
.....
"Sometimes I really wonder what skincare products you are using to become fair like this."
The one who spoke was Wendy who looked so imposing as ever even though she was only wearing a simple navy blue knee-length dress. She was clicking her tongue to the beautiful girl in a peach shirt and black knee-length skirt walking to her table. Wendy's arms were folded below her chest as she sat prettily on one of the tables outside the Friendlies Cafe.
Her sight strayed from Sofony's exposed arms and legs, to her face. She slightly gaped at the person's reddening face and questioned herself if it's her eyes wandering excessively and offensively or her words that made her friend plain shy.
"Wendy, you arrived so early."
"I'm never late. I've been raised by a strict father who never stops reminding me what discipline is."
Sofony giggled, "You're an oddball among early birds though." She was referring to Wendy coming to the meetup place one hour earlier than the agreed time. Were it not for Sofony's familiarity with the girl, she would be waiting for so long.
Wendy refused to comment. She just made face, stood up from her seat and led the other girl inside the cafe. They chose a table located near the glass window, then ordered drinks and cakes from the waiter that came over. After this, she watched as the waiter politely bowed then walked to the counter, leaving them to wait for the order to arrive. Wendy reckoned it would be after ten or fifteen minutes. More than half of the tables inside were occupied by customers so she knew the staff was quite busy.
'Business is booming, huh? The owner must be happy with her cafe.'
Wendy, aware that her friend was presently this cafe boss, snickered and returned her gaze to the girl in front of her. Suddenly remembering that Sofony was ill yesterday, thus unable to go to school, she commented, "Are you okay now?"
"Yeah, no more fever."
"You made me worry, slightly. But it's good that you're no longer bed-ridden." Wendy then laughed, one of her hands played with her hair's curly ends.
They started chatting about many random things to kill time while waiting for food and drinks to arrive. At one point, they talked about Sofony's adopted younger sister, but mostly Wendy was telling her what was discussed yesterday by the subject teachers. Sofony also anxiously asked if she missed out any quiz or recitation. Time passed that their subjects of talks were mostly school-related, it couldn't be helped given that the two were grade-conscious students.
Midway their conversation, Wendy subconsciously began to observe her friend closely. Her friend had truly changed so much and it was now hard to relate her to that very introverted and unconfident version of her two months ago. As she did the comparison, she couldn't help the smiles that bloomed from her red lips.
She really liked the Sofony of today.
Sometimes, she wanted to thank her irresponsible father for abandoning Sofony after leaving this cafe to her. Well, it was quite funny at first that Sofony had to work for a while before discovering that her runaway father still had left her some means of livelihood for her. She was not privy to the details, except she knew all is well now and that this cafe was actually Sofony's.
Wendy firmly believed that her friend had always been smart and beautiful but was just constrained by all sorts of worries. Maybe she's been too stressed out by her family problems. But now, her friend's face turned brighter and she was not as gloomy as before. Wendy was truly happy for her as her best friend.
Of course, she still sometimes wondered if the change had been too drastic, especially the appearance.
'I wonder if it's caused by her exposure to makeup and skincare products. Or it's just the release from mental burdens.'
Later, she shook her head and stopped thinking about it. Those were not important anyway. What matters was her friend's happiness. In her opinion, Sofony had never been as carefree and happy. However, she was now. Especially after Steffy's arrival. She was really glad by the current turns of events.
"Oops, Wendy, before we forgot, why did you ask for a meetup today?" Their orders already arrived, and Sofony was in the middle of bringing a piece of mango cake she forked into her mouth.
Wendy who was also in the middle of sipping her cappuccino suddenly stopped sucking from her straw and frowned. Of course, the reason for the creases that appeared on her forehead was the reminder of why she asked Sofony to meetup.
She raised her head and solemnly inquired, "Soffy, I actually have some questions for you."
"Of course, you do. It's just weird for you to not give a call."
"Well, I figured it's better to ask this in person, lest you suddenly hang up."
Confusion was all over Sofony's face when she heard the last part. "Why would I hang up? Is it a very very personal question which will make me want to ignore you forever in case it offends me?"
"I give up." Wendy rolled her eyes and stated after some moment of silence. "It's actually just an excuse to hang out, but let me now ask my question. Because actually, all I've been meaning to ask is about Felicity."
The dumbfounded expression that Sofony showed her was followed by a frown and question. "Felicity Dimatrionez?"
For some reason, Sofony looked very distressed or uncomfortable when she said the name. Wendy naturally noticed it and wondered if it's because her friend was not very accepting of discussing a dead person. Nevertheless, as she thought of the gross man she encountered yesterday, she couldn't contain the unease and fury. She determinedly said, "Yeah, it's about that Felicity. To be precise, her parents... and the circumstances regarding her death."
"...Why?" The voice was no longer as calm.
Wendy didn't answer right away, instead, she took a bite of her own chiffon cafe. In her head, she was organizing her thoughts as she knew she had to make a sound argument to her best friend.
Last night, she stayed up so late just to thoroughly study every angle and detail. But of course, her information was limited due to having focused so much about Floyd's case, and speaking of this scum man's case, she was very angry after learning that the police failed to seize him in the last operation they conducted against him. If her brother hadn't informed her about another party hostile to Floyd which allegedly managed to capture the man, she would have flipped the whole police station over in frustration. After all, she was probably the second most expectant of that guy's arrest, next only to the husband of her dead teacher.
And oh, got side-tracked again.
Anyway, back to where she had stayed up so late last night considering the angles and mysterious of Felicity's death. Thinking of the first thing she realized upon careful deliberation, she opened her mouth and said to Sofony, "My friend, the case is... I'm done fretting over Floyd's case and decided to investigate Felicity's so-called suicide. Sorry if it's abrupt, circumstances just arise, and me being me, I couldn't help but dip my feet into this matter. This is why I'm currently pestering you."
At Wendy's apologetic gaze, Sofony wrinkled her forehead. A long silence passed before the girl replied, "Okay. Before your crime-long-windedness disease acts up, go to the main point."
"Mean," the wavy-haired girl rolled her eyes then went on, "I just want you to clarify why you announced at school that she committed suicide. Is this what her parents told you? I'm quite puzzled because nobody ever investigated it."
What she meant was she wanted to know if it's true that Felicity died by suicide and not by murder or any schemed death. Wendy was pretty skeptical about this as this was not filed as an official case to the police, plus the body was immediately cremated. Just these two points alone made her very suspicious whether Felicity really died by suicide. She asked herself... if the remains had been turned into ashes, who could tell for sure that no foul play had happened?
"Wendy, I thought I already told you. Early in the morning, I received a call from Mr. Dimatrionez asking me to drop by their house. When I arrived there, I was just surprised to be informed that she already died. I tried to ask what happened but all they said is that she took her own life."
Sofony paused and her face was really not looking good. Her friend bowed her head and even bit her lips. Wendy felt apologetic since the other girl looked like on the verge of crying, especially when she added, "S-she cut her wrist... and drowned herself in the bathtub."
Wendy sighed as she replied, "I'm her friend as well so I know how sad it is to remember that. I'm sorry. I actually already know that part. I'm asking because I want to know the truth about this."
Sofony gave her a long sigh before meeting her gaze. By this point, both girls forgot to pay attention to their cakes or coffee.
"I get where you're coming from, Wendy. It's obvious that you're doubting this story. I'm sure you're doubting whether she really died due to suicide. Heck, I'm pretty sure, you're considering homicide. Her corpse was not autopsied or handled appropriately and was burned to ashes before the afternoon so it was kind of leaving a bad aftertaste to the mouth."
Wendy grimaced, "Yeah."
"But that's all that I know. I'm not knowledgable on how a case works, but what I'm certain of is that a month already passed since her death, her remains had been cremated... and that in the most plausible perspective, it's normal to commit suicide if we factor in those things that spread on the SNS. You must know, if it has happened to me, I would surely end my own life... I think all girls who value their reputation would."
"You have a point." The blue-dressed girl admitted begrudgingly. "But I'm still skeptical about the suicide. You might find me delusional. However, I can't shake off this feeling that she didn't die like that. Not so... like that."
After hesitating, Sofony asked, "I don't know what's 'like that'. But what's making you think so?"
Wendy internally debated for so long, staring blankly at the elegant pattern on the black table. From time to time, she would frown then stare blankly again. The process going on for long until Sofony who was throwing her complicated gaze couldn't take it anymore and ask again. "What makes you suddenly curious about this?"
To this, Wendy's brain unconsciously answered, 'A certain bastard father that I ran away from yesterday that I suddenly want to murder today.'
She didn't voice this out though, as the first part of this answer was exactly what was making her hesitate. And by all rights, she meant the 'certain bastard father' part.
However, due to Sofony's relentless stare that kept going on for so long, in the end, Wendy's walls of hesitation tumbled down and she decided to voice out.
In a slow, but grave tone, she said, "My reason is childish, even stupid if you want to say. But this is what happened yesterday..." Wendy took a deep breath then vividly and unhurriedly narrated to Sofony how she visited Felicity's memorial and encountered the girl's father at the entrance of the memorial chapel. On the latter part of her narrative, Wendy's expression naturally turned very dark, and the negative emotions she wanted to relay were clearly displayed through her face. It was like she wanted to emphasize to Sofony her displeasure toward the man. She also wanted to convey how she greatly suspected the truthfulness of the rumors about Felicity's 'perfect' family.
As Wendy talked about her doubts about Felicity's family, even directing the conversation to how this point alone could be grounds to not believe the suicide thingy, she didn't notice the unnatural darkness that clouded Sofony's expression. The cold glistening of the other girl's eyes also escaped her notice. Wendy was not aware, when she had been assuming that Sofony was carefully listening to her, the girl was actually having so many dark thoughts surging in her mind.
The blue-dressed girl didn't know it was all triggered by her reminding of Felicity's father's existence in the world.
They said, the first impression lasts... and because of this when people they know for so long suddenly change, it's always been difficult to believe or accept, mainly because of the already rooted impressions. Actually, this was only partially correct and mostly seen if the change is not in line with the first impression. For example, a criminal suddenly becoming a priest. Or an impotent man suddenly becoming a rapist.
When it's an almost complete opposite of the first impression, at the same time, nearly impossible to happen, the shock it brings would always be very big and even tough to understand and accept. In line with this, Wendy had etched Sofony's pure image in her mind too deeply that in the future, she would find it very challenging to believe all of her best friend's atrocities.
For now, Wendy was not able to notice. All she would realize was that her best friend was not truly listening to her educated guesses and blabberings.