Peeking from where she was seated, Ginny read the message upside down. While reading that message, her straight face twisted to one that would scare the devil away with just a single eye contact. Her mouth curved into a wrathful grimace, while hostility challenged her thoughts. The most horrific part had yet to come as she remained quiet and continued eating.
Clearly, her mood had dropped to the ultimate bottom after reading that horrible text three times to make sure she didn't misread it. The wooden chopsticks in her hand almost cracked and split into four pieces because of her tight grip.
The text repeated in her mind. 'The weather was beautiful today. The outfit looks great as well, but your face does not. You made me lose my appetite that we should cancel tomorrow's date. I'd rather stay home. You can eat alone.'
If irritation could kill, then Hawk would have been the first person on her list. 'Just who the fuck does that jerk think he is to speak to Lily that way? His ugly ass can't even afford to buy water to form a puddle for himself to see his own reflection! Ugly? Our Lily? Hah! Bullshit! If she's ugly, then he can go eat dog shit.'
Attempted to contain her anger, she placed more food onto Lily's plate. During the meal, she kept observing Lily's condition. As much as she wished to comfort her, she didn't want to make her emotional in public space like this. Therefore, after the meal, she decided to go home with Lily instead.
The ride home was also abnormally quiet. When they reached her apartment, Lily opened her mouth to bid goodbye, but once her lips parted, she sucked on her bottom lip. The lip-gloss had long been gone, and what's left were her nude colored lips that quivered lightly. She has been holding back her tears since the meal.
Seeing her like this made Ginny feel like someone had hammered her chest until her flesh was hardened enough to stab into her fragile heart. She closed the door and hugged Lily close. Ginny could hear Lily breathing slowly as if she was trying to control herself from breaking down.
Eventually, that method was proven ineffective as Lily still ended up sniffling and exhaling deeply. Her palms reached for her own ears and covered them while she snuggled closer in Ginny's embrace. Understanding what she wanted to most at this moment, she remained quiet and gently soothed the girl's back.
After a few minutes later, Ginny could feel her shirt moistening, but she didn't say anything. It didn't take long for Lily to cry in silence and let out a few chokes in the middle of it. At the end, she released her tears entirely and wrinkled the waist area of the white shirt. Her body trembled, and the grip on the shirt had tightened.
Even so, Ginny didn't mutter a single word and allowed her tears to flow without pause. Gradually, her cries and tears reduced drastically. It was then that Ginny said her first words. "Don't put what he had said to mind. Does he always comment things like that to you? Sweetie, there is a difference between jokes and emotional abuse."
Lily removed the contact lenses from her eyes and stuttered when answering her question. "He doesn't normally say things like that. He usually compliments my pictures or replies with a heart. But I don't know why he said what he did today. I don't know why..."
Tears started to flow again and Ginny started to pat her back. Ginny acted as if she was the host and sat Lily down on the couch while she warmed up a cup of milk for her. When the milk was done, she brought it over for Lily to taste.
"Here, your favorite at-home drink. It's sweetened already. Are you feeling better?" Ginny brushed Lily's hair aside, so that it was no longer sticking to her face. Her face was a mess from crying. Even the waterproof eyeliner and eye shadow had smudged.
"I..I'm feeling better after letting it out." Lily's eyes wandered towards her phone. Before she got her hands on it, Ginny had snatched it away and hid it behind the cushion on the couch.
"No. Don't check your messages anymore. I'm in charge of your phone now. Your mind will keep thinking about his words, and you'll go blind from crying one day. No boyfriend would ever step down his girlfriend like that. If he's not interested in dating, then he can shoo off far away. I'll gladly dump him in a garbage can and send him for recycling."
Ginny was strongly against her from touching her phone right now. Seeing her in such a pitiful state, she can't bear to read more hurtful messages or face such a bastard. "Lily, look at me."
Lily listened and obediently lifted her face to meet Ginny eye to eye. "Was he always this abusive?"
She shook her head without a second of hesitation, "Like I said, it was out of nowhere that he messaged me those words today. We were supposed to meet up tomorrow, but he rejected the date after seeing my pictures."
"That is such a twist of personality. That's pretty weird, don't you think? I could only come up with a few reasons in mind. The first is that he has been a bastard to you since the start. The second is that he lost interest in this relationship and is looking for ways to tick you off, so that you would say bye bye first. The third is that he has multiple split personalities."
Lily's eyes were swollen to the point where she looked like she was squinting. She shook her head slowly and said, "I don't know. I really just wanted to talk to him tomorrow about our issue. Even if he had lost interest or wanted to dump me, I would've been fine as long as he gave me a reason for it."
"Dear, it seems like you've already thought about that step. Do you think he would even work it out? His freaking attitude pisses the hell out of me, and I'm sure you aren't that weak of a person. I know you love him, but does he deserve you?"
Ginny knew that Lily was the type of girl who would be loyal to her partner once she had her mind set on him. Even if the guy moved forward a step, she would move the other ninety-nine steps to make things work.
That was how silly she was when she falls in love with someone. How hurt could those words have been to her? It's hard to say, but it was definitely more than how much he liked her.