Like being hit by a giant hammer, taken from coals of fire. The impact made the brain chaotic and also boiling at the same time. Cindy would not have thought that her very innocent and sweet friend could now be dragged into a drunken culture. Well, that's a normal lifestyle in the place where they lived. But still, it was very taboo for Lia.
"Wow," Cindy exclaimed at last after she had been silent and frozen for a while. Lia just answered that she did go out quite often on weekends and then drank alcohol with her friends. The whole world would even gasp in shock hearing that.
"You're drunk, really! Great! Wow." In contrast to her exclamation which was very exciting, Cindy's face had now become a bit stiff and awkward. It seemed that he was still at a loss as to how to respond to the situation, a situation that was beyond her control.
Lia realized that. But she chose to ignore it. Her extreme changing lifestyle was not the focus here. The focus here was Neil, and how Lia must respond to all his attention and kindness.
Stifling frustration. She was already used to all this, but still, she wanted to jump over the building and bury herself underground. She didn't want to be seen as ashamed of herself.
"Yeah, right," said Lia. After a moment she turned the topic around, heading in the right direction. "So Neil is very good. He is very – very – and very good. He helped me on many occasions and he never had any purpose for me. Bringing a stranger into his house and placing her in comfortable rooms is not a common thing. Moreover, Neil didn't have any bad intentions. He's so pure."
Being a girl in love would indeed blind everything. Anything that looked beautiful was a thousand times more beautiful. The darkest stains would look very bright, even outperforming the sun.
But even so, Cindy still didn't dare to speculate, because she didn't know and see Neil in person.
"Ok, let me ask you a few things first. We'll talk about your impression of Neil later okay? It's nothing, I'm just curious." Cindy smacked her lips briefly because the cold made her lips wrinkle more often. Her skin tends to be dry, and it got worse when the cold air hit her. Because she would rarely drink, and so on.
"So when you first met Neil, you two collided huh? And Neil apologized to you and offered to help? And the great thing was he smiled after that?" A nod of a head filled Cindy's figure. Her hand brushed her lips gently, in deep thought mode. Now and then she looked at Lia, found her friend shaking her shoulder as she nodded.
"Ok, I'll keep that in my mind," said Cindy again, with her hands brushing the air as if to stop Lia's excessive nodding. "After that the next day you met Neil again when drunk?"
"No. We met about a month after we first met. Or a few weeks after. I don't remember because time flies so fast."
Wow! Cindy opened her eyes very wide. Lia was not lying, she had changed and knew how to have fun. Tears welled up in Cindy's eyes. She felt like she had succeeded in raising a child.
"Okay, I understand. So a few weeks after your meeting, you meet again with him. It's just that the situation was that you two were drunk?"
"No." Lia corrected it again. She began to get irritated at Cindy who did not understand the story she was telling passionately. Yet all of that was important.
But Cindy couldn't be blamed entirely, because Lia didn't tell in detail each of her meetings with Neil.
"I'm the only one who's drunk. Neil wasn't drunk at all. He's a good man. I doubt if he ever got drunk. Neil doesn't seem like a typical guy like that," Lia continued.
Cindy shook her head slowly. It's quite complicated. Her close friend not only fell in love with Neil but was even crazy about him. Didn't Lia just say 'Neil doesn't seem like a typical guy like that'? So actually Lia was not too sure, right? She was just assuming. But how could she be so sure and even insistent!
'What's the point of going against someone in love? You're just going to be an idiot.' And Cindy was right.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I misunderstood your story. So Neil wasn't drunk at the time, and he helped you at the bus stop and took you to his house, even though you didn't know each other at the time?" Cindy sighed in relief when she saw Lia nod.
"Ok, ok, I understand now. He is a savior, an angel, and also a prince. Yeah, so that's why you fell in love with him. Um, let me think for a moment." Their feet were still walking, they still needed to dodge the puddles a few times, and they still needed to wrap their arms around their bodies from the cold.
Lia looked pathetic here because she forgot to bring her jacket this morning.
"Yeah, now that after I think about it, it's perfectly natural for you to fall in love with Neil. Alright, now let's get to the point. What makes you so frustrated? You like Neil, and he is a nice guy. Everything seems fine, and it might end well. So what worries you?" Dew would appear in Cindy's face as she spoke. The color contrasts with her blushing pink cheeks.
"First of all, I feel confused about myself." Lia's voice sounded very soft, she looked like she was complaining right now. "I wanted to approach Neil and get him but when he was seen making me several offers I turned him down.
"Like for example when he offered me to work at his cafe. I should have just accepted it. But I don't know what got into me until I feel unsure about it. I still want to consider everything, I still want to convince myself whether I should work at Neil's cafe or not.
"Even though you know what happened to me at Mr. Sony's cafe. I've been treated very badly there. The salary there is also not that great. But that's the only job I can get. You must remember that all the places I went to apply for jobs had turned me down.
"And now that I have the chance I just look doubtful." Lia bit her soft lips, which looked supple and attractive. Those lips that Prince Aerus had never let go of. "Before going home earlier, I also declined his offer. He wanted to take me home, but I was acting be playing hard to get.
"I knew I wasn't going back to the flat. But I can ask Neil to take me to your flat right? If you don't reply to my texts by midnight, I can walk and head back to the flat. It doesn't matter. You know how I've been, right?"
Cindy nodded. She understood very well how Lia had been all this time.
Lia was a girl who would fight for the man she liked, almost no matter what. As long as he was single, Lia would not miss a single opportunity, except for sex, of course.
The reason was not very complicated. Lia just wanted to be happy, she just wanted to be loved, she just wanted to be recognized. The rejection, ostracism, and ridicule that she received in the past were like a whip for Lia, thus making her like this.
No doubt, Cindy was a little surprised. Rejection after rejection by Lia was not her style. Lia was not like that, she was never like that. Lia looked like a girl who was in love, but honestly, in her heart, she already has another man.
***