"I know, after what happened, I haven't had the strength to get out of this house. I don't even know how I'm still breathing," Rina said in a low inaudible voice, and her two friends nodded slowly in understanding.
"There is a part of me that thought it was all a bad dream…that Joel had just been too drunk and he didn't know what he was doing and that he would call me. I didn't want to believe I had been in a one-sided relationship and that I had devoted my heart and time to nothing in particular. But then, for two days, he didn't call. I kept waiting for his text or calls and for an apology, but nothing came, and then I knew, with lots of pain, that it was over and there was nothing I could do."
"It just feels so suffocating. I don't know if I should hate him or myself," Rina added sadly in a breaking voice.
She had cried over the issue for so long that no matter how much she hurt, she could no longer cry.
"I know," Chloe said in a flat voice," but I still show up to school even after what Ivan did. I believe you can also do it."
Janely softly scoffed, silently wondering if there was really a need for Chloe to compare her situation to Rina's.
Why was she making it a competition for sad stories?
Why didn't Chloe know when to let someone else take the light?
"No," Rina said in a loud, sharp, and authoritative voice. "Our situations are so different, Chloe. I just can't walk around people without them mentioning how I tried to keep a man who was actually after…."
"Don't say it. We get it," Janely added quickly, and Rina turned to look at her. For the first time in such a long time, they felt a deeper connection, one possibly caused by their relationship troubles.
"If it makes you feel better, Amy was also dumped. Dylan is with Camila now," Janely said, and when the words sunk into Rina's mind, she couldn't help but laugh.
She laughed until Janely and Chloe looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
"Oh my goodness," Rina said between chuckles. "That's insane. How can Dylan be so stupid? Does he even know what Camila did to Amy? I refuse to believe it," she added as she vehemently shook her head in disbelief.
"Can we just go hang out for a while? Perhaps get some fresh air?" Chloe asked with unease. She was so uncomfortable with how damp the place was.
"She just said she doesn't have the strength to get out. Didn't you hear that?" Janely asked in a sharp voice.
Her face was squinted, and there were a few narrow lines drawn on her forehead.
She was getting frustrated with every passing minute of Chloe's selfishness, and she knew Chloe wouldn't take the correction lightly, but she didn't care.
"Yes, Chloe, I can't go," Rina added in a rush to save the situation before tempers got high. She had been surprised to see Chloe and Janely together and thought they had sorted out things, but it seemed that wasn't the case. They had both found themselves driving to Rina's place and decided to go together.
"I don't mean to be mean or something, but this place smells so bad. I honestly don't know how I haven't caught flu by now. I'm just requesting a small girls' hangout for the sake of old times," Chloe said in a pleading voice, and Rina bulged.
"Misery loves company. Maybe I shouldn't really be sulking when Amy has even lost a better man than me," Rina said with a soft chuckle as she got up to go and freshen up.
In her absence, there was total silence between Chloe and Janely, with each being too proud to be the one to break the ice.
A few minutes later, they were at Freedom park. They had bought a few snacks and fruits on the way, and they sat on the grassy areas with a shawl and their picnic basket in the middle.
"You know what?" Rina asked as she bit an apple.
The fresh air at the park was doing some good to her, and she was actually glowing compared to when she was at home.
Janely was looking at the horse park with nostalgia. A flashback of her going horse riding with her ex, Jeff, flashed before her, and she shut her eyes to forget it.
She turned her back against the horse park and mastered a plastic smile to her friends who were wondering what had happened.
"What were you talking about?" Janely asked to get the attention back to Rina.
"I'm totally with you on this. We should not trust these men. I'm done weeping and crying for them. I mean, maybe I am crying for a man, yet my soulmate is a woman. I think I will give women a chance," Rina confidently added as she took another bite of her apple.