Amidst the loud noise resounding, a beautiful girl, around 16 years old, is holding her right cheek, her head leaning towards the left. Her eyes are red, brim with tears, teetering on the edge of spilling, yet she resolutely fights to hold them back.
"Do you even have any idea what you did?" Evelyn, adorned in her fiery red dress, stands sternly before the girl and demands. Her voice trembles with a seething anger she has never known before. She gazes at her daughter, Ava, her heart is heavy with emotions.
Evelyn tries to suppress her mounting rage, resisting the urge to resort to violence, but she finds herself overwhelmed, and without warning, she delivers a forceful slap.
After not seeing Devin during the school evaluation stage, she went around to find him, but she couldn't find him no matter how hard she tied and heard the rumors.
The moment she heard that, she knew who was spreading them. she called Ava, and they had a heated argument, which led to this slap.
"You... Just go to hell, you care more about him. He isn't your son or anything, why the hell do you care more about him than me? Do you even care about me?" Ava erupts, her words like fiery arrows aimed at her mother's heart. She does not hold back, hurling hurtful words, "Mother, you're just a bitch... Just go and fuck with that boy."
With her emotions boiling over, Evelyn reacts instinctively, delivering another slap, even more powerful than before.
Ava falls silent, her cheeks stained with tears she can no longer contain. She sobs uncontrollably, a whirlwind of emotions overwhelming her.
Witnessing her daughter's tears, Evelyn finally halts her hand before it can strike again.
In a tense silence, she finally says, "Ava... I'm sorry. I know it's my fault for forcing that marriage, but it doesn't mean you should spread rumors."
"Do you know the whole school is calling Devin a murderer, a rapist? Do you even realize the consciousness of your actions? Do you have any idea what it feels like when an entire school labels someone a murderer, a rapist? Let's not even talk about the fact that someone beat him and threw him out of school. He missed the school evaluation. Do you understand what that means?"
"This..." Ava struggles to find her words, her emotions bubbling inside her. "But it's... I just wanted to teach him a lesson. Isn't it justified after all the times he annoyed me, stalked me, almost raped me, isn't fair?"
Evelyn looks at her daughter, her disappointment and concern etched on her face, before she sighs heavily, "If anything happens to Devin, then forget about ever calling me mother."
Ava's expression morphs into shock, her world shattering before her. She looks at her mother, tears brimming in her eyes, and finally finds the courage to say, "I'm not going to... From now on, I'm not going to call you mother." With those painful words, she runs away, her tears leaving a trail on the floor.
From behind, Evelyn stands motionless, watching her daughter's retreating figure, feeling the chasm between them widen. Her heart aching with regret and worry. "What should I do? Why did this situation just get worse?"
She yearns to repair her relationship with her daughter, but with each passing moment, it seems to slip further away.
"Evelyn, first we have to find Devin, I... don't want..." Emily's voice quivers as she recalls painful memories.
Evelyn's face turns pale, and she nods with a resolute determination, "We have to find him quickly." The urgency in her voice is serious.
----
I'm sitting on the bench, looking at the night sky. I'm wondering what to do. I know I have to go back home, but I just can't gather the strength to do that.
If Aunt Evelyn asks me why I didn't come to the stage, what am I going to say then? I can't tell her about the rumors.
Her relationship is already bad with her daughter because of me. I can't make it even worse, so I have to come up with a lie before I go back home.
"Man, I lost again."
I look beside me at the person who just spoke. He is a man, only wearing his underwear, and he is undoubtedly handsome. So handsome that I can't understand why such a handsome man is in his underwear. Not only his face but his whole body is perfect.
"Who are you?" I ask. I don't know why I'm asking this instead of worrying about my situation. It's like I'm asking him such questions to distract myself from my worries.
"Hm," the man looks at me and says, "I lost all my money and clothes, so here I am." He spreads his hand and says.
"What? Just... How stubborn and stupid are you?" Without knowing why, I said these words. I look at the man, and he seems... What can I say... It's somehow making me calm and comfortable.
"Stubborn and stupid... Haha, you're right. I'm stubborn and stupid. Haha, I gambled everything when a beautiful woman said she would come to my house for the night if I win. Haha, I'm stupid. I've been trying for four years, but I still didn't win a single time, haha."
The man laughs as he speaks, and I don't know why, but with him, I also laugh and feel a lot better. I also understand that this man is stupid.
"But boy, why are you here? You know it's 3 AM. Did you have a fight with your parents and run away? Or something?" The man asks me and looks at me.
After he asks, I don't know why, but I tell him that I have two important people who helped me a lot so I can perform well in school evaluation, but some bullies beat me up so I can't even participate in school evaluation. I'm not going home because I don't want to disappoint them.
"Your worrying for nothing... You know I just lost everything, but I can still laugh because I have a future, and you have even more future than me. Just laugh and head back and work hard. It's such a simple thing, but people just can't understand." The man says with annoyance.
"Actually, I know... I know that I still have a good future, but... It's just I can't gather the strength to face them. I even know that they don't care about my school evaluation much. They might be worried about me right now... It's just I don't know... Why I'm hesitating," I say and look down.
I don't know why I'm still not able to go back home.
"I don't understand why you're still hesitating. I just can't understand you people," the man clicks his tongue and says before he grabs my hand, "Let's go. I'll come with you."
I look at him, blinking my eyes, as he frowns, "Don't tell me you're planning to stay here forever. You have to go back, so just let's go."
"It's not that..." I point at him, "Are you going to come with me like this?"
The man looks at himself, "Yeah, what's the problem? I developed this body to show off to ladies. Why would I hide them?"
"Just... Don't come with me. I will go alone." I say and then start walking.
"Well, let's meet again."
I heard his voice as I walk back to my home.
I doubt I'm gonna meet that man again. Well, if I want to meet him, then I guess I just have to go out and walk at this time. I might meet him without clothes again.