Chereads / Bro's Goofy Classmates / Chapter 22 - Our first heartbreak

Chapter 22 - Our first heartbreak

"Ah... well, you see, it's almost 3 PM and I still have to travel back home to Bulacan. If I get stuck in traffic by 4 PM, it'll be rush hour and it'll be tough to get a ride at the terminal."

"Eat first, wait for this menudo, it's almost done. Or take some with you?" Kate's mom offered.

"Aren't you going back to the apartment?" Kate asked.

"I just need to say goodbye to my brother and Dadoy. I left them there, especially Dadoy; he's expecting me to come back!" I explained to Kate.

"I'll come with you!" Kate whispered insistently.

"No way. I brought you here because Dadoy has a crush on you," I whispered firmly, trying to stop her.

"Come on! Then you can bring me back here," she said while playfully nudging me.

I looked around, my eyes darting as I thought about whether to give in to Kate or to finally learn to say no to her. I decided to try to get her mom on my side to keep Kate from leaving the house.

"It'll be late, Kate. It's dangerous on the road. We might even run into Jeric. You know he's mad at me," I raised my voice slightly so her mom could hear.

"Who's Jeric? Is that your brother's gangster friend? He's always the instigator of drinking sessions whenever he's here! Every time he visits, there's always alcohol. Good thing Kate doesn't drink. But I don't like that boy's influence! The last time he was here, Kingkong sent him home alone!" Kate's mom said, clearly annoyed.

"That's what I told Kate, to avoid him. He seems to have bad intentions. Earlier, Kate was with them again at their place. They were drinking, luckily my friends and I arrived," I said, frustrated with Kate's behavior.

"Tete, I thought you enrolled? That's what you said when you leave!" Kate's mom exclaimed.

"What's this! Betrayal? Fine... just go!" Kate said as she stormed out to her room.

"That's my problem with that girl. Her head gets harder as time goes by. Tsk tsk!!" Kate's mom said, banging the pan slightly on the sink and shaking her head with a sigh.

"We'll talk to her dad later. Tomorrow, everything will be okay. If she keeps acting like this, I'll send her to Nueva Ecija to her grandmas. She won't be able to act out there," Kate's mom said.

When Kate acted like that, I realized I never really planned on us being together. All the things I told her parents were lies to keep their good impression of her. But if her own parents can't control her, what about me? I admired the beautiful relationship this family had, but Kate felt like a ticking time bomb waiting to surprise us and cause pain.

Going back in time...

"Oh, you're here! I've been looking for you since last night. I thought you went to Auntie Lilia's! I went there but you weren't home!" Auntie said loudly as we opened the gate for her and Jennifer. But she wasn't really angry. We heard her knocking at the gate first, but we hurried to put on our clothes. We went out the back as Jennifer suggested so we wouldn't look suspicious.

"Jennifer asked me to come with her because her dad didn't come back. She was alone," I noticed Robert was with Auntie, and he must have been the one to point us out.

"Okay, as long as nothing bad happened to you. Next time, let someone know. You should have gone home first, then come here," Auntie added, as things seemed to calm down. When she and Jennifer started speaking in German, I kept quiet.

"Have you two had breakfast? Come over to the house, we need to talk," I understood Auntie saying to Jennifer.

"We'll just lock up the house and follow Auntie," Jennifer replied.

...

As I walked, memories of Jennifer and me flooded back. Whenever I spaced out or was lost in thought, I always returned to that world where I was last happy. I spent almost a year of not studying just to remember and forget her. Maybe it was a form of undiagnosed depression. I was tied to the past but tried to move on, wearing a mask to hide my sadness. Kate's mischief might have momentarily pulled me out of that lonely world.

What should I do now that Kate and I ended on bad terms?