Lia

A day has passed since I didn't see Hazel. Since I betrayed her and lied horribly to her. Since I felt a wave of emotions for her ex-boyfriend. But today, I have to face her. We will return home together after school as usual. And I've promised myself to tell her the truth. I didn't talk to Thomas since what happened. He messaged me and called me various times, but the guilt inside of me compelled me to ignore him.

Actually, classes have just ended and I'm walking with Ariel to the parking lot where Hazel is going to meet me. Ariel and I have almost all classes together. She is my close friend since childhood, a curvy short red-head with stunning dark green eyes. She is also buddy-buddy with Hazel. We know we can always count on her.

"So, what do you intend to do?" She asks me concernedly as I end up telling her the bitter story, while walking along the school corridor to get to the parking. I needed to talk about my problems to feel better and Ariel is the most suitable person for it.

"I'm fucked up, Ariel! I can't get Thomas out of my brain!" I lament, resting my face in my palms in shame.

Oh Lia, where did you put yourself? How can you fall for him?

"Listen." Ariel stops walking and looks at me in all seriousness. "You are going to tell Hazel the truth, explain everything clearly. Tell her what Thomas told you and that you started to like him back after you kissed. And that you lied because you didn't have the courage." She rests a supportive hand on my shoulder. "Tell Hazel the truth, she is your best friend. She knows you, she will understand."

I manage to smile at her gracefully. But inside of me, I'm still terrified.

*************

I'm driving back home with Hazel seating beside me. It's our daily routine but for the first time today, I'm feeling terribly awkward. To be at ease; impossible. Guilt is eating me up and I'm suffocating because of it.

It's high time to get rid of all those negativity and recover the truthfulness of our friendship. With this tenacious thought, I inspire a breath and call her. "Haz-"

"You don't know what happened yesterday!" She bursts out excitedly, disregarding that I was just calling her.

Great. All my impetus went in vain.

Although I'm in a low spirit and not in the mood to listen to her, I lend an ear to her story as it's captivating enough to distract me. 

"Yesterday that night with Erden was something... different." Hazel avows, smiling to herself timidly. "Magical like people say." She adds in a passionate manner.

I can't help but to grin. "The effect of this book is more powerful than I thought."

Her smile immediately switches into a grim expression. "But it affects only me. Erden is unmoved by all that happened and he is even able to date Lexi."

I give her a piteous smile and gaze back at the road. "Don't worry, I'm sure that you will get used to him and the book will no longer have any effect on you too."

Nevertheless of what I just said, somewhere inside of me I want her to feel something for Erden. She won't mind then if things are meant to happen between me and Thomas.

"Hope so." She sighs with crossing arms and reclines in the car seat.

Noticing that the car is finally silent, I take a deep breath to get myself ready again to tell Hazel the truth. "Haz-"

"Lexi is the mole I'm sure. I find it strange that they are suddenly dating." Hazel cuts me again, making my hands tighten around the steering wheel.

I'm going to have an attack soon.

Letting out a sigh, I tell her in all normality. "You are right. Lexi is definitely the mole."

She nods vigorously. Then her eyes narrow a bit.

"Were you saying something?" She asks.

Great. She realises it now.

"No... Nope." I falter. "We can talk at your place." I clench the steering wheel nervously.

In her house, I will tell her everything clearly. Everything will be fine.

I can do it.

I can!

***********

After parking my car on the side of the street in front of Hazel's house, Hazel and I swiftly get out of the machine. As I close the door of the vehicle and lock it, I perceive Hazel's voice. "What are you doing here?" She asks dryly.

I raise my head to see with whom is she talking and my heart almost stops beating on seeing Thomas who is standing in front of Hazel's door.

Oh shit.

I'm finished.

"I was waiting for you, we need to talk." Thomas says softly to Hazel, his arms folded.

I begin sweating heavily.

"I thought you didn't want to see my face again." Hazel scowls.

My heartbeat accelerates, throbbing at double pace. One because I'm totally panic-stricken and secondly, Thomas presence makes me nervous.

"Thank god." He breathes a sigh of relief, giving me a small smile as he notices my existence. "I thought Lia would never be able to tell you that we kissed."

At that moment, my world crumbles. My voice feels stuck to my throat.

"That's why I came to talk to you in case she wasn't able to do so." Thomas says coolly, not aware of anything. "Look, I'm so sorry for hiding you all this time that I like Lia. I didn't have the courage to tell you the truth."

My eyes slam shut. Shit Thomas. Shit.

In shame and disgusted of myself, my head drops to the ground.

"When I saw you that day with Erden, it infuriated me to see that you are not making effort for our relationship. I felt betrayed because even if I liked someone else, I was maintaining my loyalty and trying to fall in love with you."

I squeeze my closed eyes.

"Tho... Thomas." My eyes voice wobbles. "I didn't tell her anything yet."

At this moment, I can hear him mutter a fuck. But it's too late.

Hazel

Thomas sentence is echoing in my head, whirling everything around me. A knot is forming in my stomach, causing me to suffocate.

He was fooling me all this time.

"I... I'm so sorry Hazel. Forgive me." Lia pleads in sobs.

I stare at her, speechless. My gaze soon turns hazy as tears swamp my eyes. It's as if somebody just stabbed me in the heart, rending me paralyzed.

This is not be possible.

It's not!

Lia can't Lie to me. No she can't!

"I was trying to tell you in the car but you didn't let me talk." She sniffles. "It was my mistake to kiss Thomas back in a wave of emotion. But then after the kiss, I started to feel all kind of ways for him. I didn't have the courage to tell you that."

I breathe harder.

"Y-you are my friends." I finally speak in a trembling voice. "If you like him, I would have respected that." I let out a down-hearted chuckle, throwing at her a disgusted look. "But you lied to me."

She lowers down her gaze in shame.

"And you Thomas." I laugh. "You've been fooling me all this time, for one whole year!"

I know I'm not a saint too. I lied to him too and didn't get the courage to tell him about what happened between me and Erden. But at least I didn't try to continue to stay in this relationship while hiding. After all, the story is responsible for all this.

"Hazel, I'm so sorry." Thomas pleads, rubbing his face. "I didn't even understand my own feelings."

A lump is formed in my throat as I'm about to break into tears, almost succumbing to my weak legs.

Seeing my pitiful state, both Lia and Thomas step forward to help me.

"Just don't!" I warn with my palms spread out in front of my chest, taking a step back.

They instantly freeze, gaping at me.

I rapidly turn back and haste to my door, unable to look at their face any longer. I open the door, slamming it behind me. Not strong enough to retain myself anymore, I lean against the piece of wood and finally cry my heart out, tears deluding down my cheeks like a waterfall. My hand comes to clog my mouth as I howl the excruciating pain from my torn heart.

A broken friendship hurts more than a break-up.

********

It's already dark my now. I've been seated here on the dim balcony for almost two hours, watching the amazing view of the city. For the first time, I have realised its beauty. From the tall sky crappers compassing the small houses to the far away mountains enclosing the whole city, everything seems so designed. It's even more beautiful now that the sun has already set. The city is illuminated by sparkles of colourful lights. From the lowest to the highest floors of the tall buildings, each one of them is glowing mostly in white lights, which renders alive the nightlife of the city.

It's crazy how you you can stay inert, observing all these things when you got a broken heart. I have not moved from my chair at all, not even to see my parents before they go for their dinner tonight. Mom probably thought that I was sleeping.

But in fact, I can't sleep because it's impossible to stop myself from crying. Lia was the only one in whom I had infinite trust in. But she lied to me. It was so simple. She just broke our friendship, our precious bond in a snap of fingers for the one I was dating. How respectful. She lied to me for him. How can you lie to your other half? Everything is shattering around me. I'm not even able to see where I'm situated. Lia was my only light left and she just turned it off, leaving me in the dark, all alone.

"What happened to you?" A deep male voice suddenly asks from behind me, breaking my thoughts.

My body straightens.

Erden.

Oh no.

I rapidly begin wiping off my tears with the back of my hands, making sure that he doesn't notice any drops.

"Wh...what are you doing here?" I ask without turning to look at him, trying to act normal but I fail miserably. My voice wobbled due to excessive crying.

"I asked first." He protests.

I emit a puff.

"Why do you care?" I snap, running a hand over my face to get rid of my crying mien as I hear him walking to me.

Stay where you are, stay there!

But unfortunately, Erden halts and sits on the chair which is beside me, rending me nervous. Fearing that he might remark my red eyes, I keep my gaze plastered on the view of the city, without glancing at him once.

"I'm not caring, I'm just curious." Erden attests as I see him from the corner of my eyes observing my face.

Stop doing that.

Unrest by his presence, I clear my throat. "And my other question?" I ask, still not looking at his face.

I can hear him sigh. "Your parents aren't at home, so I'm taking Lexi out. She is not ready yet."

I roll my eyes. That was the only thing missing.

"So." Erden's voice brings me back. "You won't tell me why you were crying?"

I immediately look at him in astonishment.

He gives me a proud smile.

Great. He caught me.

I simply shake my head in disagreement which makes him suck in his left cheeks. "I don't really know how to console someone, so you better tell me."

I finally chuckle. I remember that I wrote him saying the same line in one of my drafts of my book.

I look at him in wonderment. "You are exactly how I wrote you."

Erden squints in a displeased manner. "Oh please, don't talk about this book. I still can't digest the fact that I'm one of its character."

I chuckle again.

Erden then looks at me, smiling lightly.

"Wanna go out with us to get rid of this mood?" He proposes with a wink.

My eyes narrow.

It's getting fishy.

"Why are you being nice to me since yesterday?" I question frankly. "I mean, you even said you had a nice time too after the ride."

I can feel my cheeks heating up as I replay the moments of last day in my head. It was so filmy.

My thoughts are dispersed as I hear Erden inhales in a sharp breath.

"I'm trying to make myself forgiven." He declares seriously, looking deep into my eyes.

I blink twice. Did I hear properly?

Erden keeps staring at me, a rueful expression on his face. "I was a bit harsh with you."

"A bit?" I raise a sly brow.

Erden rolls his eyes. "Okay. Extremely." He avows puffingly.

This time, I'm the one smirking while he is the one making the grumpy face.

I edge my head to him and smirks wider. "And the magic word?"

He flinches in horror. "There is no way I'm saying that."

Typically men.

"Oh, your ego is gonna hurt?" I tease, feigning a piteous face.

"No it's just....it's ju..." He stops his stammering as I wiggle my eyebrows at him. He knows that it's useless for him to find an excuse.

"Okay. I'm sorry!" Erden bursts out, irritated.

I bounce on my chair out of joy, clapping my hands cheerfully. Then my craziness suddenly seizes when I remember Lia. I have totally forgotten about her. I secretly smile at that thought as I ogle at the handsome sitting beside me.

Thanks, Erden.

"Happy?"

I sneer. "Very."

He then all of a sudden stands up and makes his way to the door.

Seriously? This petty thing angered him?

"Where are you going?" I ask curiously.

Without stopping to look at me, Erden replies sarcastically. "Looking for ice to put on my burnt ego."

I laugh out loud.

He then turns to look at me before he passes through the door. "You're coming with us or not?"

"No, I'm good here." I reply, feigning a smile. There is no way I'm going out with Lexi and him. Thank you for the invitation but I don't want to be the third wheel. And on top of that, Lexi and I are like cat and dog. Maybe he is unaware of it.

Erden gives me a last look clearly saying that I'm being lame, before he walks into the house, leaving me back alone on the balcony. But this time, my mood has enlightened, thanks to my male protagonist.

I know he is the type of guy who likes to have control over everything, who doesn't like being challenged. The more I taunt his ego, the more he will taunt me and the more I demonstrate my superiority over him, the more he will try to take the lead. And this is something that I will never let him do. Never!

v('-ι_-｀)

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed this chapter❤

I know, I'm sad too for Lia and Hazel.😢 We just hope that things get better between them later!

And about Hazel and Erden, what do you think?😉

See you soon, love yah!😘