Chapter 2~ Her Pain
Waiting for him felt like forever. When she heard about him coming back, it brought a mixture of emotion to her, happiness, excitement, name it all. It's like she finally felt her life bloom.
She volunteered to clean her Uncle Tom's house, she wanted to do a welcome decoration for her long lost best friend, Tomilson. The only guy she had a crush on, the guy who has all her attention. But then, Emy smiled sadly, does he even know that she likes him? That she waited years for him and now he's finally coming back. Then maybe, just maybe they can make their promises come true. She busied herself preparing some decorations as memories started to replay inside her mind.
"Tommie, are you really going to leave?" Emy pouted.
"I guess so. Daddy bought me a ticket. We will look for Mommy." Tommie replied with a smile, "but don't worry, mine, I'll come here again!" He added.
"When?" She started to sob.
"I don't know, mine. When we find mom then, I'll come back here for you!" He clapped.
"Stop calling me mine. Mine is not my name, It's Emy, my name is Emy!" She corrected.
"You're name is Emily." Tommie stated with a little hint of confusion.
"I knoooow!" Emy exaggerated. "But my mom used to call me Emy! To make it short." She explained.
"And that's why I'm calling you mine to make it shorter!" He grinned.
"But mine doesn't even sound like Emily!" she whined.
"It's 'mine' because you're mine, my best friend and I also want you to be my girlfriend when we grow up!" he smiled widely.
She started crying. "I don't want you to leave!"
"I will come back! Here, keep this and we will do all of these when I come back." Tommie said and kissed Emy.
There was no malice or any hint of romantic-relationship feeling that time, they were kids and they were so familiar with each other. But Emy, as she grew up, slowly developed something for her best friend. She was sure it wasn't anymore friendship that she wants because she made it sure to herself that it is not puppy love.
When Tommie randomly ignored all her messages, she was hurt but she was also thankful that he helped her realize her feelings for him.
She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and reread the content inside it again. She chuckled. "I look crazy, right, Damon?" she said as she patted the head of her Chihuahua.
"We're here!" she heard her mom shouted and she swear her heart is bouncing up and down inside her chest. She hurriedly went to the mirror and fixed her face.
"Tommie's here!" she squeaked to her reflection.
"WELCOME HOME!!!" she shouted as she opened the door.
Ouch. Is only an understatement word of what she seen when she swung the door open. Is it possible to be happy and sad at the same time? Maybe. Because that is what Emy felt when she saw Tommie placing a gentle kiss on the girl's lips while his arms are on her shoulder.
But then, Thomas hurriedly accepted her words and hugged her, "Hello kiddo! You've grown so much!" his uncle Thomas said and winked at her.
Emy is beyond embarrassed. When Tommie stopped talking to her, she confessed to her uncle Thomas her feelings for his son and even checked on Tommie every day. But why? Why her uncle Thomas did said nothing to her?
"Emy? Is that you?!" she heard a foreign voice and sweeps her off her feet.
"Hi there! Umm, you can put me down." She said. "I uhh, I'm afraid of heights." She let out a small chuckle.
Tommie let her down the moment she requested and went back to the other girl's side. "Anyways, Emy this is Suji, my girlfriend. Suji, this is Emy, my childhood best friend."
Just a childhood best friend now, my place in his life seemed to downgrade. She thought but then she hugged Suji without hesitating.
"Wanna see my old room?" Tommie invited his girlfriend. And that's how they disappeared from Emy's eyes.
Emy let out a sigh. "Well, that was awkward." Her mom whispered to her.
"I know." She mouthed.
She went to the car and helped her mom and Thomas carry the things they brought home. What Emy thought to be a very wonderful afternoon became the day she wished that never happened.
"So, Emy, How's school?" Thomas asked her as they ate dinner. The five of them were eating, note that.
For an unknown reason, Emy felt like she is in hot seat or maybe she's just feeling awkward about her super high expectations. She felt her mom's foot kick hers softly. Then she got pulled back to reality, "Umm, It's good uncle Tom! I, uhh, I joined the theatre club." She tried to take pride on her statement.
"Theatre? Wow, that means you can sing well." Thomas smiled.
"You should hear her sing!" her mom happily invited her uncle.
"Mom, stop it." She said.
"Do you have a boyfriend now, Emy?" Tommy asked out of the blue.
Now she was taken aback."Umm yeah..." that was all she was able to say.
"What's the lucky man's name? You should let us meet him! We can go on a double date before I go back to London." Suji, her best friend's girlfriend, said in a very excited tone.
"Umm." So this is real struggle. She thought. She scanned her creative mind on guy names that sound handsome and attractive and etc. and finally, "His name is Damon." She said and let out a smile. Why does she feel like she is in an oral recitation in class?
"He must be handsome!" Suji raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, he is!" she tried to smile widely.
After what seems to be a very long time, the dinner was finally over and she bade goodbye to everyone and went home, which is just across Tommie's house. She brought her puppy with her.
When her aunt Jurri died, they 'migrated' in the house across Tommie's so that her mom can look out for Thomas and Tommie.
She put her dog in its cushion and she threw herself in bed with her elbows covering her eyes. Then she felt her dog on her bed, licking her fisted hand.
"What happened today, Damon?" she asked her dog and cried. "Expectation sucks!" she whined.
"She's way prettier than me... but I'm prettier for you, right?" she said and hugged her Chihuahua. "I'm sorry for using your name in lying to them, Damon. And I think, I will be using it for quite some time." She said and drifted to sleep with tears in her eyes.
A/N
Okay, this chapter 2 is a bit light-hearted compared to book 1's chapter 2 but please bear with me. I will try my best to make this as good as the first one. Thanks for reading!
