Honest Lies | soojin

Part 5: Lies Beneath the Truth

"I know." Shuhua fumbled with her favorite green shirt. "What do you want to talk about. Unnie?" The way she said Unnie was different, it was so cold, like she has no other choice but to call me that because of our age difference, and not out of affection.

I inhaled a sharp breath, this is it.

"Last week. Did you... Did you use my phone before sleeping?"

"When?"

"Thursday night. You... Did you go through my messages?"

I'm just testing the waters for now. Minnie-unnie didn't say anything about how much Shuhua knew. I know I'm risking everything right now but I must take this risk in order to straighten things up.

She looked guilty, "Yes."

My body tensed.

Oh no.

All hope was gone now.

After a few seconds of thinking, I carefully asked, ".  .  . And?"

Her eyes looked down and stared on the floor, hard. She stopped crinkling her shirt and finally sat down on my bed. "I read something."

A thought of punching myself on the face came to my mind, why did I even left my phone in there? "What did you read?"

"Someone. An unregistered number texted you. I.. I was just taking a picture on the phone. I didn't mean to read it but it just popped out. I couldn't read the whole message because I heard the shower stopped running." She gazed at me quickly before looking at her lap, "I only read the 'I love you' at the end."

Wait. She speculated something out of that phrase? I-I thought she had more proof. If she read the whole content, she'd definitely knew immediately. A small fire of hope lit once again.

"What about it?" I followed her on my bed and slightly pushed her shoulder to the side, she didn't respond. "Are you jealous because of that? Is that why you've been avoiding me these days?" I tried to sound arrogant, teasing her. I knew lying is bad. It's like kissing the wound of a kid and telling the kid that the pain would be gone.

But right now, I've been weighing my chances. If lying is the only way to save my friendship with this young girl, I'd gladly do so. Up until we're both ready to accept the truth. Until I gathered enough courage to admit that I have a boyfriend now.

"Who was it?" Shuhua asked, ignoring my playful questions.

What should I tell her? Once I answered her question, there's no going back now.

"My sister." I mentally rolled my eyes. Out of all the people I could think of, it has to be my sister. "She bought a new phone and was asking me to save her number. She's been bothering me for weeks now."

My younger sister and I are close, too close to be saying "I love you" to each other. We get embarrassed so quickly, that our love for each other were usually shown through our actions and not by words.

I waited a response from this cute person beside me. Would she believe what I said? She has never met my sister before, only my Mom when she sometimes visits our dorm, so she probably wouldn't know our sisterly bond right?

"Okay." Shuhua stared at me for a while, and then she hugged me, tight. "I thought you are having an affair with someone. And didn't tell me." Her voice was laced with sadness, and she's been pouting the whole time she said those words. It came out so cute so I pinched her cheek.

Relief washed over my system, I hugged her back. I can never lose this girl. Ever. She's different. She's so loyal and honest, and so kind. She means so much to me even though I only got to know her a few months ago.