Double Meaning

6.2

Lisa exited her school in her gym uniform. Her skirt had been slashed to shreds by a box cutter and was now inside her backpack. Within a week since she had transferred into this school, she had become an outcast. This was because she had consistently ignored any kid that came up to speak to her. When a clique of them began to provoke her by asking her if she thought she was too good for them, Lisa went to her homeroom teacher and reported them, and so they retaliated several-fold.

Three days had passed since all her textbooks had gone missing. Today, she discovered her uniform skirt slashed to shreds in her locker. Even though she desperately wanted to return to the United States, the distant relatives that took her in were not financially stable.

Should I just quit school?

She wanted to quit school and earn money to leave this place. She no longer wanted to stay in the place where her parents had died, and it was becoming difficult to continue to receive her relatives' dissatisfied looks. Just as long as she could purchase a plane ticket, she'd make it work. As she was thinking this, someone called out to her.

"So you're Lisa."

Lisa raised her head and looked at the person who spoke. She stared at the person who had a scar on his brow and stopped in her tracks.

"......"

"Do you know who I am?"

She had never met this man before. Wearing a black coat and leather gloves, the man grinned at her. Observing his sharp face, Lisa had a feeling that she shouldn't get close to this man. She answered softly.

"...No, I don't."

"I'm your father's friend. Don't you remember me?"

"...I didn't see you at the funeral either. How can I trust that you're actually my father's friend?"

Lisa shook her head. As he gazed at her, a strange smile stretched across his lips.

"You really don't recognize me."

"If you come near me, I'll call the police."

As her hair fell and covered her face, Lisa murmured softly. 6 months had passed since she had witnessed her parents' horrifying deaths, but she still had a difficult time speaking with people. She had developed sociophobia.

"Here. Will you believe me with this?"

The man held out his cellphone to her. Lisa's eyes lowered to the screen. She saw a picture of her father and this man.

"Go ahead and swipe through the rest."

Lisa remained where she was and didn't move, so the man touched the screen himself. She saw many photos flash by.

"I thought I wouldn't have any photos of us together, but there were more than I expected."

What he said was true. She saw many pictures of her father with this man in many locations. Some pictures showed them with other people, and there was even a photo of them together at a fishing hole.

The last picture was a group photo. At the center of a group of men in suits, her father was in a tuxedo as he stood next to her mother in a wedding dress.

Tears began to well up in Lisa's black eyes. She thought that she didn't have any more tears left to shed, but her heart still twisted whenever she saw a picture of her parents.

"You were still in your mother's belly here."

The man's eyes became cloudy as he recalled the past with a smile.

"We were so shocked when he suddenly told us he was getting married. We were still so young back then, and we didn't have anything to our names. When you father told us your mother was pregnant, we were all so surprised and happy for him. I remember we got insanely drunk that night."