Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family

090

"You're not leaving?" Alisha asked Ryan.

They were together again—in the same room—after Logan and Hana had left for the meeting, but this time, they were on the same couch with a seat between them.

"You're not leaving?" he asked back, making it sound as if she had nothing important for her to stay behind.

"I'm staying here until we go see our fathers."

"That long?"

She nodded.

"Well, I'm going." He got up and received a text message, and as he read it, he had a small scowl and sat down again.

"Thought you're leaving?"

"Umm, I'll wait a bit."

"For what?"

He looked away because he wasn't sure how to tell her. Or if he was supposed to. "S-something."

She got the hint that he didn't want to tell her, so she ignored it and avoided eye contact with him until the silence filled with hushed breathing and stale air annoyed her, so she uttered, "Hey."

"Hmm?" He didn't shoot her a look as he was too busy gawking at his phone to check out every female model picture showing up on his social media feeds.

"Would you still want to be friends with someone clingy?"

He let out a mocking laugh. "Pfft, nope." He momentarily looked up from his phone to look at her. "It's not just me. No one wants that." He refocused on his phone again.

She looked at her feet. "Logan... He wouldn't want to be friends with me, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Aren't I clingy?"

This question stuck a pain in his heart for unclear reasons. The girl beside him was a mere acquaintance. Someone he only saw when he visited his buddy, and she and he fought and argued like step-siblings fighting for their parents' attention, so how could she make him worry about her? And why would he?

"I am," she added, "aren't I?"

He prioritized her over the female model pictures, so he turned off his phone and looked at her as she half-ignored his nearby presence. "Builder-woman..."

"Well, I am," she repeated, frustrated.

"I didn't say that. No one said anything of the sort."

"Your response said it."

"H-how was I supposed to know that you were referring to yourself?"

"Because I asked the question."

Okay, he got it now. He heaved a heavy sigh and briefly looked away before looking back at her. "Are you worried that his ex would come back?"

She finally properly looked at him, and it took her a moment to gather her courage and strength to admit the truth by nodding, although quite fearfully.

"And you're scared that he'll go back to her?"

"Well, it's obvious he still loves her since he was so worked up when that man, who helped his ex leave him, appeared." She scowled and glanced away, and with a much quieter voice but still loud enough for him to hear, she added, "And it's not like she was any ex. She was an ex-wife. I... I'd feel much better if she was a longtime girlfriend or something. But not a wife."

"Better?"

"Yeah. Because that'd mean I could have a chance to have him love me."

His guilty conscience hit him again because he knew who the ex-wife was, he knew the relationship among Hana and Logan and Lucas, and he also knew that he couldn't say it to anyone because it was none of his business. However, he did feel that it was cruel of him to not be able to help Alisha in any way, even if all they do was name-call, fight, and argue with each other. He exhaustingly pressed his back and head onto the wall behind him to look straight at the wall across from him. "When it comes to relationships..." He momentarily paused because, to him, it sounded wrong. "I mean, when it comes to serious relationships, I don't think you should worry too much about those trivial things."