Cupid & Psyche

Cupid & Psyche: Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-one

I remember my grandfather told me when I was a little kid: learn to show even a tiny speck of appreciation for a person’s effort of showing you what he or she feels because it’s not every day he or she feels the same way.

“Have you been in love, Drew?” that was the first question that popped in my mind the moment I sat on the balusters of the balcony.

Andrew laughed at my question. Yeah, I know it was a stupid question to ask. I sighed and looked away in embarrassment.

“Every day when I see her, I’m in love.” he answered.

I looked back at him. “Isn’t it an ironic answer?”

He laughed more. “No. It’s base on the truth, Kai.”

I scratched my forehead. “Then, why is the truth making it hard for us to decide?”

Andrew’s face became serious. Maybe he saw the fact that the conversation is going stern.

 “Because the truth hurts. There are just two things, Psyche. Lie if you don’t want the person to get hurt or say the truth and face the consequences ahead of it. Let’s just face it, the best thing that you can do is to be brave and face the truth. Because even a single lie when it’s brought into the open it hurts more than the truth.”

I twitched my lips. “Well, then I guess I should face the truth and not lie about it.”

He moves beside me and he sat on the balusters. “What would you face? A fire breathing dragon or Hades?”

I snickered. “No…” I shook my head at him. “You really know how to balance things, Andrew. That’s what I envy about you.”

He laughed. “You’re funny.”

“Maybe.” I prompted. “In an Andrew-way.”

We both laughed. But then I started to feel sad again as I realized why we’re here outside. Andrew was right, he was always right. It’s best if I could tell someone about this so that somehow I would feel less pain. I know I couldn’t tell Kelpie and Janica about this since they already know but they wouldn’t understand. They would always love to change the topic into something silly when I’m bringing it up. Now, it’s just Andrew. That’s another problem, this is Andrew. Cupid’s best friend. But hey, he’s also my best friend. Of all people, I know that I can trust him to keep my secrets. I know of all people Andrew would understand me.

“I like him.” I said.

Then I hear Andrew’s laughter fading away. That’s when I looked at him.

He turned to me like he already knew the answer. But I repeated it.

“I like Cupid.” I said and I took a very deep breath to steady myself.

“How long?” he asked obliquely.

I managed another deep breath before answering. “Since the first day that I met him.”

I laughed but then a tear fell from my eye. “Shit.” I cursed as I wiped it away. I turned to Andrew who looked at me as if he also felt the pain that I was feeling.

“I think you don’t like him, Psyche.” He says bluntly.

My eyebrows met. “Why would you—“

“Because you already love him.” he continued before I could defend myself. I gasped as he said that, I knew he was right.

I covered my face with my hands then I wiped my tears away. “I don’t know.” I sniffed. “It’s so hard to pretend, Andrew. I am so tired to pretend that I’m okay when the truth is I’m not. Deep depression, frustration and hatred is burning up inside me that I don’t even have the guts to tell anyone to lessen the hurt.”