Melodies Of Betrayal: The Toxic Encore ✓

Chapter 21: Losing Her

Chapter 21: Losing Her

SANTA'S eyes fluttered open as rays of sunlight peeked through the windows of the room. He blinked a few times to adjust his vision before he took a glance around the room he was in. The same guest room he and Yacht were staying in. The same wardrobe, the same mirror, the same nightstands on both sides of the king-sized bed. He sighed and stretched his arms, reaching the area beside him on the bed, where Yacht was sleeping.

Nothing.

Stifling a yawn, his head bolted at the area beside him. To his surprise, Yacht wasn't there.

He stared at the empty bed in confusion for a few moments, already wondering why Yacht was up so early in the morning. He turned to the digital alarm clock beside him on the nightstand.

08:16 AM.

He sighed heavily, stretched his arms in the air, and cracked his joints before jumping out of the bed. Then, slowly made his way out of the room and down the stairs. His eyelids were heavy against his eyes. He knew that if it wasn't for Yacht's disappearance from the bed, he would've slept in some more.

He turned his head towards the living room to see if his friend was there. The empty couch was there, the turned-off television was there, and the coffee table was there.

But no sign of Yacht.

He mentally rolled his eyes as a thought crossed his mind. Yacht might've went to the kitchen to get some water, or food even. For him, or Junwon.

The second option was harder to believe.

His steps became bigger and more frantic while he directly made his way towards the kitchen. Soft, almost inaudible sobs overwhelmed his ears. His eyes widened as he bolted for the kitchen and peeked through the doorframe.

The stove, the cabinets, the island were the same. Only the kitchen table wasn't; as it had Yacht sitting on one of its chairs. His hands touched each other as his eyes stared into nothing, and despite how far Santa was, he could spot the fresh, glistening drops of tears streaming on his friend's face.

"Y-Yaya?"

Yacht took a side glance at his friend, then raised his hand to quickly wipe his tears away.

"I-I..."

Santa's eyes widened in shock as his feet took a small step inside the room.

"I'm o-okay, Santa," Yacht let out a soft sob, his face hiding behind his hands. "Don't worry about me."

"Yaya, please." Santa bolted for the kitchen sink to grab a glass of water, his heart beating loudly between his ribs in concern and worry. "What's wrong? Tell me what's going on, please..."

The glass was quickly filled up with fresh water, and Santa didn't hesitate to tighten his grip around it and hurry towards the table.

"Mal is dead." Yacht blurted out, already regretting his words and covering his mouth in heartbreak. His head sank back against the table, more tears escaping his red, puffy eyes. "Santa, she died. We lost her..."

Santa's feet stopped their careful steps, as if they were somehow paralyzed. His hands trembled, and to his shock and terror, the glass slipped from between his fingers and fell to the floor in slow motion.

They both flinched as soon as their ears caught the crack of glass shattering against the floor. Water spilled on the ceramic, on Santa's slippers and feet. Yacht could barely get up from his seat to assist his friend, and as much as he wanted to conceal his feelings for the sake of his friend, he found himself breaking down into tears of heartbreak, distress, and guilt altogether.

"W-What?" Santa's voice came out weak and broken with pain.

"The hospital called this morning and—oh, god, I'm sorry..." The oldest could finally get up and take a few steps towards his friend.

"W-What? What are you s-saying?"

"I'm sorry, Santa... I'm so sorry." Finally wrapping his arm around his friend, Yacht allowed tears to stream down his face, and down Santa's shirt.

He had to be joking, right?

There was... There was no way it could be true.

His friend had to be lying...

Mal couldn't be actually dead, could she?

Santa returned the warm embrace and sank his face into his friend's neck, "w-why? W-Why did she d-die?"

How could she die?

She was attacked, yes, but they both thought she was going to be okay. She was strong.

Or as though they thought.

"She was shot over seven times, Santa, she died of her injuries..." The reply stabbed knives into his heart. Over and over. Until he found himself unable to breath. His breaths hitched and shortened while his hand grabbed a fistful of Yacht's black, cotton shirt.

"No... No, this c-can't be."

But the unbearable pain in his heart told him otherwise. It was as if someone took a hold of his heart, then slammed it onto the floor as hard as they could go, similarly to what he did to the glass of water. The only difference was, what he did to the glass wasn't on purpose.

Yacht rubbed his hand onto Santa's back to calm him the least bit down, then, as gently as possible, shoved him away.

"W-What are we going to tell Junwon?" Yacht asked through his tears, and both of their hearts dropped at the mention of Junwon's name. "He's going to be heartbroken."

Santa shook his head, the image of Junwon's heartbroken, betrayed face crossing his mind.

Both of them knew Junwon very well, and they both equally knew that the word 'heartbroken' was nowhere near enough to describe what Junwon would be feeling if he knew that the love of his life passed away. More precisely, he was going to be destroyed.

And, oh, God, he promised him.

He promised Junwon that Mal was going to be fine.

He knew that she was going to be fine. He was almost sure of it. She wouldn't leave them like this. She adored Junwon with her whole heart... She couldn't leave him even if she wanted to.

"W-We... We can't hide this from him." Santa replied, tears running down his face. "G-God, what are we g-going to do?"

No matter how hard they tried, they wouldn't get over Junwon's infinite love for Mal. Especially when Junwon had been asking to see his lover for the past ten days.

So what option did they have?

"L-Listen, Yaya..." The other began, holding his older friend by his arms to force an eye contact. And despite that, Yacht couldn't dare to look into Santa's eyes, to avoid seeing how heartbroken he was. "I can go tell Junwon upstairs, and you can call Rajwan, right?"

God, he couldn't even imagine what Mal's brother would feel at that moment.

Yacht nodded, another tear escaping his eyes. "I'll do it now..."

Prying himself away from between Santa's arms, he allowed more tears of pain to stream down his face. He reached for his phone, which was on the kitchen table, and grabbed it with one swift move.

After pressing on a few buttons, Yacht put the phone close to his ears and waited with bated breath. He closed his eyes and inhaled for a few moments before his ears caught the shuffling noise coming from the speakers, declaring that someone picked up.

"Hey, Rajwan..."

Yacht waved his arm in the air, to motion to Santa to leave the room and go tell Junwon. Santa nodded his head and obeyed, soon making his way out of the room.

There went nothing...