The Hidden Truth

6: I Miss You

[Lodi, San Joaquin County, California]

The middle-aged woman wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she took a look at what she had done so far. In her black boots, she walked in the mud with a basket in her hands.

'My farm is beautiful,' she thought. She had just finished plucking a full basket of grapes and was now heading over to the tomatoes section with another basket in her hands.

All she could think of at the moment was how packed her pantry would be after the harvest. She was so excited as her shiny teeth flashed out.

When she was about to pluck a tomato, she heard a buzz in the pocket. Sighing in frustration, she pulled out her phone and almost dropped it once she found out who the message was from.

Without wasting a second, the woman ran back to her house and opened the gates. She was beyond happy to meet a face she hadn't seen in a long while.

“Hi Auntie,” the man greeted with a warm smile. The woman welcomed him inside, totally forgetting that she was in the farm a few minutes ago. She made him sit down.

The man just watched as his aunt panicked, running helter skelter to prepare him a meal. He shook his head with a gentle smile.

A couple of minutes later, the woman came back with two huge sandwiches and placed them on the table before him.

“Auntie, I've told you so many times before that you don't have to prepare anything for me when I visit. I'm fine,” he lightly scolded as he took a sandwich.

“Ah, but you're growing up young one. You need all the nutrients you can get.”

“I'm just fine,” the young man replied between his bites. “I actually expected you to be scolding me for coming so far.”

With furrowed brows, the woman replied, “I didn't forget. But sometimes, it's good to be selfish.”

The young man chuckled. “You must be really happy to see me, huh?” He looked at his aunt's shoes. “I assume you were at the farm.”

The woman looked down and realized that she had her muddy boots on the whole time. She sighed internally and took them off.

“Anyway, how's life?” the young man asked. He was already done with the first sandwich and started munching on  the second one, all while listening.

“Life's great. It's only that I'm missing my little Ethan. You've grown up so fast,” she cooed as she wiped the tears that threatened to fall. He playfully rolled his eyes.

“I'm not little, Auntie. I'm a twenty year old man,” Ethan answered.

The woman moved closer to Ethan and hugged him. He accepted the embrace and hugged her back only to pull away after some minutes.

“I wonder how she's doing?”

Ethan froze.

Everything seemed to stop at that simple question. His head spinning in circles as darkness seemed to be seeping in. He felt his world crash. Everything broke.

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

I miss you.

-

[New York]

“I missed you,” he whined and squeezed me with his awfully big arms. I technically couldn't breathe and had to pinch him a couple of times to let me go. He sheepishly let go and apologized which made me smile a little.

“You know I could've died because of you,” I said and narrowed my eyes at him. He scratched the back of his neck.

“I said I was sorry,” he exclaimed and looked directly at me. Having an older brother is great but having Shawn in particular isn't as great as I thought. He can be a handful, that's for sure.

“I'm going downstairs,” I said and left the room, heading for the kitchen to get a snack. Luckily for me, it was Saturday so no school until Monday.

After I grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry, I made my way to the living room when I heard the doorbell ding. Sighing, I threw the bag of chips on the couch and went to the door.

“Ugh, I shouldn't have opened the door,” I groaned and almost slammed the door in the newcomer's face.

The newcomer held onto the door and smirked. “Hello, m'lady.”

I almost threw up.

“I'm not your lady, you filthy rat.” I scowled. He smiled as I continued sulking. Getting tired of him, I walked into the house, not caring if he entered or not.

I sat on the couch, grabbed my chips and turned on the television. He sat down beside me and I continued to scroll through channels.

“You aren't even gonna look at me?” he questioned. I glanced at him for one second and focused on the TV.

“I'm sorry but my eyes are not attracted to you. Who would want to look at someone like you?”

I heard him scoff. “I just came to discuss about the music competition. I didn't come to be insulted by you.”

My jaw clenched.

“Well then, why didn't you bring it up, hmm? If you really were gonna discuss about it, you wouldn't have given me a stupid pet name!” I raised my voice.

“I was gonna bring it up but you chose to argue!”

“How was I not gonna argue when you told me to look at you!”

He raised a brow. “And what do you mean by that? I just wanted your attention so I could speak. And I only just asked a simple question.”

I exhaled. “Get out.”

“And now you're chasing me. What did I do? I only just showed up, tried to greet you and you just chase me away?”

He stood up and looked at me. I couldn't face him. I didn't even know what was wrong with me.

“And I thought we could be friends, Elena but I was wrong about you.”

Leave Lamar...

With that, he left.

-

A/N: Umm, Hi there. Hope you guys are okay.

Anyway, if you're wondering about the Shawn and Elena scene where they're hugging for no reason then let me explain. Elena was simply busy in her room and he invaded and decided to hug her from nowhere.

Also, Elena was already fuming with anger because someone ruined her Saturday AGAIN. She loves her weekend. That's why she was angry at Lamar.

DONE!!

Stay happy and healthy:)

Love, KayKay ❤️