One Last Chance

Revelation

Charlotte was deep in her sleep, clutching her girlfriend's hoodie like a lifeline even in her dreams. She had tears stained on her cheeks and on top of her blotchy eyes, she felt tired to her bones. Her limbs felt terribly heavy and she didn't have the energy to even move them.

In her semi consciousness, someone was knocking on her door. Hesitant at first before it turned urgent, she frowned and buried her face into the comfort of the soft hoodie. The knock came again with her name called out.

“A second!” She called out hoarsely before dragging herself up, it took more effort than she cared to admit.

She opened the door to a very worried Violet, the young woman gasped at the haggard sight of her.

“P’Char, are you okay? You look…” Violet gasped and struggled for a word without being rude.

“Like shit? I feel like shit too.” Charlotte leaned on the doorframe, “why are you here so early?”

“Early? P'Char, it's already 9. We called you but you never picked up, we're already late.”

“9???” Charlotte's eyes widened as she looked around her room. Her alarm never rang! She scanned her bedside table where her phone usually resides and found it empty, then she saw the little sad pile of scraps on the floor near the wall. Her heart sank as she walked towards it, yesterday's fight came crashing to her brain.

She held her broken phone with its cracked screen, the back piece fell off and felt her nose sting. Yet her eyes throbbed with a pain that she could only associate with an entire night of crying. They hurt because she had no more tears left to cry.

She stayed squatted as she held her phone in her hands, she spaced off for so long Violet walked hesitantly to her side. The younger sister patted her shoulders.

“P’Char? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Charlotte looked at her with red eyes, Violet bit her lips in sympathy and helped her up to sit on the bed. The house is a simple terrace house with a lot of partition rooms to fit more guests. That being said, the walls were thin and everyone probably heard Charlotte's yells last night.

“I'm fine, I have to get a new phone.” Charlotte shook her head and sighed.

“Do you want to use mine first, do you need it?” Violet offered helpfully but Charlotte quickly shut it down.

“No need,” She forced a smile, damn, even her lips were chapped. “Thank you, nong.”

“Okay, take your time. We're just going to wait downstairs for you.” Violet said softly, nodded to her and closed the doors gently behind her.

Charlotte stared at her broken phone in numbed despair, she had a quick thought to tell Engfa her phone broke but she huffed.

Whatever, not like she cares.

Charlotte put the scraps next to her handbag, regardless she still needed to have it fixed. Without further delay, she went to her washroom to get ready for the day.

She gasped as she looked into the mirror,

“I do look terrible, god.” Charlotte exclaimed as she pressed gently on her swollen eyelids and winced as they throbbed. She washed up quickly and applied thicker makeup to cover up any evidence of her rough night.

She was determined to not think about Engfa today, she's had enough with her childishness. She walked downstairs and was instantly embarrassed at her team sitting around waiting for her. She knew she must have been quite loud last night. At the heat of the moment, she only wanted Engfa to understand without caring who else could hear her.