Beyond The Crash

CHAPTER 34 | [THE ART IN LIFE]

A Distorted Lens_3

"Why does the world never play fair?"

Was a question he never thought he would ask.

All their stares of hatred and disgust are now in the open. His so-called friends were no longer hiding their disdain.

After everything he gave them- did for them.
It looked so easy to forget.

His shoulders sagged when he saw her stare.
It wasn't the kind that he'd known it as. It was different. Of fear... regret... and hurt.

When did it happen? When it everything spiral down?

He felt a piercing pain in his chest. One he had never felt before.
"It's all his fault. It's because of him that I became like this- that she left me."
He would tell himself.

The primary- his parents only stared at him the way they knew how to, when something didn't go their way- disappointment.

But a part of him felt a strange sense of... power¿

Power¿?

He wouldn't go down... and neither would him.

"Let's all pretend it never happened. We'll fix everything. Don't worry, Mommy and Daddy got this."
His mother had said.

It wasn't like he didn't believe her. He did because he knew all too well that they would help.
But was it what he wanted?

He didn't know.

And that question was left unanswered.

His mother eyes dulled as she spoke, her tone not even trying to sound reassuring. And his father? The man couldn't even look his son in the eyes.

"Don't bring another disgrace unto this family. Don't make me rethink having done all this for you. You got fortunate this time. There's no telling of the next- there shouldn't even be a next time. If not..."
The words from there blurred in his head. His father tone was colder, sharper, and more peircing than usual... than what he was used to.

It was the same old.
They preferred one over the other.

He knew all too well.

All those loving gestures, whether in public or elsewhere. Fake.

In a world full of people, how can one still feel so lonely?
"The world never plays fair. You should get used to it."
Was finally his sister response. Not to his question but to him.

But...
Was what he did so wrong to warrant such a response?

*#|#*

"Hm?"

"Oh," Lilley blinked, dumbfounded. "Oh!-" she immediately closed her mouth with her hands.

"Hey," he said, tone a bit awkward.

"Hi," she replied to him, with the same tone.

The guy eyes slowly drifted from her to the guy behind her, making her turn back.
Jayden didn't move and just stared back.

"I... I'm sorry," the face cap guy apologised.

"No, no. We're done," Lilley quickly said.

"We are?" Jayden cooed, a small grin still tugging on his lips, making the face cap guy raise a brow.

"Yeah, we are," she snapped back at him.

"Then, shouldn't you be on your way to class? What class did you have next? Biology?" He stepped closer to where they were.