Not Prince Charming (Completed)

6 - Cinderella

“I don’t know where I belong, but I’ll be moving on”
~Beyonce (Listen)

I went back home and picked my purse, entrance ticket and ID card before leaving.

When I arrived at the centre, it was already 8:59 and I had just 31 minutes total amount of time.

After I was verified and allowed into the hall, “You’re late, girl!” The invigilator said with a worried and confused look.

“It’s a long story,” I said, eager to collect my questions and move to my seat.

“Hope it wasn’t hard as well,” a male voice mouthed from the back where the students were and the next minutes the hall was filled with the laughter of the rest of them.

Tears well up in my eyes, but I blinked them back and waited to for the invigilator to give me my question. He gave me a sympathetic look, but said nothing before giving me my question papers. I collected them and made my way to my seat and began writing.

A part of me knew what the outcome of the exam was going to be, because I was barely done with my reading yesterday when I got the call and I’m super late to the exam and disorganized at the same time. The other part of me was optimistic and still hoped for the best.

I did my very best, but the results came out and my name wasn’t the last, but neither was it in the top three names. I was in the fifth place out of 37 of us.

It didn’t matter that I was in fifth place because I was much a failure as the one who took the last position.

I lost my chance at a scholarship, which also meant I was going to have to put my education on hold and I had a mother whose life was still hanging on a thread and also awaiting another surgery. I didn’t know where to begin with my grief and pain, and in that moment, I wished there was a way to make it all stop. I needed to make the pain stop. I was ready to do anything just to make helplessness and self pity. I had stopped, even if it meant entering a deal with the devil himself.

On my way home, I pondered upon the way my life had suddenly been brought to a horrible spot in less than 24 hours. I wonder if there was even any purpose to all this, if there was use for holding on and believing. I knew no one to call to or on; I knew no distant relative or uncles or aunts that could help and I was alone in this difficult time with hands tied down and nowhere to go.

I came home and searched through my drawer where I had tossed a card sent to me by Noah Castillo. He’d sent it, letting me know I still had 4 days to decide about his proposal. That was 10 days ago though. I knew the time to decide had expired, but I still had to give it a shot. It was the only hope I had.

After dialing the number on the card, I waited for him to pick, but he didn’t, not after the first ring, so I tried again, and this time he picked up.

“What do you want?” were the first words I heard on the phone. His voice was cold and unfriendly, but it also sounded victorious.

I knew he knew I was the one talking, how he knew I did not know, but I wasn’t ready to ask how or why, so instead, “I accept. Where can we meet and discuss?”

“Discuss what?”

“The terms of the deal you made the last time we met.” I explained further.

“The deal expired 6 days ago, I believe.” For someone who was sounding uninterested, he kept counting the days.

I felt a part of my heart squeeze a little for fear of losing the only and last hope I had. “Does it matter? I’m giving you what you want, me. So where can we meet? Is the last location we met okay?”