Under the Umbrella ✓

-32-

“I happened to get off work late that day and I was fortunately by the street then,” Elliot responded in his offhanded countenance.

Of course, she thought. Of course, that made sense. What was Aria even trying to imply?

Sandra gave out a relieved sigh as she squeezed Aria’s small frame in her arms. “You must have been really lucky that day.”

Aria wouldn’t call herself lucky if she were to take all the events that had happened that day into consideration, but she was thankful. She threw Sandra a limp smile, relieved that Sandra didn’t seem to be offended for trying to bury the occurrence from her. From afar, the reason why she covered up the incident from Sandra didn’t even seem like much of a big deal but Aria realized now that she was more afraid of losing Sandra even to the smallest hitch in their friendship than with Sandra taking an action for Aria’s social life.

Aria was so lost in the string of her disarranged thoughts that she didn’t feel Sandra withdrawing her arms from her body. She only returned to the moment when Sandra sturdily elbowed Aria on her side, stopping midway through a civil conversation with Elliot.

“You’re being too cold to someone who just saved your life,” Sandra chastised.

“I thought so too,” Elliot put in capriciously. “You owe me, quite a lot actually.”

She very well knew that, although she expected him to be much modest about it. He hadn’t seemed too interested in the conversation until then. “Well, what do you want in return?”

“You already know what I want,” he said with such an unadulterated bluntness that made a shiver run through her spine. “I just want to get to know you. Is that too much to ask?”

“Yes,” she deadpanned, trying not to go off course with her intent. “It is too much to ask.”

“Even when I was there for you when you clearly needed someone?” he dangerously asked.

She hoped Sandra wasn’t able to read between the lines but Sandra wasn’t slow on the uptake. It wasn’t the first time Aria had hidden things from Sandra and this time the reason why was nothing as petty as her social life reservations. It always came down to embarrassment. Because she was embarrassed. Embarrassed of herself, embarrassed of her life, embarrassed of her purpose.

Aria was changing, that much she could tell. She had yet to fathom why that as more time passed, the more she withheld speaking about even the littlest things to Sandra. It was her fault for letting a stranger see that embarrassing side of her voluntarily. She should have felt guilty for doing it when she hadn’t even broken down in front of Sandra for ages.

But Elliot was being pointblank immoral by now. Even as he saw the warning on her face, he continued maliciously. “It’s just not how give-and-take works.”

She was hardly conscious of the incredulous huff that escaped her lips. She was livid. What was his problem? It wasn’t as if she begged him to help her or be there for her. Why was he doing this when he visibly knew she preferred to keep it between them? 

She didn’t know a lot about Elliot but this side of him was not something she would have imagined he’d ever pull off. She couldn’t understand for the life of her why he was so persistent. It was disturbing how she sensed there was something about her that he was after. It was even eerier that she felt like she knew his pursuit had nothing to do with anything tangible.

“You know you’re being really strange, right?” she exasperatedly voiced after her long silence. “Why should it be me when there are hundreds of different people out there? It’s a simple question, Elliot.”

He let out provoked breath out. “Trying to get to know someone needs a fucking motive now?”

“Stop trying to bullshit me. I know there’s something more.”

It was as if Sandra wasn’t even around anymore. The both of them had their undivided attentions on each other and how their conversation had taken a turn to this warfare of truth was a mystery that she wasn’t bothered to decipher.

Something in his eyes shifted, and something about the shift kept Aria on the edge. “So is this one of your insecurities?” She held his gaze in place of retorting to it. “If I push you any further, will you cry and run away again?”

It felt as if her surroundings had suddenly gone mute, forcing her to hear every syllable he had just uttered. There was no more embarrassment, patience, or curiosity involved. Aria had hit the highest there was on the scale of her simmering rage. She was more infuriated at herself than she was at Elliot for wanting to trust him and know him. She was done with this abstruse encounter. She never wanted to see him again.

Aria stood up on a whim as she grabbed Sandra’s arm, which impulsively had her getting to her feet too. She wished she had ordered something just so she could chuck the contents of it on to his damned bronze face.

But because words was all she had, she spat the first thing that came to her mad mind. “Just so you know, you’re the biggest fucking creep I’ve ever met in my life, you asshole.”

Satisfied with that surge, she stormed out of the café with Sandra in tow, oblivious to the fact that she had pushed past someone that got in her way using her shoulder as forcefully as she could as if she were physically trying to take her anger out on something.

Her vehement strides didn’t wane even once. She had no destination in her mind; she just wanted to get the hell out of that place.

“Aria.” She felt herself skid to a stop from the clasp on her arm. Her eyes were already shooting fire when she turned to the voice. “I’m sorry,” Elliot mumbled right away. “I didn’t mean to…” He licked his lips, trying to give himself a moment to say the right words, the frustration apparent on his face. “You don’t understand. You’re going to… You will… Fuck.” He exhaled, unable to say anything more. He resorted to pleading with his eyes, asking her to understand without a guide even when he knew she couldn’t.

She could see the sincerity in his eyes and the defeat in his tone. He looked like he was baffled himself from the turn of events but her scrutiny didn’t do much weaken her vexation. She had no idea about what he was trying to say and why he was after her as if it were a life-or-death challenge. Whatever it was, she just couldn’t go in search of answers, and certainly not with him.

She shook her arm from his grasp as she stared up at his face. Just as it had always been, she could barely read his face; she could hardly even comprehend on what was happening. But this had to be the curtain call of their transitory but peculiar encounter.

“I hope our paths won’t cross again,” she eventually said. She wasn’t waiting for him to reply to it and he didn’t seem like he was going to but she stood there for a couple of seconds just looking at him, as if she were trying to take in the finality of it, before she walked away with Sandra, who had been observing the scene quietly without a contribution.

Aria wasn’t sure if she truly hoped that their paths wouldn’t cross again. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking about the what ifs just because he was one of those people that had almost nudged into her life with an interest, albeit having his own intentions. Maybe it was those unknown intentions, those intentions that he had guarded like it was some divine secret that had her earnestly hope they would never interact again. Her life was as anarchic as it already was.

As the days melded into the other, she was gradually starting to see to the end of one of the most eventful plays in her life. She thought about Elliot often, too often for her liking, but she was determined to be content with the outcome. She reminded herself time and time again of her unspoken promise to her sisters.

Everything achievable had a price to pay. She wanted to bring the light to her sisters but for that, she’d have to shroud herself in the shadows. Someone had to be the dark sky for the stars to sparkle and she willed to be one. This was her price. This was the path she had chosen.

And she followed.