That Was Weird.

"Christ! Who allows things like this inside a playground" Tom wailed angrily as he continued  to limp around in pain. 

The sight would have been very funny to Joel and Anna, but they felt bad for him. 

"Are you okay? Come sit here I'll help you check it"  Anna said as she pulled his hand and led him to sit on the swing. 

Joel could not help it and began to laugh. "Is he also going to get a cast on his foot? He's gradually going to look like an Egyptian Mummy" He laughed. 

"This isn't funny!" Tom shot him a angry look before scolding himself for choosing to wear a sandal. 

"Of course it isn't" Joel laughed again but received a glare from Anna.

As Anna was about crouching down to check his foot, Joel stopped her and shook his head. 

"What is it?" She asked him in confusion. 

Joel cocked his chin to the direction of Tom's car, hinting to her indirectly that Lisa should do it instead. 

"Are you kidding me right now? He's in pain but that's all you care about?" 

"Come on. It's like killing two birds with a stone. It's also for him" Joel explained with a wink 9before waving his hand at the direction of the car to get Lisa's attention. 

Tom's head was down the whole time. He was busy attending to his own foot and didn't bother to listen to them. 

After a lot of seconds rolled by, he raised his head when he noticed something had changed about the atmosphere.  He knew what changed. It was Lisa's scent that was present now. 

"You should always be close to him you know that right?" Joel asked her immediately she stood in front of them. 

'Like I was supposed to protect him from dashing his foot on a brick?' She asked herself as she tried not to frown at him. 

"What are you doing here?" Tom asked her.

''Mr Song called for me." She explained. 

Tom looked at Joel suspiciously and was about to ask why he called her, but the naughty smile on Joel's face explained it all to him.

"I'll  help you get back to the car" She said to him.

Tom shook his head before pointing at Joel "He snatched my phone. Bring it to me."

Lisa turned to look at Joel and before he could say anything, she was already into him, trying to get the phone. When he tried to refuse, she twisted his arm to the back and took the phone from him forcefully. 

As he wailed in pain, Anna gasped aloud in surprise while Tom's eyes were wide opened. 

"I didn't tell you to get him injured!" Tom gasped out while looking at Joel. Anna was already helping him hold his hand as she worriedly ask if he was okay.

Lisa handed the phone over to Tom without saying another word. 

"Are you okay?" Tom asked Joel after taking the phone from her.

"Fuck! How could you let her do this to me!?" He asked angrily while glaring at Lisa who wasn't looking at him but at a black car parked in a far distance. 

"Sorry. See why you should have given it to me when I asked you to?" 

"That doesn't mean you'll  always allow her use force" Joel shot back.

"She's just doing her job" Anna said while patting Joel's back.

Tom was about to dial Mrs Kang's number again before Anna stopped him.

"Please. Just stop it. Nothing good is going to come out of what you are trying to do right now" Anna said with a tone of resignation. 

"This is going to happen again. I can't just sit back and do nothing" Tom explained unhappily. 

"Do just that Tom. For now, I don't want anyone to know about my whereabout. Not my mother, not my father. Can you do that for me?" Anna asked with hopeful eyes. 

One thing she liked about her group of friends was the fact that they supported her no matter what. 

Tom had not bothered to ask what happened or why she got slapped by her mother. He didn't care about any of it. He only cared about her not being abused and that was very sweet of him.

It was one good thing about being friends with the opposite sex— well, at least dor her.

Unlike when she was friends with some girls back when she was younger, the girls only cared about her clothes, bags, hairstyle, the places she travelled to and foods she ate. They always assumed she lived like a princess and often wished they were in her shoes. Never did they noticed the sadness in her eyes, or the unknown words she spoke— begging to be saved.

Never did they look past the superficial things to see the real person. To see her.

At that point,  she realised she didn't have friends. They did not care about her. And she did the best thing she could think of at that point— cutting them off. 

        *****************

They all sat around a table in a not-so-fancy restaurant which had only a few people in it.

It seemed like all their minds were occupied with one thing or the other because no one said a thing. 

Even when their orders arrived, they all continued to stare blankly. Lisa observed all of this. As much as she was angry because Tom had literally pulled her to eat with them, she was grateful that they were quiet for the first time. 

Joel's phone suddenly began to ring, bringing all of them to their senses. 

Joel answered the call and they saw him frown before saying a nonchalant "okay". 

"I hate receiving calls from home" He said through gritted teeth. 

"You should be lucky you at least have nice parents." Anna added before she picked up her chopsticks 

Lisa was sitting opposite her, beside Tom, so she asked Lisa to eat when she noticed she had not also touched her food. 

"It's my sister's birthday party this friday night. My mother wants us to come." 

"Oh.. it's already Jasmine's birthday? That was quick" Anna said.

When Lisa heard the name, the chopsticks she just picked up, fell back on the table. 

"Are you okay?" Tom asked Lisa immediately.  

Lisa's head was down but she managed to nod. 'Jasmine'... That name...

"Are you sure you're okay?" Anna covered Lisa's hand with hers. "Don't you like the food? Are you allergic to it?" 

Lisa pulled her hand away almost immediately.  She hadn't been working for up to a month but she had been touched too many times and she hated being touched. 

"Oh.. sorry" Anna apologized awkwardly as she looked at Tom.

Thankfully, Lisa's phone began to ring. Her brow cocked up when she saw who was calling. Why on earth would he be calling her when he knew she was going to be working?

When she stood up and was about to leave, she turned around to say "Excuse me" before finally leaving.

"That was weird" Joel noted.

"Wow! She must be dating Li chen for real. He was the caller just now!" Anna said excitedly. 

As much as she wanted to support Tom, she was fascinated by the idea that Li Chen was her boyfriend. 

Before Joel could stop her from saying further, it was already too late because Tom had heard all he needed to hear.