CHAPTER 13: FORGOTTEN

THE GIRL WHO CAN’T DATE

By Eleventh

CHAPTER 13: FORGOTTEN

“ Painful memories do leave a mark and sometimes they last forever.” – Ira P.

“Alright, people! Tomorrow, the ceremony starts at 4 in the afternoon. But, everyone has to come here at 8 AM for the make-up and pictorial. Am I clear ladies and gentlemen?”

Art flashed a smile as he waited for everyone to respond to his last instructions while they’re all gathering around the pizza. When no one answered him, he clasped his hands and pressed his lips.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes then!”

“Thank you, Art, for doing this!” Seah muttered as she approached him with a plate of pizza.

“Anything for you, Seah!” Art pressed his lips for a smile, receiving the plate.

“You’re the best!” Ares added handing him a can of soda.

Meanwhile, on the table, everyone flocked around the giant pizza from Calda. Ira sat next to the box where she can easily grab the pizza if she wants more.

“Hey! Calm down, Panther! You eat like a hungry beggar!” Orion chided his sister who just ate 5 slices of spicy pepperoni pizza.

“Dun’ care ‘bout what you say! Chomp! I’m hungry!”

Ira gobbled another slice of pizza. While her brother was looking at her with disgust, the young man next to him was secretly chuckling at her face that has been plumped with gobbled pizza.

She was eating too fast that she coughed hard after choking a piece of crust. But help was on her way real quick.

Skye opened a can of juice. However, before he could even swing his hand to offer the drink, the man standing beside Ira had already given her a glass of water while staring at him with eyes full of ire.

“Goodness, Ira! Slow down, will you?” Orion reproved.

After Ira gulped all the water, she weaved a loud sigh and said, “Thanks, Joey!”

Joey laughed. “You must love pizza very much, huh?”

Ira nodded with a smile while Skye groaned rolling his eyes and shaking his head in dismay.

“Hey, Boyfriend! Is that for me?” The bubbly girl joined them at the table and asked for the can of juice from Skye’s hands.

Skye rolled his eyes and sighed. “Stop calling me boyfriend! People will get the wrong idea!”

“But you are my boyfriend! A friend who’s a boy!” Mandy answered joshing her friend who can’t do anything with her being a big tease.

Meanwhile, Orion was staring at her again like melting ice cream.

Embarrassed for how stupid Orion looked, Ira kicked her brother’s knee and silently mouthed the words, “Stop it! You look like an idiot!”

Pissed off, Orion kicked back his sister.

“Oww!” Ira squealed.

Everyone glanced at her.

“You okay?” Joey asked with worry in his eyes as Ira stroke her hurt knee.

Ira glanced at him with tempted feelings. She resolved to give up on her unrequited love, but each time he shows concern, she can’t help but want more.

[How can I kill the fire when you keep on lighting up the flame?]

“Hey!” Mandy called Ira’s attention. “Weren’t you that girl from the restaurant? At the Secret Garden?”

Ira shifted her attention to Mandy, still stroking her knee. “Yeah! I remember you. I wanted to say hi earlier but I suppose you don’t remember me.”

“How do you know each other?” Orion asked trying to get involved in the conversation.

“Well, we bumped into each other in the ladies' washroom and…”

“AND we weren’t introduced to each other yet, RIGHT.” Ira cut off Mandy before she could spill out about wounding her arm that day. Then she grinned at Skye. “Why don’t you introduce us, Skye?”

Mandy gawked at Skye then at Ira. “You knew each other?”

“Yeah. We work together at Grayson Academy.” Ira answered.

“Really? But that night, why…”

Skye inserted a straw in the can of juice and hurriedly slip it into Mandy’s mouth. Then, he spoke. “Mandy, this is Ira. Ira, my childhood friend, Mandy.”

While the ladies exchanged smiles, Mandy biting the straw and Ira munching another pizza, the boys have introduced themselves too.

“I’m Orion, by the way, her brother.” He introduced himself with a wide grin. Ira couldn’t help but be embarrassed by her brother’s smitten face.

“And I’m Joey!”

“You’re the groom’s best man, right? Are you one of her brothers too?” Mandy asked.

“Ugh, no! I’m...”

"Ooooh! Wait! Ira's boyfriend?"

Mandy guessed tactlessly that Ira almost spitted the water she was drinking. Skye looked at his friend with chagrin.

"Ugh... no! I'm her brother's best friend." Joey answered awkwardly.

"Ow! Really? You seem pretty close with her and you seem to care so much about her, so I thought you were one of her brothers or something more than that... tee-hee." Mandy unapologetically sniggered.

Joey was oddly silent. So is Ira.

To break the silence, Orion spoke. “How ‘bout you? How are you related to Seah?”

“I’m Sandy’s sister.”

“Oh, you mean the maid of honor?”

“Yeah! Sandy and Seah are best of friends since they were kids.” Each time Mandy talks, her face glows with her smile showing her cute dimples at the corners of her mouth.

In the middle of their conversation, Eros rushed into the garden with an anxious face.

“Hey, man! Where have you been? Practice’s over!” Joey greeted.

But Eros passed over him and sought someone important. The moment he saw her sister’s face, he let out a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and massaged his temple.

“Do you have the slightest idea how worried I am searching for you everywhere and not finding you? I couldn't even call you!” Eros was deeply frustrated that he can’t break his glare at his sister.

Confused, Ira’s eyebrows were bent downwards while looking at Eros.

“B-but, I thought…” then she looked at Orion. “… you said you…”

“I did. I messaged him that you’re already here.” Feeling guilty, Orion defended. Then he checked his phone. “Look! Here’s the pr… oh! Oops! Sorry! The message wasn’t sent.”

Ares tapped his brother’s shoulder to calm him down.

“Water?”

Eros accepted it and gulped it, still glaring at Ira’s worried face.

Seah broke the tension as she stepped in and called everyone to get inside the room to fit in their outfits for the wedding tomorrow. The couple led their guests out to the beach walking through the fine sand of Cove Garden Beach Resort where the cottages are.

“I’m sorry I got you so worried.” Ira muffled.

Eros glanced at her through his shoulder but didn't say anything and went on his way.

“Get over it, man! Ira’s fine. Besides, she’s an adult now. She can take care of herself.” Orion believed as he walked beside his brother, placing his hand on Eros’ shoulder.

“She still gets lost you know. What if she gets a panic attack again?” Eros answered in a whisper.

Orion just shrugged his shoulders.

Overhearing the conversation, Mandy walked beside Ira who was flustered with Eros’ mood and out of curiosity, asked her.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Startled at her sudden appearance, Ira slowly nodded her head. “Why did your brother react like that? I mean, you’re not a kid.”

Ira scratched her ear. “Uhm, he’s just worried. That’s all!”

“Worried about what?”

“Me getting lost.”

Mandy scratched her head. “Yeah, I mean… why though?”

“I actually have a poor sense of direction and I easily get lost. And usually, if I get lost in an unfamiliar place, I tend to panic and have anxiety.”

Mandy pouted her lips and creasing her eyebrows, she pondered. “Do you happen to have a traumatizing incident when you were a kid?”

Ira didn’t answer. She doesn’t want to answer for she was a stranger.

Noticing the uncomfortable impression on Ira’s face from afar, Skye walked backward and pulled his childhood friend by the collar of her dress. She looked like a cat being dragged by a human being.

“Hey!!! What are you doing?” Mandy grumbled as she scuffled from Skye’s hands.

“Stop being too nosy at other people's lives!” Skye remarked.

Ira thought for a moment and realized. Painful memories do leave a mark and sometimes they last forever.

As she looked at the sparkling blue ocean, she remembered the day she was forgotten.

It was a cold December evening. She just turned five, and her dear mother thought she’d be happy to celebrate it at the amusement park.

It did.

There was no room to contain the joy of relishing the cotton candies and ice cream, the ride at the merry-go-round and Ferris wheel, the beauty of fireworks, the entertainment of mascots and clowns, and that once in a lifetime date with her mother.

Everything was a wish fulfilled, a day deemed to be the happiest of her life not until those tiny little hands slipped from her mother’s grip. It only took her a minute or two to realize that she was abandoned in the sea of strangers, helpless and alone.

She cried out, “Mama?”

Nobody answered.

In her eyes, the world was too big and too dark to view as safe and comfortable. Suddenly, the people around her became giants whose faces she cannot recognize.

She called again, “Mama!”

When she didn’t hear any reply, she began to panic. Fear crept in. But she held her tears. She didn’t want anyone to see or at least notice that she required help. She was too afraid to speak to anyone.

She searched the crowd but she couldn’t find a familiar face.