CHAPTER 10

"Where have you been this whole month?" Qairah started the conversation.

"I was here. Not going anywhere." Aqasha answered while slightly touched her cracked lip.

"Then why didn't you come home?" Qairah looked her in the eyes.

"..."

Both of them were sitting in front of each other at the corner of the cafe. The other two, Marie and Bethanie were also sitting in front of each other. They were sitting silently while things started to get awkward between Qairah and Aqasha when they started to heat the situation with their family problem. After the long silence, Aqasha spoke.

"We better talk about this another time. Your friends are waiting." She smiled.

Qairah looked at her friends then calmed down. She then called a waitress.

"I want a slice of tiramisu and a hot chocolate. What about you guys?"

"Same."

"Same."

Aqasha laughed at the both of them.

"Please don't be afraid to order. I'm the one that will pay."

"And how did you get the money?"

"I will have vanilla latte please."

"So you're ignoring me now?"

The waitress walked away fast.

"How did you guys meet my sister?"

Aqasha asked them while sat straight up right and looked them in the eyes and into their souls. Both of them gulped.

"We were in the same class. She sits next to us, so eventually we get along." Marie took the courage to speak while Bethanie nodded.

"I see. You guys have been friends for almost two months now, right?"

"Yes..." Bethanie answered.

Qairah started to frown. She had no idea why Aqasha interrogating her friends like some kind of detective.

"Do you guys-"

"Okay we came here to hang out and stuff. Stop your blabbering and starts asking how I feel!" Qairah said it out loud.

Almost everyone in the cafe was looking at her. Marie and Bethanie froze while Aqasha looked annoyed.

"How are you?" Aqasha asked.

"What?" Qairah asked back.

"You want me to ask how you feel so I did."

"Not like this."

"Then like what?"

"Come home."

"I said we talk about this later. I want to get to know your friends and-"

"And forget me."

"What? No!"

"Yes! You never think about me. It was always you and yourself. You left home because you hate me, don't you?"

Things started getting hotter and hotter. The waitress came and served. Things went silent after that. Qairah was sobbing while Marie was trying to calm her.

"Well, it was nice meeting you guys. See you next Monday."

Aqasha stood up and walked out. Qairah tried to stop her but nothing works. She then sat down again while started crying. Marie and Bethanie didn't know what to do. They just stayed with her until she stopped crying.

"Are you better now?" Bethanie asked.

"No!" Qairah continued sobbing.

Maria and Bethanie looked at each other silently, not knowing what else to do.

Aqasha walked out from the cafe before reaching her jeans pocket and took out a packet of cigarette named Black Ice and a black square-shape lighter with a cobra design. She puts her hoodie on, smoked some cig while looking around, puts her hands to the pocket and walked away.

[A WEEK AGO]

Aqasha was walking at the national park, the place where she was almost died by the hand that she thought could be her significant other. She stood right on the bridge where the old couple heard her screams but couldn't save her. She stood there for a few minutes when she heard a scream right under the bridge! She was shocked. She looked down to her feet and stared at it as she couldn't believe her ears. She stood silent to make sure she wasn't imagining. Another scream came right under her feet but way smaller than before. She didn't waste any time and jumped down without any hesitation only to find out a boy was trying to rape a girl. His pant was not at the place it should be and the girl was crying while on the ground half naked. The boy shocked and wanted to run away, but Aqasha was quick to ran towards them and grabbed his head then slammed it down to the floor hard, which knocked him out. She then went to the girl, about the same age as her and help her with her underwear as she couldn't wears it herself because of the shook. Her dress was ripped so Aqasha gave her hoodie. Fortunately, that she was always wearing shirt under her hoodie. She zipped the hoodie as the dress was ripped at an embarrassing place. The girl was still crying when she called the police. The boy got arrested and the girl thanked her. Bad guy zero, good girl one. End of the story.