The Unknown

Oriana steps out on the balcony as a gush of fresh air hits her face, cooling off the deafeningly silent torments that have been mercilessly battling in her mind. Inhaling sharply, she grips the cold railing. Every

single movement tonight is reminding her of that dreadful party. She cannot seem to let go of any of it...she's gripped with the horrific memories.

"O my God! You made it!" A lilty, squeaking voice catches her attention. She looks around but sees none.

"Yeah, of course I'd make it, it's your birthday! Does she know?" A low, gravelly voice replies.

"Who? You mean, Solar? I don't think so."

"Good! Let's hang out in the guest house for a bit."

The girl giggles in reply, "Aw, you dirty...dirty thing." "You like that, don't you?" The hushed voice asks.

Oriana can finally pinpoint the conversation, it is coming from the front yard. She spots Ilona in her unmistakably bright turquoise dress, the dimmed light couldn't hide her identity. But, who is with her? They seem to be really close, currently clinging on to each other.

"Ah, don't tell me you're gonna bail on us tonight because of that Nevan!" the guy demands.

"No, come on! Axel, you know I wouldn't bail on YOU for anything." "Then, what is it? Does Solar know about..."

"No! You kidding? Of course not. Nobody knows anything... Okay, you know what? You're right... let's go to the guest house." Ilona chuckles.

"That's my girl."

Oriana becomes even more confused than she inevitably was the first day she met Ilona at the tuition center. This girl sure wears many hats.

"Hi, did you see Ilona? I mean, sorry, I'm just asking it flat out, it's just you seem to coming from the balcony. Did you see her anywhere in the garden or front yard by any chance? Her cake will arrive later than the scheduled time and she needs to know it now before she starts a massive freak-out episode." a girl slightly resembling the facial features with Ilona stands before Oriana. She is wearing a plain black puff sleeve belted dress, with a much tuned-down makeup than Ilona on her face.

"Um, sorry! I didn't pay much attention to the garden or front yard. Are you related to her?"

"Yeah, unfortunately! I'm her sister, Solar. And you are?" She extends her hand with a warm smile, very unlike her sister's sleek smirks.

"Oh...oh!" Oriana thinks about the conversation she just overheard.

Should she tell Solar about the guy and her sister? Maybe she should just stay away from more troubles than what her life is already entangled in.

"I'm Oriana, her coworker."

"Oh, the new one? Heard you came from abroad? How are you coping with this country?" Her voice sounds assuring and amicable.

"Yeah, it's going fine, I guess." Oriana smiles. "Okay, I've got to find her. Talk to you later?" "Yeah, sure. It was nice to meet you."

Solar gives a full-on smile, "Likewise!"

Leilani grows restless after a while. She's been tolerating Raya, the tenth grader constantly flirting with Alvis and Alvis being pretty amicable about it.

"Alvis, you wanna talk about Dentistry a bit more? I mean, I'm kinda considering that as my career, and it might change later, I don't know." Raya giggles like a dumb manizer (if that's a word). "Sorry, I'm calling you by your name, hope it's alright."

"Yeah, it's fine!" Alvis flashes his dimples with a bright grin. "You're technically Nevan and Ilona's student and I don't even mind my students calling me by my first name. So, no big deal."

"Amazing! Okay, so why dentistry?"

"Money...I guess!" Alvis lets out a brief laughter.

Leilani starts seething inwardly after this point. She needs to leave these two before her mind explodes with suppressed anger and disgust.

"Oriana, you back from outside?" she asks as she finds Oriana lazily stare out the window.

"Huh? Oh, you almost startled me. Yeah." "You know that tenth grader, Raya?" "From Nevan and Ilona's class?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"I might just kill her someday." Leilani's eyes look inanimate all of a sudden. Oriana gulps the lump in her throat before opening her mouth.

"Um, why? what happened, Leila? You've been looking tense since you got here."

"Nothing just, it irritates me when I can't get something I want so dearly."

Oriana bites her lower lip and thinks for a while, "Is it because she...let's just say seems interested in Alvis?"

"You knew?"

"Well, I take the class with him, and Raya's class is right beside ours.

So..."

"So?" Leilani's voice sounds shrill.

"Woah, calm down. So, I've caught them flirting a bit every now and then."

"Huh? Is that it? Nice." "You sure you're okay?"

"Yup, completely fine." Oriana doesn't understand Leilani's sudden change of demeanor. She never saw that before.

"I just met Solar a while back." Oriana wants to change the subject. "Really? Poor Solar!"

"Why would you say that?"

"I think her boyfriend is cheating on her by screwing her own catty sister."

"Why do you say so?" Oriana raises her brows. "Caught them giggling at the guest house."

"I thought you were with Alvis?" It's time for Oriana to be completely confused.

"Yeah, but when I couldn't stand those two pricks shamelessly flirting, I went out for a bit."

"Oh!"

"You don't seem too surprised." Leilani shifts her gaze to Oriana from the window.

"Yeah, that's because I saw them at the front yard before." "You did? Did you say that to Solar?"

"No, I didn't...I didn't know it was her boyfriend for sure. I doubted it from their conversation though."

"Hmm...people are all so weird, don't you think? I bet everyone has their own twisted and dark kind of stories behind their shadows."

"Yeah, I guess so." Oriana lowers her voice as her own haunting stories seem to silently whisper warnings into her ears.

"This party is fucked up." Leilani says plainly. "It is a bit weird, I agree."

"Wanna head back home?"

"Would love to but wouldn't it be mean not to show up for the cake cutting shenanigan?"

"Come one! Ilona wouldn't even notice."

"Then, let's go."

"Just a minute. I'll be right back."

It's almost 11 pm when Leilani steps in her apartment. Her body is slightly trembling as she clutches the side of her forehead. She keeps looking back at the door as she advances toward the staircase. Something does not feel right. She remembers leaving the party at around 9:30 with

Oriana. After that, her memory is blurry to nothing. She seems to forget the entire one and half hours since. Her eyes are bloodshot as she heavily

breathes in and out. Her phones rings in the darkness almost throwing her out of her own body. Shakily, she takes it out of her pocket. Nevan is

calling? Why? He never talks much with her now.