AND RED

Now, listening to her story at the dining table, the pieces finally clicked into place. I understood why Hak Seng hadn't bothered to argue with me, why he had meekly gone along with everything. He wasn't passive—he had a plan of his own, one far more sinister.

He intended to use Solika's parents as pawns, manipulating them to trap her in a corner with no escape. The realization hit me like a thunderclap. This man was truly toxic, his malice seeping into every move he made.

Now, I was left with a gnawing sense of helplessness, unsure of how to extricate her from his web of deceit. The only way out, it seemed, was for her to find the strength within herself. But even beyond his cruel machinations, my mind couldn't stop racing. What of her parents, her aunt, her sister? Had they all conspired to betray her in such a cold, calculating manner? What, exactly, did they believe her to be?

"Trash!" Solinka suddenly spat out the word, and it struck me as if she had voiced my exact thought. It felt so fitting, the way it hung in the air, sharp and cutting, just as everything I had been silently brewing in my mind.

"What did you say?" I asked, my voice a soft whisper, as we both sat together on the same sofa. She sat so close to him, her head resting on my shoulder, yet the distance between us felt miles apart.

"I think I'm just like trash to them," she murmured, her words heavy with the weight of unshed tears.

"No… don't say that," I replied, my voice trembling with the effort to keep calm.

"Why is everything so hard for me? Maybe deep down, I'm just a bad person," she said, her voice trembling, heavy with self-doubt.

"Why do you think that way?" I asked, careful not to let my tone betray the ache her words stirred in me.

"Maybe I'm too sensitive. Too arrogant. Too selfish," she murmured, as if the words had been waiting for a chance to escape, a litany of self-accusations she carried like stones in her chest.

I shook my head gently. 

"I don't think that's true. They hurt you, and then they have the audacity to get angry at your reaction. You're not selfish for protecting yourself. You have every right to take care of your mind and your peace. But I see it—you're doubting your boundaries again, questioning if you deserve peace at all."

"Thinking back on it, I couldn't believe he could cheat on me. Why? Why would he do that to me?"

Hearing those words, it struck me with a deep pang—she still harbored feelings for Hak Seng, if I wasn't mistaken. The anger in her voice was unmistakable, and yet, in some strange way, it only confirmed what I feared: she was still tied to him, emotionally. The realization gnawed at me, and I was left to suffer in silence, torn by the weight of her lingering feelings and the cruel uncertainty of my own place in her heart. 

Her eyes searched mine, hesitant but yearning for an anchor. 

"Listen to your instincts, your gut feeling!" I urged. "They're there to guide you, not betray you."

For a moment, her tense shoulders softened, and the storm in her gaze eased. She seemed to accept my words, even if only a little, as if she'd found a sliver of solace in them.

"I've already forgiven him. I've let go of his betrayal, his lies," she continued, her gaze distant, her breath shaky. "But this—what he's done now—it's something I can't forgive. The way he's disrespected me... I can't just let that go."

I swallowed hard, trying to find the right words. 

"But… how do you escape this, when your parents have already accepted his money?"

Her silence hung in the air like a thick fog, her shoulders trembling as the question gnawed at her.

"I... I can't..." she choked, unable to finish.

And then, her voice broke, softer than before, a raw ache in her tone. 

"They're getting old so quickly… too quickly. Is it because of me?"

Her voice trembled with the weight of the question, the kind only a mother's heart could carry.

"No, it's not," I answered gently. "Time determines almost everything, it shapes the rhythm of our lives…. We're just human, we have no power over that flow, no matter how hard we try."

She fell silent, and the stillness between us deepened. I could feel the quiet ache in her, the unspoken burden pressing against her chest. It wasn't just the passage of time that troubled her.

There was a deeper, quieter sorrow—one that wasn't born from the hands of fate but from the place inside her heart where she had long put others' needs before her own. She had spent so much of herself trying to please her parents, trying to fix what was broken in the world around her, that she had forgotten to mend the pieces of her own heart.

She had already crossed her family's line once, and now, as she stood there, still insisting on her choices, I couldn't help but wonder if "trash" was the word they would use to define her. I wasn't sure anymore.

And as for Hak Seng—how far was he willing to go? Did he truly love her, or was it merely her he desired? What did love even mean to him in this context? It seemed like he didn't care how deeply his cruel little game had wounded her.

Now, I could see that Solinka had lost all will to fight, to do anything at all. She was ensnared in a web of lies and manipulation. But deep down, I hoped she would slowly rebuild her strength, break free from the trap that bound her, and one day soar away from all the things that had made her so unbearably miserable.

From the midnight gloom, my heart drifts through the dark silence, broken and lost, but I wish and beg to God, please ease her situation and place all my happiness in her hands, no matter the pain, the pressure, or what's come after and what will happen between us.

Continued...