The Eleventh Gifted (The Gifted Fanfiction)

Chapter 53

Pang and Aria were silently laying down on the grass, watching the birds fly by. The garden where she always went was indeed as tranquil as Pang expected it to be. Then, he understood why that was his friend's to-go place.

Aria on the other hand, might be staring at the sky, but her ears were elsewhere. She was listening to their friends inside their hideout. Apparently, Claire was trying to find out who the culprit was.

She had a small fight with Punn after he pushed her into doing more. Aria was afraid that they were starting to crumble down. But their fight soon subdued and the couple made up. Claire did her boyfriend's request and started doing it to the rest, too. Aria could not deny that they were making her feel alone because of how sweet they were to each other.

Claire figured out that everyone didn't do anything. And yet, Mon was mad that they were trying to put the blame on one of them. Soon, they started arguing with one another, pointing fingers when they shouldn't. It escalated quickly until Claire told them none of them did it.

Aria sighed in relief. But something was still bothering her. Not that she didn't want to believe what Claire said, but there was something in her saying that someone among them did it.

"Aria, what do you think should I do?" Pang spoke all of a sudden, making her turn her head to him.

"Pang..."

"I just, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think."

"I heard and witnessed everything, Pang. And if..." She trailed off. She couldn't even bear to say the next words, but they had to be said. "If Wave's evidence was right, we can't do anything about it. Even if it seems impossible. If one of you did it, maybe... one of you really did."

That scenario had already happened before, with her. It was unbelievable that she betrayed her friends and yet, she still did.

"But why? We've been fighting together for years, why would one of us stab our backs?"

"I don't have the answer for that Pang. But I think, I think you should accept the truth. And find out who and why."

Pang remained quiet. His friend had a point. Wave was right, too. He just denied it because he didn't want to accept the truth. But in order to set things right, he had to.

"Wave's at his usual place. You can start there." Aria pulled up her lips to form a smile.

Pang nodded and got up on his feet before walking away. Aria stayed where she was, watching the clouds pass by. And Sol stayed behind a tree, resting his back and guarding Aria.

°°°

12:08, the clock read. But Aria was still wide awake. They hadn't found out who did it, and that kept her mind racing with thoughts. Not only that, but the fact that she heard a small conversation between Pang and Wave.

She just wanted to make sure that Pang would be all right with Wave. And maybe if Wave was fine too. Pang had asked him if he trusted Aria. That froze her where she lay. Wave said he didn't know. That melted the ice covering her.

Those words were enough to make her feel better. Because it was not like before when he didn't trust her. Right then, he didn't know, which meant there was a hope that he did, and he would.

Those thoughts kept circulating in her mind.

To keep her company, she was messaging Sol, who was also awake. He found out Aria couldn't sleep so he stayed until then to keep her company. They just talked about random stuff.

When she asked how was Uno's treat, he simply lied by saying that he had to meet his family, so he couldn't come with them. Aria accepted the excuse and they continued talking.