Eyes Meet

Chapter 22 - Part 2

Dad cleared his throat after the waitress left our table, leaving stuff we ordered. "So, tell me son, what are you doing now?"

"I'm still studying for my Bachelor's Degree"

"You didn't even call me!"

"I wanted to, but, you know" Leon sounded like he was really sorry for not calling or keeping in touch with dad.

I kept my head down, minding my own business as they were talking about random topics. I only had one sip of my tea in the past 5 minutes as I kept on floating above my own clouds.

I didn't know what I should feel at that time. I was surprised of course, that was the main blow that made me almost paralysed earlier. But I was so mad at dad as well. He should have told me that Leon was his 'friend' who he needed to meet. And I knew exactly why he didn't tell me beforehand.

Because if he did, this reunion would never even existed.

I was so uncomfortable in this situation, feeling like I had to talk and be friendly to him, which was so unnatural. So I kept my mouth shut ever since Leon introduced himself to me, refusing to join in. The longer I stayed here, listening to his voice, the more I got restless.

I couldn't believe this was happening. After 10 years of living our own lives; just me, mum and dad, now we had one of the Maas there back with us.

It took a lot to be freed from them. It took a lot to move to Australia and start a new life. I didn't even want to remember all the hardship we had gone through, especially dad in making sure that he had a job to keep, a house for his little family to live in and also food to eat.

My hardship? My heart would forever bleed whenever those experiences came back to me. I wished I could permanently remove them, but the pain was just so hard to forget, almost as hard to forget Melissa.

I was sixteen and had to live in a country I never been to. I had to fit in a new school with a new environment; new education scheme and new buildings to map. I even had to handle new bullying problem, alone.

The hardest part was, I had to live there without Melissa. I knew she already ignored me even before I moved out. But at least, I knew she was still there. At least she was in the same class as me. At least she was still at the same school as me. And even if I changed to a different school, at least she was still living 10 minutes away from my house. I could have just walked past her house and felt better. I would have visited her house every year for Christmas.

No one could understand the agony I had to carry with me even until now, especially mum. Nobody would understand why Melissa meant so much to me, or why I was even in love with her at the first place.

I wasn't born as a set of pearl, but she loved me like I worth a fortune.

She was the only one who could love me the way I wanted to be loved.

I remembered the struggles I had to go through every day without her, thinking that she might have already stopped loving me, while my heart never stopped beating for her.

"Rosé?"

Dad's voice startled me and I lifted my head instantly.

"Why are you so quiet? Are you okay?"

I nodded with a small smile.

"Eat your croissants, honey"

I just realised that I hadn't eaten the things I ordered. So I guessed I should finish my food fast and I would leave early. Dad could talk with Leon one to one only since I had nothing to talk about anyway.