Half of a Whole

Pitterdam Port

As Nayera drove farther and father away from their parents' house, Nelofer said they should find a small, off-the-grid town by the sea. Nayera strongly disagreed. While Nelofer wanted to live by the seaside, Nayera wanted to live in a big city. Like all siblings, they argued and argued about the pros and cons of each and then decided to settle it by playing rock, paper, scissors.

So Nelofer and Nayera had been living in Pitterdam Port for about three weeks. Nayera, ever the serious and studious type, had been studying like mad for her end of year exams. It was something Nelofer had envied her sister for because their parents had praised that trait of her everyday.

Nelofer was now working full-time at a local coffee shop. She needed to save a lot of money so she could pay for college tuition fees. She hadn't given up on her dream to study art in college, if fact she was more motivated than ever. She was also drawing Webtoons in her days-off and entering her work in various contests. Although she wasn't winning in anything, it was helping her gather a fan-base and establish herself as an artist. Maybe one day, when she's more skilled, she could dream of winning all these contests. Not for the money prize, but for the trophies, they would look good in her room. As a passionate artist, she loved trophies more than jewellery. She had been keeping all her trophies she'd won in school drawing contests since childhood.

Nelofer made some hot chocolate and brought a cup to Nayera. When she had met her sister to run away together, Nayera had bruises all over her face and arms and it had pissed Nelofer so much. She had wanted to drive the car to her asshole brother-in-law's hospital and beat the shit out of him. Nayera had confessed that she had told about the domestic violence to her mother-in-law who reassured her that this was normal in their culture and that it would get better with time. Nayera couldn't talk about it to mom and dad because they had too much high expectations from her and she was afraid to disappoint them.

Nelofer had felt bad for ever envying her sister. She had never realised before just how much Nayera was sacrificing her whole life to be the "perfect" student, the "perfect" daughter, the "perfect" wife. It must've been killing her slowly on the inside.

Neither of them had spoken to their parents since they left. Nelofer had left a long letter to her parents explaining her reasons for doing things her way. She apologised for not discussing with them, for not giving them a chance to accept her decisions, but she knew them and their tactics. And Nelofer would never regret choosing herself. She'd always choose "no suffering" over "shame". She wondered if her parents had read her letter. She had left them an email address on which they could contact her since she changed her phone number. They hadn't gotten in touch with her and it didn't bother Nelofer as much as she thought it would.

Nelofer was sad about having to separate from Nayera, soon. They lived different lives and would have to go their separate ways. Nayera would move to her college campus for her exams. Nelofer liked Pitterdam Port, she had found a decent-paying full time job here, she liked the little seaside town gave, every time she went for a walk she found more inspiration for her art. So Nelofer was busy finding a cheap apartment in town for herself. Staying in a hotel was getting expensive, even if she was sharing the costs with Nayera.

Nelofer's work colleague, Cynthia, recommended her the share-house that she had been living in for the past year. The place was 20 minutes away by foot from her workplace, but Cynthia reasoned that she could give Nelofer a lift every time they had work-shifts together. And that was a big thing for Nelofer because soon her sister would be gone and so would be the car they were sharing.

Cynthia had nothing but really positive feedbacks about the share-house. She explained there were currently three girls and two boys. One of the girls was the owner of the house, apparently she inherited the huge mansion from her grandparents.

Nelofer decided to ponder on it while looking for other places. She wasn't too thrilled about having to share the house with men, even if Cynthia could vouch for them.