Chapter 14 - Waking Up to the Sunset

“Gotcha.”

The “supposedly” unconscious girl’s sudden speech frightened Tiffany. She fell backwards and was completely take by surprise. Jessica sat up and coughed a few mouthfuls of water. She drank quite a lot of water since she had to submerge herself in the water as part of her plan to trick Tiffany into jumping in after her. She succeeded with one part and she was proud of herself. She made Tiffany face her fears and she proved to herself that Tiffany did care for her. But the other part, concerning Tiffany’s feelings, well… she didn’t quite hit the jackpot.

“Y… you’re not dead?” The terrified girl asked Jessica with widened eyes.

“Do I look like I’m dead?” Jessica replied sarcastically as she chuckled at the success of her plan.

“Y… you mean… you weren’t in any kind of trouble?” Tiffany asked as she started to shift her voice’s tone from a concerned one to an aggravated one.

“Well, I didn’t expect for me to fall, so I was sort of shocked at first. But I didn’t panic. Once I splashed into the water, I immediately thought of how I could get you to jump off. I guess I executed well,” Jessica explained as she chuckled in a childish manner.

“So you mean, I risked my life for nothing?” Tiffany said, irately.

“Well, if you put it that way…”

“You made me worry and think that you were dead?” Tiffany continued as she stood up. “You made me feel guilty for nothing?”

“That wasn’t really what I…” Jessica apologetically tried to explain as she stood up after the other girl.

Tiffany walked angrily towards Jessica and pushed her by the shoulder, with tears starting to fall from her eyes. The girl was too hurt and shocked by the childish actions of her lover. Then, she continued to speak.

“So your life and man is all just a game to you? You think it’s something you can play around with? Well, I’ve had enough of it.”

Tiffany finished speaking and walked away from Jessica, with heavy steps and a heavier heart. As Tiffany was getting farther from where she was standing, Jessica caught up and took her by the arm.

“Wait, Tiffany. Don’t go. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would react this way,” Jessica tried to explain, apologizing.

“Let go of me!” Tiffany screamed with grudge as she got her arm out of Jessica’s grasp. “I’ve had enough of your childishness, Jessica! You don’t care about my feelings! For you, I’m just some kind of toy you can play around with! But I have a heart to Jessica! I can feel! I can love! I can hurt!”

“Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I never wanted to hurt you,” Jessica explained as she grabbed Tiffany’s arm once more.

“I said let go!” Tiffany shouted once more as she tried to pull her hand away.

“Listen to me!” Jessica yelled back as she grasped Tiffany’s arm harder. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I love you Tiffany, and I want to be happy with you.”

“Love? Happy? Do you even know what you’re talking about?” Tiffany answered as she continued to struggle with Jessica’s clasp. “I know you won’t listen to me because you’re going to tell me that I’m not even real, but Jessica, love and happiness aren’t just something you say out loud! Love is an action and happiness is a choice. And so far, I don’t see you expressing your love and I never see you doing anything else for us to be happy.”

“Tiffany,” Jessica uttered as she gripped Tiffany’s arm even harder.

“You’re hurting me Jessica! Let go of me!” Tiffany screamed for the last time. “I said let go!”

Tiffany, filled with rage and pain, lifted her free hand and aimed it for Jessica’s face. As Jessica didn’t want to let go, Tiffany slapped her on the face, hard. Jessica released her grasp and she looked at the piercing eyes of Tiffany. She held her face with her hand and felt the stinging pain caused by Tiffany’s palm.

“This isn’t going to work,” Tiffany told the other girl as she vanished into the deeper areas of the forest.

Jessica could only watch the girl disappear before her. Her fingertips were still on her face. She knew that Tiffany was very hurt for her to say those things. She felt Tiffany’s pain as her fingers ran down her reddened cheek. Then, her legs collapsed and she fell on her knees. After a few thoughts, the girl started to cry.

Tiffany walked as far away as possible from Jessica. Then she started running, with tears trickling down her cheeks. She wiped them with her arms as she kept on running. Normal people would’ve laughed if they were tricked the same way Jessica did to Tiffany. But Tiffany was different. She wasn’t normal. Her heart was as delicate as the brain without its skull. Her fragile heart was torn into two by someone she would least expect to do so. And all she could do was to be away from that person.

“Did it hurt her that bad?” Jessica thought to herself as she sits down on the damp and rocky forest ground. “And where did she learn that? I mean, she started talking about love and happiness all of a sudden.”

Jessica stood up from where she was seated and turned to face the waterfall. She was deep in thought and concern for her relationship with Tiffany. She started kicking the pebbles on the ground aimlessly and mindlessly as she put her hands in her pockets, continuing her thoughts.

“Did she really mean it? About having enough of me? About our relationship not working out?” Jessica asked herself. “It never did cross my mind that she didn’t have a heart, but I didn’t realize that it’d be that fragile for her to get hurt at my prank.”

Jessica, still lost in her thoughts, sat down on the ground once more. She picked up pebbles and started to throw them in the water unthinkingly. She kept on thinking what to do. She wondered if she should go and find Tiffany and apologize, or if she should leave the girl alone to think for the meantime. She wiped the tears that were on the corners of her eyes with her fingers and she finally came to a decision.

“I guess I should find her,” Jessica said to herself as she stood up. “It’s really my fault for toying around with her fear. I guess she really worried for me.”

Jessica started to walk in the direction Tiffany headed into. She follows the tracks that were left behind by the girl. The other girl stepped on a couple of twigs and bushes, causing them to be distinct from the other piles of twigs and plants. Jessica noticed that they formed a path, and she immediately followed it.

“She really did care for me. But I never really appreciated her. She was right. I always say I love her, but the only time I really showed it was when I saved her from drowning. She did a lot for me, though I only… created her,” Jessica suddenly stopped walking and paused for a moment. “Created? Why did I even think of that word? What’s wrong with you Jessica? Tiffany’s human too,” she told herself as she sat down and leaned onto a tree to rest. “She’s a human being too… well… as far as I know. She might be stuck in this world of mine, but I need to believe that she has a heart too.”

Jessica stood up after a few minutes of rest and continued to follow the trail that Tiffany left when she ran.

“I need to show her that I do love her.”

Jessica has been walking for nearly half an hour, but the trail hasn’t ended yet. The shrubbery and the trees started to grow thinner once more, and the population of the forest animals decreased as she kept on walking. Then, she looked up. The sun wasn’t there anymore. The sun wasn’t above and it had already started to set.

“I need to find Tiffany before the sun sets,” Jessica told herself as she started to run, then sprint.

Jessica weaved through the branches that stuck out of the trees, over the logs that were on the ground, and through the thick mud that inhabited the forest area she was in. She was gradually losing her breath, but the sun was nearly setting. Jessica knew that every time the sun sets, she would wake up and the two of them would part ways.

“I need to hurry and find her. I need to apologize,” Jessica uttered as her speed increased. “Or else… I might… never find her again.”

Jessica kept on running for a few more minutes until she found a straight path in front of her. Right at the end of it, she could see the sea and the shore. But she didn’t focus there. She looked at the sun that was halfway into setting. She ran the last few steps and she stepped out of the forest, finally.

“Tif–” Jessica screamed, but stopped as she saw a girl sitting on the shore a few meters from where she was standing.

Jessica didn’t realize at first that Tiffany wasn’t alone. There was a girl beside her, but all she could see was the girl’s silhouette as a result of the sun’s rays. It was the girl Tiffany was talking about. Jessica decided not to show herself first and she kept her distance, enough to hear the conversation of the two girls.

“Who is that girl?” Jessica thought to herself as she hid behind a rock, listening to the girls’ conversation.

“She really did that to you?” The mysterious girl asked Tiffany.

“Yes. And she was laughing while I was sitting there; terrified that she might be dead,”

Tiffany was still crying. It has already been one and a half hours since Tiffany ran away, but her tears haven’t run out yet.

“Don’t cry,” the other girl consoled as she combed Tiffany’s hair with her hand. “I’m here for you.”

Tiffany looked up at the other girl, smiled, and then rested her head on her shoulder.

“Thank you,” Tiffany gratefully said to the girl beside her. “I appreciate your help.”

“It’s okay. Nothing big,” the girl replied. “You know, the sunset is really romantic.”

“It really is.”

“Do you really love her?” The other girl asked suddenly.

“What? Why are you asking that?”

“Do you?”

“Well… I… I loved her… but I’m really confused right now…”

“Well… I’m not confusing,” the other girl suddenly told Tiffany. “And… I love you.”

“What?” Tiffany screamed out as she lifted her head from the girl’s shoulder. “We barely know each other!”

“We’ll get to know each other more.”

“But Jes–”

“Your Jessica isn’t here. She doesn’t love you. I do. And it’s just the two of us right now.”

Tiffany stopped talking and looked at the other girl with confused eyes. The girl looked into Tiffany’s eyes similarly. Then after a few seconds, the girl closed her eyes and tensed her lips. Suddenly, she held Tiffany’s face and started to lean into her. Tiffany involuntarily closed her eyes too and waited for the girl’s face to come close to hers. The two were about to kiss, but Jessica didn’t want to just sit and watch.

“No!” Jessica tried to scream out.

But at the same time, the sun completely submerged into the horizon and she knew what that meant.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“No!”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” a voice suddenly exclaimed.

“What? Who are you? Where am I?” Jessica muttered unorthodoxly.

“I can’t believe you left me in that closet and slept.”

“Oh. Yuri. What are you doing here?” Jessica said as her brain started to function normally. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?” She continued, changing her tone.

“Well… I came here to tell you that practice isn’t over.”

“That’s what you came here for?”

“Well, no. I actually wanted to… apologize.”

“I don’t want to hear any of it,” Jessica answered coldly as she stood up from the desk.

Jessica walked towards the classroom’s exit, but Yuri pulled her back by the arm.

“Wait. Can’t you just listen to me first?”

Jessica’s thought were triggered once again as she remembers her previous encounter with Tiffany. Jessica grabbed Tiffany’s arm the same way Yuri grabbed hers, but Tiffany walked away without listening to her. Jessica knew that she didn’t want to do the same thing.

“Okay. I’ll listen,” Jessica agreed as she turned to face Yuri.

Jessica sat down at a desk at the back of the empty classroom and Yuri sits down on a chair in front of Jessica, turning it around so they’d face each other. It was pretty solemn since it was very quiet and the two were alone.

“Look, Jessica,” Yuri started. “What happened six years ago is behind me, and I hoped that you would get rid of that image of me too.”

“Why would I?”

“I’ve changed, Jessica. I’m not the same person anymore.”

“Why would I believe you?”

“Look, this is what happened after… well… you know,” Yuri explained, awkwardly. “After you left my room, the day after that, I couldn’t go to school. Even a week after, I still couldn’t. I felt ashamed for what I did to you, and what I did to those other girls at school. I couldn’t show my face after realizing what I did, after looking at myself in the mirror. But it didn’t end there. I knew it wasn’t right to leave it like that. I decided to apologize to you, and to the other people whom I’ve done wrong to. Immediately the next day, I went to school and looked for you first, but I learned that you’ve already transferred schools.”

“Yes. I did transfer. Because of you,” Jessica commented coldly.

“Umm,” Yuri paused as her eyes met the piercing vision of Jessica. She looked away, and continued. “After that, I started to say sorry to those other poor girls. After they learned that I wasn’t being true to them, I got my share of payback.”

“In what way?”

“Well, there’s really no need to go into details. Anyways, I decided to transfer to another school like you did. To start fresh. To leave the past behind. It was great for me to make that decision because, as you can see, I’ve been quite successful. Then, I ended up here, and now, I’m in front of you.”

Jessica’s eyes started to tear up as she listened to the end of Yuri’s apology. At the same time, she was thinking of her last moments with Tiffany.

“Jessica? What’s wrong?” Yuri asked as she sees Jessica starting to cry. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Wh… oh… no… I’m fine,” Jessica, acting tough, wipes the tears from her eyes and lets Yuri continue. “There was just something in my eyes.”

“But that’s not the end of it. I still want to say I’m sorry. Jessica,” Yuri started as she held Jessica’s right hand which was on top of the desk. “From the bottom of my heart… I. Am. Sorry. Will you forgive me?”

“Y… well…” Jessica hesitated. “Well… if you really do mean it…” Jessica exclaimed softly. “Yes. I forgive you.”

Yuri smiled at Jessica and she extended her arms, asking for a hug. Jessica, after some hesitating, obliged and embraced Yuri tightly.

“It’s a relief. Thank you for accepting my apology.”

“Promise me you’ll never lie again.”

“I promise.”

The two finally break their embrace and head out the stuffy classroom.

“Well, shall we continue with dance lessons?”