Chapter 8

They say there’s a one in a million chance for you to meet someone you are destined to meet, someone you just click with right away. An acquaintance can become a lifelong business partner, a friend of a friend can become your ride or die, or a chance encounter can become your destiny.

Emilia and James had only known each other for less than a week, but ended up spending the next week together. They were both attending the same university and were in different departments but had classes around the same times. Today, they were bowling.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Emilia shouted while jumping up from her seat with her bowling shoes on.

“Uhhhh, sure…” James said while looking at the various balls and not knowing what the different numbers meant. Also, why were the holes grouped like that?

“Don’t tell me you’ve never been bowling?!” Her mouth dropped exaggeratedly, and James scratched his head while shaking it.

“You’ve missed out on so much in life. Here, take this.” She shoved an ‘11’ blue ball into his hands, “This is a good beginner ball.”

“Now watch me,” She brought the ball up to her face in concentration then slowly swung it back while shuffling forward and rolled the ball. It went straight down the middle at first but as it reached the end, it shifted to the left and knocked down only the two at the side.

“Uhhh, don’t do that. I’m showing you what NOT to do so you have something to compare. Now I’ll show you what you should do,” she swung the ball and it rolled down the middle again but shifted this time to the right, leaving the ones in the middle untouched. She put her hands on her hips and turned around to find her new friend bent over laughing while holding his stomach.

“You! Stop laughing! Let’s see you do better!” She stood back, bracing herself for James’ failure. He copied her stance but since it was his first time, he swung with less force before letting go of the ball. It rolled down the middle slower but did not stray. All the ones in the middle were knocked down, leaving a pin on each side.

Emilia’s jaw dropped and James turned around flashing a V for victory. He surprised himself and quickly put his hand behind his back.

“Beginner’s luck…” she mumbled and they continued their game. In the end, she won by a small margin, but a win was a win. The loser had to treat the other person to ice cream.

Emilia kept rubbing it in his face and James just nodded and smiled in content.

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Yuki turned off his car as he parked it in the driveway and saw in the rearview mirror that another car had stopped in front of the house. He got out to see who it was and saw Emilia getting out of the passenger side and the same guy he met briefly the night she came home drunk.

“Thanks for today, James, it was fun! I’m glad I got to know you, turns out you’re a pretty okay guy,” she smirked.

“Just okay? I think I’m pretty amazing,” he teased. She slapped his arm playfully.

“But really, thanks for teaching me how to bowl. Turns out I’m pretty good at it.”

“I had to! You had such a deprived childhood, I need to show you all the fun things in life, that’s what friends are for!”

“I’m glad I have you as a friend then. But don’t tell Mickey that.”

“Bleh, don’t even mention that guy.”

James laughed. Ever since their first encounter, she still hasn’t forgiven him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Yuki walked up behind Emilia and looked at them both.

“Oh, hey Yuki! This is James, the guy I told you about before. James, this is Yuki. He’s like an unofficial older brother.”

“A what?”

“It’s a long story but his parents were best friends with mine and they took him in when he was younger.”

“Got it, nice to meet you,” he smiled nervously and stuck out his hand. Yuki shook it but didn’t let go.

Thinking that their hands were touching for too long, James let go and attempted to laugh. Yuki continued to study him with his eyes and realizing the awkward silence, Emilia coughed.

“Well, it’s getting late. You should go home but I’ll text you!” She broke their handshake and shooed James into his car. She waved as he drove off and whipped around with her hands on his hips.

“What was that?!”

“What was what?”

“You know what I’m talking about! What’s gotten into you? I know you’ve been busy with work, but you seem to be avoiding me. I don’t see you as much and when I do, you’re so awkward. Is everything okay?”

Yuki fiddles with his keys and looked down at his feet. For some reason, he couldn’t look her in the face because he didn’t even know how to answer.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I think I’m just tired. My clients have been demanding a lot from me lately, so I’ve been working overtime.”

“It can’t be helped, you’re the choreographer to the stars!” Emilia emphasized as she made an imaginary rainbow with her hands.

“I’m just looking out for you as an older brother figure, you know? I just want you to be careful, he could be dangerous.”

Emilia stared at him for a few seconds and laughed.

“That guy? Oh common, you see James? He’s anything but dangerous. He’s the nicest person I’ve met, and he’s my friend.”

“But you’ve only known him a week, you can’t know someone that fast…”

“Stop. Why are you acting like this? I appreciate your concern, but you’ve never told me what to do before. Now suddenly, you want to choose who I can and can’t see? Just because you’ve been there for me a chunk of my life doesn’t give you that right.”

This brought Yuki back to his senses and he mumbled an apology and scurried back into their house. The house that was their home.

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Rylie crossed the street and was just coming up to her house. Before she reached the entrance, she looked in all directions and quickly ran inside. When you looked at the house from the exterior, it looked like your typical house. The grass was dry and could use a cut but that wasn’t different from any of the others houses surrounding the area. When you stepped inside however, it was a different story.

The walls were scuffed with holes and dents in some places. The floors were clean but were damaged and creaked under pressure.

As she placed the grocery bags on the countertop, a woman walked into the kitchen with her cane.

“What took so long? I was starving just sitting there and now I have to wait for you to cook too?”

Her mother was not particularly old, in her early 50’s, but she had fallen into a deep depression after Emilia was born and had neglected her health. This was the aftermath.

“If you were hungry, why didn’t you eat a fruit or make something yourself?” She said plainly as she was taking things out of bags.

“Excuse me, are you talking back to me?! Don’t forget that I’m your mother!” Rylie continued putting away groceries in silence, since she wasn’t supposed to talk back, she just wouldn’t say anything at all. Her mother got the hint and hobbled into the living room to watch TV.

Rylie had learned to cook at a young age due to her mother’s negligence. Her culinary skills were above average; she could even make dishes with subpar ingredients. Her mother however, thought otherwise and would also pinpoint the littlest things to put her down. As she took a bite, she immediately spit it back out.

“What is that? You call this edible?! This is disgusting! It’s way too salty and isn’t cooked long enough.”

Rylie clenched her fist and tried to keep her emotions in check. This was a daily struggle she had gone through since she was born. Her mother had never treated her with love and was always finding ways to belittle her. But today, she had reached her limit.

“Why do you always criticize everything I do? You know, throughout my whole life, you’ve never praised me, never!”

“It’s because you don’t deserve it, you ruined EVERYTHING!”

“I didn’t ask to be born!” The tears started running down her cheeks and onto the cracked floor tiles as she cried her heart out.

*Smack*

The room fell silent, and Rylie was frozen in her spot. She lifted her hand to her left cheek and stared at the woman in front of her. For a moment, her mother seemed shocked by her actions but that quickly passed. She gave a tired sigh and continued eating. Rylie grabbed her purse from the table and sprinted out the door, slamming it behind her. While wiping her tears with her sleeve, she slowed her pace and fished out her phone.

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“Rylie, I’m sorry but I can’t go out tonight I…whoa, what’s wrong?!” All Emilia heard on the other end of the call was her best friend’s deep breaths and crying.

“Meet me at the beach and tell me everything okay?”

She made her way through the sand, with all of it getting into her shoes. But she didn’t care, Rylie needed her. She walked further in, over a small hill and saw her, hugging her legs to her chest.

As Emilia sat down beside her, Rylie flung her arms at her and cried into her shoulder. She softly stroked her back and soothed her best friend. When Rylie calmed down, she told Emilia everything that she had been keeping from her all these years. She had know about their strained relationship but not some of the things that were actually said.

She had always seemed so bubbly and cheerful. She would’ve never thought that this was where she was coming from. Her clothes, her attitude, her smile, it was all just a mask to hide how she really felt deep down.

“My mother blames me for my dad abandoning us. She said if I wasn’t born, they would still be together. But it was their decision and his selfish reasons for leaving. She doesn’t see that though.”

Emilia took it all in, not once interrupting Rylie.