'Request Accepted'
I stared at that notification on my phone for several seconds.
After spending the night thinking about what I wanted from this, my mind suddenly went blank. I lost all motivation, all confidence, and all questions. All I remembered were the raw emotions I was going through.
"Can I help you?"
A message popped up on my phone, and feeling as though this may be my last duty before I fall into despair, I clicked on it, bringing me to an open canvas of no messages.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think of what I was originally going to say, I just kept staring at her message 'help'. And to be honest, it's what I needed the most, but at that moment, I knew that whatever it was, I needed to tell her.
"Hey Mio, it's me, Ren, Yuna's Ren."
A few moments later, the typing indicator appeared. "What do you need?"
"Are you free for a moment?" I asked, not expecting a positive reply.
"Yes?" She replied.
Something about that response bothered me.
Despite it being through texts, I could tell she didn't know what happened, or else she would've asked questions out the gate about it all, about Haruto and Yuna.
"Does she not know?" I thought to myself.
"Can we call? it's really important" I asked, but there was a short pause.
"Okay... one moment" she replied.
Without hesitation, I clicked the call icon, ringing her phone.
A few moments later, the ringing stopped, "Hello?"
I hesitated for a moment, "Mio?", I don't know why, but I became very nervous and scared. "What if she's in on it?". That thought lingered in my mind for what felt like a millennium.
"Ah geez, I said give me a moment, I had to walk away first" she replied, with a somewhat happy but confused tone.
I sat up on the edge of my bed, gripping the sheets and thinking to myself, "Maybe I shouldn't have done this..."
But as my emotions bottled up, a small mumble escaped from my mouth, "We were cheated on".
The moment those words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back.
But there was no undoing them now.
A small pause lingered, then she calmly said, "I'll be right back."
In the background, I could hear chatter and music, then I heard her voice speaking to someone else, 'I'll be right back, I'm on an important phone call".
After a few seconds, she asked in a shaky voice, "...how did you... find out?"
I looked at the call timer. Ten minutes ago she was laughing with her friends, enjoying her time. But now, all I could hear was crying.
I lowered my head, "I'm sorry."
She hadn't done anything wrong, yet somehow I was the one ruining her night.
I gripped my chest, then told her everything.
I told her about Yuna's confession, about November, about Haruto.
The more I explained, the quieter she got. No more 'mhms', no more 'go on', and not even a breath creeping through the microphone.
By the time I finished, I could hear her crying.
Each second that went by, I felt my chest tightening up, because I basically put my problems onto someone else.
Even though they were directly involved and hurt too, I couldn't feel anything else other than guilt.
"I should've gone through this alone" I thought to myself.
I laid back in my bed, covering my eyes with my arm as my thoughts became worse, drowning out all noise.
Just in the beginning of my despair, "I knew something was wrong..." she asked, quietly while sounding like she's trying to pick up her words, one by one.
I brought the phone up to my mouth, "What do you mean?" I asked, laying my phone on the bed beside my ear.
"There were times-" sob, "where he would disappear, and times where-" snort, "he felt off and I felt like he was lying..."
"Did he also disappear a lot during April?" I asked, without even knowing if she left me during those times for anything, as we went through a lot of arguments during that month.
"Yeah... April was when he was gone the most" she replied.
I closed my eyes. Part of me wanted to be wrong, but unfortunately, I wasn't.
I remember smiling, not because I was happy, or because anything was funny, but because my gut feeling was right, and that we were played. I was mostly thinking how stupid I was.
We spent the next hour comparing memories, dates, their disappearances, moments that didn't add up, and weird acts.
As time went on, every puzzle piece somehow pointed back to the same answer.
"So, they were doing this the entire time?" I asked, while fully well knowing the answer.
"Yeah..." she sighed.
"I should go, my friends are partying without me and I got caught up in our talk" she said.
I nodded even though she couldn't see me.
Before hanging up, "I know this is a lot right now, but please... if you find anything else out, tell me."
A small pause happened, then she added, "And good luck... Ren"
'call ended.'
After the call ended, I stared at my ceiling.
For the first time since yesterday, my breathing slowed, as I felt like I wasn't alone anymore.
I found someone else who could save me, someone else who understood, and someone else that was awake in this long nightmare.
Later that night, I messaged Yuna, thinking I had enough energy to find out more.
"When did you stop... with the cheating?"
She replied quickly, like she was waiting for me to ask, "A long time ago."
I kept rereading the message over and over again.
"A long time ago".
Six months, maybe seven, maybe it had already ended and maybe there's still something left to save.
It sounded good to me, it sounded like she had guilt and regret.
I relayed the newly acquired information to Mio. "That's still disgusting," she replied.
Despite everything, that little reply of hers made me chuckle, not because it was funny, but because it was honey.
A few seconds later, she replied, "I'm about to break down."
"Same."
I found myself staring at our conversation.
Strangely, the loneliness felt less suffocating.
Yes, my relationship was ruined, yes, my best friend was a liar, and yes. I was still miserable. But talking to Mio made it just a bit less miserable.
But, another problem appeared unexpectedly.
Lies.
I asked Yuna the same question I asked last time, just hoping to get more than a simple 4-word reply, and to get something to ease my thoughts, even just for a little while.
"We stopped a couple weeks ago."
That message sent me spiraling, "You said it was a long time ago?!" I texted.
I thought, "if she cheated, why lie now?"
I forwarded the message to Mio.
"I'm going to throw up," she replied.
I couldn't blame her, because I genuinely felt the same.
Mio sent me over some messages she got on her end with Haruto, but some of it didn't add up with what Yuna told me. Then I sent Mio some screenshots of messages from my side from the last week.
We realized a lot of messages were either cropped out or deleted.
They were deleting all evidence it ever happened, hoping to make it seem like light-cheating.
By midnight I was exhausted, me and Mio went through our whole relationships with Haruto and Yuna, digging up everything that didn't add up with today.
I had barely slept in days, I hadn't stopped thinking, and I barely have eaten anything.
Then Yuna finally replied to my message, she sent screenshots of their messages and pictures of their meet ups.
All it showed in the pictures was them holding hands, but the screenshots showed a different story.
There was much more, I asked about the gaps, about the demands of message deletions, I asked why she was still with him after all this time. The list went on.
It wasn't even just messages or flirting anymore. Not even emotionally cheating. The truth I'd been desperately avoiding started to emerge.
I didn't want to think about it anymore.
I then asked, "did you go all the way with each other?"
Then her answer broke me, "Almost every day since November".
I read the message once, then twice, then a third time.
Hoping the words would change but they didn't, it wasn't deleted or edited.
It remained.
"November."
"That was eight months ago, eight months of full-blown lies."
My hands started shaking.
"Christmas."
"New Year's."
"My Birthday."
"Valentine's Day."
Every happy memory I had suddenly felt stained and tainted.
All I remember was my breathing becoming shallow, I don't remember what I said or did, everything was like a blur, or it was just my brain's defense mechanism, forgetting everything.
I then opened my eyes, seeing the sun's rays beaming into my room from the window.
Still feeling my phone in my hand, I looked at it, seeing my phone nearly dead with a message saying, 'call ended, 2 hours' on me and Mio's messages followed by a 'Sleep well'.
Thinking about it, I vaguely remembered hearing her voice "Ren?" then nothing but darkness soon after.
I saw a notification in the dms of me and Yuna, with a message asking, "Are you still coming tonight to the party?"
I stared at the message, confused and wondering if she didn't mean to send that to me.
Before I responded, I looked at the date on my phone, 'July 11th'
I sat up quickly, "WHAT."
I looked back at the call that I did with Mio, seeing it was over 24 hours ago.
"I slept for over a day" I thought to myself, which left me in shock.
I texted Mio, with her reply seeming dry when she replied about her being busy.
I texted some other friends, but most were going to that party already.
Being alone right then and there started to set in, with the thoughts knocking at my mind's front door.
"I'll be there." I responded.
It wasn't the best option to do, maybe even the worst, but I couldn't stand being alone, especially in the darkness of my room.
When night fell, I found myself walking past the street lights lighting up the back-alley street, but I was so lost in thought, I couldn't even focus on where I was going, it was like I was in autopilot while I replayed the last few days.
"Did she get over it already?", "Has it really been that long?", "Am I the one dragging everyone else down?" These thoughts echoed in my head, but before I could think of them anymore.
"Hey Ren! What's up man" A voice completely shut them all out.
I looked up, seeing strung lights in a nicely lit alleyway. Fake vines lined the entrance with a fence blocking in the outdoor seating of the bar.
I held out my hand, "Hey Kasai, been a while huh."
He shook my hand with a smile.
I then walked past him, seeing people hanging out with drinks, "Does no one know?" I thought.
I walked into the bar area, looking around from familiar faces, but sadly, I saw familiar faces of people I wished to never see again.
My chest tightened, I felt like I didn't want to be at the party anymore, I felt like everything was a lie.
I saw Yuna, but beside her, holding a drink and laughing alongside her, stood Haruto.
My heart sank, I had spent the last couple weeks crying along with Mio.
We barely even slept, we had barely eaten, we barely can function, yet there they were. Laughing. Smiling. Drinking. Things you'd do if you had no more worries to deal with.
It was like nothing had happened, like nobody was hurt, or it was like me or Mio didn't even exist, at least not to them, or anyone else around me.
A terrible thought crossed my mind, something that overtook everything else.
I wanted to hate them, I wanted to yell, I wanted them to suffer and look guilty in front of everybody.
I wanted them to be ashamed of what they've done. At least, to look like they regretted it.
Instead, they look cheerful and happy, like an exam finally being finished.
"Why was I the only one suffering?"
ns216.73.217.69da2
and then Add to home screen.