39 | the day

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I've been standing here in the park for quite a while. I glance back at my watch and find that it's still around ten minutes more until dawn, even though I've been waiting for quite some time.

Cal is already on the way, and I'm pretty sure that he'll arrive soon.

He sounded so determined when he said that he's coming to get me.

The sound of a car's engine echoes from afar, and its headlights shoot toward me that I squint. My heart leaps in anticipation.

Cal?

But then, the closer the car approaches me, the clearer I can see to whom it belongs. My eyes widen in horror, my entire body shaking.

No. No. No.

The car stops right next to me, and Dad gets out of it. His jaw tightens. "Where do you think you're going, Mia?"

"No, Dad. Please," I scream, but he shoves me into the passenger seat and shuts the door.

Mom is behind the steering wheel. She locks the door as soon as I'm inside the car.

"No!" I pull the door panicky, struggling to get out, but it's no use because Mom has activated the child safety lock.

I snap my head toward the back, only to find Dad placing my suitcase inside the trunk.

"What are you doing?" I shout, my chest heaving up and down.

Mom, who's been focusing her gaze on the front, finally turns her head toward me. She looks upset. "Mia." Her voice is hoarse. She tightens her grip on the steering wheel that her knuckles turn white. "You can't do this. You're not running away with that guy."

No. This can't be happening. This is just a nightmare, isn't it?

"Drive," Dad commands from outside the car, and before I can comprehend what's happening, Mom starts driving.

I snap my head back and watch as Dad stays in the park. "Wait. We're not going away. What the hell are you doing?" I yell, my voice shaking uncontrollably, my palm pressed against the car window. "What is he doing?"

Unfortunately, Mom doesn't listen to me. At all. The car keeps speeding off, further and further from the park. My heart thumps so powerfully inside my chest that I feel like it's going to explode.

Although she doesn't answer me, I know for sure that Dad stays there to talk to Cal. He's going to tell Cal to stay away from me.

"No." A tear drops to my cheek, followed by another, and another. "Please, go back to the park. Please, please," I sob.

Cal is already on the way to pick me up. I've packed my bags, ready to start a new life with him. We've made a promise to be together. I can't leave. I don't want to leave him.

"I can't do this. Please let me go back to him, Mom," I cry. "He's looking for me."

The muscles on her neck move as she swallows, but her gaze is firm, still focused on the road. "We'll meet your father at the airport." Her answer crushes my heart.

Why don't they just kill me instead? At least, if I died, I wouldn't feel such pain.

Before I know it, anger consumes me. I scream and cry hysterically, slapping my palm on the car window over and over again until my skin hurts. I keep pulling the door handle even though I know that it's no use.

"Stop," I beg. "Stop the car. Let me out." The fact that she's activating the child lock pisses me off even more. "I'm not a child!"

Still, Mom doesn't budge. She keeps driving, and I know that despite her trying to compose herself while driving, the way I behave makes her go crazy.

As soon as she stops at a red light, I roll down the window and push myself out.

"Mia!" She immediately pulls my arm back to stop me that my back knocks the window frame. I groan in pain, while my phone slips out from my jacket pocket and drops onto the asphalt below.

She yanks me back into the car and starts driving, leaving me no other choice but to curl in my seat, unless I want to kill myself by jumping off the speeding car.

My entire body shakes from head to toe as I cry, hugging my knees. I've just lost my phone, the only thing that connects me with Cal.

"Are you crazy?" Mom shouts, rolling the window back up. "You just endangered yourself, Mia."

Maybe I'm indeed crazy. They've made me crazy. I bury my face in my hands, feeling everything around me crumble.

Then, it ticks in my head again. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be with Cal, who's waiting for me in the park. I've told him that I would be with him. He hasn't even know what's inside my heart. I haven't even told him that I love him.

"Turn the car around," I hiss, my voice already weak from all the shouts and crying. "Turn the car around now."

When Mom still doesn't listen, I scream again, thrashing in my seat like I've just lost my mind.

Then, the car finally slows down. Mom stops the car at the side of the road, and as silence falls between us, only then do I realize how loud my heavy breathing is. I'm panting like I've just run a marathon.

Mom turns to me, fire in her eyes. Her lips are trembling, the result of her trying so hard to control her emotions. "You don't know what you're doing, Mia." Her voice is shaking. "You're blinded by this childish love."

I freeze. Childish love?

"Childish love?" My voice is barely a whisper, my tears streaming down my cheeks. "You don't know anything about us."

When I stare into Mom's eyes, I can see how much the sight before her breaks her too. Her daughter is shedding tears because of a guy whom she thinks would only ruin everything.

"I might not know anything about you two, Mia, but I know that nobody loves you like we do." Tears well up in her eyes. "I just want you to know that your father is doing this because he loves you very much. He wouldn't allow you to ruin your future. You won't be happy with a man like Cal."

Again, I feel my heart shatter into pieces. Why wouldn't they give him a chance?

"I've told you before that you don't know his heart," I cry. "He has such a good heart, Mom."

Mom takes a deep breath, and it's shaky too. "Love isn't enough to make you happy, Mia," she says. "You can't survive the world without security. Cal wouldn't be able to make you feel safe. I can only see danger from him--"

"As I said, you know nothing about him--"

Mom suddenly slaps her hands on the steering wheel, startling me. She clenches her jaw and drops her head that her forehead touches the wheel. I've never seen her this angry, and that makes me swallow a lump in my throat.

"Enough, Mia," she rasps. "Do you know why your father was admitted into the hospital?"

Her words make me freeze. Slowly, she turns her head toward me, and the tears that fill her eyes now start to roll down her cheeks, one by one. "Because he couldn't stop thinking about you. He was so worried about you."

My chest tightens. Dad was sick because of me?

The spike in his blood sugar level is because of stress? Because he couldn't stop worrying about me?

"Mia," Mom starts again, and I've never seen such sadness in her eyes. "All this time, we've given you everything, and we had never asked you for anything."

Her words sink deep into my heart, because I know that she's speaking the truth. I'll never be able to return what they've given me, and they had never asked me to return anything to them.

Things changed when Cal came into the picture. They became terrified that he would make me fall into a dark pit, and so they had asked me to do them a favor. To leave him.

"Only this time, we beg you to leave that guy," she whispers brokenly. "Leave him and stay with us, Mia."

My heart shatters again from seeing her broken form. Indeed, she has never begged me like this.

Dad was lying. He said that he would disown me if I chose to be with Cal, but in the end, he couldn't just let me go, risking my life. It was just a threat.

If I leave my parents, what will happen to them? Will Mom cry every single day, worrying about me? Will Dad get sick again, lying on the hospital bed?

I shut my eyes, throwing my head back against the seat, sobbing.

What do I do? What am I supposed to do?

My heart will die if I leave Cal, but it will kill me too to leave my parents like this.

***

AN:
Double update for Chapter 39-40 :)


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