If Charlotte knew things would turn out that way, she'd have never let Mek into her life once again. That was a mistake. And she kept making mistakes again and again.

Making mistakes and learning from them are human nature. But if she kept making mistakes again and again and again. Did she even deserve to be forgiven by anyone? Occasionally, Charlotte was scared, scared of the consequences, scared of the reactions. But little by little, she began to feel like she didn't deserve the chance she was getting. Because someone like her couldn't stay away from making mistakes. She'd ruin her chance.

Everything people said about her were all true after all. She was useless, a loser, a coward just like her mother said, her brother said, a disappointment. No wonder she was disowned. No, she was never owned to begin with. She was never anyone's responsibility, she was always just a burden someone was forced to carry until they couldn't anymore.

The date with Klao went well. Well, in Klao’s opinion, at least. Maybe Charlotte was a better actress than she initially thought. She tried her best to act interested and at some points, she was genuinely interested but that didn't have anything to do with Klao. Because she still wasn't interested in dating Klao, more like she was interested in the stories of his life, that's all. Klao wasn't able to recognize that she didn't want to be there.

Engfa didn't reply to her the whole day when Charlotte wasn't able to pick up her calls but out of nowhere, the next day, she reached out and said she was a bit busy and that Charlotte could come over to discuss. Charlotte suspected it wasn't about that but she didn't have much say in whatever anyways.

Fon was discharged from the hospital after some while. And Charlotte was told to meet Engfa at Fon's place for some reason. Engfa wanted to take care of Fon for a while so she couldn't go back to her own apartment. As promised, Charlotte made her way to the location of Fon's apartment which Engfa shared with her in the morning.

“You haven't deleted the video yet,” Engfa said, sitting on the couch. “Is there anything stopping you?” She asked, her hand on Charlotte's knee.

Charlotte looked up at the older and shook her head hesitantly. Her mind was still filled with tension of what she should do and what she should not. Everything was binded with a string. She was too afraid to delete the video. And if she did delete the video, what difference would it make? Everyone saw it already! “I'm just… a bit uncertain about it,” she murmured, her voice barely audible.

Engfa nodded understandingly but there was a hint of disappointment in her expression. “I understand it's hard. But as I told you, you don't have to do it just yet,” she paused, letting out a slightly exasperated sigh. “How about this? I'll try to reopen my business and see if it still works. If it doesn't, you'll delete the video and tell everyone the truth.”

Charlotte had no choice but to agree. She nodded. “I'll try.”

“Have you had breakfast?” Engfa suddenly asked, getting up from the couch of Fon's room. Fon was in her bedroom taking a nap so they couldn't exactly be heard.

Charlotte's mouth parted slightly as she looked at the other in slight confusion. She didn't think they were in such a stage of their relationship for them to ask each other such things. “I… n-no,” she barely let out.

Engfa's lips curled up to a small smile as she walked towards the kitchen. “I haven't either. Would you like to eat with me?”

Charlotte wasn't used to people being friendly to her but she didn't hate it. She quite liked that. “Um… if you don't mind, Phi.”

Engfa shook her head in slow motion and let out a chuckle. “How many times do I have to tell you to not call me Phi? It makes me feel old, you know?” she asked, her voice persistent.

Charlotte's hesitence rose. She didn't want to call Engfa by her name because a part of her wanted to prove that she wasn't really a bad person and she respected people she should respect. “But… you are older than me.”

“By a few months? Come on!” Engfa laughed. 

The sound of Engfa's laugh worked like music to Charlotte’s ears. It was mesmerizing. Maybe Engfa was able to convince her that she deserved to be happy as well. “I…”

“Eng. Call me Eng. I'll say it one last time,” she warned, not in a serious tone, more like playfully. She talked to Charlotte as if they were friends for years. Charlotte really wasn't used to that.

Charlotte gulped but nodded. She couldn't deny Engfa's persistence. “Okay,” she murmured out.

“Do you like tea?”

“Y-yes.”

Engfa shook her head, the tone in her voice was different. More… friendly. For some reason, it made Charlotte think she was trying to hide some feelings. She picked up a pot from the counter and put some tap water in it. “You're so shy,” Engfa expressed. “Are you always this shy with others?”

Charlotte shook her head as a no. “No. I'm not shy,” she expressed. “I'm… weird.”

Engfa put the pot on the stove, turning the heating to medium as she grabbed two bags of green tea. “Weird? I don't think so,” she giggles lightly. “You're more like… childish. Like a lost child, who doesn't know what to do or what she's talking about.”

Charlotte sighed. “You think so?”

Engfa turned to look at Charlotte on the couch as the water boiled. She leaned her slender body against the tip of the counter, looking directly at Charlotte and continuing. “Yes. You know, I faced injustice from upper class people so many times and some incidents were even worse than this one. Yet no one ever came to apologize to me,” she sighed. Her brows furrowed slightly. “Tell me, Charlotte, why did you apologize to me, knowing I might never forgive you for what you did?”

Charlotte looked down but there was no sign of such regret in her face. She did wrong and she needed to apologize, to make up for the loss, to face the consequences. That's how the world worked but in the world of the rich, it was different. She wasn't taught to apologize, she wasn't taught to face the consequences of her actions. She was taught to bury what she did deep so no one would ever find it. Because the word guilt barely ever existed in those people's dictionaries. Until someone wanted to take revenge, obviously.

But Charlotte wasn't... fit to it. She had done horrible things many times, but it was never that bad. And that was when she realized she didn't belong in the world of the so called rich. Because the word guilt, the word sympathy, existed in herself. She didn't want to be those people, even if she ended up being one anyways, she realized she wanted to change. “Because I did wrong. I have an ego, yes. But I can't handle the feeling of guilt. It hurt me so many times,” she paused before adding. “I was guilty.”

Engfa chuckled breathlessly. “You were guilty? That's… human like. Others always acted like they didn't do anything. Even when they got exposed, they covered it up with their money," she paused for a moment. “If you get exposed.., will you do the same?”

Charlotte shook her head, her expression serious. She was serious about redeeming herself about becoming a better person and if getting exposed was what was written in her luck then she'd go with it and face the consequences. “No. All the hate I might get, I deserve it. I won't let anyone expose me. I'll reveal myself. And if they decide they want to hate me, then… I'll disappear into the crowd and become just a person.”

Nonetheless, Charlotte was still scared, she was scared of everything because she was never taught what to do if she messed up, how to become a good person. All she was ever taught was money and marks, that's it. She wasn't taught to be brave, she wasn't taught to be responsible. She was scared she wouldn't be able to live with the consequences, she was scared of change.

Engfa bit her lip slightly before turning back to the counter. Taking the hot pot of water off of the stove, she poured the water into the cups with green teabags. “You… really are different from those rich spoiled brats. Don't you want to be the best like others?”

Charlotte scratched the back of her neck, her voice a bit nervous. “All I want is to be seen as capable.”

Engfa came back with the tea and a few biscuits on a tray. “Aren't you already? You built such a big channel, have millions of subscribers and earn a lot of money.”

Charlotte took the cup from the tray and slowly took a sip from the tea. “What's the point when people still think I was able to do all that because of my family?”

Charlotte's phone made a ding sound. She picked her phone up. A message from Klao. “Can we possibly meet tomorrow if you don't mind?”

Engfa picked up a biscuit and her eyes caught the name on the screen as Charlotte picked the phone to check the message. She felt upset. She didn't know why but she did. A girl as beautiful as Charlotte, she… was like a dream girl, to everyone, men and women.

Charlotte's expression changed as she saw the message and quickly typed out a response. “Of course. Would you like to meet at the café again or somewhere else?”

Engfa stared at the scene in front of her for a few seconds. She could guess the person Charlotte was talking to was a date or might be a lover, even. Might be the boy from that day. But for some reason, Charlotte didn't look quite happy to her. In fact, she seemed distressed.

“The café is good,” the other side texted back.

The second Charlotte put the phone down, the question Engfa didn't really think she could ask slipped out on its own. “Your boyfriend?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Charlotte looked surprised for a second. “N-no.”

But Engfa didn't hear it. Before she could, Fon called out to her from the bedroom. “Phi Eng!”

Engfa ran into the room, panicked about what happened and found Fon looking helpless. “I'm so sorry, Phi Eng!” She expressed, looking at the liquid on the bed. “I just woke up and stretched my arms and I accidentally knocked the glass off of the table.”

Engfa let out a sigh of relief. “It's okay. You're lucky the glass didn't fall on the floor and break,” she scolded, walking closer to Fon. “Are you okay, little one?” She asked, her voice soft and affectionate.

“I-I'm okay.” Fon pouted slightly. “I was just… startled.”

Engfa brought a napkin and placed it on the wet spot on the bed. Then she hugged Fon gently and Fon clinged to her like a koala.

Once Engfa was done, she walked back to the living room. Charlotte walked after her. “You and Fon sure are close, aren't you?”

Engfa laughed heatedly. “Of course, We've known each other for like 15 years.”

Charlotte nodded slowly, a sigh of disappointment escaping her lips. “I see…”

“So… Do we have anything else to discuss?”

Charlotte shook her head, the slight foreign feeling flooding her stomach as her lips perched into a thin line. “Oh, no. I'm done eating. I-I'll just… leave you two alone.”

* * * * *

Another date with Klao. Went as much as the other one. Klao enjoyed it, Charlotte pretended to. She wished she could enjoy it. But with as many things in her mind she couldn't. She wasn't focusing much on the date as well. Until Klao mentioned his sister.

“You seem distracted. Is it my outfit? I'm sorry, my sister dressed me today,” he murmured. The boy was quite talkative, more like a pure sunshine. It made Charlotte feel even worse about fooling him. Whenever she turned to look at that boy, he was smiling. He was happy, he was happy to have found someone to be able to talk to.

And it terrified Charlotte inside. Just thinking about how broken he would be if he found out the truth, she felt her heart clench. She was already drowning in guilt more and more every day and the guilt she'd feel if she actually started dating the guy would be even more unimaginable. “Your sister?” She asked, trying to get information about his sister.

“Yeah, she lives far away but she came over today so I took her advice on my outfit. Do you think it looks bad?” For the first time during the whole date, she actually properly looked at the boy. Her eyes roamed over the outfit. It was… fashionable. He wore an oversized light beige blazer over a white shirt. The matte blue slacks fit the matte theme perfectly. The golden chain and silver rings on his hands made the outfit stand out even more.

That wasn't a regular outfit chosen by someone out of the crowd. That was different, and outfit chosen by someone who knew what they were doing. After observing the outfit for a few minutes, she spoke up. “Not at all. It's quite a style. Like an aesthetic look. It's been a while since I've seen someone wearing such an outfit.”

“Thank my sister. She's a fashion designer,” Klao replied, the smile on his face getting slightly wider.

To Be Continued.....

* * * * *

A/n: Finally, a longer chapter.

By the way, the sister is a surprise character. Mind to guess who it could be?