🥝💜🥝

FRANKI'S POV

"Hello?" Diana finally answers Veronica's call and I just stand here in front of her, breathing nervously and dying inside.

"Oh my gosh, really? I-I am in the middle of something here actually but..."

I nod my head at her, urging her to go ahead but yeah, it actually fucking hurts.

Her gaze on me sharpens. She then blinks as the muscles in her jaw visibly ticks in an unspoken tension.

"Okay. I will be there ASAP," she finally answers without leaving my eyes.

"What happened?" I curiously ask, peering on her face when she abruptly ends the call.

"Nothing," she lowly replies, emotionless.

"Diyanuhh..." I follow her a she turns around.

"It's nothing, Franki. I have to go na." she says as she starts picking her things up again, and the gesture caused a sharp pain in my chest.

"But—"

I trail off when she immediately opens the door without any further words and my vision suddenly clouds with wetness the moment she shuts it right in front of my face.

The sound of it closing has made me feel like I have been slapped in the face...hard.

And now, I'm all alone...empty and disappointed with her decision and more with myself.

I mean...I didn't expect that she will be easily persuaded. I close my eyes and press my palms and forehead against the door as I let this internal battle take over me with tears threatening to roll down my chest.

Oh, Diana... What did you do to me?

I am kind of straight...Until she came. And now, I'm as straight as a circle and I'm afraid...

...so damn afraid because these feelings are so intense and this is the first time that I have felt this way to someone.

And now, she's going to Veronica...who is apparently her girlfriend.

No.

No, no, no! What have I done?!

I immediately open the door and search for her in the hallway but she is nowhere to be seen. I run toward the elevators and frantically press on the ground floor button. I am tapping my foot impatiently as the elevator drags me down to the desired floor.

She might be still in the building...She should be, darn it!

I rush to the lobby as soon as the elevator ejects me but I cannot see her familiar form anywhere. I head to the entrance doors and look for her anywhere, my eyebrows arching with hope, regret, longing, and sadness all in one frame.

My face lits up when I finally saw her familiar motorcycle dashing off from afar.

"Diana! Diana!!!"

I call her name out real loud as I run to follow her, but she has already disappeared around the corner.

I try to call her but I left my phone upstairs. Breathless and exasperated, I lean down and reach for my knees while my cloudy eyes linger on that corner where I last saw her beautiful form.

"Diana...I need you..." I softly murmur into the cold night air in my cracked, husky voice. I sniff when my nose starts to run and casually wipe the wetness from the corner of my left eye.

After recovering, I stagger my way back up our room with my shoulders down and lips pouting hardcore.

Closing the door behind me, I look around and never felt this alone my entire life.

It's eight in the evening already and I have no idea about what happened to David...

And Diana went to Veronica...

God this hurts.

I throw myself on the bed and swim under the bedsheet with all the frustration that I have for tonight. I look up to my cute little Penguin stuffed toy that is sitting while totally looking unbothered on my headboard.

I reach overhead and bring it on my chest to hug it tight...

My dad gave this to me on my 12th birthday...Just a week before he died...and I miss him so much...after all these years.

I start to cuddle with it with my lower lip jutting out in pure sadness...

My chest tightens even more when Diana's face again enters my mind. I snuggle the stuffed toy closer to my body and just then finally let the tears flow out of my eyes in liberty.

(Play the song, that remix version, that is attached above from here with earphones. You can read with the lyrics in the first part. As usual, please follow my instructions for a better reading experience.)

🎵Crashing, hit a wall
Right now I need a miracle
Hurry up now, I need a miracle
Stranded, reaching out
I call your name but you're not around
I say your name but you're not around🎶

"Diyanuh..."

🎶I need you, I need you, I need you right now
Yeah, I need you right now
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down🎵

🎵I think I'm losing my mind now
It's in my head, darling I hope
T

hat you'll be here, when I need you the most

So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
Don't let me down🎶

🎵Don't let me down
Don't let me down, down, down
Don't let me down, don't let me down, down, down🎶

🎵Running out of time
I really thought you were on my side
But now there's nobody by my side🎶

🎵I need you, I need you, I need you right now
Yeah, I need you right now
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
I think I'm losing my mind now
It's in my head, darling I hope
That you'll be here, when I need you the most
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
Don't let me down🎶

I think I am going to drown with misery right now. I have to talk to someone...I really have to.

I reach for my phone and tried calling Diana but she is not answering my calls...And it hurts so bad I want to erupt in tantrums.

I tried to call David again but his phone is still unattended. I don't know anyone from here except them and I haven't felt this alone and lost my entire life...

I am now starting to feel that I don't belong in this country...

I want to Facetime my family especially my mum but I don't want them to think that I am unhappy right now. They have supported my decision about coming here and I don't want them to get worried about me. They know me too well to read my emotions in my eyes.

I decide to Facetime Brigette instead, my best girl next to Jessica...

She immediately answers it. Judging from the background, she seems to be on a beach with her boyfriend James.

"Oh my gosh, Bridge! Hi!!!"

I rose up and sit on the bed while I casually preen my messy hair and compose myself. Seeing her face has flooded my veins with warm relief and I want to cry again but she might notice that I have a problem so I have to control myself.

"Hey, babe! What's up? How you doin' there?!" she beams, her pearly white teeth and the sunny background kind of hurting my stressed eyes.

"I'm fine...I'm doing great! I miss you!" I talk to her in my normal Australian accent.

"Come back here, you little cupcake! The squad misses you so bad...It has been different without our little ray of sunshine Frances! We have to go to Spain next time!"

I force a smile on my face despite my heaving chest.

"I will...I will...I will come back soon! You bet on it, girl!"

Sooner than I have planned, I think. I don't think I should be staying here anyway...

"So how's our big boy David doin'? You don't–"

She is still speaking on the background when I jerk up at the sound of someone rustling behind the door.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Diana came back!

"Just one sec, girl. I have to go. I'll be right back," I abruptly end the Facetime and jump out of the bed before excitedly rushing to the door with shaking hands.

"Dian—Oh..."

I am taken aback when instead of Diana is David with a bruised lower lip and a sling that is supporting his arm and shoulder.

"Oh my gosh. What happened to you?"

The unexpected sight of him suddenly got me all worried. He is just silent as he stares at me while wearing a very exhausted face.

"Tell me..." I reach out to caress his cheek, my eyes full of concern. He just wearily looks down and steps closer to lean his head against my shoulder.

"David..." I grip both of his shoulders to urge him to speak.

"I'm so sorry, baby...I just got out of the hospital. Gino took care of everything..." he softly says as he pulls me closer by his uninjured arm.

I pull away from his hug to bark on him. "What happened? We were worried about you! You didn't leave any messages and didn't even answer my calls! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I...I was so drunk last night that I fell in the pool and hit my shoulder on the gutter's sharp edge...My phone was damaged and I didn't tell you about it because I hate to see the worry over that beautiful face..." He goes to reach out for my cheek but I tap his hand away.

What he has said suddenly made me realize that sometimes, especially lately, his words don't match his actions. He is the older one but I think Diana is way matured than him.

"Well, you just made it worse." I stiffened out when I again remember the events that happened in Gino's mansion.

"I didn't know what happened then... I was also worried about you. No one saw you at the rest of the night..."

"You were worried about me? Really? Because as far as I can remember, you were too preoccupied with your homophobic guy friends and had totally forgotten about your girlfriend."

"I won't drink again, Franki. I'm so sorry..."

I turn my back on him and proceed to our room with heavy steps.

"Wait, why did you suddenly disappear that night?" he asks as he follows behind.

"I went home. I don't like your friends." I plop myself back on the bed and hide under the bedsheets.

"How did you get home?" he carefully positions himself on the bed beside me.

"I really can't believe that you'll just leave me just like that. You know I'm new here and this country is still foreign to me. I don't know anyone else, David." I rant out without looking back at him. I don't usually get mad but what he did was really off so...

"I'm sorry. Please? It won't happen again..." he softly utters out in his sweetest voice but I didn't respond. He sets my hair side with his other hand and starts skimming his nose on the back of my neck, but I twitch at the unwanted contact.

"Dave...stop. I'm not in the mood."

"You're always not in the mood..." he breathes out in my skin, which prompted the hairs on my body to stand on end.

"After what you did?" I turn my head back to him with one eyebrow raised. "Diana should have been there."

The muscles on either side of his temple visibly moved.

"Come on, baby. I'm sorry na oh...I love you. Do you want some ice cream and chocolates tomorrow? I'll take you to some awesome and cute restaurants that I bet you'll like." he puts a gentle smack on the exposed ball of my shoulder.

"You're still injured. We are not going anywhere." I flatly reply.

"Where's Diana, by the way?" he blurts out.

The mention of his sister's name made me miss her even more.

"She left...She will be sleeping in her friend's condo again, I think."

"Oh, it is becoming a habit, isn't it? Much better so we can own this place..." he says in a suggestive, breathy tone while putting his arm over me and tries to flip me to turn to him but it annoyed me for some reason.

"My gosh, that's your sister we are talking about, David. What's wrong with her staying here?" I finally curl up the bed and glared down at him.

"Whoa, Baby. I didn't say anything. Of course, she is always welcome here." he defensively says.

"You sounded like you didn't care about her."

"What? Why? I mean, what's with the sudden outburst? I was just joking. And besides, Diana is way matured for her age so she knows what she is doing."

"Nothing. I'm just tired..." I slowly shake my head when I realize that I kind of overreacted.

"I am relieved that you are finally here and you are safe. Now, I want to go to sleep na po." I mumble as I slowly sink back under the sheets.

He heaves a deep sigh and speaks in an irate tone. "Okay, fine..."

He just then fell into silence while my temples are wrinkled in both annoyance and discomfort.

"I'm sorry again. I just hope nothing will change between us. I can't wait for you to meet my mom and build our future together...build the family goals that you have always been dreaming of..."

Family goals...

His words echoed through my mind for a couple of minutes. Yes. A loving husband and six children...

But why do I suddenly feel indifferent about it? I am having a hard time imagining it at the moment.

Instead, a clear image of Diana's enigmatic smile is in the front seat in my mind.

Fuck.

"I love you, my Frances..." he breathes out next to my ear before finally spooning me closer to sleep.

****

It's already three in the morning but I am still wide-awake.

Looks like David's comeback has got me even more bothered than before. His presence just made my feelings worse and the mixed emotions are killing me.

I also feel so uncomfortable lying next to him and it just made me compare the hardness of his body to Diana's softness...

Ah, I want to scream with the absurdity of these foreign emotions!

I wonder what she is doing right now...

The thoughts of her and Veronica together is causing a weird pain in my chest and worse, what if they are doing it?

Jesus!

A part of me is telling me that Diana will not do it...

God, I miss her so much already. With the careful, slightest movements, I lift David's arm that is wrapped around my waist and snake myself out of his embrace. He seems to be having a really deep sleep with the sound of his steady but worn out breathing, hinting that he really had a stressful day.

Taking my phone with me, I sit on the edge of the bed and unlock it. I strain my eyes out at the brightness from the screen that is contrasting on the blinding darkness of the room.

I go over my messages and just then find myself composing a text for her.

Bahala na...po.

"hello po...Dee.😊"

I swallow in tension as the waiting for her reply game begins. I might appear desperate but I think I will die if I will not be able to talk to her right now.

Yes, that's what I am feeling right now.

My hand flies over my mouth as I involuntarily squeaked at the notification sound of her reply. With bulging and anxious eyes, I cock my head to David to check on him and I sigh in relief when he seems to be really trapped in the dream world.

My stomach flutters in extreme excitement when I read her reply. I feel like I want to poo and pee at the same time.

"Yes?"

It's just a single word reply but it has sent all my nerves in chaos. I can imagine her beautiful and collected face as she says that every time I ask her something. Gosh, she's so pretty!

Uh-oh...You really are doomed, Frances.

"im sorry. can u come back here? 🥺"

I immediately sent my reply. My wide-awake eyes are then glued on the screen as I wait for her reply. Gosh, if the walls have ears, they are now probably covering them because of my loud and hammering heartbeat.

She hasn't replied yet and my lower lip starts to bleed now from the anticipation bite so I decided to take a shower first to just you know, prepare. Of course, I brought my phone inside the shower.

After like half an hour, I have already finished re-freshening up but there still has no reply from her. The sadness and regret again fill me in and put a weight on my shoulder.

What if she got really busy with Veronica and decided to stay with her instead of me, the risky, seemingly straight girl who has a boyfriend after all?

No, no, no. I have to talk to her as soon as possible. It was all gay panic, darn it!

I can feel that she feels the same way...

Sometimes, love is not enough and the road gets tough but if she wants me too, then we should fight for this.

*****To be continued*****

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Vomments ( Votes + Comments ) are greatly appreciated! ♥️