“What is your proudest moment alive?”
“That I hate my family.”
I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
The plan wasn’t like this. This ten minutes social experiment was intended to have a heartwarming conversation with strangers about their proudest moments. I clearly wasn’t expecting a young woman to walk into our booth and came out to me like that.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
She let out a lopsided smile, “my parents love my sister more than me. They prefer me starving to that disabled girl. Could you believe it?”
“Maybe because your sister needs a little more attention? You know, because of her… condition?” I said, being extra careful.
“That’s what I think so. That bitch has all the attention ever since she was born.”
Honestly, I feel like cat got my tongue. I don’t want to say things that might hurt her. But, my digital hand watch shows 8.04 PM. We can’t just stay in silence for rest six minutes right?
“So, you hate your family because they didn’t give you attention as much as your sister gets?”
She chuckled humorlessly, “oh boy, I wish it was that simple.”
This blonde in front of me just keep on playing with the coupon our booth sells. She torn the paper into pieces and put it on the table. She looks straight into my eyes, makes me feels a bit uncomfortable.
“Would you be mad when your parents were planning to sell you?”
“What?”
There’s a few moments of silence as I shifted in my seat. This girl doesn’t show any expression. But those hazel eyes do scream tiredness. Her eye bags didn’t do any help, looks like her make ups failed doing its job.
“Your parents were planning to sell you?” I asked once again, confirming I wasn’t hearing things earlier.
“Yup, that’s what exactly I said. That’s not even the worse part.”
I hold my breath, anticipating what might be worse than this. I hope it wasn’t what I thought.
“They sell me to a fucking stranger so they could get money to feed their youngest daughter. Crazy, right?”
Bingo.
“They aren’t your biological parents… right?”
“My biological dad left us because that whore was cheating on him. I guess karma is a real bitch because my so-called-mom and step dad had a disabled daughter, which serves them right.”
A loud ‘beep!’ was heard from the outside, indicating our chitchat time is over.
“Your time is up!” My friend, Bryan, announced, poking his head through the blue tend. This girl was about to stand up, but I stopped her.
“Give us a minute.” I said to my friend. He furrows his eyebrows, but still nodded. After my friend is out of the booth, I looked towards the girl.
“Are you safe now?”
“Do you want to help me if I wasn’t?” She asked sarcastically.
“I have a vacant room at my house. You can stay there, if you want to.” I suggested. I know this sounds crazy. But this girl reminds me of Ayle when her ex left her back then. She was homeless and afraid of going home to meet mom.
She chuckled, “are you trying to get into my pants?”
My eyes bulge in fear. “No! That’s not what I meant!”
“If you are really wondering, I’ve got my safe place.” This girl winked and put her black leather bag around her shoulder.
I quickly stand up as she was about to turn around and leave our booth. “What’s your name?”
This girl smirks while slightly tilting her head, “I thought we aren’t allowed to tell our names?”
“I’m… I’m Alex Angelo.”
I extend my hand and looked at her hopefully. She looked at me up and down, before let out a soft chuckle. “Sorry boy, I don’t tell my name to stranger. Even if you are cute.”
“But-”
“Time’s up!”
Once again, I saw Bryan’s head poking from the blue tend. I know I’ll get a lot of questioning after this, but I just shrugged it off. I kept my eyes on her.
This blonde in front of me smirked and adjusted her bag before leaving.
“You have a nice name, Alex.”
“Alex, come one! I’m not a child anymore!”It’s seven and I come home to my sister and her so called boyfriend sucking each other’s mouth. If I come home ten minutes later, who knows what they’ll do.I glared at Ayle to shut her up. And it works. Even though she wants to protest, she keeps her mouth zipped. My attention is back to the guy who is now standing in the living room, shirtless.“What else have you done with my sister?” I asked as I slowly made my way towards him. This bastard keeps his eyes to the floor, avoiding my gaze. I could see him trembling.Tell me again how the fuck could my sister date him? He doesn’t even has the guts to look at me in the eyes. Ayle really needs to be brainwashed. Or else, she’ll always end up dating candy-ass.“W-we… just kissed.”As we stand face to face, I gripped his cheeks firmly, forcing him to look at me. “Do you
The song ‘Set Fire To The Rain’ in rock version, is blasting through every corner of the club. Breaking ears. But no one seems to mind. They are busy with their own business. Crowded dance floor. Horny teenagers doing God knows what on the very dark corner.“Let’s get wasted!”Bryan joined the dance floor after two shots of vodka. I thought I was the one who needs to unwind, but he is the most excited one.“Go ahead, I’ll stay here in a bit!” I shouted as the music gets louder.“Boo hoo! Party pooper!”And that colleague of mine disappeared in the crowds. I’m physically and mentally drained because of work and Ayle. I don’t think I have any energy to jump on the dance floor.“A tequila please!”“My shift is over. I’ll ask my friend to assist you, Sir. Just give me a moment.”The bartender earlier gave me a polite smile before d
“You are such a whore!”Mom keeps on kicking Ayle on the corner of this room. I was tied dead to the chair and couldn’t move. I tried wiggling my whole being, so at least I could fall from the chair and crawl to Ayle. But no matter how hard I struggle, I feel like the rope is getting tighter around my hand and feet. I could only watch mom practically kill my sister.Ayle curled up with both hands covering her face. She cries so hard that triggers mom more. “I told you he isn’t a good man, yet you still ran away with him! You dumb bitch!”SLAP!Another hard blow landed on Ayle’s cheek. My sister is howling in pain. Mom looks like she is possessed. She didn’t even care with the blood running from the corner of Ayle’s lips. She keeps on slapping and calls her names.“Mom stop! You a
BEEEEEP!!!BANG!SHIT. Did I just hit someone?I pulled out the handbrake and jump out of the car. There’s an old man on the asphalt, wincing in pain while holding his leg. I ran towards him and squatted down to check if there’s blood. Luckily, there’s none.“Oh my, I’m sorry, Sir! Are you okay?”I was about to help him stand up, only for me to feel a cold metal on my neck. A knife is being pressed lightly against my skin, making me freeze. I gulped and try not to make any moves. Move an inch and my throat could be sliced.“Give me all your money.” The old man stated calmly. I see no cars nor people around. It’ll be useless to fight back.“I-I have some cash inside the car.”“Don’t try to fool me.”“No! I didn’t! You could check it yourself!”“You know what will
“You fucking whore!”SLAP!“Mom!”I sprinted to where Ayle is. She was hugging her knees on the floor. Her body is shaking as I wrapped her into a hug.“Stop protecting your sister! She needs a really good slap to wake her up!”“Mom, stop! It won’t get you anywhere by hitting her!”Mom was breathing heavily. She threw the baseball bat she was holding to the floor. Ayle flinched because of the loud thug as the baseball hit the ceramic. Did mom just hit her with that?“Be honest with me. How many has she brought home while I’m away?”“What are you talking about? Ayle didn’t bring anyone home.”“You know I can check everything through the CCTV, right? I’ll ask you one more time, Alex. How many boys has she brought home?”“No one, mom.” I answered straightforwardl
It’s half past six and we are still at the newly opened bookstore across my office. Ayle wants to spend time as much time as she could by staying far from the house. I’m not against her idea, but it’s kind of tiring after a long day at work. It would be great if I could go straight to bed after work. Or maybe, I could pay Rosie a visit. Should I ask for her number if we meet again?“Are you in a relationship or what?”I flinched as Ayle slammed her books to the table. I glared at her because some of the visitors are staring at us.“Why the fuck are you so loud?!” I asked in a whisper-yelled tone.“Stop acting like this is a library.” Ayle rolled her eyes and proceed to sit down. “You’ve been daydreaming for the past…” She glanced at her watch, “ten minutes?”I folded my arms and stare at her unbelievably. “Since when did you become a paparazzi?”
“We’ll have another social experiment?”“Sales department said public has a great feedback about it. Most of them are asking for another experiment.”I haven’t got over the first social task we had. Let’s just hope there’s no certain participant that attracts my attention. Or better, there’s no certain blonde suddenly appears in our booth.“The topic is either the most painful thing you’ve been told or you’ve told. The management is taking votes for that.”“It’s… kinda interesting?”“I know, right. I definitely choose the painful thing you’ve told someone.”I take another bite of my burger. I almost let out a moan since it’s my very first meal for the day. “Why?”“I have listened to many stories where people being victims. I want to see the sides of villains. Ho
“Shit! I’m sorry!”I quickly kneel down and pick the scattered papers all over the floor. I’m in a rush and didn’t watch my step, causing me to bump onto the new intern girl. The meeting with Maggy took longer than usual. Of course, she has lots of complaints. All the way down from works to the tidiness of our office.It’s a little over seven, means I’ll be meeting Rosie in a bit. It’s embarrassing because with just the thought of seeing her tonight, makes me giddy all day. Bryan even notice my unusual behavior and keeps on bugging me today, but I just brushed him off. I’ll tell him when I think I stand a chance with Rosie.“Here,” I handed some of the papers I picked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t watch where I was going.”“It’s okay, I didn’t watch my step too. Thank you.” She bowed politely and avoid eye contact with me. She keeps her eyes on the fl