đž ALL THE WRONG REASONSđž
đčEPISODE TWENTY-SIXđč
Adrienne went to Yuanâs house. She told him that she let
Justin go.
âYou must be out of your freaking mind!â Yuan said
crossly.
âI have to do this, Yuan,â she said sadly. âI love him.â
âThen why the hell did you let him go?!â
âI donât want his mother to fall into de-ep depression! I
donât want her to get hurt. I donât want to ruin his perfect
family. I never had that! And I wanted it for him. I donât want
him to feel guilty if something happened to his Mom or his
Dad. He will never be happy with me this way.â
âDo you think he will be happy without you?â
Adrienne sighed. She knows Justin felt devastated with
her decision to let him go, too. But he had to fix things with
his parents. And the only way she could do that is if she
gave him up.
âMaybe someday, Yuan,â she said in a sad voice. âIf
we were really meant for each other, he will find his way
back to me.â
âAnd youâre going to wait until that happens? How
long will that take? Youâll hold off your life hoping he will
come back?â
She shook her head. âIâm still young, Yuan. Iâll just let
things flow into my life. A year or two, maybe by then he will
have figured out if itâs working or not. If by then heâs happy
then I would move on.â
âThis is plain stupidity!â Yuan said.
âItâs also called unselfishness,â Adrienne argued. âAnd
I nee-ded to give him that chance. I love him too much to
hold him back from whatâs really out there for him. I canât bear the burden of him being disowned by his own family
because of me. He would never be happy like that.â
Her phone beeped. She stared at it nervously when
she saw Justinâs name on the screen.
Justin: You talked about that parallel universe. You
didnât mention one thing: Reality. Because in reality, you
know this isnât for good, right, Adrienne? I will use this
chance you gave me to convince my parents that they have
to let me go. And when they do, be re-ady to answer my
question for real. I love you very, very much, Miss Miller.
Hold on to that, while youâre waiting for me to set things
right.
Tears rolled down Adrienneâs cheeks. She missed him
alre-ady. But she knew she couldnât turn back. She couldnât
go running back to him. He wasnât strong enough to let her
go. She had to be the strong and firm one. She had to be
the one to stand by what is right this time. If she left it up to
Justin, she knew that he would rather lock themselves in his
ap@rtment and make love to her all day.
It took all her strength not to answer Justinâs message.
He had to move on. She had to set him free. So she didnât
answer. She brou-ght the phone to herl-ips and k!$$ÂŁd the
screen, closing her eyes, thinking that it was hisl-ips she
k!$$ÂŁd instead.
Suddenly her phone rang and she almost dropped it.
She looked at the screen nervously and saw her motherâs
number on it.
âHello.â
âYou told us that you would come home to explain
yourself. Well, itâs been weeks and you still havenât shown
your face here!â she said in a demanding tone.
âIâm sorry Mom. I got caught up with a lot of work.â
âItâs Saturday. Are you working today?â
âNo.â
âThen I suggest you pay us a visit.â Then she hung up.
Adrienne gro-an ed. âGod, kill me now!â
âMonster Mom?â Yuan asked.
Adrienne nodded.
âGo. Weâll come with you. Iâll call Jill. This time, you
nee-d reinf0rç£ments!â Yuan said.
âYuanâŠI justâŠbroke up with Justin!â Adrienne
murmured. âI canât face my parents. Itâs going to be like
pain after pain after pain.â
âWell, Justinâs off fighting his own battle. I suggest you
fight yours. This might do you good for a change. You
know⊠one pain less-en-s the other. The more heartaches
your mother gives you, the more distracted you will be
about your breakup with Justin.â
Yuan did have a point. And Adrienne realized that she
canât put off fixing her own life while waiting for Justinâs fate
to turn around. Maybe if he c@mÂŁ back to her, theyâd both
be free of excess baggage and everything would flow
smoothly.
âAre you sure you want to come with me?â Adrienne
asked.
âYes,â Yuan replied, sÂŁnding a text message to Jill.
âYou nee-d us to be there. I just sharpened my nails at the
salon. Who knows? Maybe Kim will nee-d a little facial
mas-sage.â
Adrienne didnât bother going back to her ap@rtment.
She still had enough clothes left in Yuanâs place from the
last time she crashed with him. Within half an hour, they
were all in the airport checking in.
Adrienne still felt like floating in the air. She continued
staring into space, ba-rely listening to what Jill and Yuan were
talking about. She was reminiscing all the good moments
she had with Justin. From the first moment they met, to the
times they spent together in their own world when she kept
him a secret, to the time he beat up Troy for her, to their
reconciliation at the beach⊠to the time he first told her he
loved her and that last night, when he asked her to marry
him.
Youâre a fox!
She couldnât stop thinking about those words over and
over again. And now, more than ever, she longed to hear
him whisper those words again.
Tears started rolling down her cheeks without her
even knowing it. She wanted to call him so badly, to hear
his voice again. But she knew she couldnât. She promised
to make it easy for him. Calling him and taking it all back
wouldnât solve his problem. And in her heart, she knew it
was the right thing to do. No matter how painful.
Jill and Yuan checked in to a h0tel while Adrienne went
to her parentsâ house.
It had been months since she went home. She felt a
s-en-se of familiarity as the cab entered her neighborhood.
She instructed the taxi to stop in front of a maroon colored
three-floor house.
Kimberlyâs pretty face was the first one that greeted
her when she opened the door.
âOh, youâre here,â she said. She looked behind her
and found that Adrienne was alone. âSo, whereâs the
h0tsh0t b©yfriÂŁnd? Gone too soon?â
She gr!ppÂŁdher bag ti-ghtly and prevented herself
from swinging it on Kimâs face.
âHeâs a busy man, Kimberly,â she murmured.
Somehow, she couldnât bring herself to admit to her sister
that her relationsh!pwith Justin just might be over. She
could ha-rd ly admit it to herself.
She stepped inside the house and immediately heard
noises in the living room.
âI didnât know you were having a p@rty,â Adrienne
said.
âI didnât know you were invited,â Kimberly responded,
giving her a fake smile.
When she stepped inside, she found that Troy and his
whole family were there with his parents.
Oh $h!t!
Immediately, the room fell quiet. They all stared at her
in surprise. Troy looked like he saw a ghost. His mother,
however, looked like she saw an insect she wanted to squish
with her boot.
âHello,â she greeted them.
There was silence. Then her father went to her and
gave her a hvg.
âI missed you, sweetheart.â He may have embr@ced
her, but Adrienne felt so unwelcome and scrutinized.
How she wished she brou-ght Justin with her. But she
didnât think sheâll be bringing him to any of her family
gatherings in a long while.
âI missed you too, Dad,â she replied to him.
She pu-ll-ed away from her father and walked over to
her Mom and gave her a pe-ck on the cheek.
Then she br@vely looked at Troyâs family. âGood day,
Mr. and Mrs. Williams.â Then she gave Troy a slight nod.
She turned to her father and told him sheâll just go
freshen up in her be-droom.
When she got inside her be-droom, she found that it
was a mess. Almost all of her stuff was in boxes. They were
marked with her name. Even her be-d only had the mattress,
no pillows and no be-dspre-ads.
She wondered who did this, and why. Maybe when
Troyâs family left, she would ask her parents about what
happened.
She took some clothes from her bag and changed into
a yellow floral dress that ended nicely above her knees.
Then she tied her hair in a half-pony.
She took one last look at her disastrous room before
going back to the living room. She nearly entered the living
room when suddenly she heard her mother and Troyâs
talking on the other side of the wall.
âWell, I am just so glad that Troy finally c@mÂŁ to his
s-en-ses and went after Kimberly! I meanâŠI donât know what he was thinking going for Adrienne.â She recognized Troyâs
motherâs voice.
âWell, I have always wanted Troy to end up with Kim. I
knew Adrienne would embarras-s me at one point in time. I
just never imagined it would end up in a br@wl between her
new b©yfriÂŁndand Troy.â
Adrienne stood behind the wall and listened to the
older womenâs conversation. She was concealed by the door
in front of her and the two women have no idea that their
conversation was no longer pri-vate.
âI cannot believe that your daughter was cheating on
my boy, Marina,â Mrs. Williams said.
âWell…I tried, Betty. I tried to raise her like Kim. But
she really got a bad set of genes. She didnât get that from
our side of the family. Sheâs given me problems ever since.â
âBut youâre lucky, Kimberly is such a good daughter.
My boy is happy to have Kim as his girlfriend now. I was
afraid Adrienne was going to be my daughter-in-law. I didnât
want to say this to you before, but I was really worried. Just
imagine! She was slee-ping with someb©dy else behind my
sonâs back?â
Tears pooled in Adrienneâs eyes. How could they talk
about her like that? Didnât they know that Troy and Kim were
cheating on her all this time? And how could her own
mother talk about her like this?
âOh, Iâm sure Kimberly will make a better wife than
Adrienne would ever be. Troy and Kimberly look fantastic
together. With AdrienneâŠI worry about the grandchildren
she would give you.â
âI worry, too. Well, with Adrienne I will always be
worrying if Iâm really looking at my own grandchildren or
someone elseâs.â Mrs. Williams gave out a shrill laugh.
Adrienne expected her mother to defend her. But her
mother only laughed, too.
She wasnât a slut! She wasnât slee-ping around! What
is wrong with Troyâs mother? What lies did her mother and her sister feed her head about her?
Suddenly, Adrienne felt a hand creep around her w@!st
and someb©dy pu-ll-ed her from behind. She quic-kly spun
around and found Troy looking down at her, pu-lling her
towards him. His eyes were teary.
She pushed him away.
âLet me go, Troy!â she hissed sharply.
âOh, my Adrienne,â he said. âIâm so sorry!â
Adrienne pushed him away. But Troy was quic-k to pu-ll
her to him, trying to hvg her.
âIâm sorry, Adrienne,â he kept saying. âI knowâŠI canât
compete with your new b©yfri£ndbut if you only give me a
chanceâŠI would make you happier than he ever will.â
âNo, Troy! Let go!â She pushed him again, gathering
all her strength.
âWhat are you two doing?â Adrienne heard a shrill
voice behind Troy, with made her pause. It made Troy pause,
too.
Adrienne looked behind Troy and found Kimberly
staring at them angrily. She pushed Troy once again and he
no longer f0rç£d himself on her. She gave him another sl@p
on the face.
âI said, let me go!â she said to him angrily. âWhat the
hell is wrong with you?!â
Suddenly, the elders rushed from the living room to
the corridor to see what the commotion was about.
âWhat is going on here?â her mother asked, looking at
her crossly.
âTroyâŠâ his mother started.
âMom! Adrienne was trying to sÂŁdûç£Troy! I saw him
pushing her away but she was forcing him to k!ssher,â Kim
said.
âWhat?!â Adrienne couldnât believe what Kimberly
said.
She stared back at her mother and Mrs. Williams who
looked at her disapprovingly.
âYou believe her?â Adrienne asked them.
âWhy would she lie?â her mother asked her back. âAnd
what else could be the explanation for it?â
âTroy was forcing me!â
âCome on, Adrienne, we all know youâve always been
easy. Why? Is your b©yfri£ndbusy humping someb©dy else
so you decided to steal mine this time?â Kimberly asked
venomously.
She stared at Kimberlyâs pretty little face and all she
saw was⊠red. Blood red.
She didnât breathe. She didnât even think! Nob©dy saw
it coming. Nob©dy even thought it was possible at all.
All these years of being patient with her sister,
tolerating her in ma-king her life miserable, all the days of
bottled up pain and anger just exploded in a few seconds.
Suddenly, Adrienne no longer stood on Troyâs side.
She was beside her sister and gr-abbing the thing that she
had always dreamed of pu-lling: Kimberlyâs hair.
âAaaaahh!â Kim screamed in pain. Kim started flinging
her arms and Adrienne managed to get hold of one of them
and she twisted it behind Kim.
Wow! My sister is a wimp!
âI am so sick and tired of your lies!â she said to her
angrily. âI never did anything to you! You kept lying about
me! Why donât you tell everyb©dy how I found out about
you and Troy at the beach? Huh?! Tell them how you were
fvçking my b©yfri£ndbehind my back! How the two of you
have been cheating on me all this time!â
Her mother g@sped. Then she was quic-k to come to
Kimâs rescue. âKim is a vir-gin!â
âvir-gin her as-s!â Adrienne re-leased her sister and
pushed her to Troy. Troy caught her. Kimâs face was tear-
stricken and she looked positively scared of Adrienne.
Adrienne turned to Troy. âWhat did I ever do to you? You
were cheating on me! I found you having s-x with my own
sisterâŠduring the weekend getaway you planned for us!
And when I broke up with you, you got drun!kand beat me
up! Did you tell them that? Did any of you know that Troy
has a bad temper with women? He sliced up my l!ppretty
badly⊠after slee-ping with Kimberly!â
âIs this true?â Troyâs father asked him, unable to
believe what she just said about their son.
Troy stared at the floor. And then he nodded.
âOh my God,â Troyâs mother breathed.
âIâm not some slut like you think, Mrs. Williams,â she
said to Troyâs mother. âI didnât love your son. And I wanted
to break up with him and at least remain his friend. But
would you be friends with some guy who cheated on you
with your own sister and beat you up after?â
Mrs. Williams shook her head slightly.
Adrienne looked at Troy once again. âWhat were you
thinking, forcing me just now? I pushed you away and told
you to let me go! You wouldnât let go. What did you want?â
Troy took a de-ep breath. âA chance, Adrienne,â he
replied. âA chance to make things right between us. Itâs
always been you I wanted. I made a mistake.â He turned to
Kim. âIâm sorry, Kim. I tried. I tried to fall in love with you.
But I canât. I still love your sister.â
Kim looked like she didnât know what hit her. She
expected Troy to take her side on this one.
âAre you happy now?â Kim turned to Adrienne. âAre
you happy ma-king my life miserable?â
Before Adrienne could talk, the doorbell rang. Her
mother opened the door and two police officers entered the
house.
âHer! That girl! Get that girl!â her mother said
pointing at her. âShe physically as-saulted my daughter.
Weâre going to file a case against her and make sure she
stays in jail!â
Adrienne stared back at her mother, in pure shock.
âMom?â
Somehow, she remembered when she was young how
she held her in her arms and sang her to sleep. She could
ha-rd ly believe that this was the same woman. What did she
ever do to her?
âMarina!â her father shouted. âYou canât do this!â
Even Troyâs parents were shocked. Sure, her mother
can just reprimand her or say nas-ty things to her, but to
have her arrested?
âMarina, sheâs still your daughter!â Troyâs father said.
âI donât have a violent daughter! Sheâs crazy! If she
doesnât belong in jail, then maybe a mental institution would
fix her.â
Adrienne stared at her father. âDad?â Tears poured
from her eyes as she felt the police officers take her arms
and cuffed her hands behind her.
âMarina, stop this!â her father pleaded. âMy daughter
cannot be jailed!â
âMy daughter cannot be battered by that crazy girl!
Sheâs out of control. She shouldnât be let out in the streets!â
âMarina, you are overreacting!â her father said angrily.
Tears kept pouring from Adrienneâs cheeks and she
wanted to curl in a ball in one corner. She realized that her
mother didnât just not love her. Her mother hated her. And
she couldnât un-derstand why. She couldnât un-derstand what
she did to make her mother loathe her with so much
pas-sion.
***
âI love you, Mommy. Happy Mothersâ day!â She
remembered her eight-year-old self, bringing home a
bouquet of roses for her mother. She was the only one in the
family who remembered that it was Mothersâ Day right then.
Her mother stared at the roses for a while and then
placed them on the kitchen table. âThank youâŠsweetie.â
Then she leaned down and k!$$ÂŁd her forehead lightly.
It wasnât special, and she ba-rely saw the appreciation
on her face, but it was one of those rare moments that
Adrienne got a little bit of affection from her mother.
All her life, she was trying to win her approval.
Whenever she c@mÂŁ home, Kim would jump into her arms
and she would k!ssher all over the face. Then Adrienne
would look at her mother expectantly and she would⊠just
ruffle her hair.
When Kim got her period, her mother was all
supportive, telling her what to do. When Adrienne got her
period, her mother couldnât care less and told her to search
the internet about it.
NowâŠher mother called the police to have her
arrested. And for what? A simple hair-pu-lling? Kim didnât
even have a scratch on her. But her mother was hell-bent on
ma-king sure she pays for thisâbehind bars! Her father tried
to reason with her mother but she knew he would never win.
Her father showed her some affection. But it always seemed
like he feared what her mother would say or do to him.
Adrienne stayed in a cell for a couple of hours while
her father tried to convince her mother to stop this
craziness. Unless her mother c@mÂŁ to her s-en-ses and saw
how petty this was, she would drop the charges. But as of
the moment, sheâs in for as-sault causing physical injuries. If
Adrienne really knew Kim and her Mom, they would go for
attem-pted homicide.
Oh God! What did I do to deserve all this? What did I
do to deserve the parents that I have now?
She knew her friends were somewhere outside, trying
to do what they could to convince her mother to find some
s-en-sibility or lucidity. But she knew for sure how stubborn
the woman could be.
She sat on a bench and noticed that the chair had
some markings on them. She saw some scribbles, some
names. Maybe they were done by some kids who got to
spend a day or a night in the detention cell like her. Maybe for petty crimes too. Like shoplifting. Stealing c0nd0ms and
bubble gums. And now her: a completely justified and long
overdue hair-pu-lling escapade.
She smiled in spite of herself. She wondered what
Justin would say if she told him about this.
He will be mad, for sure. But he would admire her for
standing up against Kim, for not allowing Kim to keep
trampling on her over and over.
Kimâs been doing that to me my entire life. Itâs high
time Kim gets scared of me.
âMiller.â Adrienne heard a policewoman call her.
She stood up and followed her outside.
âSomeb©dy posted bail,â the desk sergeant told her.
âBut your mother still seems keen on filing charges.â He
shook his head, and looked at her apologetically.
No surprises there!
Of course, it was her precious Kimberly she hurt. Plus,
she ratted Kim out in front of Troyâs parents. Her mother
must be seriously pissed.
At least my father posted bail!
She found her parents waiting for her. So was KimâŠ
also known as âthe victim.â Her friends stood on one side
throwing daggers at Kimberly. Troy and his parents sat in
one corner.
âWhat is she doing out? Why is she out?â her mother
asked upon seeing her free.
âShe posted bail, maâam.â
âBail?â her mother echoed. âWe didnât post bail.â
The policewoman rolled her eyes at her mother. âWell,
someb©dy did!â Then she turned to Adrienne and asked her
to sign a paper and handed over her stuff, which only
included her phone and her wallet.
âDid you bail her out?â her mother asked her father.
âNo,â her father said. âYou wouldnât let me!â
âSo, who posted bail?â Kim asked, turning to her
friends.
âWe would have, but we didnât have enough cash on
us,â Yuan said in an annoyed tone.
âMarina, Iâm begging you! Shut up! And stop this!â It
was probably the first time she saw her father angry at her
mother.
Her mother took a step closer to her and looked at her
contemptuously. âHow dare you hurt my little baby like that?
You ungrateful snake! I raised you! I let you share my home!
And this is what you do to me in return?â
Adrienne didnât recognize the woman in front of her
anymore. She was so angry at Adrienne, she even looked
possessed. Without warning, she raised her hand and hit
Adrienne solidly across the cheek.
Adrienne didnât duck, she didnât even try to block her
motherâs sl@p. She was too broken, too confused to think
about anything else. And she thought she could use the
physical pain to alleviate the emotional one she felt.
She staggered backwards from the f0rç£ of her
motherâs sl@p. Her father immediately gr@bbÂŁd her mother
to prevent her from hitting Adrienne again. Only then did
Adrienne realize that someb©dy had caught her. Someb©dy
held her, kept her warm, and kept her away from her
mother⊠kept her safe from further attacks.
âLet me go! Let me go!â her mother screamed.
Yuan and Jill g@sped. They stood frozen on their
places.
âMarina, get a hold of yourself!â her father said
angrily, still struggling to restrain her. âYouâre in a police
station for crying out loud! You can get arrested for as-sault!â
Adrienne finally looked up at the person who had
caught her, and shielded her from her motherâs attacks.
She found herself staring at a familiar pair of
aquamarine eyes. Adrienne thought that his eyes were more
striking than usual. She saw a hint of emotion there. It took
her a moment to recognize what it was⊠fury!
GUESS WHO ?đ
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