CHAPTER 13: BREAKDOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

CHAPTER 13: BREAKDOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
"Mom, what do you mean extend a week? You know how long I’ve waited for this... right?" I said, gripping the phone tightly.

"Reina, we just want your cousin Katie to be there. You know how your older cousin misses you," she said casually.

So it’s all about Katie now.

Of course. The great Katie The one who's always better than me. Older. Wiser. More respected.
The one they treated like their own daughter… more than me.

"Okay, Mom. If you say so," I replied flatly and ended the call before she could say another word.

That was enough.

Katie. Katie. Katie.
Katie is better.
Katie is wiser.
Katie is more beautiful.

"Why did you just end the call like that? That’s disrespectful to your parents, Reina," Jake said from behind while his brows knitting. He looked... disappointed.

"I was just... hurt. Sorry," I muttered in my low voice.

They told me the grand ball would be held on my birthday. Just a few days from now.

Or maybe... they forgot.

"Reina, we literally just talked about this. You could’ve asked them calmly before reacting like that. You didn’t even try to explain."

"For what, Jake?" I said quietly. "Just so they can call me too much again?"

"No. Because they’re your parents. And that’s exactly why you should still respect them," he answered like it was that simple. Like being constantly dismissed was normal.

"Sor—"

"I thought you learned something," he cut me off, his face twisting in disappointment. Disgust, even. And that stopped me cold.

I just stood there and stunned. Stunned that he was arguing about respect for people who never made me feel seen. Who never gave me that same respect back.
Not even on my birthday. Not even as their own daughter.

"Sorry," I whispered.

Jake looked at me for a second too long. Then he shook his head.

"I think you should get some rest," he said, his voice sharp and cold. "You just... disappoint me somehow. I really thought you’d grown." Then he left without even looking back.

I just stood there... unable to speak.

"Respect..." I said, then let out a bitter laugh. The one that came from somewhere deep in my chest.

"Respect?" I repeated, laughing again, but this time, tears streamed down my cheeks. I could no longer hold it in.

"That was my fucking birthday. Assholes!" I cried out, the words coming out between choked sobs and dry laughter.

The pain of being invalidated and of always being put last finally caught up to me. My body couldn’t take it anymore. I collapsed on the floor, clutching my chest as if that would help ease the crushing weight inside.

It was too heavy. So heavy that I found myself gasping for air, struggling to breathe properly. But the heaviness wouldn’t let go.

I cried like a child. Helplessly. I didn’t care how I looked anymore. It just hurt so damn much that I had no choice but to comfort myself.

Eventually, the exhaustion took over. I cried myself to sleep on the cold floor, the ache still buried in my chest.

When I woke up, it was already night. The darkness had settled in completely.

I opened my swollen eyes and looked up at the moon and stars. They were still there, still glowing and still beautiful.

I stood up slowly, my clothes were crumpled and my whole body sore and heavy. I stared at the sky, raising my hand like I could reach them somehow.

"How did you manage to stay so beautiful and shining... even in dark times?" I whispered to them like they were listening.

Then I looked down at the garden through the window.

"Maybe he's already sleeping... or probably walked away," I murmured, my voice trailing off. "Just like everyone else."

I didn’t fix anything about how I looked. I didn’t even care. I just walked outside and felt the cold air wrap around me. Something in me was pushing me to keep walking out the gate, into the night.

I didn’t know where I was going. I just walked.

The road was dark. No cars, no people. Just quiet. I probably looked like a mess, but I didn’t care at all. I kept walking by the roadside until I saw an old wooden bench. I went and sat down.

I looked at my feet and let out a small laugh when I realized that I was barefoot the whole time.

“Stupid. Stubborn. Ruthless. Heartless. Disrespectful,” I said to myself while laughing a little.

But the tears came again. I couldn’t stop them. The heaviness came back. That same pain I thought I cried out earlier. It returned, even worse.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to let it all out. I wanted to do anything just to stop this tired, empty feeling. Even if it meant forgetting myself just so they’d finally see me.

“I just... I want to be seen. Was that so fucking hard?!” I shouted.

My voice cracked, and my chest hurt.

“It’s just... it’s just hard. No one even remembers my birthday’s coming. No one checks on me. No one even knows I’m sick...”

My hands were shaking.

“I keep forgetting things. I can’t even remember what happened in my childhood. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Fuck!!” I screamed.

And for once, it felt good. No one was around to hear. No one to tell me to stop. No one to judge me.

“I’m just tired. I’m just a helpless girl who’s lost,” I whispered.

I cried again like crazy. Like a child. “And instead of helping, they just hurt me. They don’t listen. They don’t even try to understand.”

I hid my face in my hands, crying harder. I felt like I was about to pass out.

I stayed on that bench for a long time. Wasting everything—my time, my energy, my voice, and my tears.

I looked up at the stars and the moon.

“I want to be... like you,” I whispered.

Then, while I was still sitting there, crying and feeling everything all at once, my phone suddenly rang.

It was Mom.

I didn’t answer. But then it rang again. And again. Twenty missed calls. After that, the messages started pouring in:

“Reina, what the hell?”
“Reina, answer your phone!”
“Stop your stubbornness.”
“You can do your own thing now?”
“You know how I hate it when you hang up on me.”
“You hang up, and now you’re not picking up?”
“Reina!”

One message after another. I didn’t even need to read the tone because I already knew they were angry.

I just stared at the screen, then slowly shifted my eyes back up to the sky.

“It’s just you and me,” I whispered.

The phone kept ringing. Again. And again. Over and over.

With a sigh, I looked at it. But this time, it was Jake.

> “You think you can escape me? That you can just leave that easily? Wait for me, wherever you are.”

I stared at his message, then slowly typed.
< “You can’t find me.
And even if you do, I wouldn’t come.”

Not long after, he replied.
> “How much do you weigh?”

I blinked in confusion. But I replied anyway.
< “50.”

And then, he replied.
> “Okay. Wait until you see me carry 50kg of meat.”

I froze. I was too stunned to even type back because I knew exactly what he meant.

He wouldn't let me go that easily.