Crush

"The young master is in his room. He just had a fight with the big master."

"What's the matter now?"

"This afternoon the old master asked him to come to Mr. Clark's house for dinner, but the young master didn't want to come."

"What happened?"

"Young Master waited for Miss Anka to come home so he could come with them, but the big master forbade him and forced him to come. Then, the Young Master said that he wanted Miss to come with them too, he tried to contact and look for Miss Anka. The big master got angry and hit him ," answered Aunt Marry.

"Being hit? Is there something serious, Miss?" I asked worriedly.

"Auntie doesn't know, Young Master went straight to his room. Aunt Eli tried knocking on the door but he wouldn't open it."

"Dad's so mean, s-now where are you?"

"After that incident, Mr. Big left and didn't say where he was going."

"Then I want to see Bryan's condition first," I said as I walked quickly towards Bryan's room.

"Bryan, are you asleep?" I asked while knocking on his bedroom door. But there was no answer from him.

"Bryan, I'm Anka, please open the door," I asked.

Bryan wasn't asleep yet, he was slumped over in bed, occasionally looking at his face in the mirror. Fresh blood flowed down his nose. Her eyes filled with tears, not because of the pain in her body, but the pain in her heart that was getting deeper and deeper.

"Bryan, it's fine if you don't want to open the door for me. I'm sorry for not telling you that I was leaving, this is all my fault. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me!" I said while crying bitterly. I leaned my head in front of the bedroom door.

Bryan still didn't want to answer, maybe he was asleep, I thought. I started to leave the place while occasionally looking at the door and hoping he would open it a little for me.

***

This morning I rushed to the dining room to see Bryan's condition, at this time he must be having breakfast. I looked for his whereabouts, finally I found him in the place I expected. I looked at him, but Bryan didn't meet my gaze, he just lowered his head while chewing the food in his mouth.

"Bryan, I'll explain to you. Last night I went to the cinema with my friends. Actually I wanted to tell you first but I thought you definitely wouldn't allow it so I decided to go quietly," I said wholeheartedly.

"That's good then," he answered.

"W-what? Why is that?" I asked in disbelief.

"That way you don't have to come and meet Clark and his family."

"What do you mean? Does that mean Uncle Clark has returned from America? Even though I really want to meet him."

"No need, we don't need to see it. I'm actually grateful I didn't go."

"But Aunt Marry said last night you were looking for me."

"No, I'm just pretending so that dad gets angry and cancels the event."

"You're lying, right?"

"I do not lie."

"But why are you willing to be hit by dad? If you come along, you can wait outside as long as you don't meet him in person."

"I just hate hearing their voices, Clark and his family, I don't like it."

"Didn't you yourself forbid me from hating people without reason?"

"You can hate anyone as long as it's not father. He doesn't deserve us to hate."

"But father is the person I hate most in this world!" I said full of anger.

"You will regret it Anka," he said as he walked away.

I really don't understand what's going through Bryan's mind. What's wrong? I think he's the one who hates the wrong people.

At school I kept thinking about that, while occasionally taking a deep breath. I really can't concentrate today. I was walking along the school corridor with my head down, when suddenly I bumped into someone in front of me.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to!" I said.

"It doesn't matter!" he replied in reply.

"Huh...Jack?"

"Anka?"

"So you went to this school?" I asked happily.

"Yes, that's it, I'm glad to meet you in person, Anka? Where are the others?" Jack asked.

"It's break time, usually they're in the canteen."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No, today I want to go to the library. I want to look for books about painting."

"Wow... what a coincidence, I want to go there too, can I come along?"

"Of course you can!"

"Oh yes Anka, you like painting, huh?"

"Yeah, I really like it."

"Surely your painting is good?"

"Not really, Bryan said my painting wasn't very good."

"He said that?"

"Yeah, I have to practice a lot more. That's why today I want to borrow a book from the library. Oh, Jack, where is your class?"

"I'm in class 12-8!"

"Does that mean it's not far from my class? Is it okay for me to come to your class once in a while?"

***