Suddenly, I'm Engaged

Ahop

Aliah couldn’t stop looking at Liam. His eyes, that stare, that sorrowful look in his eyes, she can see all of it. No words can be heard but the pain can be felt by just looking at him. It feels like he’s been longing for someone who vanished into thin air. She never has seen someone who displayed such melancholy in just a split second. This is why he took a pause when she asked if he has a girlfriend, she thought.

“Hey!” A girl from the center stage shouted while waving her hand in the air, catching Aliah’s attention. She waved back as soon as she noticed her then look back at Liam.

He’s looking at Pat but she couldn’t understand why. Pat is not part of their class and has never been introduced to him before. It confuses Aliah but couldn’t spit out any words to feed her curiosity.

“Shall we?” It’s all she can say rather than asking him if he’s okay because she’s hundred percent sure that he’s not.

Liam shook his head as if he felt dizzy with the thousands of emotions he had in a few seconds as he looked at someone who seems so familiar. As soon as they approached the center stage, more Liam became certain that he made a mistake for taking Pat as someone else, someone who he has been looking for but failed to do so. Aliah introduced him to Pat but he acted cold towards her. Something Aliah couldn’t understand why he acted that way.

“Are you okay?” Aliah finally managed to ask while they were sitting on a bench as they watch Pat and their dance crew practicing on the stage. She keeps looking at the stage but she can sense through her peripheral vision that Liam is looking at her intently wondering where that question came from.

“Does it show?” Liam mumbled while kicking his shoes on the ground and his hand clenched on the edge of the bench acting like a child who has been caught for making a mistake. Aliah just nodded without looking back at him because she knows that it’s kind of hard for a guy like him to tell and show this side. The surroundings are filled with different voices but it felt like the silence between the two of them is suffocating. Liam feels strange to meet someone knowing how he feels without saying anything but Aliah sees them all, knows it all by just looking at him in just a few seconds. It is something new to him. He couldn’t imagine that there will be someone who can be as empathetic as she is.

“Stop digging the ground or we’ll be buried alive under this bench.” Aliah tried to break the ice though she doesn’t know if he gets the humor in it or not. But one thing is for sure, she has to say something or else this awkwardness might kill them both. She tried to glance at Liam and saw him smiling. That smile must have broken lots of hearts way back in Korea, she thought. She couldn’t help but smile as well as she keeps looking at him. Liam caught him smiling so he asked her why but she didn’t say anything and shook her head instead. The two keep throwing why’s to each other while smiling side by side.

He doesn’t grow up having someone close to him. His grandfather works so hard to protect and establish their business over decades and managed to take care of him at the same time so he won’t feel lonely without having his dad and mom around. He never had someone dear to him until Jane came into his life. But eventually, Jane left him without leaving any trace. He was so exhausted-looking around different places where he could found Jane but nothing works out. Everything is a failure. He never had a reason to smile again. What for? He thought. But he couldn’t believe that he is smiling just because of the lame joke of this young lady sitting right next to him. It’s a certain feeling that he almost forgot how wonderful it is to feel that way. Thanks to Aliah, he was able to smile again even for a short period.

Aliah and Liam were done with the campus tour. Their chitchats along the way bring them closer to each other. Liam learned that that’s how friendship starts and how friendship works. He felt so delighted to have someone who knows you without telling much. It’s kind of amuses him for meeting someone who understands you without literally explaining what’s going on with you. Discovering this kind of feeling makes him feel ecstatic.

Aliah bid goodbye to Liam as Zaine and James arrived and decided to go home.

=====

Few months have gone by, the date for the junior prom is finally coming. Tomorrow will be the highlight of their high school life. Everyone has been so excited for tomorrow’s event like what they gonna wear and who’s gonna be their date but not Aliah. She’s supposedly the most excited for being James’ date who’s expected to be the King of the Night but instead, she looks so worried and keeps staring at her phone. Zaine approaches her with a wide smile on her face as she was supposed to drop great news to her best friend but maybe today is not the right time to do so. Aliah’s staring at her phone intently.

“Your phone might have a hole for targeting your laser beam on it.” But she receives no response or violent reaction regarding that lame joke. They are undeniably best friends. So she knocked on her desk and finally caught her attention. Aliah seems surprised that her dear friend is finally here.

“What did you say?” She blurted acting like she was not spacing out.

Zaine got annoyed by her reaction because she has some sort of problem. She gestured her hand on Aliah as if telling her to spill the tea or she might go crazy by thinking about it over and over again by herself. She didn’t say anything but handed her phone instead.

“I can’t come to the prom.”

It’s a text message from James last Sunday. Just five words and a period at the end of that sentence, nothing follows. No explanation, no excuses, nothing. Direct to the point as if he precisely says what he means. No wonder Ali has been spacing out since she arrives at school. She didn’t reply because she doesn’t argue over the phone. She prefers to talk about it personally but James is nowhere to be found. He skips all the band practice and has been absent the whole week. She tried to call him but his phone is off. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone. The only option she could take is to go into James’ house. She is pondering about it over and over again but she couldn’t come up with the right answer.

Zaine gave back her phone and felt so worried for her best friend. She couldn’t find the words to say to make her feel better because who couldn’t go crazy about when the prom is happening tomorrow.

“You know you have to be there no matter what, right?” Zaine says while looking at her dear best friend. She wants to hug her but Aliah decline because for sure, she will crumble down the moment she does that. She doesn’t want to make a scene in the class having their classmates witnessed how heartbroken she is the day before the prom. She doesn’t want to be the center of rumors as well.

“Of course, I have to,” Aliah mumbled.

F*ck that fame for being his girlfriend. Thanks to that I was elected to be part of the overall officers for the entire juniors. And now I couldn’t even grief my heart being broken by that one text message.