"So, that's what happened," Zen finished narrating the entire story. "Uh... Kate. You can close your mouth now," she continued, weirded out by the way Kate was staring at her like a dying fish out of a pond.
"I can't believe this." Kate wiped the non-existent drool from the corner of her mouth and slammed her hands down the coffee table where they both were occupying on the floor.
Zen continued to towel-dry her hair as she listened to Kate's over-dramatic descriptions of her story from her point of view. The awful stench of half-digested liquor vomit from earlier lingered inside her nose even after ruthlessly scrubbing her face and body clean in the shower, almost emptying an entire bottle of her cousin's newly bought floral-scented shower gel in the process.
"I can't believe that actually happened. I just can't." Zen moved her eyes to Kate who appeared to be lost in her own world, probably picturing some barbaric scenes of that undeniably good-looking stranger who had nothing but shit lodged up his brain.
Before Kate's imagination spiralled farther and farther away from the truth, which was possible given that Kate was the type of person who would ramble on and on about what someone said until a new issue dropped in front of her eyes and shifted her attention.
As far as Zen knew, the story of her ludicrous encounter - which she oh so carelessly given her cousin to feast on - with that bigoted homophobe would stay stuck in Kate's mind for at least a week or two, so she supposed leaving Kate alone with her fantasies and going to sleep was the best idea at the moment.
It had been a tiring day and the next day was bound to be even more tiring. She had to search for a new place, go to university, hand in her assignments, take back her remaining stuff from the dorm, the list was endless.
"I'm going to bed, Kate." Zen didn't care if Kate was listening as she placed the towel on the table and stood up.
Kate immediately noticed the movement and pulled Zen back to the wooden floor. "Wait. Tell me more," Kate whined.
"Kate, I need to sleep," Zen responded, tired and slightly irritated.
"I'll let you sleep, but not until you tell me something I'm really dying to know." Kate gave her a very determined look.
"What is it?"
"So how was it? How was your first kiss?"
"Kate!" Zen fought the urge to rip the flesh from her face. Kate's question had completely thrown her off-guard. There was nothing she could do to wipe out that naughty, dirty smirk Kate was giving her as she awaited her response.
Zen was never what people would call strictly feminine but she had her own sophisticated way of how she wanted to experience new things. A kiss, for example, would've appealed to her more had it been done in a nice romantic setting in the presence of nature, such as on a nice beach under a setting sun, or in a field full of flowers by the hillside, or simply in her own private room - if she had one in the future - with plenty of food served on the table, and of course, all of this should be done with the one person she would spend the rest of her life with.
To tell the truth, she had mixed feelings about her first kiss being stolen so unexpectedly, so easily, and under such outstandingly shocking circumstances by a drop-dead gorgeous guy any girl in her shoes would consider having won a million-dollar lottery ticket, but she had to admit it wasn't that horrible. She didn't particularly enjoy the kiss in any way, per se, but she didn't entirely hate it either. But stating that out loud would never make her cousin shut up about it and that was the last thing she wanted.
"You're not going to tell me?" Zen heard Kate speak, interrupting her thoughts.
"It's past one. I really, really need to sleep," Zen replied, finally succeeding to wipe the grimy smirk off her cousin's face.
"But I'm quite curious. How could he accuse of being gay though?" Kate burst out laughing all of a sudden.
The spite-filled twinge of pain that struck her chest was so sharp that Zen tightly shut her eyes and winced in silent agony, her hands balling into fists. It was only a matter of seconds before her self-control burst into flames. And three, two, one...
"That's what I've been thinking the whole time," Zen finally released her aggression, hitting the table repeatedly with her fists as she spat out every single syllable with venom. "How can he think of me in such way? That I'm a what? Gay? I have tremendous amount of respect for gays but why me? I. am. not. a. man. Is he blind? Of course, he was drunk, but not blinded. How could he take me for a guy, let alone one who attempted to harass him? I'm sure there's something wrong with his head. That homophobic ass..." Zen ranted on.
Now it was Kate's turn to remain silent and gape at Zen in utmost fascination. It had been years since she saw her cousin practically raging like a flaming hot jalapeno straight out of the fire pit. "Zen, calm down."
"How can I calm down when he insulted me like that?" Zen snapped her head at Kate, her eyes flashing like daggers.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not him," Kate said, shifting a small distance away from Zen. "Just forget about it. Why are we even worrying over a hopeless drunkard? That guy probably won't remember what happened last night," Kate stuttered, hoping Zen would cool down. Her cousin could be undeniably scary when she was angry.
"You're probably right." Zen sighed in defeat. "But Kate, tell me this. Do I really look like a man?"
The look of pure despair on Zen's face made Kate want to hug her and never let go. On the surface, Zen appeared to be a strong, dominant female warrior, but she was a child at heart, hiding numerous insecurities beneath her carefree, kindhearted, and compassionate demeanour. A slight twinge of words and Zen would take it to her heart and wear it like a second skin for the rest of her life. That was how sensitive her cousin was, and Kate knew all about it. "No, you don't." Kate approached to hug Zen. "I'll tell you honestly," she continued, leaning back and cupping Zen's cheeks. "I see a beautiful, adorable, lovely, charming, exquisite lady."
"Those are all synonyms," Zen interrupted.
"Get out of the writer's world for now and listen to what I'm saying," Kate calmly replied, smiling sweetly. "Zen, there's nothing wrong with you. Don't think too much. Don't let the words of unknown strangers haunt you like that."
"Mm." Zen nodded.
[How adorable.] Kate's smile grew even wider. "People, at first, might think you're different and it's totally fine. It's only because you are taller than most girls, have short hair and boobs as flat as a billboard-"
"Kate!"
Kate hid a chuckle and continued, "...and dresses like a really cool, badass fighter. And that's exactly what you are so be proud of yourself." Kate grabbed Zen by the shoulders and gave her a fierce look. "You are you. And that's all that matters."
"Thank you, Kate." Zen returned the smile.
"But..." Kate continued, "I feel like your run-in with that guy won't just end here." She tapped her index finger over her chin.
"What do you mean?" Zen asked confused.
"Look outside," Kate instructed, pointing a fingering to the window. "What do you see?"
"The moon?"
"The Dark Moon, Zen. It's the dark moon," Kate corrected.
"What about it?"
"I can't believe you haven't heard of the legend of The Dark Moon," Kate gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. "Listen carefully, Zen. The dark moon is the last visible crescent of a fading moon. This fading crescent, like death itself, is believed to be a symbol of preparation for a new beginning. However, one must be wary of the dark energies lurking in the shadows. Come closer, let me whisper it into your ear."
"I will not believe any of that. There is no proof." Zen held firm in her belief.
"After all the events that happened last night, don't you think it's strange? Just think about it, you getting expelled from the dorm, a dog chasing you, then miraculously falling asleep when you know you don't usually fall asleep just anywhere like that, and then meeting that guy, all of it couldn't just be a coincidence. Nope. I don't think so."
"It's not possible." Zen argued. She knew Kate was an extremely superstitious individual, believing in witchcraft, omens, and who-knows-what out of the world sorcery that sometimes she used to think her cousin might have been a holy priestess in her past life, but no matter how convincing her words seemed to be at the moment, she wasn't going to buy it. It was ridiculous. All the bad luck that happened to her was because, according to her cousin, she was unluckily caught in an unknown conjuring action in the middle of some kind of inexpiable manifesting moon cycle. "I don't believe in all these theories, Kate," Zen added.
"I'm not asking you to believe them. Just be careful. This isn't as easy as it seems, Zen."
Zen wanted to dismiss the boring topic but strangely found herself paying attention to Kate's every word. Kate's reassuring hands on her shoulders felt like a sustainable pre-made support line for whatever storm was coming to hit her, and she hoped nothing would spiral out of her control. She had just one life to live, and she was not going to ruin it because of some illogical superstitious belief.
-~-
"Your face is so soft. Is it okay if I touch it?"
"What?" It was so dark she couldn't see a thing, but she could feel his breath on her lips The blackness gradually faded, and she found herself staring at him, his lips mere centimetres from her own. Her eyes widened upon seeing the looks of the stranger. She could recognize this person anywhere even at the drop of a heartbeat. He was still handsome, even more handsome than she'd seen in her memory, and completely sober. She watched unmoving as he leaned in until the distance between them was only a hair's breadth away. She shut her eyes tightly, knowing what was to come next.
"Ah!" Zen was startled awake by the sound of her alarm. It had been a nightmare. Her cheeks felt hot and burning. She quickly brushed off the images of the unlucky dream returning in her memory and reached for her phone to silence the annoying alarm.
Zen was never a morning person and she never will be. That was a universal truth. So, when her alarm went off at seven o'clock in the morning, the first thing she'd done was hit the snooze button that had a ten-minute interval before the next ring. Being the lazy person she was, she would continue to hit snooze until the clock struck eight. From then on, she would begrudgingly groan and get herself off the bed, a string of curses rolling from her tongue, before getting in the shower and readying herself in exactly fifteen minutes to attend the obviously long boring class that started at eight forty-five.
The word breakfast was not in her dictionary. She didn't have time to have more than two meals a day, too preoccupied juggling between part-time jobs, even a snack break in the middle of it all would be considered a blessing. Perhaps that was the reason why she was deathly thin, causing a lot of her classmates, primarily females, to envy her, but she wasn't one to pay attention to such trivialities.
She didn't care what people thought of her physical appearance. But somehow, and as much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't deny her encounter with the homophobic stranger the previous night left her a bit uneasy. [I'm thinking about him again.] She quickly discarded the thought as soon as it came and went back to sleep.
Her phone vibrated for the second time and she groaned loudly. This time it wasn't the alarm but a call. Half-asleep and frustrated, she reached for the phone on the bedside table while laying on her stomach, unbothered to get up. Ripping the charging cable a little-too-violently, she slid a finger over the phone screen, nearly dropping it in her carelessness, and placed the device next to her ear.
"What?" Her tone was cold and unwelcoming.
"Zenjee!"
"Dad?" Zen jolted wide awake, immediately sitting upright, legs bent over the bed in a highly attentive manner.
"Is this true? You got kicked out from the dorm?"
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