章 10: Confrontation
Truth carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation, but confrontation nevertheless.—Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster
"Tsk tsk." Krishna shook her head in displeasure as she glanced in the rearview mirror. Sitting in the backseat was Aerith sandwiched between two burly guards—Kevin and Bob. Then she stole a peep on Stuart, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside her.
Although Aerith's parents said she should bring at least two guards, all of Aerith's three personal guards joined them, forcing their way in her Mini Cooper.
Her scowl never left her face from when they left Aerith's apartment until now when she was driving.
Add to the men who constantly invaded her space was the spirit of Aerith's dad, who was chuckling on the roof of her car as they drove in the stillness of the night.
Krishna wanted to bang her head on the steering wheel. She knew she's crazy for seeing spirits, but nothing was crazier than the men in Aerith's life.
She didn't know if the men wanted to do their job or they were just itching to have a little fun that night.
"Focus," Stuart warned Krishna, his stern voice would scare others but not Krishna.
"Or stop focusing on me," she rebutted. A smile bloomed on her face when Stuart shifted in his seat. "Gotcha, beast," Krishna snorted and went into full-blown laughter along with Aerith who drummed Stuart's shoulders from the back.
"Don't go crying later when you get drunk," Stuart said. The hint of mockery in his words sliced Krishna in half, pacifying her.
The car ride turned peaceful as they drove to the rugby team's house, and soon Krishna found a spot to park her car just a few steps away from their destination.
Even if it was already late, the rugby team's house was still brimming with life, chatter, and alcohol.
The bass from the music playing in the background did things to Aerith's heart. It thumped. It rammed. It squeezed painfully that she wanted to back out and go home to curl up on her bed.
Aerith's mind was in haywire. She questioned her decision and wondered why she had to make things difficult for herself.
She asked herself if she was ready to face Zach, or if she was ready to face what Zach must have done after they broke up.
She chastised herself, wondering why she had to attend this party even when her brain told her not to.
Aerith just wanted proof that somehow Zach loved her and he wouldn't do anything that would upset her further after they broke up.
Walking like a zombie towards the entrance, Aerith felt like her senses went numb. There was a time in her life when she barely heard a thing, and it was as if she got deaf again.
Passing by a speaker, she knew it was booming with sound with how it vibrated with every drop of the bass, yet Aerith couldn't hear a single note.
Her eyes scanned the room and every inch of her skin pricked with the searing stare she received from other party-goers but her life living as a royal made her calloused to judgemental eyes.
She continued to scan the room, her neck craned as she looked around but her inner voice told her that Zach must be somewhere in the house huddled with a girl of his choosing.
Who was Aerith kidding anyway?
Zach was single and available for the taking. She shouldn't be jealous if he picked some random girl and spent the night with her, especially when they haven't had sex ever since they started dating.
"1 o'clock. I think Zach's upstairs. See his lackeys? They're standing guard on the stairwell," Krishna whispered behind Aerith's back, their eyes stole a peek on top of the stairwell and found two men in their crimson and white varsity jacket blocking the way.
"Do you think they'll let me in?"
"Of course they will unless Zach explicitly told them not to. Oh, wait for me here. I'll grab us something to drink."
Aerith nodded but her eyes never left the stairwell. It was tempting her, calling out her name to climb up and to stop resisting her curiosity from seeing things for herself.
"Too late to be playing outside, A." A hand clamped on the planes of her shoulders and even without looking up to see who it was, she knew it was Hunter standing behind her.
There's only one person who called her A, and that's him.
"Can I tag along with you?" she asked, nibbling her bottom lip.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Why?"
"Because there's an orgy going on upstairs. Let me drop this off, then I'll bring you somewhere better."
Hunter peeled his jacket off and hung it on Aerith's shoulders. It bore the prism logo of Hunter's start-up tech company, which she drew herself.
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