I believe news travels so fast. Especially gossips among the gossipers.
The next day I wake up, my e-mail has been bombarded with spam and strangers sending me questions or more like protests. My head is drowsy and my eyes are blurry. I keep my eyes focus to scroll down the monitor as my mind recall what was going on last night, it left me with a panic feeling flowing through me as the realization come alive.
The gossips, Jalouse magazine, lady in a blue dress, me and Ian running all the way to the residential area and he dropped me home….
Suddenly my phone rings, I glance at the caller’s name, it’s Vi!
It’s 9 in the morning and she must be up already, and she must has read the article of which now spread all the way to other gossip websites. Trembling, I pick up the phone and bring it close to my ear before I put my finger on the green button.
“Hello?” I greet innocently, or at least, pretend to be innocent. But I AM innocent after all, aren’t I?
“What is wrong with you, Sugar?!” Vi’s voice drills into my ear at the very second, ear-splitting and heart-breaking. Her voice isn’t okay, it’s mor like a tired whining. “Vi, I know what you think of this, but seriously, I don’t give any information to them! In any kind of form!” I desperately say, crossing my fingers that she would at least listen to me if that’s still one of the possibilities available.
“Than who are you suggesting of spreading the news?!” Vi’s voice rise up a note, “You’re the only one who know all about these!”
“Maybe they eavesdropped our conversation!” I say, I know it doesn’t sound convincing enough, remembering that the street was very busy and crowded. “Do you think it’s possible?! Come to think of it Sugar, all the clues make me guess it’s you. Damn Sugar! I thought you’re my friend, my best friend!” she sounds even more sad.
“I am you’re friend!...”
“But friend doesn’t spill other friend’s secret Sugar! How could you!” she’s screaming now, her throat tight with tears. “It’s private! Do you know what it may cause me and my family?! My dad and my mum divorcing is bad enough! I don’t need any more pressures from the media, blaming my dad as a cheater, having an affair, and my mum as a drunken woman, who never spent a bit care of her daughter!”
“I didn’t….” I start, just when Vi continues, “I am sick of you Sugar!”. The connection broke.
What?
What has just happened?
And suddenly a wave of sadness throwing me down. Pulling me into the water to carry me to the bottom, to its very bottom. I wish I can pull myself down, drowning myself for the crime I have done!
I crouched myself by the bed and pull my knees to my chest
Am I wrong?
What am I suppose to do now?!
Should I go to her house to apologize? Will she listen to me? will she even want to meet me?
Or should I just strike up to the Jalouse Magazine’s office and give my protest? But what am I suppose to say? That it’s not true? That it’s private?
Of course it’s private and sadly, it’s true! I can’t possibly win arguing against them. They have all the rights as media to report what’s going on!
And Vi’s voice keep repeat itself in my head, making me sick of the voice and the thoughts of her, alone, refuse everything, angry, sad, and broken. I want to be there for her! I want to put the pieces together! I want to make it up to her!
Almost too suddenly, I realized that my phone’s been beeping and ringing, its sound bringing me back to reality, and this time it’s Ian calling me. just when I reach for my phone, it stops ringing and beeping. Then, silence plunk onto me. I manage my fingers to call Ian back but I get to his voicemail, saying that he’s not there at the moment to answer my call and says to leave message. I hang it up.
The hot water has succeeded in soothing my mind a little. I blow dry my hair, pick my favorite casual jeans and green cardigan to be paired with a white tank top. I turn off my monitor, which showing me that my income e-mails been increasing since I left it. Then, I go downstairs, picking up some bread and a glass of milk. Dad and Mum have gone to their office and the twins haven’t wakened up yet.
I have made up my mind that I will go to Vi’s house today, explain all of these stupidities and befriend with her again, just like we always did. We’re best friends aren’t we?! And we’re bonding to each other closer than you think!
As I walk to the bus stop, I can feel that my head begins to spin and heavier. I had a good 8-hour sleep, didn’t I? Then what is this about? And I realize it’ my own mind pressuring my brain, pushing and squeezing it. I haven’t had proper sleep since…since….i can’t remember it.
I exhale a deep sigh and hop in the bus, pay my fares and choose the back seat, the corner one, the most invisible one. I certainly need to let alone my mind.
I settle myself down and let my mind drifts away to everything that had happened as I prepare myself to talk to Vi. Drops of water tell me that it’s been drizzling outside and not long after that, it turns into a heavy rain. More and more people get in the bus in soaked conditions, especially those girls with tank tops and shorts. Who will ever guess it’ll rain in this pretty day in summer.
I raked my brain to find the right words to defend myself in front of Vi, who had accused me of doing a betraying act to her.
“Vi, to be honest with you, I never told the media anything about your family.”
“Don’t you see that the pics of me are when we were debating on the street?”
“……I know how life is being hard on you now, but I suggest you to see the realities that…”
That what?!
Ugh I can’t find any sentence that sounds convincing. Even the last option won’t do anything if it is used on me! I know that all I should do is just talk spontaneously, unplanned, and as always, I could easily get away with the conversation, winning. Or at least, tie.
The bus stop and I hop out from the stuffed bus. My phone rings again, it’s Sean. What does he want from me?
“Hello?”
“Hey Sugar, it’s Sean.” He greets.
“I know it’s you.” I reply tiredly, half-heartedly.
“Well, I’m calling you now, to ask you something.” He says, carefully.
“What is it?” I pull my hat from my bag and wear it on top of my head.
“I know it sounds pretty stupid and straight forward. But I just want to know……..” his voice is drowned by the heavy rain splashes all over me, hitting to the ground fiercely.
“What?!” I raise my voice above the rain, running for some shelter under the roof of the closest convenience store.
“I just want to know whether Vi’s in your house or safe, at least?” He says louder.
“What are you talking about?!” I ask, alarmed. Something must have gone wrong!
“Vi’s not in her house and no one had seen her anywhere near her house. She’s nowhere to be found! Not in her dad’s office or her grandma’s house. I even make her staffs calling all the places possible, even to Birmingham. But she’s not there either. And so I called your house but no one answered. Don’t you know that she’s missing already? You sound lost.” He says.
A stab of pain hollows my chest.
“What?! I….I don’t know about it…..” my voice falters into a whisper. My legs are wobbly.
“Well then, where are you?! I’ll pick you up and we can search for her together.” His voice seems so far away but still makes sense. It’s an urgent voice. I give him the address of the convenience store and I step inside to warm myself.
Just when I step in, some faces turn to see me. Oh well, I’m Sugar Dale, whose face had been all over the pages of magazines and internet. I quickly avoid people by walking aimlessly through every deserted aisle. And finally, there I am, in the magazines and books aisle. My eyes wildly search for the well-known magazine. I don’t know why am I even search for it?
My hand nervously reaches for the magazine I can’t ignore. There, in the middle of the magazine rack, eye-catching title forces me to look. It’s of course, Jalouse.
Quivering, my fingers flip through its pages, searching for the famous article I honestly haven’t seen it myself.
Then just as I wish I can close my eyes, I see the article, fitted into the magazine with big pictures of pretty Vi, dressed in her beautiful dress in the perfume launching. Her hands curled to his dad’s waist and Mr. Freyson’s hand curled on his daughter’s shoulder. They both smiling. As happy as ever, even though they both know one essential member was missing in the picture. The person who should be there, to complete the picture.
Having succeeded in launching his new joint perfume line, Mr. Freyson seems in a great need of more attentions. The grand owner of the multi-million dollar business is reported to date his new partner, Heidy Manson, the new fashion designer in the biz.
“If it’s not because of the affairs, Mr. Freyson would have chosen other trusted people to be his partner. I believe he can work with anyone he wants. He might choose other celebrities like Jennifer Lopez or Britney Spears, or other designers like Thakoon or Phillip Lim” says Emily, a 20-year-old socialité who had come to the perfume launching of Hey Son, the new label of the famous perfume.
Despite the shocking news about the affairs, some people still think differently. Fransesca, an editor in local Brooklyn newspaper, said that the news might only be a bait to increase the popularity of the brand-new perfumery.
“I personally think the recent news about the Freyson family was all made up to boost the popularity of the Hey Son new perfumery. It’s such a poor thing that Vi, their daughter, become the victim of the gossip and moreover, her friend, Sugar Dale is also brought up to the conversations…”
My heart stops beating at the sight of my name, printed black upon white on the paper. And suddenly my phone rings, it’s Sean, he’s arrived in front of the convenience store with his posh Volvo.
Avoiding people lining up at the cashier, I go out from the back door and run all the way to the front, opening the car door in hurry and bang it close.
“Whoa, are you okay?!” Sean’s face turns to see me.
“What?” I ask absently, my breaths are pacing each other. I can feel my hands shivering.
“Your lips are white, Sugar. Should I get you to the doctor or….”
“Just go please.. I don’t care much about my lips. It’s maybe just because of the chill weather..” I say impatiently.
“Ok..” he pushes the gas pedal and the car jump to he street, leaving the convenience store behind.
We were both silent for some minutes, he gave me a pack of tissues to dry myself and he turned on the heater to a warmer temperature. “So….” I start to break the ice, “Have you read the article yet?” I ask sheepishly, my mind recall the article I read just a few minutes ago.
“What article?” he asks, puzzled.
“You surely have heard about the famous article, right? About the Freysons?” I ask back.
“Oh yeah right. That one.” He says, more like to himself. “Yeah, I’ve read it. but certainly it’s not you who told the media right? Coz I think you’re a good friend and there’s no way you can do that… or unless if you’re….”
“What?”
“….jealous?”
“Of course not!” I shriek. Then as I realize this new way of thinking, it occurred to me that maybe Vi thinks I’m jealous of her. But of course that’s not possible. There’s nothing to be jealous of. She even wants to trade her life with mine and we’ve been friends for ages.
“Oh well, good then..” Sean answers shortly. We’re silent again as the car speeds up against the slippery road.
“I came to her house this morning. She didn’t answer my calls yesterday although we got a meeting. She said she needs to talk to me, so we set up a plan to meet, but she didn’t come and I called her several times but she didn’t answer any of them. So I decided to come to her house today. And after I wait for some time, her maid came back down, her face white, telling me she’s gone.”
“And..?” I demand some more information.
“And the whole house broke down in panic. So I called you. You’re the last person I could think of. ”
The car turns to the next street, “Where do we go?” I ask.
“To the police station.” He replies.
“What?! NO!” I scream furiously.
“Why? Here we are, we got a missing people to report and if they know it’s Vi, they will jolt to their feet and work hard to find her, right? We can easily find her in no time!” he answers as if he’s talking to a child.
“No! if they find out it’s Vi, the news will spread among people and media! And the news will get bigger!” I shriek in frustration as the car speeds up in a lightning speed until the view are blurry, completing the poor eye-sight because of the rain.
He suddenly slow down the car, think over his plan as he hears my argument. “Oh, damn! you’re right.” He says slowly, angrily. “Then, what should we do!” he asks in panic.
“Well…” I think for a while, “…I think we should search her ourselves. We can call Ian and Jeremy to help us.” I suggest.
We’re silent again.
“Okay, fine. We’ll try.” Sean says, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and began dialing both Ian and Jeremy.
