Chapter Text
Umi takes a single step, looking all around the room, but then, she sees a paper on the table… Below the mic. She takes and reads it.
“Dear Umi. I'm sorry. I wasn't being honest to you… I came to find my childhood belonging… I can't leave my past. But I hope you can stay as happy as I saw you when singing. Bestie.” - By Elizabeth
(...)
Umi doesn't know how to react. She walks over to the door and opens it. She sees the woman who screamed at her before.
- God. Ok, fake it being nice. Here it goes.
- Hi Petunia! How it's going-
_ What happened to that woman? She closed was putting her shoes when I yelled at her “Did you enjoy singing? Didn't know that gremlin had in her!”.
- Hey!!! - She does a gremlin face.
_ But then she started crying and rushed off.
- Liz…
_ She even dropped one of her heels! And it’s so pretty too.
The neighbor sticks the shoe right next to Umi’s face.
_ Can you give it to her back? A girl like her with so much care for her beauty don't deserve to lose an accessory like this!
- Uuuuh.
The neighbor just puts it in her hand and goes back to her apartment. Umi holds it, feeling sadness over losing the one she loves like this. But her mind is a master of wandering into other places… And she thinks of something. Something that makes her smile. She takes her phone and starts typing.
Liz ran over to the Taxi point. She is all soaked up from the rain, feeling her heart pounding fast, anxious about what will happen next. But what happens next is that the taxi arrives fast. She almost loses it, but the taxi driver yells at her. She looks at the driver with her ponytail and enters the taxi.
(What did I do? I mean, that was literally my plan from the start.)
Her heart doesn't calm down.
> It was as planned…
The taxi driver notices her deep in thought and asks;
< My dear, are you ok?
> Yes! Yes I am!
That didn’t convince the driver, but she doesn’t push for more talk.
< Remember to breathe.
Liz follows the advice and calms down a little. She now starts to think; did Umi send her a message? She takes the phone and… She did. Not knowing what to do, at first she just turned off the screen and put it in her pocket. But this doesn’t last for very long, as she takes the phone again and with only one eye sees the messages. There’s a picture in there.
“Hey BESTIE.”
(She hates me! She totally hates me! I mean, she already did. But now she REALLY hates me!)
“Do you perhaps recognize this?”
Liz looks at the picture, which makes her look at her feet. She finally notices.
> I lost one of my heels.
< Oh, you didn’t notice? I was going to ask but then I thought it was better not to. Tralala.
Liz continues to read.
“Look at me. I’m so evil, keeping your stuff with me. Hahaha. You know what that means?”
Liz dry swallow.
“You HAVE to come back and take it.”
Liz is surprised by reading this. Suddenly she also feels lighter.
“So, what about our next date eh? We didn’t get to watch anything, but maybe we could just do another karaoke. Then again, I’m scared to settle on something just for you to derail it. So I will just settle for a day and place? Got it? Cool.”
Liz is smiling again.
“Don’t forget, k’? I’m not letting you get rid of me after today my dear! Y’ll see.”
> Okay…
She presses her fingers against her eyes to wipe off the tears.
< Okay, are you really fine? Should I call someone?
> No no. I’m… Now I’m fine. Just, had a night over with my bestie… Karaoke and all.
The taxi driver looks at the rearview mirror to better see Liz.
< You don’t seem drunk.
> … Yeah. Maybe next time, if she isn't so slow to catch my intentions.
Liz makes a calm, almost sly but reserved smile to herself.
> Maybe.