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Of all the feelings that are felt. It is often decided that the worst feeling to ever feel, is sadness, or depression. Though, some will argue that feeling numb was by far the worst, especially those who had felt that way before.
Corrin was beginning to understand their argument. She was not even sure how long it had been since she was left alone. The only thing she knew at the moment was how much she regretted everything that led to her loneliness.
Besides those twinges of regret, and guilt she could not say she felt much else.
At this point, the only thing she was doing, was simply existing.
Coming from the silence of her messy bedroom, seeming to have the intention of interrupting her moping, came a ring from her cell phone, sitting on her nightstand.
She let out an exasperated sigh, before making something resembling an attempt at grabbing her cell phone. She had no desire to crawl over and reach it, but the hopes that maybe she was finally getting a call from the one she desired made her get up and answer her phone.
She let out a tired, and dry, "Hello?"
"Corrin? Hey, you're still coming to the Opening Party tonight right?" The voice over the phone inquired.
"Oh dammit," She whispered to her, "I'm really sorry, Azura, I completely forgot about it."
There were a few seconds of silence, "You're alright. You're just getting out of bed aren't you?" Corrin was about to refute Azura, before realizing how right she really was, and she found herself letting out another defeated sigh, before letting the silence reign again, "Well, you know the details, I hope?"
"Yeah, look, I'm really sorry, Azura, I don't know if I'll be able to make it."
"Hm," Azura let herself get lost in thought for a few seconds, "Well, of course I can give you a ride."
Corrin was taken aback, "Azura, I am really in no shape to be around people."
"I'll be there in half an hour," Azura allowed for a pause to seemingly allow Corrin to speak. But, before she could even get the second half of her word out, Azura interrupted her, "That's more than enough time to get a shower in, and how about I do your hair for you?"
Corrin sighed again, "You're not going to listen to a thing I'm saying, are you?"
"Afraid not, Corrin, I seem to be having a signal issue, I can't quite hear you clearly. I'll be there in half an hour."
At this point, she could not keep a glare off of her face, and she knew full and well that Azura should have been able to feel that glare.
She was about to say something else, but was interrupted with a rushed 'goodbye' and a click sound. She sighed to herself once more, and dropped her phone on the queen size bed that felt suspiciously empty.
She slowly stood herself up, and dragged herself to the bathroom. She gave herself a quick look in the mirror, before realizing that she looked way worse than she remembered.
Her hair was a greasy, unkempt mess, with stray hairs seeming to go off in every direction. She still looked exhausted, despite the overabundance of sleep she had been getting lately. She even thought she could still spy a couple of dried tears.
She made quick work of stripping down and taking a shower, making sure to pay extra attention to the rats nest that was her hair. She found herself partially cursing Azura, yet being somewhat thankful nonetheless.
After a rather rushed shower, and an attempt to stave off the strong smell of wine on her breath by aggressively and thoroughly brushing her teeth, she went to her dresser, and began her attempt at dressing herself.
After a few minutes of indecisiveness, and making an attempt at coming up with an idea to get out of going to the party, she finally dressed herself in a white off the shoulder shirt, a black skirt that dropped just above her knees, as well as two-inch heels with thigh high stockings. After she finally decided on her outfit, she tied it all together with a small, long-strap, black, and gold-accented purse.
She gave herself a long look in the mirror. For the first time in about a week, she had actually managed to bring herself to get dressed, and look nice. It felt nice for a minute, but after that time passed, she found herself returning to that same state of numbness.
She looked at the clock on her nightstand, she only had a few minutes until Azura would arrive. It was against her better judgement, but she decided to sit back down on her bed, sitting at first, before lying back down, and nearly falling back into the sobbing mess she had been a few hours ago.
She could not help herself, she found herself thinking of the event all over again. She seemed to remember every detail, and every weaponized word that came from her.
She began to feel a few tears form, and she nearly let herself burst into crying once again.
However, she was interrupted, and partially distracted when she heard a knock on her door.
She made an attempt to quickly spring up to get the door, but was dragged down. She forced herself to make her way to the door, wipe away any tears that had managed to form, opening it, and then greeting Azura with a smile.
"Hey, come in," Corrin spoke, trying to force a friendly smile.
Azura saw through her immediately, but made an attempt to humour her for the time. She complied, walking expertly on the heels she wore with her light-coloured dress.
"Thank you, you look very nice," Azura smiled to Corrin, before eyeing her hair, "You could definitely use some help with your hair though," She let out a small giggle with the comment.
Corrin knew, despite the thorough brushing she gave her hair, it would definitely take a lot to fix up.
And so Azura made her attempts to work magic with a hairbrush the best she could.
As she worked out as many tangles as she could, she eventually asked the question that had been on her mind since she had made the call earlier that day.
"How have you been holding up?"
Corrin let out a sigh, and then gave herself a moment to formulate the words to convey how she felt, "Well... I still miss Rhajat, I still think she hates me, and I still hate myself for what happened," She responded bluntly, and almost soullessly. Pain emanating from her words nearly as much as the smell of wine from her breath
Azura's eyes darted down as she partially regretted asking the question, "I doubt that she hates you."
"I overreacted to something so stupid, and then I-"
"Stop right there," Azura interrupted the oncoming rant, "There is no way in the world that she hates you over that."
"You don't know her like I do... She probably hates me, and never wants to see me for the rest of her life," Corrin shrunk down, her eyes fell down, and tears began to form.
"How about this? Let's just get to the party, have a good time, and forget about all of this for the rest of the night," Azura put a hand on Corrin's shoulder.
Corrin sharply exhaled from her nose, and then wiped her tears away, "Fine."
After quickly finishing Corrin's hair, and applying a slight bit of makeup, namely just lipstick, blush, and eyeliner, they made their way to the opening night club.
After the roughly twenty-five minute car ride to the club, Azura stepped out of the car with a grin, and spoke to Corrin, who had just gotten out of the car.
"Welcome to The Changing Skies," She held her arms out wide, to present the club. It seemed very fitting for Azura. It was just bedazzled enough, but not to a point where it seemed childish. It was all Corrin expected and more.
"Wow..." Corrin softly spoke, awed by the appearance, "You really did it. It's amazing."
"Thank you, now, come come, it's not very fun out here," Azura chuckled to herself before leading Corrin inside.
After walking right past the line to get in due to VIP access given to the owner and her plus one, Corrin was surprised by the sheer amount of people present at the club.
It was rather packed, and Corrin thought she might have lost Azura if she wasn't walking directly behind her.
It took her a moment to fully get a grip of her surroundings. The mix of sounds from the people and the modern dance track over the speakers, and it felt like her senses were being assaulted in a somehow positive way.
Granted, as amazing as the sight was that her friend had managed to open up a nightclub four years out of high school, the amazement wore down rather quickly when Azura broke the news to Corrin that she had some things to attend to in her office. She understood, though was underwhelmed when she was given the instructions of, "Have a good time."
Eventually, she found herself sitting at the bar, looking out at the crowd. It seems like everyone was behaving as one. The party was alive, and it seemed like everyone was having the time of their lives.
At least, almost everyone she saw seemed that way. One person stood out among the crowd to her. Corrin picked her out of the crowd instantly, and how couldn't she?
Sitting at a tall table on a risen chair in the most secluded place that was possible at a nightclub of the sort, sat Rhajat.
Corrin found herself staring, and it seemed like the crowd parted just to allow her to do so.
Rhajat wore a slit dress that seemed to have the intention of showing off as much skin as a dress of the sort would allow. Almost her entire leg was exposed as she didn't care to sit an any sort of lady-like position, and her arched back was also almost entirely exposed.
While getting an eyeful of the beauty that was once her's, Corrin noticed something about Rhajat. Her eyes were red, and she was wiping them on occasion.
She averted her stare when Rhajat looked up to her, and noticed her staring. Corrin looked down to the bar, but she got a feeling that Rhajat didn't stop looking either.
She covered her eyes, and tried to forced herself to forget about the incident that occurred however many days ago. It didn't stop entirely, but she managed to stop her eyes from weakening, or forming any tears.
She started to think back more calmly. She let out a sigh to herself, as she started to feel completely stupid.
It was around that time when the bartender walked over to her, "Can I get you anything, ma'am?"
Corrin thought to herself for a moment, and then answered, "No I think I'm... Actually," She thought again, "Could I get some paper or something?"
He gave her a strange look at first, before responding, "I'll go print some receipt paper off for you, would that work?"
She nodded, and smiled, "Wonderfully."
And so, he walked over to the register, printed some receipt paper, and handed it over to Corrin.
She pulled out a pen from her purse, and wrote a few words on the paper, before speaking to the bartender again, "Could you send a Dark and Stormy over to the woman in the black dress sitting at the table alone over there, and give her this as well?" She looked over to Rhajat, folded the paper and handed it to the bartender.
"Of course, I'll take care of that for you," He responded with a smile, and began making the drink.
Corrin looked over again, and noticed that Rhajat seemed to be speaking to someone who worked at the club as well. It was then she realized it would likely be best to pay for the drink.
"Oh, how much will that be?" She asked, reaching for her purse once again.
He chuckled, "It's on the house, by order of Ms. Azura."
She smiled to herself, and watched as the bartender gave the drink and the note to a waiter, who she expected to walk off immediately, but exchanged a few words with the bartender and handed something to him before doing so. The bartender laughed, and walked back over to Corrin.
She looked curiously to the bartender, confused further when he pulled out a bottle of wine from behind him, and placed a glass and a small folded piece of paper in front of Corrin.
It took her a moment to realize what had happened, but she fully realized what had happened when she picked up the piece of paper.
She looked up to see the bartender open and pour a white Moscato into the glass for Corrin.
"From that same woman actually. Enjoy," He smiled to Corrin before walking off to help another patron.
She took a small sip of the wine, and enjoyed the taste before noticing it as one of her favourites. After the first sip, she unfolded the note, and slowly read it over. Her lips curled up in a small smile, and she found herself tearing up yet again. Though, this time, it wasn't because of her own self-loathing, or sadness.
She picked up her pen again, and started to write, before stopping mid letter, and putting her pen away. She picked up the glass of wine between her ring and middle fingers, and walked over to that secluded table of one. As she made her way there, the sounds of the club died down slightly and she was beginning to understand why Rhajat secluded herself there.
Corrin faltered over her words at first. Trying to come up with something smooth, or perhaps something that started with her begging, but her mind went blank when she saw Rhajat up close.
Corrin was beginning to wonder if there was such a thing as love at thousandth sight, but she was convinced there was.
"May I?" Corrin asked softly while placing her glass on the table.
It took a second for Rhajat to look up to Corrin, shame grew over her face as she felt truly embarrassed and ashamed of herself.
"Please," Rhajat responded, somewhat desperate, before tying to lighten everything up, "Even if you are still stealing from my wardrobe," She cackled softly.
Corrin laughed a little and sat down, all before taking another sip of her wine.
A moment of awkward silence passed before Corrin started to speak, "Look, Rhajat, I'm really sorry. I really-."
"Please don't, Corrin. It was my fault. I snapped, and I was stupid, and I..." She let out a sigh of defeat as she realized tears were coming to her eyes again. She took a deep breath, took a sip of her own drink, and then looked back to Corrin, trying to form words again.
Corrin was taken aback, after all, she had thought all along it was all her fault, "It wasn't you. I overreacted, and then I pushed way too far," Her eyes darted down, as the same things that were happening to Rhajat seemed to be happening to Corrin as well.
"I wanted to be with you forever," Rhajat sniffed, her words were beginning to fall apart as she began to cry, "I thought you hated me."
Corrin found her hand move on it’s own and rested on Rhajat’s, “I never hated you. I could never hate you.”
Corrin’s eyes shut themselves, as all of her emotions were beginning to overrun her. She started to think that it would never work out, and that she was going to go home to the same feelings she came with.
But then, she felt something squeeze her hand. She opened her eyes to see Rhajat holding her hand, and looking deeply at her.
Rhajat gave her a shy smile, and then nearly whispered, “I’ve missed you so much.”
Corrin smiled back to her, stood up and walked over to her, and wrapped her in a tight embrace, “I missed you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
Rhajat quickly returned the embrace, seeming to return it as passionately as she possibly could.
They held each other for a moment or two, not wanting to let go for anything in the world, but then they heard the DJ over the speakers, “Now, I know we got some couples and lovebirds here tonight, so I’m thinking we give a little something for you guys,” he spoke before the dance track that was previously playing was switched out for a softer, slower, and much more melodic song.
Corrin and Rhajat released each other from the embrace, and listened to the song a little bit.
The melody picked up over the speakers, and they both looked to each other's eyes. Tears finally fading, and cheeks blushing with a more passionate emotion.
Perhaps they wanted to beat the other to the question, or perhaps they simply couldn't wait for the other to ask. Regardless of why the question came so quickly, they spoke in unison, "Shall we dance?"