Please Break My Heart

Chapter 7

Ayanna hated confrontations. She could not stress that enough.

That was why her annoyance was overflowing when a female called her out after her last class. How the stranger found out about Ayanna’s schedule remained a mystery. The latter simply wanted to just go home after a tiring day—she would have to catch a jeepney on the way home because Lake had a practice. What was even more annoying was that everyone else seemed to know who the female was.

“Do you need something?” Ayanna forced herself to ask politely despite the other girl glaring at her already.

The other girl crossed her arms, looking at Ayanna from head to toe as if judging her. The girl was tall, much taller than the 5’2 ft Ayanna. She had pale skin, had long eyelashes, a pair of twinkling eyes, double eyelids and heart-shaped lips. “Do you not know me?” She blew on her manicured nails.

“Sorry but no,” Ayanna replied, trying to stop herself from raising an eyebrow. Who was that girl and why was she acting like everyone should know her?

“I am Tiffany Wang! The model?” the other girl, whose name was Tiffany, asked, acting as if it was the most obvious thing. “Oh, god, not only are you ugly, you’re stupid too.”

Ayanna took offense at that. She felt anger rising in her chest. She knew she was ugly and knew she was stupid too but she did not want anyone telling her that. “Look, I don’t know who you are but please, I don’t appreciate being insulted.”

“So do I. I cannot believe Lake dumped me for you,” Tiffany’s tone was full of venom, her glare not wavering. “He could have any girl but he chose you. You’re ugly. You’re plain. You’re not worth it.”

“You think you’re so pretty? Go and look at the mirror you female dog,” Ayanna grumbled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have places to be.” She didn’t. But nevertheless, she pushed Tiffany out of the way and headed to the comfort room.

Words echoing in her head as she walked.

“You’re ugly.”

“You’re plain.”

“You’re not worth it.”

And she swore, she was about to cry.

*****

Ayanna was about to cry.

She was sprawled on her bed that evening at 7pm, tears refused to stop from flowing out of her eyes. Lilia was out with some friends from her organization which left the former alone in the dark place. She did not want to turn on the lights as she did not want to stand up.

Tiffany’s voice, along with the familiar voices she did not want to remember, lingered inside her head. They were calling her ugly over and over again. And in her head, the moment she faced the mirror, she would see an ogre she was. She heaved a sigh and stood up from her bed. She turned on the light so she could look at her reflection.

And there stood, in front of the mirror, an ugly lady.

The first thing she noticed was her skin. It was not the healthiest skin there was, there were acne scars at some parts. Then, there was her nose that was tall but a little too wide. Her eyes, she was told they looked pretty and so were her lips. But seeing all of those together on her face made the ugliest face ever. Not to mention her chubby cheeks. She had nothing against chubby people, it’s just that she thought she was ugly even if she were fat or skinny.

Then, she was tearing up again.

Before she could continue drowning herself in self-pity, her phone rang indicating that someone was calling her. She looked at the caller’s ID, confused because no one really called her that much. To her surprise, it was Lake. She hesitated. She wondered if he had heard of the little confrontation that afternoon.

“It’s just a call, Ayanna, why overthink?” she mumbled to herself before wiping her tears. She then answered the phone with a simple “hello”.

“Hello? Ayanna? Did you get home safe?” Lake asked from the other line, his voice sounded worried.

Ayanna had to roll her eyes at that, her sadness was momentarily forgotten. “I wouldn’t be able to talk to you right now if I didn’t.”

“Right,” Lake breathed, sounding as if he breathed a sigh of relief. “I kinda heard about what happened this afternoon. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop Tiffany from doing or saying whatever she wants. I hope she did not do anything to hurt you?”

It did hurt all right, Ayanna wanted to snap but somehow she could not bring herself to do so. Not when Lake sounded genuinely worried. “It’s okay, actually,” she said. “What we talked about are simple girl stuff. You wouldn’t enjoy it if you were there.” She said that because she did not enjoy the talk either. It was annoying and she would not want to experience it again.

There was a pause. “I’m outside your dorm. Do you want to come out?”

Cue the butterflies in her stomach—except there was none. She was pretty sure Lake did this to all his ex-girlfriends. She did not expect herself to be any different. Plus, Lake had known her for like three days. No one ended up caring for another soul that fast. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise if only Ayanna’s eyes were not swollen.

“Why are you outside? Do you need anything?” she carefully asked, looking at her own reflection on the mirror. She looked like a mess. Her hair was everywhere—one problem with having a wavy hair.

“I just… I wanted to see if you’re okay. Can you come out?”

“I’m fine so you can leave now, I guess?”

“Your voice tells me otherwise. Seems like you have been crying.”

The female was taken aback. She just realized that her voice was a little hoarse and it was cracking just a little bit. How embarrassing! Lake would find out that she had been crying over something that was real. She did not like that fact one bit.

“Fine,” she found herself giving in. “Give me a few minutes.” Then, she hang up the phone without waiting for Lake’s reply. Hurriedly, she ran to the bathroom and washed her face then fixed her hair. While she was sure that she couldn’t be any prettier—she was ugly to begin with—she tried to at least look presentable. She did not want Lake to have her as a nightmare. That would be horrible.

Without wasting any more time, she grabbed her phone again and went outside to meet Lake.

Outside, she saw Lake’s car parked nearby. Upon seeing her, the boy got off his car and flashed her a smile. “I thought you decided to just make me wait here for nothing.”

“Why would I do that?” Ayanna frowned. If she were to be honest, she did think about it but she knew she would never do that. “That would be so rude of me.”

Lake shrugged his shoulders, chuckling. “Well, so far, I realized that you’re unpredictable. Who knows if you decide to do just that?” There was a pause. “Anyway, may I know what Tiffany said to you? Hopefully, it isn’t something that offended you?”

“I don’t get offended easily.”

“Then, why were you crying?”

“Shut up,” Ayanna snapped at Lake, glaring at him.

The latter pursed his lips, raising his hands in a mock surrender. “Okay, I will, I will,” he muttered. “But remember, you can tell me. After all, I am your boyfriend. We should be comfortable enough to tell each other everything in order to make our relationship work.”

“I thought you believe that when people aren’t happy anymore, they should leave?”

“But you want to last for three months, right? We won’t be able to last if you keep everything bottled within,” Lake said. Then he laughed. “This is seriously so out of character of me. I cannot be this serious.” He shook his head at his own ridiculousness.

“Oh, you shut up,” Ayanna chuckled. Then, her eyes widened slightly upon remembering something. “Oh, right, you just finished practice, right? I think you should go home and rest. Don’t worry about me and just go on your way. I’ll tell you if something bothers me.”

Lake looked reluctant. “Are you sure?” he asked with a frown. “I can stay for a few more minutes and we can talk it out.”

“I’m sure. Now, go home and rest. We don’t want our MVP to be tired now, do we?” Ayanna clicked her tongue.

“All right, I’ll text you when I get home. Call me if anything’s wrong. Goodnight?”

“Goodnight,” Ayanna replied with a smile.

She watched as Lake left. As she did, she could not help but to wonder if he really was like that to everyone. If he was, it was no wonder many fell for him. Too bad, he was a terrible superficial playboy. And the female could not see herself falling for him any time soon. But she could not help thinking that this relationship really was not bad at all.