“You gonna talk to him?” Soleh asked, catching my glance.
I shrugged, clicking idly through the game menu. “What’s the point? He won’t really listen.”
Soleh leaned back, stretching his long legs across the coffee table. “You should still try. Otherwise, he’s just gonna keep thinking everything’s fine and last I checked, you were the one that taught me that the first step in solving A problem is having the courage to voice it.”
I sighed, setting the laptop aside. “You’re too smart for your own good, you know that?”
He smirked. “Runs in the family.”
“Debatable,” I muttered, standing. “you’ve encountered that dude with our DNA named Cahya, right?”
“Ah yes against my own will,” Soleh affirmed. “I heard Bae’s in town, I’d love to see her, she’dsomurder sims with me.”
“Yeah she is, she’s staying with Wyn and Cahya, I’ll let her know you wanna hang out,” I assured him.
I made my way to Dad’s office, knocking lightly before pushing the door open. He was at his desk, typing away on his laptop, a headset hooked over one ear.
“Dad,” I said, stepping inside.
He held up a finger, signaling for me to wait as he wrapped up his call. I leaned against the doorframe, my arms crossed, watching as he rattled off something about budgets and deadlines.
Finally, he took off the headset, glancing at me with a distracted smile. “Yesoh. Quite the surprise visit, What’s going on?”
I hesitated, suddenly unsure of what I wanted to say. “I just… I don’t know. Ballet’s been a lot lately. Like, more than usual. Sometimes I feel really left out in that environment.”
He nodded, his expression sympathetic but distant. “That’s how it is at your level, right? You’ve always been good under pressure.”
“Yeah, but—” I started, then stopped. His phone buzzed on the desk, and his eyes flicked to it instinctively.
“Sorry,” he said, picking it up and typing a quick reply. “What were you saying?”
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
“Of course it’s important,” he said, setting the phone down. But his voice lacked conviction, and I couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince me or himself.
“I should go,” I said, backing toward the door. “Soleh’s waiting.”
“Okay,” he said, already turning back to his screen. “But let’s catch up soon, okay?”
“Sure,” I murmured, stepping out and closing the door behind me.
Soleh looked up as I returned to the living room, his gaze sharp and knowing. “That bad, huh?”
I flopped onto the couch beside him, grabbing a pillow to hug. “He’s busy, as usual.”
“His loss,” Soleh said simply, nudging me with his elbow. “You’re cooler anyway.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, even as my chest felt heavy. “Thanks, Soleh only you would say that unironically.”
“Anytime, Soh,” he said, grinning. “Now, let’s make this mansion a haunted one. Gotta keep things interesting.”
I rolled my eyes but picked up the controller. At least with Soleh, I didn’t have to try so hard. He just loved and accepted me as I was, always had and always would.
The room glowed with the kind of annoyance that penetrated the walls of my mind, no painkiller could aid this kind of headache. The stress of my audition, of my emotionally distant yet financially stable father, and the fact that Wynter had decided to wreak havoc yesterday. Remi and Sydney thought I was losing it and they were certainly not wrong, my girls rarely ever were.
Remi glanced up from her phone, raising an eyebrow. “You’re either sulking again or one minor inconvenience away from being sent to the loony bin.”
“I’mnotsulking,” I muttered, staring at the ceiling.
