THE SALT AND THE SCAR
Fay couldn't breathe. The air in the suite was too thick with the scent of Kei's perfume and the lingering heat of a kiss she wasn't supposed to enjoy. With a shaky hand, she pushed Kei away and bolted for the glass doors.
"I need air,"
she choked out, not waiting for a response.
She ran down the wooden steps of the villa until her bare feet hit the cool, damp sand of the Palawan shore. The moonlight turned the ocean into a sheet of silver, but Fay's mind was a storm of dark memories and bright, painful flashes of the present.
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"Don't fall for her again,"
Fay whispered to herself, her voice lost in the sound of the crashing waves.
"Do not be a fool twice, Fay Sterling."
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to summon the anger that had kept her strong for fifteen years.
(She remembered the silence after Kei left, the way she would stare at her phone for hours, waiting for a text that never came).
(She remembered the hollow ache in her chest during school activities, performing like a robot because she had forgotten how to feel anything but pain).
But then, the recent memories pushed back, uninvited and warm.
The Banner: She saw the image of that massive, ridiculous banner Kei had put up, declaring her love to the whole world, even though kei was an introvert type she still do it. It was embarrassing, but it was the first time in a decade Fay felt seen.
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The Care: She remembered the long shifts at Sterling Hospital. Just when she felt like fainting from hunger, Kei would appear in the lobby with her favorite food made especially by kei and a bouquet of fresh peonies, staying just long enough to make sure Fay ate.
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The Look: She remembered the way Kei looked at her right before the kiss that raw, desperate gaze that said Kei was just as haunted as she was.
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The Night at the House: Her face burned as she remembered the 18+ heat in her own bedroom. The way Kei's hands felt on her skin wasn't just lust, it felt like two pieces of a broken mirror finally fitting back together.
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Fay walked deeper into the shallows, the cold water swirling around her ankles. A memory from their high school days bubbled up a memory she usually kept locked in a box.
It was the school festival. They were seventeen. The "Marriage Booth" was a joke, a way to raise money for the student council. Fay and Kei had walked in, looking as the "pastor" put plastic rings on their fingers and declared them "wife and wife."
Fay remembered looking at Kei under the cheap flower arch. Back then, there was no corporate stress, no fifteen years and no secrets. The way Kei had looked at her that day… it wasn't a joke. It was the look of a girl who had found her entire world in one person. They had been so young, so in love and so certain that nothing could ever break them.
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"It was all a lie,"
Fay told the ocean, her voice trembling.
"Or maybe it was real and she just didn't care enough to stay."
She looked back at the villa. Through the glass, she could see the silhouette of Kei standing by the balcony rail, watching her. Kei wasn't coming down to force her back, she was just… waiting.
Fay felt a tear slip down her cheek. She hated Kei for leaving. She hated Kei for coming back. But most of all, she hated that even after fifteen years of suffering, her heart still recognized Kei as "home."