Darn Stupid Brother You Are by Mairee

Chapter 16

(Angel's POV)

I couldn't believe we were finally free from our punishments after a week of non-stop chores. My friends and I were all glad to be done with the endless scrubbing and cleaning, and we celebrated with a quiet night in the common room. As we sat around the TV, watching a mindless soap opera, my mind kept wandering to Hendrix. I was still angry with him, but he was my priority. I needed to make sure he was okay, and we needed to talk. "I'm so glad we can finally hang out again," Hande said, smiling.

"Me too," Cylan agreed. "I was starting to think we'd never see the light of day again."

Charlotte sighed. "I am happy, we don't clean this place first before we watch TV."

"Right? Ugh! I can't believe that was my life for two whole weeks. This center is turning me into something I am not." Hande replied. "Has anyone seen Dilada?" She suddenly asked, looking around.

Charlotte shrugged and shook her head and Cylan spoke up, not looking away from her phone, "Maybe she's using the restroom. That girl's too shy to say it if that's where she is." They laughed at that.

I noticed that Dilada was missing, but I didn't give it much thought. My mind was preoccupied with Hendrix. I needed to make sure he was okay. I had been thinking about him nonstop since our last confrontation, and I knew I needed to talk to him.

I wondered what he was doing, if he was okay, and if he had listened to what I said.

I knew I couldn't shake off the feeling, but I didn't know if I should share it with my friends.

"Earth to Angel!" Cylan joked, waving her hand in front of my face.

I snapped back to attention, momentarily shocked.

Hande noticed my distant expression and asked, "Angel, what's wrong? You seem a little spaced out."

"Oh! What? Nooo! I'm cool. I'm fine." I blabbered.

to plant any seeds of doubt in their minds about the center. They had come here to get

just tired, that's all,"

that's all? You can tell

least. I needed to be sure about what I was feeling before

brush off their concerns. "Yeah, really, it's nothing.

nodded. "Okay, so anyway, where were we? Ah yes, the latest episode of 'As the

could tell they were skeptical. I hoped I was just being paranoid, but my gut

over with him. I would meet Hendrix and fix things with him. Considering what happened with Dr Nixon and Miss Stefan, he would have a clue as to what their deal is seeing that he had been treated

emotions as I got up and walked towards him. We stood facing each other, the

a moment, we just looked at each other, neither of us saying a word. I could see the regret in his eyes, and I

deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. I wanted to say something, anything, to break

I stopped myself. I thought I knew what to

seemed to sense my uncertainty. He took a step closer to

settled for

we said, "I'm

us dissipated. We decided to sit outside, away from the noise, and gaze at the stars. It was a quiet, peaceful night, and I felt

at him, unsure

in silence for a moment,

how things used to be between us. We had grown up together, finishing each other's sentences, knowing what the other was thinking. But things changed since we grew up. It had started when he began keeping multiple girlfriends at the same time, and his reckless behavior with women had left me feeling sad and

looked at him, I realized that I couldn't even tell what was going on

deeply, and I

only sound being the crickets

broke the silence again. "Do you remember when we were kids, and we

just a sweet little boy. We were so close back then, we would look at each other and laugh like we did back there." I sighed, "Then, it was like we had our own language. No one understood us, except

in silence again, lost in our own