The Love of An Invisible

I look at the clock and it is already noon, I sigh and leave the room, passing by Aya’s room I notice that she is still unconscious. I go back to my path and go downstairs, I go to the pantry of the house and see the table already set.

“It’s good that you came down, you saved me the trouble of calling you,” says my mother as she sits in her chair.

“I’m starving,” I lie. Actually I don’t feel hungry, I’m sad. Too many thoughts in my head.

“Then come soon,” says my father, already preparing his plate.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

So I do, sit down at the table and help myself to the meal, which has more salad than anything else. In about twenty minutes, everyone finishes the meal and when Lueni removes all the plates, I make a sound with my throat calling their attention.

“I need to talk to you.”

They sit back down and look at me intently.

“Yesterday at the ball, Aya’s parents also went, they wanted her to accept me and were forcing her to do so, on the day of the dinner, she was forced to come,” I say with regret. I just wanted her to love me of her own free will, “Well, she was disobeying them and going out with another colleague, and well…” I close my eyes for a few moments, when I saw the video I thought it was real, but when her mother ripped her dress and left her breasts exposed the difference was blatant, the woman’s breasts in the video were giant while theirs were medium, believe me, even if only for a few moments it makes me feel guilty, “This fellow, he is the boyfriend of another girl who on the day of the prom made a montage in a porn video and put Aya’s face so that everyone present could see and think it was her.”

“My God, what a horrible thing to do… This… It never even crossed my mind…” she must now be blaming herself for the way she spoke to Aya.

“Her parents… They beat her and tore her dress, cursed her with horrible names and then threw her out of the house with only the rags she had on her body.”

My mother’s eyes widened in shock, Juliana had always been a friend of my mother’s, she must never have imagined that her friend would be capable of doing such a thing to her own daughter.

“Soon after having her heart broken by the guy she likes, she was thrown out and has nowhere else to go, while she was walking alone in the streets a man hurt her even more and tried to abuse her.”

“I… I said so many things without knowing anything…”

“It wasn’t your fault, you were just defending me, Mom. I’m very grateful for that.”

She looks at me with tearful eyes and a small smile.

“I love Aya, I have loved her since she was six years old. I suffered a lot of bullying and she was the one who smiled at me and hugged me in the midst of so many who just beat me and made fun of me.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us!” my parents questioned together. She smiled. Why is that?

“Because I didn’t want to worry them, I wanted to be strong. But I wasn’t, I lived locked in my room watching anime and never participated in anything at school. Anyway, I just wanted to be alone.”

“Do you still get bullied?”

“No, they stopped about two years ago.”

“I don’t like this attitude, my son,” my father says, and you can feel the disappointment in his voice. I don’t want you to hide anything more, neither from me nor from your mother, agreed?

“Yes, Dad,” I am so grateful to God for the wonderful parents you gave me, “I need to ask you a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Can you take care of her? I… I love her, I don’t want her to suffer even more… She has no one else in the world… Please… Take care of her until she can fend for herself, I just… Well… I always wanted to see the smile she gave me when we were kids Just one more time… Tears don’t go with her.”

My parents are silent, I look at my hands on the table, I know I am asking a lot, but I can’t leave knowing that she will be out on the street and attacked again.

“All right, we will take care of her,” my father says, and I feel as if a great burden has been removed from my back.

“Thank you,” I say, smiling.

The day comes to an end, Aya has awakened only once, with cries in supplication for forgiveness and not to be abused. It pained me, my mother gave her tranquilizers to make her sleep again. I spent the afternoon trying to read manga, which didn’t work, I kept going to her room every ten minutes to check if she was okay.

The alarm clock goes off at 4:30 in the morning. I get up and do my morning hygiene. I put on a white dress shirt and pants, put on a tie and get my suitcase. I go downstairs and my parents are already waiting for me in the living room with Lueni, who comes toward me and hugs me.

“Go with God, my boy. May your grades be great and don’t leave me without news from you, eat and sleep at the right time.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lueni. Please take care of yourself too.”

She breaks the hug and wipes the tears from her eyes, I am the first one to leave the house, I get in the back seat of the car and then my parents get in. I look out the window to the second floor.

“Take care, please” – I mentally ask Aya. Now it’s time for me to leave.