A Birthday Cake and a Heartache (TNSPW 36)

Recap:

Just as any other high school student with raging hormones and has just been awakened to the adolescent world, Jeremy was also excited to receive a love note and an invitation in his locker. He followed the instruction and met the sender in the park indicated in the note.

As he regretfully found out, the note was a trap and was just intended to isolate him. He was then ambushed by Nina, another high school girl from another school. Nina's motivation was fueled by jealousy. She wanted to take Jeremy as far away as possible from Mari.

Mari came to her classmate's aid and was able to defend Jeremy. But she was not able to hold off a whole crew under Nina's command.

With cuts and bruises, Jeremy now lies on a hospital bed looking outside the window.

Previous episode : It Hurts ( TNSPW )

Continuation:

Elucia was sitting in front of the mirror while an attendant was tending to curls on the lower end of her hair. She was literally looking at the princess trapped inside the mirror staring back at her.

"Young miss. You looked really gorgeous tonight. May you have many more birthdays to come." the maid said.

"Really? Thank you, Aya." Elucia replied.

She looked to her left and to her right trying to see any imperfections on her face or her makeup, but there was none. She was just looking as perfect as she could be. Her phone beeped and the screen lit up. She picked her up and read the message that she just received.

"I'm sorry Lucy T.T, I don't think I could go tonight. I'll just go over to Jeremy. I'm so guilty that he could not attend because of me. Anyway, happy birthday! I'll drop by tomorrow instead." the message from Mari read.

And it was followed by another message, this time, it was just a crying face.

Elucia typed away on her phone.

"I understand. Let me know how he's doing."

Knock-knock.

The knock on the door was immediately followed by its opening. A man of extremely gracious and intimidating stature emerged from the opening.

"How's my little princess?" the man asked.

"You are just too beautiful my darling. You really are a woman now." he added.

"Of course, she takes after her mother." a lady entered the room as well and butted in.

"Mom, Dad, thank you for tonight," Elucia said as she stood and met them to hug them both at the same time.

"Come now my dear, the guests are waiting. You go on and enjoy your party."

Junjun, Alice, Megumi, and the other students arrived one after the other. The mansion was lit up in glamorous shades of bright. It was really like attending a grand ball in a palace. It was surely a gathering of people on the upper side of the social ladder.

Everybody was neatly and sharply dressed just as the celebrities line up on the red carpet. And speaking of which, they noticed some celebrities attending in the mix.

Junjun and the group were just so overwhelmed that they didn't know what to do, luckily there were several ushers and usherettes waiting for the guests and they were able to help them locate a table for them.

As they were ushered to a table, sparkling drinks and cocktail food were served to them as they were all waiting for the birthday girl to make her grand entrance.

"Hey, where's Mari?" Junjun asked.

"Even Momo's not here yet." Alice added as they looked around the crowd for their friends' faces.

The night sky lit up as fireworks bloom over the whole place. The band played a cheerful birthday song as every light inside the mansion dimmed and a spotlight fell upon the top of the stairwell where Elucia was gracefully standing. Accompanied by her parents, she slowly and elegantly descended the stairs. Everyone was clapping and was captivated by her entrance.

Mari entered the room with a small box in one hand and the baseball bat in the other.

"Hello!" she said lively as he walked through the door.

Jeremy was seated on his bed while looking at the full moon across the dark lonely sky. He was surprised but he was pleased to see a friendly face that night.

"Mari! You're here. What about the party?" he exclaimed.

"Yes I am, and I come bearing gifts," she said as raised the box in front of her. It was a slice of cake. "I couldn't bring myself to attend while you are here. You even worked part-time for it."

"Oh no, you didn't have to. I'm alright." he said.

"Okay, so... are you telling me to leave?" she asked.

"Ah not that it's just..."

Mari took the cake out of the box and put it on a saucer. She then gave it to him.

"Here, have some, it's not as good as Lucy's birthday cake, but at least it's cake."

Jeremy chuckled, "nah, this is alright. Thank you very much."

"I'm really sorry about all this. I didn't know Nina would do such a thing just to force me to go to her school."

He took a bite off the cake and the sweet sensation of flavor made him feel a little bit better.

"Who is she anyway?" he asked before he took another bite.

"She's a cousin of mine. When she was little she lived with us and we were thick as thieves then. That's until her parents took her again and she was enrolled in their school. She's really intense, maybe she does not know how to express it well, but she means well. Kinda like a spoiled brat until now."

"Oh, wow, your family owns a lot of schools huh?" he remarked.

"haha, you can say that again."

The two of them talked and they were just enjoying the conversation. But there's another person who was having a strange emotion and a weird reaction to the two of them conversing.

Momo was just outside the door listening to them. She couldn't bring herself to come in. She had her back against the wall while looking at the box of cake she's holding. She was all dressed up and she planned to just drop by Jeremy on her way to the party.

She could not understand the nagging feeling and that acute pinch on her chest. She could not fathom why she couldn't bring herself to walk in on them, she didn't have a clue what's going on with her.

"Stupid." she said under her breath as she chose to walk away.

Konnichiwazzup!

I apologize for the late publication of this series. I was just absorbed with so many things. I can't really find my center most of these days. I am all over the place but nowhere at the same time. I do hope that you are doing better than I am.

If you want to catch up and read the whole series, you can find all the episodes here: The (Not So) Perfect World.

Anyway, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for you are still here no matter what, I hope that you continue supporting me and you'll always be there, until we read again...

Cheers!!!

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Series    : The (Not So) Perfect World of Jeremy
Episode   : 036
Title     : A Birthday Cake and a Heartache
Published : 07-Dec-2021
Author :  © RB