Broken

Maisie slowed down, a look of astonishment revolving on her face, the smile she had on had faltered. She hadn't anticipated Isolde's presence there, and she contemplated on the length of time her friend must have stood there, observing her engage the man in a conversation, along with the smiles that had flashed across her face.

Isolde's interpretation of the scene before her must have been wrong, Maisie spoke to herself.

She parted her lips as she turned to look behind her, thankfully, the man had continued working out and had his headphones on. Isolde embarrassing her right now was not something she wanted him to see.

"I..." Despite wanting to speak, she held back her words because Isolde's angry glance hit her. Watching her friend clench her teeth caused her heartbeat to pound in her chest and her hands turned sweaty as if she was caught stealing something.

This had never happened before.

"I... thought you said, there's nothing going on?" Inquiring with a sharp tilt of her head, Isolde narrowed her angry eyes and glared daggers at her friend while speaking through clenched teeth. She had seen everything clearly. Maisie was doing it intentionally to irk her and she had been irked, her fists balled and her eyes turned fiery red on gazing upon this so-called friend of hers.

Maisie swallowed hard, "Y--yes... I... Isolde-"

Isolde was offended that the wretched girl dared to utter her name from those foul mouth of hers, "Don't you dare mention my name!" She shouted.

Momentarily letting go of the mopstick, she charged towards Maisie and grabbed her hair. She tugged fiercely at the curly hair, ensuring to wrap it around her hands and pull at it.

Maisie winced- feeling her head ripping apart, she could only hold on to Isolde's arm as she cried out in pain. "LET GO" She demanded but was met with a vigorous shake of her head. Her head was lowered and the hair had blurred her vision, she traced her hands across Isolde's arm to her hair and also tugged at it. She didn't want to turn to hurting her friend, but she couldn't do anything to stop her, and this was the only measure she could think of.

The once placid atmosphere was thrown into pandemonium as people approached the girls to stop them from fighting, most of them were pushed back by a seething Isolde.

Danisa, who was passing by at the time, saw this and her eyes widened. She discarded the cloth she held and hurried to separate her friends from harming each other. "Stop this at once!" She yelled, coming in between them to pull them apart but received a slap from Isolde.

"You're out of your mind!" Danisa was furious.

"Am I?" She chuckled, "She's the one who's out of her mind, she's a liar, a thief, a shameless whore!" She cursed through her teeth, the inferno in her eyes was never prepared to cool down at any given moment as she tugged on Maisie's hair.

Being called a whore by her friend caused her to be broken-hearted. What had she done? Other than trying to repay one who had offered kindness to her, why was Isolde getting angry at her?

She was unaware that the room had clouded with a fetid smell that had escaped her butt and her friend pushed her down to the ground heavily.

"Cursed child" She continued and rushed forth but wasn't able to land a fist on her because her hand was held in the air. Her chest rose and fell in exasperation, her head then whipped to the side to see who had dared to stop her from ruining Maisie. Once her gaze fell on the golden-eyed man, her eyes widened.

"I should arrest you for causing nuisance here" Leif spoke, his voice holding no warmth.

Isolde had never thought their meeting would be like this and it annoyed her, it was the fault of this stupid Maisie, she thought in her head. She felt him squeeze her hand, with a hardened gaze on his face. It hurt, her eyebrows pulled together in pain and she wondered if he wasn't planning to let go of her hand.

And then, he dropped it to the side harshly, causing her to stagger backward. "Get out" He ordered with a straight face.

"Sir, she's one of t-"

"You're fired" He directed at Valerie who had tried to stop him from chasing the girl out as she was one of their part-time workers. Valerie who was still new to this job was unaware that whenever He was reprimanding someone, he needed no form of intercession. She lowered her head and then turned on her heels to leave the Gym once and for all or else she could get him angrier.

When Valerie saw herself out, Leif's eyes landed on the purple-haired girl who had caused a ruckus, and he tilted his head at her. She had her mouth hung open in surprise as she wasn't expecting the turn out of things. Isolde turned on her heels also and left.

The crowd eventually dispersed, none wanting to incur the wrath of the irate man. Maisie was still on the ground, lost in her thoughts as her eyes clouded with water, she couldn't believe her ears. Isolde had just spoken harsh words to her, words that she would have never expected to hear from her. It saddened her, to think that the person who always protected her from people who spoke that particular word felt the same toward her.

What are you still thinking, Maisie? She heard in her head, Of course, she was a cursed child, and she was aware of it herself. What difference did it make if her friend thought so?

No, she wasn't happy with what she had heard, she thought to herself. She shouldn't have gotten Isolde that angry, in fact, she never should have approached the man Isolde had feelings for. Everything was all her fault.

The appearance of his large palm in front of her caught her attention, halting her train of thought instinctively, Maisie stared at those hands. If she accepted it, then she was truly a shameless whore just like her friend had portrayed her to be.

Knowing fully well that Isolde liked him, she shouldn't be anywhere close to him. She shouldn't accept anything from him.

She sniffed, standing up on her own without accepting the man's hand.

From where she stood, she could see his jaw contract and she believed she had irked him with that gesture, he must have felt insulted because she had rejected him but Maisie had no choice, she should stay away from this man. He was the one disrupting her friendship with Isolde. She took some stride backward, where he had risen to his full height, and his sharp gaze directed at her. He saw her bow at him and his lips went wry.

Leif wondered what to do with this little one, as she had been the first woman to ever reject his advances and he suspected that it had something to do with the other girl who had engaged her in a fight. No, he should let her go, he thought, seeing the look of trepidation on her face as she raised her head and attempted to walk past him.

He surely wouldn't be getting any drink, he thought to himself.

His voice stopped her. Maisie who was on the verge of lifting her second foot placed it to the ground, and gently turned to him, where he spoke over his shoulder. "If I am right with my prediction, you children should stay focused on your book and should strive to make your parents proud rather than chasing something you won't attain" He spoke.

He had figured it out, she thought inwardly. The reason why Isolde was fighting with her was because of him, a man. And they were only high-school girls who had a bright future ahead of them, they should be thinking of how to get better grades instead of pursuing a man. She realized, but then he was wrong somewhere because she wasn't pursuing him, she only wanted to return a favor.

There was no need to make things clear, she pondered and then walked away, to where her friends stood waiting for her. Danisa immediately pulled her in for a hug, smoothening her unruly hair, "I'm so sorry Maisie"

"It's fine," She said with a smile, trying to appear better but she was hurt, deep inside.