There's More to Life than Work! (03)

Julianna originally planned only to wander around, but as soon as she left home, she could not stop walking aimlessly in the streets as if something had been pushed against her.

She walked straight for half an hour non-stop, and she lost track of how much distance she had walked. A tall bridge appeared in front of her. It was the landmark of West Park.

As she stopped by the bridge, drowsiness started taking over her from her puffy legs. Her hands began losing sensitivity. She felt that her head could not hold her body anymore—everything around her blurred into afar.

After all the walking in the afternoon and late-night studying in the past, she was about to collapse.

✨

On the way to West Park, Beth and Simone were walking side by side, chitchatting about themselves, gossips at Laurel Prep, and the inside jokes that they had made together. Ever since they became friends after the runway show, they've bonded more and more. Beth took an interest in Simone's music videos, while Simone gave Beth suggestions on making better fashion coordination and styled clothing.

As they were walking, they noticed that everything around them started to dim down as the sun spread its last glimmers across the horizon. The roads were busy with traffic as usual, yet everyone around was wearing their casual clothing instead of suit and tie. That's when the city showed its quirks: A couple was kissing in front of a flower shop. A group of children was playing a chasing game between the block buildings. Just on the right side of them, A couple of older people immersed themselves in the sunlight, with two large dogs snuggled against them.

"Simmy, I liked a lot your music videos so far! Did you write the songs? They are very heartfelt!"

"Yee, most of them were written by myself! Some of them I collaborated with Felicity." Simone said. "I am thinking about working on a new video soon. Would you like to do some designs for the video, or maybe, be part of the video?"

Oh my gosh. Did Simone just say that I could star in her video?

"That's so exciting! I would love to help you with your video!" Beth was happy to get such an opportunity. "By the way, did you star in Always In My Heart, the romance series? I saw a clip online with your name on the starring list."

"Oh, that was a long time ago...It was nothing big. I starred as one of the couple's daughters for several episodes."

"What's the personality of the girl that you were starring? Beth queried.

"Ummm...she looks naive but is an old soul in a young body. You can call her a little adult--she loved advising people around her."

"That's interesting. I bet that the little girl you were starring is a complicated and multifaceted character. There sure would be both the childish demeanors of her and the wise words of her. Did you enjoy portraying her on stage?"

"I think so. The process of production was enjoyable. I got to talk to other kids on set, and we did so much prank when the team was not looking!"

"Haha, we all disliked adult supervision at one point!"

Simone nodded and stopped in front of Beth to point into a red drawbridge near them.

"By the way, we are reaching West Park very soon. See that tall bridge? It's the landmark of West Park."

Beth glimpsed at the tall bridge and noticed a young person stumbling around the bridge, almost tripping to the side of it, staggering like a falling scribble pen scratching on paper. A string of blue hair stuck out of her hoodie.

"Simmy, look. A reckless person is stumbling across the street like no one's looking at her! Doesn't she pay attention to the traffic?"

"Let me look at that." Simone diverged her sight to Beth's direction. She stared at the person for a second and two, and immediately had a concerned look on her face. "Wait, Bee. Isn't that our Jules Miller?"

Jules? Really? You got to be kidding. Why would she tell us that she had a family emergency instead of hanging out with us, and appear now like this?

"Just look." Simone took out her phone and opened up the camera app to zoom in on the person. "Look at that iconic blue hair. Her eyes are half-closed, but I can see that they are brown. I don't recognize the hoodie but those orange sneakers...they really do stick out."

Beth pulled herself closer to Simone. "Oh gosh...it really could be her. Why does she look tired? What's happening to her?!"

"I think she seems like she has lost all of her energy. It seemed that she could fall on the street if someone crashed onto her...We probably need to rush to her to check if she was okay."

"No..." Beth froze on the spot and her stomach churned. It felt so unreal for her--forming an association between this tired, dispirited person and the confident Julianna they used to see was so hard. "I never saw Jules like this. Compared to us, she was always on top of her things. Besides, she had always been proactive and prepared..."

"I don't know--weren't you the person who got to know her before me?" Simone said. "this behavior is atypical for her. I just think that maybe she is shielding from us something that she doesn't want us to know. Some people don't do much self-disclosure."

Simone's speech gave Beth an awakening. Although she and Julianna had been friends for a month and so, all she had about Julianna was merely a superficial impression, a caricature of an over-simplified intellectual nerd. All the past memories of Julianna and herself seemed to flash before her eyes--subtle clues that Julianna might have been hiding her vulnerable behind her tough exterior.

Things started to stitch together when she started putting together her individual reactions with Julianna.

When she was out to dinner with Eleanor and Darius, they mentioned that Julianna might have been bullied, yet she never talked with them about the issue. Was there some reason for that? Furthermore, Julianna rarely talked about her past life in her middle school, nor did she mention anyone that was specifically close to her. All Julianna indulged in were ideas and academics.

There had to be a back reason to explain all of these!

✨

Where am I?

What's happening to me?

Julianna struggled to drag her weary legs forward. Sweat was dripping from her forehead to the ground in front of her. Slowly, she became paralyzed on-site, losing her sense as if they had been withdrawn from her. Little by little, her consciousness was about to disintegrate. Touch started disappearing from her fingertips to her whole body. She closed her eyes, almost feeling herself sinking into a black hole.

Little did she know that she was standing in the middle of the bridge now. A large truck was quickly moving towards her.

"No!!!" Beth shouted. A burst of emotions pounded heavily in her chest as the truck moved towards Julianna. As soon as Simone heard her scream, Beth had already rushed towards Julianna, pushing her aside to keep her safe.

Except there was one thing...Both of them tipped down from the bridge and were slowly falling into the river.

✨

Jules...I want to know the real you. I never fully got to do that.

Remember the day that we first met? You directed me to our class and the assembly together. You were my first friend here.

Though you were not big on words, you had been so helpful. When I didn't understand my homework, you offered inspirations that helped with my problem-solving. You also defended me against Paige and Jade.

I love the way that you were deep in thought. I love that you always had interesting trivia to tell me. I love that sometimes you give witty and sarcastic remarks as well.

Maybe you had experienced things that you didn't want to talk about. Maybe you were burying your tears.

Maybe you were even more lonely than me. Trust me...those are all nothing to be ashamed to talk about. I don't want to just 'hang out' with you. I want to be by your side and assure you that you are worth all the things your heart longs to be.

Please don't leave me...okay?

Beth held tightly onto Julianna as both of them were loose in the air. Before both of them fell into the water, Beth vaguely noticed a tall redhead flying towards them.

A name popped up in her mind before she was blinded by water.

Fifi.