Rosse nced at her phone to check the time and said, "Melinda and Rina did mention they had missed the bus, so... there''s a possibility that they could get on this bus at the next stop."


    Assuming they have not yet gotten on the other bus.


    "What about Leah? She hasn''t seen or responded to any of my messages since this morning. She hasn''te online either, even in the group chat."


    "Same. Should I call her?" Rosse nced back and forth at Suzan and Lucy, seemingly wanting their confirmation.


    "Leave it. She has told us not to call her, so we should respect that. Melinda might know something since she is the leader of our friend circle."


    "True."


    The bus stopped at the next station and a few passengers got in. Since Lucy, Suzan, and Rosse were busy talking with each other, they couldn''t see out of the window to check if Melinda and Rina were there.


    They fixed their gaze at the bus'' entrance and patiently waited to see three familiar faces walking towards them.


    Rosse quickly waved her hand at them with a smile on her face.


    "Yeah, we saw you," Melinda said calmly.


    The three sat on the seat row in front of them and turned around.


    "We are alreadyte on the schedule," Rina sighed.


    Rosse raised her brow at Leah and asked, "Why is she with you? After ignoring us all for all night, she shows up and doesn''t even talk to us, as if we are strangers to her."


    "Correct. I don''t know a girl named Rosse who breaks her promise," Leah responded.


    "Never! I would never do that, even in my dreams."


    "You told me that you will convince Grace to join us, but I don''t see her with you."


    "Ack!" Rosse went silent after hearing that.


    "Thank you for not making excuses," Leah remarked.


    "You know how strict her parents are. They never let her out of the house. I can''t believe a parent can treat their own daughter like an animal. She doesn''t even have her own personal phone. Whenever we want to speak with Grace, we have to call her mother and answer a few questions before Grace is allowed to talk.


    "Don''t forget, they forced her to put the phone on speaker so she could hear our conversation," Lucy added.


    "Yeah, it sucks to be her. I wish we could help her somehow."


    "I…" Suzan quipped in between and said, "I have her sister''s phone number; her name is Rize. Grace called me once using her phone, so I saved that number for future use.


    I called her sisterst night, hoping she would be able to convince her parents to let Gracee with her. But much to my surprise, it was Grace who picked up the call.


    Long story short, I asked her if she wasing today, but she said she has a cough and fever. Obviously, I thought she was lying because she was afraid of her parents, but her voice sounded weak."


    "So… maybe she was really sick," she shrugged.


    "Let''s hope her parents give her more freedom once she turns eighteen."


    "If it was me, I would move out as soon as I turned eighteen," Rosse dered.


    "Enough about her. Let''s talk about something else."


    "You still haven''t answered my question, Leah. Why were you with Melinda and Rina? And why have you been inactive sincest night?" Rosse asked again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I stayed the night at Melinda."


    "When did Melinda''s house be a dorm?" Lucy inquired. "Rina already lives with her and now Leah too. Can Ie too?"


    "Will you be able to stay away from your step-lover?" Suzan didn''t miss a chance to throw in a remark.


    "My parents went to visit the rtives, and I was home alone, so Melinda suggested that I stay the night at her ce since we were going out the next day anyway," Leah responded in a neutral tone.


    "And what''s the reason you didn''t respond to my messages?"


    Melinda brought her face close to Lucy and Suzan and whispered, "Isn''t she acting like a possessive boyfriend?"


    "You said it."


    "I can hear you, Linda."


    "Chill. My phone''s battery died, and I forgot to bring my charger with me. And before you say that I could have used Linda or Rina''s charger, I couldn''t. They have got a different type of cable."


    "Oh, is that so? Wouldn''t it have been amazing if Melinda and Rina had phones and you could have used their phone to inform me about it?" Rossemented sarcastically.


    She wanted Leah to inform her using Melinda''s phone so she wouldn''t have been so worried about her.


    "You can''t survive a night without talking to me?" Leah asked with a surprised look on her face.


    "No."


    "…." Leah.


    "…." Melinda.


    "…." Rina.


    Suzan shot a weird look at Rosse, while Lucy wasn''t surprised to hear Rosse''s response.


    "I usually don''t like to jump to conclusions, but… are you into girls, Rosse?" Suzan asked hesitantly.


    "What?! No! It''s just that I always tell everything to you all— Everything! But you girls always hide things from me. I think it''s unfair. Especially when you could easily inform me."


    "Rx." Suzan ced her hand on Rosse''s shoulder tofort her and softly spoke, "Lucy and I didn''t know that either. So you are not the only one who wasn''t informed of this matter."


    "I still don''t know what our ns are for today. It better be something good because I missed my chance to spend the weekend with Rudy."


    "There she goes again."


    Melinda showed them something on her phone and said, "We are going to this water park in the next city."


    "Geez! You should have told us before we left our home. None of us three have brought our swimsuits."


    "Don''t worry, we haven''t either." Melinda reassured and swiped the picture on her phone''s screen, which showed a picture of Rina at the water park.


    "The thing is, the water park is actually owned by Rina''s family," she informed.


    "My sister and her boyfriend are running it."