Define: BITTERSWEET (Define #1) ✓

Bittersweet: Eight

"We're happy, free, confused, and lonely
At the same time."
- "22 (Taylor's Version)," Taylor Swift

~*~

"THAT's where I go to after work," I said to Charles, pointing at the café. We're already inside the car, driving back to the apartment.

"It looks like a cozy café," he remarked while looking out at his window. "Let's get coffee there sometime. I want to know if their coffee is as good as mine."

I chuckled, "Their coffee is better than yours."

"Ouch," he stated painfully, looking visibly and playfully hurt. "You said that nonchalantly."

"Take that as a way to improve yourself," I retorted back. "Your coffee is good too, though."

"But not as good as the café," he sulked before sighing. "Fine, I'll take that as a challenge to improve my coffee-making skill so the taste of it will haunt you even in your dreams."

I let out a small laugh as I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Silence enveloped the both of us as we continued to venture home. I glanced at him looking at the people passing by quietly. I shifted my focus back to the road but my mind started wandering off somewhere else.

Haunt me in my dreams? He had always been haunting me for the past years. It only stopped because I had stopped thinking about him too much. Now that he's back, I knew that would happen again, no matter how hard I could try not letting that again. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop myself to want him back despite being cautious about not falling for him again. He's making it hard. It would always get harder everyday.

Sometimes I just wanted him to disappear altogether.

"Iris?" I heard Charles ask from beside me. I looked at him, he had this worried expression on his face.

"What?" I asked back.

"Are you okay?" he questioned again, not taking his eyes off of me.

"I'm fine," I answered and went back to face the road. To my surprise, the path looked less and less familiar as I continued to drive. I decided to stop driving for a bit and looked out of the window.

"Yeah," Charles began. "That's why I asked. We've already passed by your apartment."

~*~

"How is he?" Theo asked as we got into a call the same day. I was sitting on the sofa, Charles was inside the bedroom taking an afternoon nap. He deserved it anyway. He offered to clean the bathroom.

"He's doing well," I answered. Well, he's really doing well. Except for the part where I saw his scrunched up look when he saw who was calling him up that same day. I was still wondering who it was, but it's none of my business anymore.

"Good," Theo stated while sighing. "He's not misbehaving right? Or giving you a headache?"

"He's giving a bit of headache," I chuckled. "Charles dislikes me being too focused at work so he does everything he can to distract me from it."

Theo laughed heartily, "Typical Charles. He always does that. Too bad nobody can distract him from his own work."

"Is he working at the same workplace he used to?" I asked him. I remembered Charles mentioning that he worked at a firm as clerk. Due to the time we've spent apart and him not mentioning anything at all about his current personal life, I'm clueless to what he's actually doing.

"No," Theo answered. "He transferred to a new job. He didn't mention?"

"No," I said as I looked at the bedroom door. "He never mentions anything about himself."