Loving You

2020

♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡

I'm running to catch the bus to get to work. It'll arrive in about two minutes, and I'm only a minute away from the stop. I know I'll make it, but I want to run so that my body forgets the undying winter cold of March that's freezing me. As I finally reach the bus stop in exhaustion, my phone rings. It reads, My Love 💘. It's my boyfriend. The bus arrives, and I get on while answering the call.

"Hi," he says coldly, probably not forgetting our argument last night.

"Are you still mad, Liam? I can't afford to leave my job because of you're possessiveness," I state firmly.

"I don't care. I just wanted to say that I'm going to a friend's party tonight, and I won't be contacting you," he says in a monotone.

I don't mind him going out, but I want to know that he's at least safe. So I ask, "Who's the friend?"

"It's my ex," he says as if he didn't care about how his words stabbed me.

In pain and confusion, I question him, "Are you serious? I thought you said you blocked her after the drunken ruckus she caused last time."

He replies, "I did, but now I unblocked her. Do you have a problem with that, Olivia?"

"It's your choice, Liam. I don't want to face her after our encounter last time," I say in disappointment.

I could sense his smirk while saying, "Oh. You don't need to worry about any of that because you're not invited."

With a broken heart and voice, the thought of sharing a public space is no longer in my mind, and I yell into the phone, "Stop behaving like a sadist!"

As I notice the eyes around me turn my way, I quiet down and continue, "I have a manager at work who is flirting around with me, which you heard when we were on a call the last time. Yes, that would've made you jealous and eventually mad, but that doesn't give you a reason to tell me to stop working. I tried to explain this last night, but you wouldn't even bother to listen. We've been together for eight months now, and I feel like I'm the only one trying so hard to hold on, Liam. Every time we argue, your only solution is to take revenge on me, and that's not going to take us anywhere. I don't want to ruin my mood before I get to work, so bye and please do enjoy the party with your ex."

Hanging up the call without hearing his response does hit me with regrets, but I can't deal with this anymore. I can't always do whatever he asks.

While convincing myself to get over the pain, I get a text from Liam, and it reads: I'm sorry. I won't go to the party tonight, but can we please meet up?

Reading it melts my anger, and I respond with: Sure. Pick me up from my workplace around 5 PM.

I smile as I feel that the problem has been half-resolved. Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn to see Rhett, my co-worker. Sitting there with his newly dyed blonde hair, I didn't even notice it was him beside me. Before I smile and greet him, he asks me, "Is everything okay? You seemed stressed earlier. Boyfriend problems, huh?"

I don't even want to face him after knowing that he's heard my entire damn conversation, or rather fight, with my boyfriend. However, I still respond, "Yeah. Just -- you know."

"I get it," he claims as if he is some love guru. "Don't worry. You both will get over it in no time."

Although I am not too fond of hearing advice from others, his tone of voice and words comfort me. With a satisfied smile, I respond, "Thank you."

I noticed him looking at my smile, and I swear I thought his eyes sparkled for a moment. Before I could look in closely, his eyes locked with mine, making me look away in fear that he had caught me. He still went on to say, "You have a beautiful smile, but, sadly, we rarely get to see it."

Letting out a laugh, I say, "Thanks, but your hair looks much better than my smile."

To engage in a more natural conversation, I ask him, "So when did you get it done?"

He responds, "Just yesterday. I'm glad at least someone noticed it."

I once again thought that his eyes sparkled, but maybe it was just the reflection of the light shining through the bus window.

I continue to respond, "Notice? I didn't even know it was you until you tapped my shoulder," I laugh.

He too laughs and then says, "I'm happy that I am the reason behind someone's smile today."

We smile at each other before diving into our electronic worlds through our phones. I think to myself in the meantime that this was probably the longest I have spoken with Rhett since we started working together at the Mother's Touch restaurant four months ago. We rarely shared shifts, but we would greet each other with a smile whenever we crossed paths. I scoff that I never even bothered to speak with Rhett because of Liam. It's funny that relationships don't just blind us from seeing the mistakes of the one we love but also blind us from seeing potential friends.

As I thought about how I just referred to Rhett as a potential friend, he approached me, "Could I add you on Insta?"

"Of course," I smiled as I typed my account name into his phone and added myself.

We began speaking about our shifts and realized that today would be our first shift together. We both were excited since Rhett didn't have to be bored, and I could finally have a friend. The thought of becoming friends brought a smile on my face that even surprised me, which remained as we got off at our stop and continued walking to work.

♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡