Finding me

Chapter 28 - Maybe with a bit of shoe polish?

"Friends?" He asked.

"Yeah... I don't know. Besides he and his ex-girlfriend always end up back up together. I don't want to become a pion in their game."

"Moving on so fast." He chuckled.

"I do like him." I confessed.

"Don't be sorry Rose. Yes, it hurts to hear that, but in the end, I only want that you are happy."

I stared at him, "why are you so understanding about this?" I asked.

He became nervous and rubbed his jaw while he looked everywhere except at me. "Hugo? I'm being honest here. If you want to be friends, I want that you are completely honest with me too."

We were interrupted when a waiter came with our food. "Let me know if there is something else you need."

"We will, thank you." I told her. I started eating and waited for Hugo to talk. I saw that he was struggling and when he finally began, I hadn't expected hearing this.

"Do you remember the New Year's party at my work?"

I nodded "yeah, I was sick. So, you went alone."

"It was a nice evening till my boss introduced me to a new colleague. She graduated in June, and he asked me if I could take her under my wing. I accepted and that night we talked a bit, to get to know each other better."

"Don't tell me that..." he shook his head.

"No, but I worked closely with her. I liked her, a lot. We met often for lunch too, we understood each other so easily. It was effortless because we have the same interests. In April she kissed me. She completely took me by surprise, as soon as I processed what was happening, I pushed her away. I was mad at her; she knew that I was in a relationship with you. I never gave her the impression that I wanted more from her. I took my distance from her after that. But I missed her, and I understood that I liked that kiss way too much. That's why I accepted that job in New York so easily."

"You ran away, scared for cheating on me?"

He nodded "yes. I thought that without her close by the feelings would go away. And you with me coming to New York, it would be perfect. I would forget about her."

"Why didn't you tell me about that kiss?"

"Then it would have been real. I also knew that if I told you that I needed to be completely honest about my feelings for her. I was so confused about them."

"I understand and maybe it was better this way. How are your feelings now?" I asked him.

"Being away for a while helped me with that. Especially after we broke up."

"Are you here for work or for her?" I asked him.

"Both." He smiled at me.

"And?"

"She was mad." He chuckled. "But we went on a date Friday."

"I want to meet her someday."

"Yeah, I would love that."

"So, are you going to travel back and forth then?"

"No, she asked if she could transfer to New York too."

"Isn't that a bit fast? You just started dating."

"We are going to take it slow, but Emily is originally from New York. Her family lives there."

"Do you have a picture?"

He nodded and pulled his phone out and showed me a picture of them both. She looked a bit like me, but with black hair, beautiful olive skin and a black rimmed black glasses. "She is beautiful Hugo."