Forelsket

The Rebuttal

A month passes quickly with every morning spends talking with each other. He will usually join her in drinking latte under the artificial Cherry Blossom and there are moments when he is badly needed in his job as a barista. But no matter what the circumstances is, the fact that they are getting closer and closer at each other is undeniable.

She is not afraid anymore into getting in a relationship with him.

He is not shy anymore into showing his affection to her.

But worries of uncertainties are slowly eating Richard's confidence. As he gets closer to Nicomaine, he is beginning to be that green monster that does nothing but be negative, suspicious, jealous, and overprotective. He doesn't want that. He isn't like that. Nicomaine might leave him thinking he might have tendencies of being too uptight especially since... he is not her boyfriend.

With a smile plasters on her face, Nicomaine wears her sweater over her top and starts walking towards the coffee shop. But before she can step at the all too familiar pebbled pathway, she abruptly stops at the figure standing at the street side. With a hesitant walk, she ignores the tall figure that seems to be waiting for someone. Must be the girl in the frilly dress before or, better yet, another new woman. Because that is the Kris she comes to know, he doesn't stick with one girl anymore.

"How's life, Nicomaine?" he suddenly utters as she was about to pass in front of him.

She stops again and looks up at him incredulously. It is an unspoken agreement between them that they should treat each other as strangers after their break up. He started it and she just follow suit. In fact, it is him who hurts her. But why, all of a sudden, he is approaching her?

"Why the sudden interest, Kris? Aren't we supposed to be... a nobody?"

He smirks. "Yeah... but I'm curious now. You're glowing. Is it because of the barista in that coffee shop?" he nudges his head towards the cozy building at the end of the pebbled pathway.

She quickly glances inside the coffee shop wherein Richard is busy dealing a lady customer. "My life has been better Kris," she says when she directs her eyes back at her ex-boyfriend. "And it became a lot better when I met Richard."

"I hope he doesn't hurt you like I did." She blinks at the hint of genuine concern in his voice.

"Don't worry. I know how to move on."

"Thank goodness."

"It's not like you're the only guy who hurts me."

"But I was the first."

"And the most painful."

"It's not like you didn't hurt me too."

"But what you did is unnecessary. Between the two of us, it was me who took the hard blow."

"My apologies."

"So do I."

"You don't mean it."

"You don't too."

"Don't be such a meanie."

She quickly glares at the playful grin spreading on his face. "This is why I think it's better to ignore each other. I don't think you have any plans to change yourself... The old Kris I knew is nowhere to be found in you."

"Because he's long gone... dead," he hisses. But he instantly smiles when he sees his girl coming out of the coffee shop with two disposable cups at each hand. "It's nice talking to you... Miss."

She rolls her eyes at Kris' indifference. "Just get a life, Kris."

"Hmm... I probably should."

Her body suddenly goes fixed when she sees Richard walking out of the coffee shop towards her, passing Kris' new girl on the process. His facial expression is dark and his steps are hard.

"Hmm.... loverboy is on a rampage. He's strong, I give him that. This will be my last time bothering you. Don't want to ruin my handsome face again." He playfully mutters. "It's nice knowing you have a better life now. Now, that lessens my worries."

She stares at Kris in wander. So after ignoring each other all these years, he still cares for her. After the fight and misunderstanding in the past, he still worries about her. That behind those harsh words is a possibility that he doesn't actually mean most of those. It's nice to know that he's not totally the contemptibly obnoxious person that he always claims.

But it was just that... It's just nice to know.

The crack they made in the past cannot be appeased with just a single conversation. It cannot be fixed especially when he has no plan of changing in the first place. They can't be all right with just subtle shows of pure concern and sincerity after the years of pain and misery. Reality doesn't revolve as easy as that. You got hurt and the word sorry isn't enough for a deed done by an act. There are actually things in the past that is best left forgotten in order to move on. There are things in the past that should stay in the past in order to live. For if she doesn't, she might become just like Kris who still lives in the past and ruins his present and, possibly, his future.

A strong hand suddenly grabs her right wrist and hauls her towards the coffee shop. She expects Richard to bring her inside the coffee shop, instead he turns towards the veranda and ushers her to sit at that familiar table for two under the artificial Cherry Blossom tree. He heaves a sigh before he settles at the chair across her.

She blinks. She waits for Richard's words before she goes bursting for her own explanation. But silence only reigns between them. Nicomaine, too self-conscious, surreptitiously glances towards the sidewalk wherein she sees no Kris nor that girl hanging on the sidewalk. It means it's just her and Richard this time.

She heaves a sigh too.

"Are you done checking him out?" Richard says in a low tone. He is referring at Kris.

"I... uh... I'm not."

His brow rises instantly at her response. He doesn't like it and she's aware of it.

"Look," she starts but then cuts off when Richard suddenly stands up and heads towards the building of the coffee shop.

She stares in wonder as her eyes follow his path. With a final decision, she follows him inside. "Richard, listen," she calls out. But the guy remains silent and goes back behind the mahogany-colored counter.

She huffs and stands in front of the counter with indignation. "It was just a mere-"

"Stop," he cuts her off. "You don't have to explain. It is not your responsibility to explain trivial things about your life to a nobody like me."

She presses her lips in a straight line after hearing that. It is evident in her eyes that she doesn't like what she just heard. "Kris is a friend turned lover," she says without letting him interrupts her. "I was head-over-heels to him before that I made his first love leave him. He eventually found out about this and he takes revenge on me by making me his girlfriend. He made sure our first year as boyfriend-girlfriend was all sunny and hearts so I will broke down in heartache for the next two years that he was with me. What you saw earlier at the sidewalk is nothing but a pure show of how we can't deal each other. We've come to conclusion that we should not bother each other anymore. And no, we cannot fix this past about us, because as you may have notice, he is not a person to easily change. I hate him and I don't like that you hate me because of the guy I hate."

His eyes soften as he listens to every word she says. When he decides to say sorry for the immature act he just showed, she shuts him up too. This time, with words.

"And you are not a nobody to me. You are my boy just as I am your girl. I thought we have come to that same thinking." Her face drops to pure disappointment. "Guess I was wrong."

Just like that, without waiting for another word from him, she leaves the coffee shop. The first day she didn't drink a latte in that coffee shop is the first time Richard gives her pain.

He denies her.

She doesn't want that.

What are they now? Just two familiar people meet in the coffee shop. That's just how they started... and how they might end as well.