Feelings Incarnate | ✓

13 | Unfamiliarity

"We aren't hiding anything from you, boo." Rose came up to me and flung her arm over my shoulder. "You'll find out about it soon," she said, throwing an evil grin at Hayden, who looked entirely betrayed.

"That wasn't the deal!" he grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Do I give a shit? Nope!" Rose shrugged, sneering at him.

I chuckled at them. "Whatever, you guys, I trust you!"

●●●

After spending more time with the two kids and cracking up for the millionth time over their quarrel, I decided to head home. I had to revise through the explanations that Dr. Alastair had provided me about the lecture today.

I bid them 'goodbye' and departed, strolling out of the college gates. Just as I turned a corner, I bumped into none other than Chloe. A sobbing mess of Chloe.

"Chloe?" I stopped and stared at her.

She peered up, squinting at me through the tears streaming from her eyes. "Ki-Kiara?" Smeared mascara was dripping down her eyes, and her hair was dishevelled like she had been pulling at it.

I nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Now, she started full-on bawling. "C-Chris and I. We b-broke up," she managed to utter between sobs.

"Oh, no."

Why would they break up? They looked so happy with each other, especially Chloe.

I glanced around, noticing people gawking at us as they passed by. I blushed in embarrassment.

No, I don't want any attention.

"Chloe. Chloe!" I urged her to look up at me, "Look, let's talk this out somewhere private. Okay?"

She nodded, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

I gave her a hug to comfort her and pulled her by her hand towards 'Shaken,' an ice-cream place that just recently opened up across the college.

I made her sit down at a booth by the window and ordered two chocolate chip sundaes, while Chloe kept crying her eyes out. I handed her a tissue from my backpack.

"So tell me. What happened?" I leaned forward, clasping my hands in front of me.

She blew her nose and glanced up at me. "After my shift, Chris usually picks me up from Anderson's. But today, he was late. And he has never been this late." She closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath.

I waited for her to continue. Glimpsing the sky through the window, I noticed that a few gloomy, angry-looking clouds were starting to roll in.

"So I got anxious and packed my stuff. I left for his house, and I walked in on him . . . w-with another girl." The bawling began again.

I gasped. "He cheated on you?!"

She nodded, looking down at her hands as she gripped the tissue. "And then we fought. It was the biggest fight we had ever had. He said a lot of things. A lot of things that didn't even make any sense. He yelled at me to get lost. And . . . " She studied my expression for a minute, contemplating on whether she should say the next thing, "And, he said I should just go to Hayden."