|| Wyatt ||
Coral seemed like the ground had disappeared beneath her feet, and my first instinct was to ask her what happened. But I stopped myself, remembering that I was in the middle of confronting her about our break-up.
For two and a half years, I had wondered what had happened all of a sudden to make her take such a drastic step.
To be honest, at first, I thought it was a joke. A prank to get my attention. Maybe she was mad that I didn't pick up her call that day after she told me she was going to see her mom, or more like my assistant didn't pick it up because I had back-to-back meetings that day.
I had only seen her text after I got home late and replied "what do you mean?" before asleep due to my exhaustion while waiting for her to text me back, still thinking it was nothing serious. But when the next day rolled in and she still hadn't replied, I started to worry, so I immediately called her. But her cell phone was unreachable.
Then it started to sink, the weight of the three words written on my phone screen. That Coral was done with me. Our relationship was over. Years worth of love and togetherness was broken. By her.
More than my heart crumbling into pieces, the voices in my head that asked "why?" drove me crazier.
Maybe I was victimizing myself, but I deserved to know the reason behind that. What had I done to have been thrown away with so little effort?
I could guess some of the reasons. I had been a little rude to her during our last phone call, only because I was stressed out. I also knew that lately I hadn't been able to give her time and she was starting to feel neglected. But... I had no choice.
It wasn't like my heart didn't want to abandon work and just gossip with her, watch her smile and hear her laugh. I wanted to be with her as much as she did. I really did.
In spite of that, I also wanted to work hard for both of us. That desire was much more important than giving into my desires. After all, I wanted to establish my business and make fame and money for it so that I could give her a comfortable life so that I could finally ask her to marry me.
I wanted to fix everything between us by asking her to marry me after her ongoing semester was over. In that way, she would live with me after she finished her studies. No matter how busy I'd get, at the end of the day, I'd come home to only her— that fantasy felt nice to dream about, and kept me working hard each day.
But all of those dreams were shattered. Without any explanation. Just over a text.
Even if I knew my faults, she didn't say anything to me. She didn't discuss anything with me. Didn't give me the chance to explain for whatever reason she broke up. Didn't let me say that I was sorry, that I would do better, that I would do anything in exchange for her to stay in my life, that I loved her so damn much.
Even now, after all this time, I still love her. And I don't think I could ever stop loving her. She was my first love and she would be my last.
But I was still angry for being left without as much as a single word of explanation. Didn't I mean enough to her to deserve to get her explanation? Was I really such a shitty boyfriend? If I was, she should have said so. I deserved to have my flaws thrown back at my face.
Whether it was out of anger, pride, hurt, or indignation I don't know, but I had also stopped contacting her further.
But there was only so long I could stay away from her. That's why after a month of receiving that text, I tried calling her again, and again was met with her number being unreachable. I assumed that she probably blocked my number. So I headed straight to her dorm to meet her, but I learned that she had dropped out of the university. I couldn't believe it.
I called my cousin Theo to ask if he knew anything, but even he didn't know anything. Or so he said.
I had my assistant try to dig out information about Coral. But it was like she had dropped out of the map. With no information or whereabouts.
She had said she was going to our hometown during our last phone call, so I sent my assistant to ask around, but it turned out the house she used to live in was sold and a new family was living there.
I was completely devastated.
That was when the real post-break-up pain started to hit me. And God, it hurt nearly as much even when my mom and dad divorced. And it hurt more to know that such an important thing was conveyed to me via a mere text.
At the same time, I was a grown man. I could understand and give her what she wanted. If she thought she would be happy without me, then, of course, I could give her that. After all, that's all I ever wanted for her.
Therefore, I shut myself off from everything, dedicated myself to my work, hoping it would dull down the ache in my chest.
Rather, the opposite happened. Every day the pain would increase. I missed her more. I wanted her more. My yearning became excruciating. Yet, I kept a straight face and buried everything deep down.
And when I saw her again, after two and a half years, I almost cried. I wanted to run to her and hug her tightly, kiss her senseless for all the missed times, and never let go.
But I had to remind myself that I had no right to do so, that she wouldn't want that, that she didn't love me anymore. So a petty, prideful side of me decided to play it like Wyatt Reeves, who couldn't even sleep at night without pills, had been happy all this time.
After I finished talking to her, however hard that was, I knew two things for sure. First, I would bring her happiness back because regardless of her trying to be all-chirpy, I clearly saw the facade. And secondly, I wanted us to be together again, no matter the cost.
But before that, I needed answers. I needed to know why she broke up with me and why she didn't think it was necessary to let me know of the reasons.
"I left you an explanation..." Coral spoke up quietly.
"What?" I asked.
"A big one. I gave you a big explanation text. Really. I swear!" she insisted, all of a sudden stubborn to get her point across.
"What do you mean? I didn't get any such text."
"The text didn't reach you. My phone died right after I sent that text. It was raining and all, so I think the rainwater had gotten in and it died before— that doesn't matter though. I really, really didn't know that the text wasn't sent to you! You know I would never leave you without an explanation!" she insisted desperately.
Well, what she was saying was hard to believe, to be frank. But Coral wouldn't lie. I trusted her that much at least.
Then that would mean... this was all a misunderstanding on my part?
But it's also her fault for not double-checking if I got the text and she should have waited for my response before cutting off contact completely. If she did that, then we wouldn't be here right now, at least not like this.
"I don't believe a word you say." I turned away from her.
Maybe I was being petty again. Maybe it was revenge for suffering in vain for the last couple of years. Maybe I was a horrible person for doing this. But...
"Wyatt, believe me!" Coral whined, grabbing my arm from the back. "I would never leave you without an explanation." She started to shake me, insisting that I believe her.
But I wouldn't trade this for life.
It was fun to tease her, to have her worked up. Like when she had repeated sorry after cleaning up my room and I pretended to be angry because I didn't like my room so organized, when she got into an accident with her drunk friends and I was actually mad but soon melted, and so many more times. She just couldn't stand it when people she cared about were mad at her.
That being said, I wanted to be with the fun-loving temperamental Coral. The one who would crack jokes at off time. The one who would burst out laughing at serious moments. The one who liked adventure. The one who would bicker with me at every given chance. The one who had unpredictable mood swings. The one who would always smile brightly. The one who would claim me as hers.
"We are going to be late for our dance lessons. Let's go," I said, keeping a straight face, and started walking with her still clinging to my arm.
"I swear on you! Or, we can go to the church if you want! I'll swear in front of God—"
"No, Coral. Let's just go to the studio."
"We will, but you have to listen to me first! I won't let you go until you believe me—"
"Then you're free to hold on to me, I don't mind." She didn't budge as I tried to take steps forward normally, so I put more strength, dragging her forward with me.
But she was stubborn. "No! I can't let you have this misunderstanding any longer—"
"Why not?"
"Because then you'd remain mad at me!"
"So what if I remained mad at you?"
"I can't stand it."
"And why is that?"
"Because—" she paused, not knowing how to continue. Her clueless face was adorable as she tried to think hard enough.
"You only get affected when people you care about are mad at you. Then what's this? Do you care about your ex-boyfriend?" I teased, though the word 'ex' was bitter in my mouth.
"I— I don't." She let go of my arm and kept her eyes on the ground. "I really don't. It's just that I would feel weird if you showed your resentment towards me during these two weeks."
"Alright then, I won't. I'll cover it up well. I'll treat you like anyone else." I was having a hard time controlling my smile as she looked up at me with round puppy eyes.
Then all of a sudden, her nose flared. She gave me a light shove and started stomping ahead. "Good for me then! Bottle up your emotions until it explodes like a volcano! Now come along!" she ordered furiously.
I let my lips curve up this time, satisfied with her reaction.
Yes, this unpredictable girl was the one I had fallen in love with.
Whatever that would happen throughout our journey, whatever fate had in store for us, I won't give up on her again.
★★★