"He's engaged and he wants to go out with you, his relationship is obviously not working out. So, why not?"
"What do you mean?"
Maya was never good with words.
"What I mean is, there's a reason he's 'cheating', right?"
"He said that the love faded."
"There you go! His love faded - he wants something new and he freakin' came for you, he remembered you after you were drunk at a party, isn't that enough reasons to give him a try?" she asked, making me sigh.
"I'm not sure - just give me some time to focus on my work, we're having this big wedding in a month and I'm planning it." I rolled my eyes, resting my head on a pillow.
"Why can't I sleep 24/7 and still make money?" I asked as I blinked. "Life is so unfair." I commented.
Walking towards the door, Maya smiled at me.
"Life is fair, because it's unfair to everyone."
***
"Edward told me you haven't been answering his calls or texts, is everything alright?" Toby asked as he sipped his Americano, his eyes staring into my soul as if I've committed a crime.
Well, technically the crime is not answering both Edward's texts and calls. Stirring the whipping cream of my drink, I bit my bottom lip.
"Been busy." I said, looking at him as I finally found an excuse.
"Well, that's some bullshit."
"Language." I warned. "Plus. that's not bullshit, I am busy."
"Answering his calls takes a second."
"And talking to him takes how many minutes?" I asked, wriggling my eyebrows as a sigh left his lips.
"It's because he's engaged, right?"
"Well, of course its because he's engaged! His fiancee is probably still dreaming about him, as we might know!" I said, waving my hands around. "Plus, he's not my type."
"That's some more bullshit."
"Indeed, that he's hot but, I don't know. It's too early."
"Seven months since you broke up with Jonas - too early, you say?" he asked.
"But you know, moving on takes time, it's alright but you don't have to push Edward out. He might be the one. Who knows, right?" Toby said, taking a sip from the mug.
Pouting, I looked at my phone and read all the texts Edward gave, and checked on all the calls Edward made. It's been two weeks since I last saw him and well, he has been sending me Good Morning and Good Night. Will he actually give up, though? Sighing, I looked at Toby.
"Alright, alright." I said.
"I'll try giving him another chance - just because I feel bad." I said as smile appeared on his lips.
"Great then." he said as his hands went towards his phone, probably texting Edward. "I have to go, Edward will be here in five minutes. Just stay here, alright?" he said as he got up.
"Wait, what?"
"Got to go, bye! Wait for him, alright?" he said as he left me there, dumbfounded.
"He's kidding, right?" I asked my self as I was about to get up.
I'm on my way - Mr. Strawberry Shortcake.
"This is so unrealistic." I spat. "This isn't a fan fiction or some shit!" I said to myself, earning questioning looks from the people around me. Silently drinking my drink, I waited for Edward for about 3 minutes before he arrived in front of me.
"Sorry if I kept you waiting." he said as he sat down in front of me. I could smell his cologne all the way from my seat as he was just wearing a sweatshirt with a pair of black skinny jeans, with some black vans. He looked effortlessly perfect.
"I was just back from the market, bought some oranges for my dad and kind of rushed to get here." he chuckled.
I bit my bottom lips, "Well, you didn't need to come."
"Oh, no." he stopped. "I wanted to."
I gave him a small smile before he looked out the store - "Hey, are you interested in food festivals?" he asked.
"Heard of them but never really been to one." I replied.
"There's this food festivals that was happening, near the Eve's Park. Are you interested in going?" he asked.
"Well, if you insist."
"Came here with your car?"
"Not really - Toby picked me up."
"Great." he said as he got up. "Let's go." he continued as he held my hand, pulling me outside. I held onto the sleeves of his sweatshirt just as he pulled hoodie up.
"You aren't wearing your engagement ring?" I asked as I noticed he wasn't wearing any rings.
"Yeah, kinda hated wearing it." he said as he pulled me closer, just before entering his car. "This might be a stupid question but since we're heading to a food festivals - what's your favorite food?" he asked.
"I don't really have a favorite food.., but I do like sushi." I admitted. "What's yours?"
"I'll eat anything that my mum used to cook."
The word used to bothered me as I looked at him. "This might be a little sensitive-,"
"Well, my mum died due to lung cancer." he said. "I'm sorry for your loss." I said as he smiled,
"Yeah, thanks but you know, people don't live forever - that's life." he said, his eyes still on the road.
"So it's just me and my dad now." he continued as he bit his bottom lips. "What about you?" he asked.
"What about me?" I asked back.
"Your family - tell me about them." he said, licking his lips.
"Well, I have my dad, my mum and an older brother." I said. "That's it?"
"Well. my family is dysfunctional and I rather not speak about it right now." I said, not wanting to speak about the sensitive issue. I wasn't trying to be petty but my family is consist of broken people, dysfunctional people. I'd rather not speak about them - plus, it's been awhile since I've spoke about them. "I'm sorry." Edward blurted.
"If you ever need someone to talk about it to, I'm here." he said as i made a small smile.
"Thanks."
"Thanks? For what?"
"For actually caring - at least that's what it seems."
"I do care." he said as one of his hands was placed on top of mine as he slowly caressed my knuckles. I watched as he entangled his hands with mine and I wasn't even trying to stop him. "We're here." he said as he pulled his away.
I stepped out of the car and looked at festival in front of me. They had tons of party tents up and sold a few local and international food there. Some were the cliche types of food while some are the type of food that aren't known.
"Chloe." Edward called my name. "They had freaking cockroaches on sticks!" he said, panicking.
"How do people eat that!" he asked, making me laugh. "They had snack bars out of locus." I said, making Edward groan.
"I'm hungry, can we get a decent food, though?" he asked as he took some of my chocolate flavored popcorn. "This isn't even good." he frowned. "I like it." I smiled, eating some more. "You have anywhere else we can dine?" I asked, as I finished the popcorn.
"I know this cafe, they have some western food." he said as we walked towards his car.
"That will do."
"You'll eat anything, huh?" he asked.
"Well, I do love to eat." I smiled.
"Yet you don't have a favorite food."
"It's because I'll eat anything!"
"Even the cockroach on the stick?!"
"If I'm hungry and there's nothing to eat, well, maybe."
"Oh my god!" he moaned. "Chloe will eat an cockroach."
"Shut up, Mr. Strawberry Shortcake."
***
"Why is this work so stressful?" I hissed as Amy laughed. A sigh left her lips, "This client wants black and white roses only." she said as I shook my head. "What if we don't have enough black roses?" she asked.
"We'll pain the white ones black." I suggested as she rolled her eyes.
"Punchline?" she asked as I made an attempt to show her my middle finger.
"Chloe, there's someone here to meet you. He's in your office." Jane said as I walked towards my office.
Walking in, I noticed a familiar figure sitting on the couch. "Nice office you have here. When you told me you worked here, I didn't thought you'll be the designer for events." he said, looking at me. Edward smiled before I made my way towards my seat.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you that." I said, sitting down. "What brings you here? Want me to design something for you fiancee?" I asked, making him scoff. "Not really." he said, looking at his watch.
"It's my lunch break, which means it's also your lunch break. Lets's go get lunch." he said as he got up.
"It's not my lunch break yet." I said. "Well it is - but I'm not getting any lunch after I finish my work." I continued as I left my office, him following me. "What's the matter?" he asked as I stopped in front of Amy. She coo-ed as she saw Edward.
"Hello there." Edward smiled as Amy waved at him, making me roll my eyes.
"The matter is that this client wants a black and white theme, black and white roses only but I don't think we have enough black roses." I said as I crossed my arms. "So, the design I made turned out to be messed up." I continued, Edward looking at me.
"I don't have any inspiration for a new design, you have any ideas?" I asked as he tapped his chin.
"I'm not a designer." he said, "But I have this thing for you, but in one condition." he looked at me.
"What is the condition?"
"Lunch, with me. Like, right now." he said as he pulled my hand, as my other hand went and grab my bag.
"Have fun, lovebirds!" Amy yelled, following with a small laugh.
Entering his car, I looked at him. "Have I mentioned that your cream dress looks good on you?" he asked as I looked at him. "Thanks." I said, looking in front.
"Have I also mentioned on how you would always wear long sleeved shirts?" he asked as I looked down to my phone.
"You noticed?"
"Yeah, I noticed."
Pulling up my sleeve, I showed him a small dream catcher tattoo I had on my wrist, also with the faded scars I had.
"I used to ... you know. So I went to a tattoo artist and requested for a dream catcher tattoo to cover up the scars. My boss noticed it and told me to hid my tattoo during work and I kinda used to wearing long sleeved items." I told, as he ran his fingers on my wrist, slowly gulping as he held my hand, again.
"I think it's beautiful." he said, as he started to drive.
"The tattoo? I'll thank you on behalf of the tattoo artist."
"Not just the tattoo." he said. "Your scars, your flaws. Your everything. You're beautiful." he continued, his thumb slowly caressed my knuckles as I bit my bottom lip.
I haven't heard that in a long, long time. Being called pretty is a thing but being called beautiful - I haven't heard that in a long time, alongside with words that could actually make me believe that I'm not that awful, after all.
.
.
.
- self harm is not just by cutting your beautiful body -
; self harm is so much more ; beautiful.
.
.
If you wondering what Chloe's tattoo looks like ,