I took my purse from the selling counter in front of me, ready to head home. Taking a glimpse at Kenneth, I smiled a little, admiring how cute he looked, though he seemed pretty upset.
“You’re okay?” I asked him, fixing my gaze at him.
He let out a sigh, as he leaned his elbow over the counter, then looked at me. “Y-Yeah. I think I am.”
“You think?” I quirked a brow at him.
He looked away, staring at the fez cap which lay on the counter. Being observant, I felt like he had been avoiding me all day. First, for some reason, he wasn’t looking me in the eye. Second, he wasn’t beaming as usual, and was only uttering little words, as if he was paying for every word he mentioned.
“You’ve been acting weird,” I marked out.
He laughed weirdly. “Weird? What do you mean?”
I stepped close to him. “Kenneth, you’ve been avoiding me. Did I do something wrong? I mean, it’s so… unexpected and awkward.”
He glanced at me, then began arranging the papers on the counter. “I’m surprised to hear you say that. Well, I’ve been busy all day. Guess that’s the reason we haven’t had a smooth conversation.”
“I won’t buy that,” I said. I waved my hand at him, my eyebrows raised at me. “Seriously, this isn’t fine. I noticed it yesterday as well, but I decided to, you know, ignore it. I’d thought you were in a bad mood or something.”
Finally, he looked at me. He sighed. “Serene, I’m fine. Trust me. I’ve been so busy lately. Isn’t that pretty obvious?”
I gave him a warm smile. “You can always share your problems with me, you know? I know something’s up with you.”.
He was silent. He put his eyes down, and sighed for a second time. For some reason, he seemed really hesitant and nervous. I knew he wasn’t fine.
Looking up at me, he wore a neutral expression. “I-I think I wanna tell you something. Can you spare some time for me?”
“Sure, sure.” I nodded, totally interested in hearing what he had to say. “Since we’re done working, I don’t mind spending time with you.”
His hands rolled in a fist, and he swallowed. The way he stared at me made me wonder what was going on in his mind. Had something happened to him? Or wait, had he gotten fired or something?
For a third time, he sighed, and began, “I didn’t think I’d say this to you. You see, for a while, I’ve been—”
“Ahem!” And then, Marsha appeared. She hit her palm against the counter, that usual dirty look etching on her facial expression. “I see that the love birds are up to something again. But, too bad for them, their plans will have to be cancelled.”
I rolled my eyes. “What now? You shouldn’t always be this disturbing.”
She scoffed, and just turned to Kenneth. “Hey. Get ready now. We have to go somewhere, remember?”
“Leave first. I’ll catch up with you later. I’m busy now,” he told her.
“Don’t start this again.” Abruptly, her eyebrows creased in a deep glare. “Please, let’s leave in peace. I’m not ready for this. Besides, this isn’t the usual—”
“I said I’m not going with you!” He retorted. He was glaring too.
“Is this because of her?” She snapped.
Kenneth grunted a little, glaring even harder. “I said I’m busy. Do you always have to be this annoying?”
Unexpectedly, tears formed in her eyes. She scoffed again. “It’s fine if you think I’m annoying. But, it’s not right to break your promise. This isn’t fair. Yeah, you’re upset with me. But, am I not a human? Is anyone above making mistakes? Huh?”
“Please, just leave.” He took his backpack from the stool behind him, slung it over his shoulder, then turned to me.
Marsha sniffled. I didn’t know why, but I felt bad for her this time around. She seemed really hurt. “This isn’t right! I’m only—”
“Enough of this! You can—”
“Kenneth,” I cut him off. I soothed his arm, shaking my head at him. “Just go with her. You shouldn’t break your promise. It’s not right.”
He exhaled hard, then turned to her. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Saying that, he turned to the other side of the counter, then stormed out of the store. Marsha wiped off her tears, and just left too. She didn’t even take a chance to look at me, or tease me. She must have been so hurt.
I let out a shaky breath, then headed out of the store as well. As soon as I stepped out, I glanced at my wristwatch. Ryan ought to be here already. But, for some reason, he wasn’t.
Looking up at the dark, cloudy sky, a small smile formed on my lips. Finally, I had made a decision. With the help of mom and Vicki, last night, I was able to accept my feelings, and get ready to begin a relationship with Ryan. Since he would drive me home, I would have the chance to tell him that I was ready to love him back.
“Hey.”
Hearing that masculine voice, my heart skipped a beat. He was here. Okay, it would be fine. All I needed to do was to tell him that I liked him as well.
With a small smile hanging on my lips, I turned to him. Suddenly, my smile vanished. The “him” was a different “him”.
I gulped. “R-Ralph? What’re you doing here?”
As his hands were in the pocket of his chino pants, he sauntered to me. There was a smile on his lips, which was quite surprising. After we had broken up, he hardly ever smiled, whenever I saw him.
He glimpsed at the sky, inhaled, and set his eyes on me. “Quite obvious that it’ll rain soon. Wanna go on a walk with me?”
“No?” My reply was more like a question. I scrunched my face, giving him that who-the-heck-do-you-think-you-are look. “What makes you think I’ll go with you?”
“Serene, you’re still angry at me?” He kept smiling. Smiling like an innocent pig. Wait, what was with his niceness? Did he want me to fall for him or something? He had better know that my future boyfriend was on his way here.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m no longer angry at you. I just can’t go with you.”
He shrugged. “Okay. But, you mind if we talk or something? I-I really wanna speak with you.”
“Ralph, I’m not—”
“It’s nothing about our relationship. Trust me,” he said.
I stared at him for a while, then sighed in surrender. “Fine. Only if you keep up with that. Anyway, what do you wanna talk about?”
“Um…” He twitched his lips sideways, his left eyebrow cocked at me. “Well, you see, I’d like to tell you about my new workplace.”
“Twinkle Stars?”
“Uh-huh.” He nodded.
“So… what’s with it?”
“First, there’s—”
“Hey, baby.”
For a second, my heart skipped a beat. I gasped, my eyes jutting out of their sockets. Wait, what? Baby?
I turned around to look at him, but his arms snaked around my waist from behind. He leaned his head over my shoulder, and worst of all, he pecked me on the cheek. Oh. My. Goodness. How audacious he was!
I gulped, and laughed awkwardly. “R-Ryan? What’re you doing?”
“Sh…” He whispered in my ear. “Henceforth, you’re my baby. These guys need to get their damn asses off you. I’m done with this jealousy.”
I just blinked like an idiot. Wait, what?
—