I felt a bit disturbed, knowing that something was going on with Kenneth, Mrs. Stanley, and Marsha. Earlier, Mrs. Stanley had called them into her office, crying at them for something I didn’t know. It seemed like she was complaining about some spoiled groceries. They had all seemed tense.
I took my time to arrange the freshly bought tomatoes into the stalls, then moved on to cleaning the selling counters. In a few hours, I would be done working for the day. Finally, I’d be able to rest.
As I wiped off the dirt on the counters, a clear memory of how Ryan had kissed me, was crawling to my head. Being frank, if I hadn’t pulled away from our kiss that night, we would have ended up getting so crazy in our desire. Wasn’t that cute? Yep, it made me blush.
Soon, a customer walked to the counter. Once I was done packaging her purchases, I handed them over to her, then resumed cleaning the counters.
“This is nothing but your fault!” Hearing the loud slam of a door, I snapped my neck in the direction of the sound. Kenneth was the person who had yelled.
“But, what did I do now? You’re gonna keep blaming me for everything?” Marsha protested as she walked behind him.
Quite worried, I hurried over to them. They stopped walking, facing each other. Kenneth was glaring down at Marsha, as she seemed so worried and sorry.
He scoffed. “Earlier, I asked you to transfer the goods to the other rooms. But no, you refused. All you were talking about was how we can fix the differences between us. See what your craziness has caused! Now, the store will be at a loss.”
“But…” Marsha sniffled. A tear left her eye, those blue eyes darkening. “You could’ve done it instead. It slipped my mind, okay?”
“Oh!” He threw his arms up, glaring even more. “So, I get to do everything around here. I take out the deliveries, and now, you expect me to monitor the goods?”
She gulped, wiping off her tears. “Alright. I’ll take the blame. But, do you really think it was nice of you to have embarrassed me that much, in front of Mrs. Stanley? Do you wanna get me fired?”
“I wish I could.” He shrugged, keeping his hands on his waist. “At least, if you leave, I’ll be at peace once again. I’d be able to focus on my life, focus on the things I wanna do, and not feel pity for you all the time.”
She looked up, blinking away her tears, probably not wanting to cry further. Letting out a scoff, she turned to him. “Kenneth,” she called. Her tone was husky, having so much confidence in its sound. “Until now, I didn’t know it was wrong to love you. I didn’t know it’s a sin to like you. I didn’t know it’s a sin to ask for forgiveness!”
“Yeah! It’s a sin! So, just leave!” He cried.
Again, she scoffed. “Yeah. I will. But, tell me, what’ve I done wrong? Am I not a human? Huh?”
“See, you—”
“Kenneth, stop it.” I was forced to interfere. I frowned a little. “You don’t always have to be this mean. Do you not feel sorry? I mean, you’re always nice to me, but you treat her like she isn’t a human? It’s crazy.”
He looked away. “Please, don’t interfere. You know nothing about us.”
“Then tell her about us.” Marsha retorted. Though she had obviously not wanted to cry, a tear eventually trickled down her cheek. “Tell her everything. Let her be the judge. Let her hear you out, then she’d decide if I should be treated this way.”
He turned to her, shooting scowls at her. “No. There’d be no need for that. All I want is for you to leave my life. I’m sick of you.”
“Do you realize that I pay so much respect to you?” She rubbed off her tears, that stern look on her face. “Do you realize that no one can love you as much as I do? Although you think I’m worthless, I really never stop caring about you.”
“But you know I don’t like you,” he defended himself.
“And, why’s that? What’ve—”
“I’ll end this discussion right now,” he announced. Not saying any other thing, he took his backpack from the counter, and just walked out of the store.
I turned to Marsha. She had a blank expression on her face. But, all of a sudden, she threw her face in her palm, and burst out crying. I felt bad for her. Particularly, I felt bad because I knew how it felt to be heartbroken.
Wait, maybe I could speak with Kenneth. He always listened to me.
Like a soldier who was dauntless enough to encounter a terrifying war, I spun around, running out of the store, so I’d be able to catch up with him. Stepping out, I scrolled my eyes around, searching for him. In only a short while, my eyes caught him standing a few feets away from the store.
“Kenneth!” I called, running towards him.
He glimpsed at me, and looked away. “What do you want? You’re here to support her again?”
I sighed. “Honestly, this is wrong. Even if you don’t like her anymore, that doesn’t mean you should be rude to her. It’s crazy and upsetting. You’re really hurting her. She always looks tired and depressed. Don’t you ever see that?”
He exhaled hard, and set his eyes on me. “For goodness’ sake, y’all should leave me alone.”
“But, it’s wrong. Apologize to her or something! I really know how it feels to be so heartbroken!” I snarled. I was getting furious.
He ran his palm through his face, sighed again. “Fine. You know what? I like someone else. I already told her about it. In fact, she knows the person. Yet, she’s not willing to back off. She keeps pondering on setting things straight between us. Do you see how annoying that is?”
“Are you making this up now?” I squinted my eyes at him, my hands on my waist.
His jaw clenched. “It’s true. I like someone else.”
“But, how can you—”
“Don’t ‘but’ this!” He cut me off. For some reason, he was frowning so much. He took a step close, stood so close to me. I felt scared. What was going on? “Serene, do you see nothing? You haven’t ever noticed it? You haven’t seen any love in my eyes? Are you intentionally ignoring it? Do you wanna keep hurting me?”
I gulped. No, no. This had better not be what I was sensing. What did he mean? What was he saying?
“K-Kenneth?” I stuttered.
“Your obliviousness will change nothing.” Those green eyes darkened, some strange emotions running in them. He seemed flustered. “Stop it now. Enough is enough.”
“Kenneth,” I called in a whisper.
He shut his eyes, sighed, seeming hesitant. After a little silence, he stated, “Yes, I’m in love with you. Get it now?”
My heart stopped for a while. This had better be a nightmare.
—