“Here’s a tear from me to you and maybe it will make you hear me… I loved you… You didn’t feel the same… Though, we’re apart, you’re in my heart… give me one more chance to make it real…”
I couldn’t help raising an eyebrow as I watched Jack sing as she helped our staff clean and set the tables that morning. She seemed excited that it made me confused, but since our shop will open in a few minutes, I continued placing the cakes and pastries in the display rack and let her do what she was doing.
“What is going on with her?” I heard one of our staff, Betty asked and I just smiled at her and shook my head at the same time.
I wanted to ask Jack myself but I was so busy so I continued what I was doing.
“In a dream, you are here, you smile and hold me near. And in my heart I’ll pretend that you are here again…”
But then a few minutes later, I was stopped from opening the glass display rack when I heard Betty’s silly question.
“Sam, what did you have for breakfast today?”
“What do you mean?” I asked her but her attention wasn’t on me as she was still watching Jack’s every move.
“Because I was thinking that maybe whatever you two had eaten this morning inspired her to be so energetic and I wonder if I could have some of it the next day too.”
“Don’t mind her, maybe she is just inspired to work today.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at what she said.
“Exactly! I want to be that inspired too, hmp!” She then turned back to work after giving me a long, envious sigh.
Until the time had passed and we opened the shop, we couldn’t talk much because suddenly there were a lot of customers already. We just had to find a way to get breakfast somehow because we couldn’t even sit due to the volume of customers. Well, it’s just a normal scene and a routine every weekend.
But…
The only thing that wasn’t normal that day was the sudden visit of my brother and to my utmost shock, David was walking behind him when he walked in. But why were they together?
-‘What is going on?’- I asked in silence as I watched them approach the counter. -‘Well, obviously, Dale was here for Jack and as for David…. hmm… was he here to eat?’- I continued to mumble silently.
-‘But this shop is out of his way! He should have gone to our newly opened branch because it’s quite close to the hospital… so why is he here?-‘
-‘Maybe he’s here to see you?’- My heart cried out all of a sudden.
-‘There’s no way! He has a girlfriend!’- I fired back.
-‘And so? The girl isn’t with him today!”
“Even so there’s no way for that funny thing to happen!’-
-‘Ohh… we don’t know that! What if—‘
But my thoughts were suddenly interrupted and I was pulled back to the earth when he stopped right in front of the counter.
“Hi,” He greeted, and I gulped when his familiar scent hit my nostrils.
It was a simple greeting with a genuine and handsome smile but enough to make me feel excited like a teenager who saw her crush that morning.
“Good morning, Sam,”
“G-Good morning,” I greeted back, surprised and confused at the same time… Surprised to see him again after having lunch with him last week and confused as to why he was there.
I was about to ask him what his schedules were that morning, but my attention was drawn to the two lovebirds to my right.
“What the— seriously?” I blurted out after seeing my brother kiss my best friend on the lips. “Why don’t you two get a room, for my peace of mind and for the sake of our customers?” I asked, playfully glaring at my brother.
“Mind your own business, dear sister! We are trying to make up for all the times we were not together!” My brother’s nonchalant response. “I’m sure you’ll do the same with your future boyfriend, so stop being jealous, huh?”
“The nerve! Why would I be jealous, duh?”
But he just laughed at me and continued flirting with my best friend. “Jeez!”
I bit my lip as I felt the cringe crawling over my nerves and throughout my body. From enemies to friends… who would have thought that behind the arguments and fights they had back then, they had feelings for each other? And they just have to hide it because of their pride… but still…
“Tss! As if you weren’t enemies before, duh!” I added rolling my eyes before facing David again. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, flashing him an awkward smile. “It has been a year but I’m still not used to seeing them being together!”
“It’s alright,” he chuckled. “I was surprised when I heard about them too because I remember they were the best of enemies back then, but look at them now. It’s amazing how they developed feelings for each other and how they managed to hide it despite their every issue against each other.”
“Hmm… well…” I sighed.
“And I admire them for that,”
“You do?”
“Yeah,” He shrugged, raising his eyebrows as a nod. “Especially your brother, he remained true to his feelings towards her and waited for the right time to tell her about it.”
I gulped, I couldn’t help it. He was staring at me intently as if he were telling those words to me. It was as if those were really meant for me and not for my brother.
“Ahh…” I said nodding. “Anyway, why were you together? I mean, you entered the coffee shop earlier walking behind him—”
“Uhm… we just met outside. I was just a few minutes ahead in the parking lot earlier.”
“Hmm… that was why you came together,”
“Yes,” he nodded.
I really wanted to ask him why he chose to visit and eat at our shop when there are many shops along the way to the hospital where he can quickly grab something to eat because we are way too far and really out of his way to work, but he spoke before me.
“I’m on leave today and for the rest of the weak,” he smiled. He seemed to answer the silent questions in my head from the time I saw him walked into the coffee shop.
“Wow! Really? It’s so nice to hear that you finally knew how to take time off from your work! How to use your vacation leave from work! That’s new to my ears and honestly, I’m surprised!” I was really surprised to hear what he said.
“Whoa!” He laughed at me when I clapped my hands and reached out to shake his hand.
“Congratulations, Mr. David Garcia, you’re finally a human!” And he laughed even harder.
“But I’m a human—”
“No, you’re not, Mister— you’re a robot! You are a hardworking robot who give all of your time for work to the point that there is almost nothing left of yourself! But then, congratulations because you have finally learned to use your privileges not only as a doctor but as a person!”
“But I’m using it even before,” He said scratching the back of his neck and in an instant it was as if we had suddenly been brought back to the moments where we could say the things we wanted to say to each other without hesitation.
“Oh, come on, David, you couldn’t even take a week off when we were together because you said a lot of your patients needed you every day and you always felt guilty every time you asked for leave!”
“Oh…”
I tried so hard to hold back my laughter when I noticed how shocked he was after saying those things. It seemed like I was blaming him for what happened to us in the past… but no… I was just teasing him.
“See? I even remembered a time when you asked for 3 days off from work, then we went on a date and you promised me that you would go out with me and do everything I wanted to do during those 3 days. But… you just got a call from the hospital and you immediately went back to work. So in the end the 3 days I was promised turned into only 1 and a half days.” I sighed, pretending to be disappointed because I wanted to see his reaction.
But it took him a few seconds before he found the words again. This time, the smile had finally left his lips when he looked at me.
“I’m sorry…” he said, guilt can be seen through his eyes. “I’m sorry, Sam, I admit it was my fault. Back then I didn’t understand or appreciate how important time is, but now—”
“Hey, hey, hey! It’s alright!” I interrupted him, giggling. “I’m not saying these things to make you feel guilty about what happened to us in the past.”