I was seated frozen on my spot, watching Nick smirk before me. Recalling all the details I gathered in my mind, I was supposed to be meeting Jessica tonight and not this . Just then, I felt as if I was smacked by a baseball bat in the face when the text message Jessica sent me hacked my consciousness. “.” I cursed loudly to myself before I stood up and tossed the bouquet of flowers to his feet. “Get the hell away from me.”

A hurt face was expected from him, but he displayed an adamant expression instead which only heightened the hatred I was feeling. “Why are you doing this?” I spat loudly, not giving much care if I would catch all the other customers’ stares.

He turned his head, left and right, as if scanning the place and giving people signals that everything was fine. When he returned his ounce of attention to me, “Calm down, Tiffany,” he innocently whispered as he held onto each of my shoulders.

I irritably swung my arms in front to get rid of his hold. Everything about him disgusted the out of my nerves, much to the point that I even felt my fingers shivering in repulsion. “Don’t ever touch me again or else—” I threatened him and purposely left the words hanging for him to imagine how evil I could get against him.

Self-assuredly, he simply tilted his head to one side and gave me a small blank smile. “Okay.” His hands were thrown up in pretentious surrender.

I took a deep breath and bit the corner of my lower lip to free myself from bursting in anger. When I knew I had enough, I went a hundred eighty degrees round planning to approach the exit. I haven’t taken a step yet when the worst thing that could ever happen occurred to me. The corner of my eyes caught a hint of Jessica’s existence. She was there, pushing the restaurant’s rubber glass door open in haste.

My breath hitched at the sudden occurrence as my foot took a step back, afraid that she would catch me with the bastard. However, hiding was too late now because our eyes already met. She stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing me, and astound was an understatement to describe how perplexed she appeared to be.

She looked absolutely beautiful, even with just a pair of ripped jeans and a simple crop top. If there was a perfect time for me to appreciate her beauty, I knew it wasn't this point. But I still did due to the certainty that she despised me now, thinking I came here to meet up with the devil.

“Jess,” I guiltily whispered to myself as she continued approaching us.

Disappointment was apparent in her demeanor, and her eyes moistened instantaneously. Her lips parted a little in stun, and she was tongue-tied. She, however, was about to say something when Nick cut her off by saying, “I told you, Jessica. If you don’t want me anymore, Tiffany is always here to catch me.”

Watching how conceited he was made the acids in my stomach hurl and want to escape my mouth. “You know that’s not true.” I slightly yelled, trying to convince Jessica but to no avail. “Jessica, please, let me explain.”

Unfortunately, she wouldn't give me another chance. I knew it because she shook her head and circled around to leave. I grabbed her by the wrist, but she only pushed me away and concluded, “I will make you regret this, Tiffany. Remember that.” Her eyes darkened, and I was sure she was clouded with anger and heartbreak at once.

Looking back at Nick, I noticed how much he didn’t give a damn about everything that was going on. Judging by the way he was grinning, I was pretty sure it was a job well done for him. I shook my head sideward as well to express how disappointed I was in him before I ran out of the restaurant to follow the girl I loved.

When I found her, she was already starting her car’s engine. I wouldn’t let her go, at least not that easily. I ran in front of her car and yanked my arms wide to stop her from leaving, not only the place but me in a figurative sense. “It’s only you that I love. Why can’t you believe that?” I exclaimed in frustration, disregarding the fact that the crowd’s attention was on me.

Since all her windows were rolled up, I couldn’t hear her voice. But her lips were saying something like, “Get out of the way!” Her back slumped against the backrest, and her face was halfway scrunched. She was evidently preventing tears from falling, which made me feel guiltier by the minute.

I didn’t do as I was told, though. I would rather get hit by her car than have her leave without even hearing me out. To my misfortune, she seemed really mad at me, much to the extent that she even held onto the steering wheel and stepped on the gas. The car moved forward, though slowly, and made me jump to the side.

“What a ing psychopath!” I heard the security guard yell as he hurriedly came to me. “Are you alright?” He worriedly asked while helping me to stand up.

I just nodded before completely ignoring him and running towards the taxi stand. I recited the address to the driver, and he drove without further ado. In the midst of going to her place, a thought suddenly hit me.

Jessica sent me a message saying I shouldn’t go. Does that mean she knew all about it? Is she conniving with the bastard? Everything made my head and heart ache way too much for me to handle.

It was a few more minutes before my sight caught Jessica’s place. Her car was already there, parked not so brilliantly on the sidewalk. I paid the taxi driver and hopped out, hoping that I could talk to her. I impatiently rang the doorbell about four times before Jason went out to unlatch the gate in a hurry.

“What’s up, Tiffany? Wait—are you crying?” He concernedly interrogated, too bad I wasn’t in any mood to talk to him.

I didn’t even notice when I started tearing up. I guessed I was too wounded to pay attention to myself. “Where’s Jessica?” Both my hands went to wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“She’s inside. What’s going on?”

Disregarding his query, “May I come in?” I fired back. Without waiting for his answer, I slightly shoved him to the side and just like a trespasser, I came through without his permission. “Jessica.” I half-screamed as I sauntered and scanned the place. There I saw her sitting on her bed, both hands wiping tears away from her now-flushed cheeks. Her gaze whipped up to look at me, though we only stared right into each other’s faces for a while, not saying anything at all.

It was as if a lightning strike hit me by the heart when a clue of intense pain emanated from her eyes. A pang of conscience burned somewhere in my windpipe, making it hard for me to say something. I, however, knew I needed to fight it back and do what I have to. “Jess,” I quietly called out to catch her attention.

“Get out.” She responded, her low hoarse voice cutting through the earsplitting stillness. “I don’t want to see you anymore.”

Instead of apologizing and comforting her, I apprehended I did the wrong move when I yelled, “Tell me what the hell is happening because I don’t get it!” I sounded so demanding and harsh, and mad all at the same time. I perfectly knew it was her who was supposed to get mad, not me. But the thoughts just kept bugging my sum total being.

Her hands flew down her sides, forming into closed fists, and she gazed straight into my eyes. I was caught off guard with how vulnerable she seemed to be and how broken she appeared as time passed by. She was still as wordless as before, but it was more than comprehensible now how upset she was because of me.

Composing myself, I asked Jessica, “Why did he invite me to dinner?” I blathered with a bit of caution this time.

“I don’t know.” She only whispered, dismissing the tolerance to keep the conversation going.

That’s impossible! How could she not know? The fact that she was lying to my face irked me to the gutter. And then again, all my suppressed displeas