I turned up the volume of my radio, letting the music fill up the car. I looked at my GPS, the original drop off point getting further and further away. I rolled my eyes away, looking at the road once again. I couldn't believe my luck. Once again, I was stuck in another couple's predicament. I slowed the car down, matching the traffic's pace. The slow moving traffic was just like my head, slow, cluttered and absolutely sick of it. I mean, I don't mind helping people, but come on. This was getting ridiculous. I on what little of the lollipop I had left.

 Damn, I need more sugar. Or else I'm going to start getting antsy. 

I took a peek at the rear view mirror, spying on the pas-senger behind me. She was looking out the window, her eyes red from the tears, her cheeks wet. She was biting her lip, trying to hold back her cries but it was all for noth-ing, as the tears kept streaming down her face. I did what I needed to do. I pulled out some tissues from the dashboard, handing them to her. 

"Here Miss Yuri."

"How do you..?"

She accepted the tissues rather hesitantly, unsure how I knew her name.

"Sorry... I just overheard the whole thing earlier..."

"Right... sorry about that."

Yeah. Sure you were.

"No, no it's fine. I totally understand. She was being a major for what she did... And I'm guessing that wasn't the first time?" 

"No... It wasn't." 

"Figured."

I looked back at the road, revving the car up since there was finally progress. 

"Do... Do I know you?"

"You? No... Your girlfriend? Yes. She's my co-worker at my day job."

"So she called you tonight to drive us around?"

"You could say that. Seems more like a coincidence though. She didn't recognise me that's for sure."

I took another peek at her, wondering how she was holding up. She was leaning back, looking down at the car floor for some reason. She had a confused look on her face, trying to make sense of the situation. It really wasn't that hard to figure out but I guess it was too much at once for her

"I'm sorry, I just need some time to understand-" 

"Oh yes, take your time. It's quite perplexing yes. I'm just as confused as you are honestly. Not often I get to drive my co-worker's girlfriend really."

 
At the mention of the work 'girlfriend', Yuri clicked her tongue, a slight scowl on her face.

"Yeah, well, ex-girlfriend now."

I could hear the venom in her words, half believing her words. But let's face it, she was just in the heat of the moment. That's not really what she was thinking.

"A little rash for that don't you think?"

She took a second to process, thinking back to what happened, and probably whatever prank happened in the past.

 
"If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't question it one bit."

"Really? That bad? She downed you that badly?"

"You don't know the half it."

"Yeah I'd rather not."

I continued driving, not really wanting to delve deeper into their history of pranks.

"You know how many times she pulled that proposal prank?"

"Oh you're continuing. Uhhh, a couple of times I suspect." 

"5. 5 times she did that."

"Wow, 5. I'm surprised."

At some point, you gotta wonder, maybe you're just a tad too gullible. But not like I could say that to her.

"Yeah, well I was too. She's been dragging me along like this for too long."

"1 can guess. She does seem like the type to play around a lot." 

"That's not even half the problem. I'm fine with her joking around. But this, this was too much. She knows damn well how much it means to me..." 

At that, I clammed up.

"She didn't sound like she was taking it lightly. IT definitely sounded like it was a major thing for her. Of course, it's a major thing for most people but it just seemed different to her. 

"Sometimes I wonder, maybe she doesn't feel the same way that I do." 

"No, I assure you, she does feel that way about you."

"So why..."

It came out as a whisper, nothing more than a whimper. Maybe it was a question to her, a question to Yena, or a question to God, but I was definitely not the one with the answers. Or so I thought. 

"She's been avoiding it huh?"

"She ever talked to you about it?"

"Not necessarily. She has mentioned you here and there, but I tend to keep my work life and personal life separate, so I never did inquire about you." 

"I see..." 

"That's not to say she didn't mention you when she could. She tried to bring you up in a conversation once, and I could see just how much she cared for you in that small instance." 

"But did she ever mention about, you know, marriage?"

I gave her a shrug, half my attention on her, the other half on the road. 

"Sorry hun, I'm not exactly the marriage type of person, so I never really had that discussion with Yena. But I'm sure the Yena I knew probably had thought so of it. Not sure how that went but..." 

That was definitely not the right words to say. Rather, that dampened the mood even more, making her question her partner's love for her even more.

"Look, I'm not exactly the best person to talk about with these stuff. But I do know someone. Maybe she can help."