1 Chapter 1

I've been sitting at the airport for 20 minutes now, getting bored out of my mind from waiting.

I looked at my watch and saw that my friend's flight isn't arriving for another 20 minutes. I am going to fetch my friend, Nieth right now from her week-long vacation at our home. I was supposed to be with her, but work intervenes so instead of going home to surprise my niece for her birthday, I moved my visit for my father's birthday instead.

Sighing, I'm blaming my slight headache from this clumsiness. I did not even think to check the time after waking up before fleeing to the bathroom to have the quickest shower possible to arrive at the airport on time to fetch my friend.

I saw a newspaper stand next to the bench I'm sitting and so I busied myself trying to read its contents, I saw some news about a multi-billionaire's son rejecting the seat of power his father provided and proceeded to just follow his dreams.

'What a lucky bastard' I said to myself. It would be a real treat to live in your shoes sometimes, but anyway, being poor isn't a sin, not that I was ever poor, my family is average with my mom being in the field of education and my father in agriculture, they can give the things that we want.

I saw poor where I came from, as some of our farm's employees, so I was lucky to be born in my family, still, it would be different if you're filthy rich, right?

Moving on to the newspaper's contents, I saw the name of our university on the feature page, I felt proud as a professor upon seeing the positive feedback the article contained, it features the latest educational advancement the university is implementing, and as one of the people behind the successful implementation, my heart was so full.

I must have dozed off for some time, my mind wandering in the vast fields of my head to notice the time until my phone vibrated inside the pocket of my blazer, when I looked at the caller, I saw my friend's name.

I immediately got up, replacing the newspaper in its place and answering the call.

"Hello, Nieth" I said

"Hey, I'm already outside, been here for like five minutes. Where are you?" her tone was somewhat exasperated. It's not a surprise though, she's always like that but she's a real softie so I don't mind.

"I'm sorry, I did not notice the time, I'm heading there" I replied and ended the call.

When I arrived outside, I did not immediately spot her small frame so I had to squint my eyes real hard, thanks to my crappy eyesight and for being a klutz and forgetting my eyeglasses.

Looking around, I was looking for her peach long-sleeved blouse when my eyes landed on a familiar face, wheeling black luggage in his left hand and a suitcase on the other. He was dressed from head to toe in black save for his white dress shirt, he looks really classy and admittedly hot.

I was reminded of that night a few days ago, and glasses or not, my eyes can't deny that the person walking inside the airport, is THAT person.

My face immediately heats up at the thought, thinking about how embarrassing I acted while drunk, and resumed looking for my friend.

After another 2 minutes of looking, but avoiding the certain direction where I saw HIM, someone nudged me in the back, when I turned around, I saw my friend scrunched up face, an indication that she was not officially annoyed with me, which I returned with a small smile.

"I've been calling you" she glared at me

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, it's so dumb of me to not call you"

"Yes, it is. Let's go, I'm famished"

"Yes your majesty, I parked the car nearby"

----------------------------------

"Did he call you"

Nieth suddenly asked after finishing her last piece of pizza, we are now sitting on the couch, enjoying our movie night to the fullest since we are going to be having work the next day.

I just hummed my response, appearing to not care, when in fact, my stomach suddenly flipped at the mention, even the hum left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, one that I want to rinse off with scalding water.

"Gracie begged not to tell you; you know. That it was just a mistake" she continued, seeming oblivious to how my body is tensing.

"Did she, now?" I said, a bit sarcastically. "I'm glad you did though" which was true, even if it hurt me, knowing the truth earlier is better than living a lie for so long that when you found out about the truth, you already reached the point of no return.

"Of course, I would, Gracie is my friend but you're my best friend, and I may not look it, but I care about how other people are treating you."

That warmed my heart, she's a true softie, really. And I would do the same for her if the situation is reversed.

"So, what did you tell her?" I asked further.

"Of course, I gave her a piece of my mind-"

"Oh, it must be quite a show" I interrupted her sentence, earning me a glare so I let her continue.

"I told her that friendship is priceless and that one would be a bitch for even thinking of coveting someone, much more your friend's man. And what made it worse is that you are aware that they are together. I told her she should apologize to you, but she kept telling me she can't and that she was afraid of your reaction. So, I told her if she won't, then I would. Seriously, that girl needs to start being mature and responsible"

I scoffed after hearing what Nieth said.

"I guess ten years of friendship is easy to throw, nowadays," I said the laughed.

There is no humor in that laugh, though, I was pouring all the contempt and hurt in that laugh, I won't waste a single tear to them, I'm done. I'll just go in breathing and living beautifully just to spite them.

"At least now I can go to parties our peers keep on inviting us now that I'm single. I guess there's a positive aspect to being cheated on." I told Nieth after some time.

"Yeah, maybe we should." Her eyes are sparkling, I know she badly wants to go to parties but she doesn't because she doesn't want me to be left out. I keep telling her to go but she insisted that it is better to be left out together from the buzz of activities our peers in the university enjoy than be left out alone, so we were kind of the outcasts.

"But seriously, you did not answer my question"

"About what?" I replied, acting all innocent to the fact that I somewhat veered the subject off of that certain person.

"If George called you or something" and yeah, she really has to drop the name, I was kind of refusing to utter it ever since I knew about the cheating.

"O, him" pretending to be surprised "the bastard keeps bugging the hell out of me, spamming me with half-ass apologies, so I blocked him everywhere."

Then I proceeded to tell her about the phone call with George, and how I ended it coolly.

----------------------------------

~FLASHBACK" (before the swing)

…George calling

I don't want to pick it up but I need to hear it directly from him. So, with shaking hands, I picked up the call. I did not talk though, I just listened to him.

"Hey love, how's your day," he asked, a question that was supposed to give me butterflies now sound fake in my ears.

"I'm fine, had a hectic day" I replied after taking a shaky breath.

"Are you okay?" did he just sound concerned?? What a joke.

"I'm perfectly fine. No need to worry" I answered coldly, voice laced with anger and contempt at the way he's talking to me.

"Why do you sound so different?" – him

"Really? Tell me about it" my tone now mocking

"Is there a problem, love?" oh wow, he's using that endearment, what a suck.

"Nothing. But I really do want to talk to you about something" I told him sweetly

"Yes, Love. Tell me anything" ew, he sounded so sweet, the audacity, it disgusts me.

"You know that Nieth is home right now, right?"

I spoke. He did not reply immediately, so I smirked. Now he is uncomfortable.

"Hey is something wrong?" I asked again.

"Um, no-nothing." He stuttered at the other side "I didn't know she's here, when did she c-came back" hmmm he's nervous now and uncomfortable, I can literally imagine his face.

"A couple of days already, she's been seeing some interesting stuff there, too"

He did not reply this time, all I can hear in the other line is his heavy breathing and him clearing his throat.

"I heard about Gracie. Seriously? Why her though, I'm really curious" I said but still no response from him. And since I'm the bigger being, I ended his discomfort

"I guess that's it. Thank you for everything by the way, ill just return your stuff via courier. Have a good day" on that positive note, I ended the call, heart heavy and broken in my chest.

~END OF FLASHBACK

----------------------------------

"Seriously? That's it? No shouting over the phone or whatever?" she asked bewildered about how calm I am with everything.

"When did you know me as the shouting type?" I asked her in return

"True!" she then laughed it off, muttering between laughs about how I should've been angrier and I should've threatened his balls.

At almost nine pm, Nieth's phone beeped, indicating a message. I was still immersed in the movie about two people having illnesses that hinder their love and whatsoever, it's a pretty good movie, very dramatic too.

"Hmmm, speaking of being socially active, Lisa texted me, they are at the Rover right now celebrating Lenny's birthday. She's inviting us."

"Hmmm, why not?" I replied.

avataravatar
Next chapter