1 Mirage - Original One-Shot

All of a sudden, the guy sitting across me stood up. Shocked expression was all he could offer as he sighted a familiar face that for sure haunted him almost every day of his life, for years. Jhin could not help himself from the shiver that continuously flows through his body.

"A-Ana, what are you doing here? I told you to live me alone," said the man in fear with his trembling voice. The whole body of the guy in from of me kept shaking; everyone remained clueless of what is happening to Jhin.

"Ana please. We've talked about this a couple of times, just forget me! Please I had enough of you!" he shouted to his ex.

I have never seen this man this terrified before. His eyes were never this wide open when he is startled; it felt like it's going to blow up. His face becomes too pale as if he lacks air, although he is breathing excessively. His arms are wrapping his own body, consoling himself given the situation he is in right now.

"PLEASE. I want you to stop showing wherever I am."

After uttering those dreadful words, Jhin gazed upon me. The excessive breathing intensified as the scene progress. Afterwards, the nervous man's gasping, to some extent, went loud, making the atmosphere more heart-pounding for the witnesses.

Mumbling with confusions, he put his hands on his head, may be trying to comprehend the ambience he set in the cafe. Dizziness might have had knocked him off as he then sat down in a forceful manner, making everyone hear the squeaking sound of the steel chair, scratching the tiles.

Almost everyone did not keep their mouth close as they talk about the tension during the incident. Hearing the chatting and the words being vomit by the people may have made him lose more of his cool. In the end, Jhin ran off, leaving me in the cafeteria, sitting alone. His footsteps produced dooming sounds, giving off disturbing vibe to the crowd.

People remain clueless, looking at him of why he acted like that. Everyone kept murmuring about the scenery they had witness. They all were left with asking themselves repetitive question: 'Who the heck is Ana?' For sure, asking that to Jhin, he would answer, his ex, but I feel like there's more to it than just her being his former partner.

As I look around the place Jhin left, just a minute after, it could be noticed that, everything went back to normal. Every person that was staring at us continued the stuffs they were doing before. Some continued walking down the alley. Some continued or started eating their dishes. Some just kept talking or minding their own business. Yet, I wonder what Ana did after the moment. I wonder where she went, where she headed, because I feel like no one really noticed her, except for Jhin.

Not knowing what do to due to the sense of panic he made me felt, I decided to follow him without any information of where he would be heading. Hours passed and it would almost be noon; my soles (maybe even my soul) got tired of walking, especially that I'm wearing these heels. Due to that, I remove my heeled sandals and continued walking barefooted.

Reaching almost 12 o' clock, the ground started heating up a bit, causing my feet to feel the burn. The sweat kept coming out, flowing through the surface of my skin. My heart just kept on beating fast, caused by the anxiety from the incident, and the non-stop strolling that I have been doing. In the end, I got fed up of the rising temperature that my feet felt like it will not walk anymore. I tried calling an Uber to get me to Jhin's house with the hope of seeing him there cooled down already.

As soon as I arrived to his home, Jhin was probably drinking pills as what my eyes could tell. I tried rushing to enter his hope so I could stop him from overdosing himself, but I found his mom just sitting in her rocking chair, saying that I should let him intake those. He may be taking medications or something.

These scenarios always happened to us in ever dates we ever have gone to. It always bog me on why do these things occur to us. Sometimes, I ask myself if I should leave him for now and let him be, so maybe he could assess himself and his relationship with his ex.

Despite having that thought in my mind, I just simply cannot afford to do it. My conscience cannot just leave him being this confused, although I think that is the best thing to do in this situation.

While thinking about the things happening, I sat down to the nearest chair in front of the dining table. Surprisingly, her mother seems to had prepared a whole menu for our lunch, as if she knew that we will come home from our date. I mean, this is not the first time the incident happened, so she might have really expected us to appear.

"Jane, I know you haven't eaten yet; you can feast on the food in front of you to at least get rid of your hunger," her mom said as she pitifully looks at me. I nodded at her, and then proceeded to dine on the meal in front of me.

Looking through her eyes, if feels like she is trying to tell me something along the lines of 'hold on a little, he will soon be able to forget Ana.'

It is what I have been doing all this time, actually. I have been enduring all these stuffs because I know one day, he would be able to forget everything about her. Despite trying to pursue this relationship, I can maybe say that I'm also prepared if this just comes down to a break up.

A little while as I eat, the mood began to shift again to a gloomy one. Jhin came out of his room with a calm expression, but I'm pretty sure, a big storm will soon hit this conversation. He probably made up his mind, although the question is, has he settled things with Ana, or would he break up with me to do that.

"Jane, maybe we should take separate ways for now. I want to make things clear with Ana."

As he tells me those lines, I noticed that his eyes turned as hollow or heavy as ever. The way he vomit those words is so fluent as if he already has his mind into it. Saying no in this situation felt like it would be a sin. Pretty sure he was not requesting us to break up, but desperately ordering me to do so.

"Sure. Just hit me up if something happen."

Normally, a person would cry if their partner wants them to part ways but that is not the case for me and maybe for him as well. Like I said, I am kind of ready for this moment to occur, I just could help myself to bring it up to him.

I walked out of their house like a cold-blooded bastard, as if nothing happened between the two of us. As soon as I close the gate, Jhin could be heard talking to someone but not her maybe. He might be talking to Ana but I don't know.

Before I leave, I tried to turn around to see his expression; his face doesn't show any slight inconvenience, instead I saw him smile. Maybe Ana could really help him right now, despite being his ex. He is always out of his mind during our months of dating. This could work out, although I think I should watch out for them.

Several days (or weeks) had passed; I tried stalking him just to see how he does after our break up. I often check McDonalds as he once told me that it is their favourite place to have lunch or date, and every time I saw them there, Jhin is sincerely smiling; he is never startled compared to when he was with me. Ana really did a great a job making him act like himself.

I also sometimes check our arcades like Tom's World or Quantum. It might be a silly idea but he said that it is their usual hang out spot. Looks like him going back to his ex is a good idea as he really seems to be having fun, having her around. I thought I will not feel bad about us parting ways, but to some extent, I'm kind of feeling jealous.

After we broke up, subconsciously, I kept watching my phone, waiting for it to ring to notify me of Jhin's messages. Of course, the messages I expected will not come since he is now happy with Ana. I knew I still love him, that is why I kind of wish that I should have stayed with, yet if I did that, I'm pretty sure I will not be seeing him this happy.

A couple of months later, the calendar now hits September 22, which is the start of the autumn season. Just a week after today, Jhin and Ana would be celebrating their anniversary which is during the 29th of the month. It actually could have been their third year of being together if they have not broken up.

As what I can see on my Facebook timeline, both of them seems to be having fun. There's nothing odd about his posts when they hang out, it's just that, I have never seen a single picture of Ana, but he still tags her anyway.

September 29 came; I tried checking his timeline but there are neither greetings nor any posts of him about the anniversary of their relationship. Maybe something happened to them yesterday or the other day.

Nonetheless I'm pretty sure they would go to a bar. That is because he always told me that they would go on a place to get drunk during their anniversary and get wasted to feel like it would be an actual honeymoon for them. I'm expecting a picture of them being posted in their social media, but what I did not expected is for Jhin to message me, out of all the occasion.

"Uhmm I'm just wondering if you want to come with me," Jhin said on the message. Why out of all the people, he would invite his ex to go with him when he is supposed to be celebrating their anniversary.

"Man, today's your anniv why don't you guys have fun?" I don't know what to say, I feel like something's up.

"We had a fight, and she is not coming to the bar right now, you want to come?"

This guy must have been turned into bullshit, I mean, why would he invite another woman when he just had a fight with her girl? Shouldn't he talk to her and fix their problem.

"Are you seriously out of your mind right now? I mean, what did you even have a fight on?"

"I may have figured out that I may still be in love you."

"Aren't you happy with Ana?"

"You won't understand. So, you want to come?"

"Answer me Jhin, Why?"

My mind is so confused right now. My heart is beating so fast as I think I may be part of the reason why they got into a quarrel. I know that I'm still in love with him but I do not just want to take advantage of what is happening to be able to hang out with him.

It has been a while since my last message and he still has not answered. I'm filled with emotions right. I feel so elated, knowing that he still hasn't forget about me after all this time; angry knowing that he might had potentially just played Ana; lost because I do not know what to do right now.

"Then choose between us! Broke up with her and come back to me, or be with her and never talk to me again!"

I tried messaging him one more time, making him decide. I hope he could hear me shout those words as he read my text. My hands kept trembling with the situation I'm in right now. Why did he even bother to break up? I don't understand. If he still loves me, why is he so freaking happy with her?

Minutes had passed and he still hasn't replied to my text.

Maybe I should try reaching out to Ana. Knowing that he always tags her every time he post, it would be an easy task finding her account. Surprisingly, she had never post anything for the past months and year. I tried scrolling some more through her wall, as Jhin's picture had bombarded it. Some more minutes, I found something out.

Probably one of the shocking news of all, she has been dead for so long. All this time, Jhin must have been hallucinating of picturing the image of her in his mind, trying to satisfy himself.

Hastily, I ran to the gate of the subdivision and found a vehicle to get me to the nearest open bar. As I get near, ambulance noises were covering the area. The continues flashing red and blue lights blinded me as I got out of the vehicle, but the most blinding feature of the scene is the body of a man lying on the ground in front of the bar. A grown-up man, as said by the witnesses, were hit by the car; the same scenario that led to Ana's death.

I ask some from the crowd,

"What could be his name?" and they all responded:

"Jhin."

By this, I think, he answered me that he chose Ana, more than me.