I thought you felt something for me

"Why are you glaring at me? We both know I spoke nothing but facts," Noah said to Carl.

"Noah I think you should learn the habit of not mentioning her name whenever we're having a conversation," Carl said in a warning tone.

"mentioning whose name? You mean Anastasia Robyn Stewart?" he laughed.

"Noah please leave my office," Carl said sternly, pointing at the door for Noah to leave.

"I ain't going nowhere until you tell me why hearing her name still bugs you. I thought you said you've moved on, why are you still pained whenever I talk about Anne," Noah said.

"I have moved on," Carl said firmly.

"to be honest with you, that is very difficult to believe,"

"If you don't believe me then it's fine," Carl said trying to act nonchalant.

"Boss, the only way I would believe you is if you start dating someone new," Noah said, meanwhile, Carl played deaf ears like Noah was talking to himself.

"C'mon boss, don't tell me you're too shy to flirt with a lady," Noah teased him.

"That's the difference between the both of us. I don't flirt," Carl said.

"I understand, it's because you're scared of being rejected," Noah said.

"I've been rejected a couple of times so don't think I'm afraid of one little rejection," Carl said and Noah nodded his head.

"then I see the problem here… the only thing holding you back is because you're still in love with Anastasia,"

"no I don't, not anymore," Carl argued.

"Of course you do, you love her and I strongly believe that you would do anything to be in her arms right now if she permits it," Noah said.

"No! I can't love someone who doesn't want to be with me no matter what. And if Anne eventually falls for me, I still wouldn't run to her arms because I'll be risking my heart if I do so. I already told you that Anne is someone who is capable of loving me today and despising me the next day.

I'm sick and tired of giving myself false hopes and that is something I've learned after Anne pushed me away," Carl said with a slight frown on his face as he remembered how pathetic he was the day he was begging Anne for love.

"Alright then," Noah sighed.

"Please, this should be the last time you talk about Anastasia. I told you I've moved on and right now I'm focusing on what is more important which is my work. I might have a hectic work that'll stress the shit out of me but at least it wouldn't break my heart," Carl said.

"Okay, okay I get it. I promise I'm never going to talk about Anastasia again," Noah said "Besides, you said you've moved on" He said sarcastically like Carl didn't mean it.

"but uh… I think you should start seeing someone else. That way, you'll be able to let go and move on from all the heartaches you've had in the past" Noah advised.

"I'm not interested in dating anyone and like I said, I'm done with love," Carl was assertive.

"you're not up to thirty yet and you're already giving up on love?" Noah scoffed. "just take one girl out on a date even though there are no strings attached and maybe something might spark up between you two," he said.

Carl delivered a loud groan with frustration. He was tired of convincing Noah that he was done with love and since Noah didn't want to keep shut, he decided to stay mute. Maybe that way, Noah might end the conversation or change the topic.

"Oh! how about you go out on a date with your secretary," Noah said as he snapped his fingers like he just came up with a brilliant idea.

"What!? I should go out on a date with Miss Hills?" Carl said looking at Noah with creased brows. He thought he could ignore Noah but he couldn't.

"Yeah! I've seen the way that lady stares at you whenever you weren't looking and I can assure you that she's very much interested in you…" Noah said and Carl couldn't believe what he just heard.

"…Maybe something might work out between you two, who knows?" he said and Carl scoffed.

"well, too bad Cassandra isn't my type so nothing would eventually work out okay?" Carl said rolling his eyes like he was pissed.

"fine! you wanna end up being a loner that's your problem," Noah fired.

At this point, Carl doesn't mind being a loner. He is at the stage of his life where he prefers to be single with peace of mind than to be with someone who would break his fragile heart.

.....

After Dexter saw the picture of himself feeding Treasure ice cream on Audrey's phone, his shoulders dropped.

His eyes were fixed on Audrey's blue eyes and he saw that she was deeply hurt and he understood why. She thought he lied to her just to be with someone else.

Apparently, Dexter didn't lie, he was actually busy with work. The whole ice cream thing with Treasure was just a plan to lure Shawn into the trap but that wasn't the reason why he didn't go out with Audrey.

The reason he was always turning her down was that he was no longer comfortable spending quality time with Audrey when his heart belongs to Treasure.

"You could've at least told me you were having a date with that 'friend' of yours instead of lying to me and also leading me on" Audrey angrily said to Dexter.

Dexter exhaled softly with a heavy heart. He wanted to explain to Audrey that he didn't ditch her just to go out on a date with Treasure so she would calm down but instead of clearing the air, he kept mute with a sorry look.

He felt that there was no need to start explaining himself because if he had the opportunity to go out with Treasure again, he'll go out with her without thinking twice even though he had an appointment with Audrey. So telling Audrey that he was only at the ice cream parlor with Treasure for work issues would seem like a lie to him because he enjoyed her company a lot.

"You're not going to say anything huh?" Audrey said with tears in her eyes. She was heartbroken because she loved Dexter a lot but he was hurting her by making her feel like she didn't matter to him.

"Dexter say something, make up an excuse, tell me why you lied to me just to be with that girl," she yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I lied" Dexter muttered, looking down without explaining himself.

Audrey swallowed hard on her saliva, trying her possible best to stay calm. "Do you like that girl," she asked softly with so much worry in her heart to hear the word 'Yes' from Dexter's mouth.

"…Yes… yes, I do," he said regardless.

"I can't believe you… I thought you felt something for me. I thought that there was something special between the both of us " Audrey said in a broken tone as tears welled up her eyes.

"Audrey, why would you think that?" Dexter gave a confused look that broke Audrey's heart. He has always seen her as a friend and nothing more so he was surprised that Audrey would have such thoughts about him.

"I don't know I… I thought that you liked me because you've always been extra nice to me. I never knew that I didn't mean anything to you," she said sadly.

"You're my friend and you mean a lot to me" he corrected her just immediately.

"I want more than that" Audrey confessed in a high-pitched voice.

Dexter's eyes shone with his lips slightly parted. The last thing he ever expected was for Audrey to confess such words to him.

"I'm truly sorry but I can't give you what you're asking for. I only see you as a friend," he said, trying as much as he can to not seem harsh.

"If you only see me as your friend then why did you let me kiss you? Why didn't you stop me? Why did you keep leading me on when you could've just told me that I'm nothing to you but just a friend," Audrey yelled at Dexter.

Dexter shut his eyes tight with a lot of guilt in his heart as he remembered the night he locked lips with Audrey. He couldn't blame himself more for hurting this young girl.

Although, that kiss to Dexter was just a simple kiss that meant absolutely nothing to him but to Audrey, it was more than that. She loved Dexter from the very first day she saw him but Dexter didn't realize it until now.

"I… I thought that.. that the kiss was just a kiss. I didn't know that you felt this way about me," Dexter stuttered, feeling very bad for hurting Audrey. He wanted to comfort her but he didn't know how to.

Audrey wiped the tears in her eyes and slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah. You never noticed that I had feelings for you because you never took me seriously. I have always been nothing but a play toy to you" Audrey said in a sad tone and turned her back to leave but Dexter held her hand.

"Audrey that's not true. I always took you seriously, you're my best friend "

"LET ME GO YOU LIAR!!" she let go of her hand and pushed Dexter away from her.

Dexter stood still like a statue as he watched Audrey's departing view. He felt extremely sad for making her cry because he blamed himself for not noticing all the signs that Audrey likes him. If only he knew about Audrey's feelings for him, he would've made it clear to her that she was only a friend to him from the start.

Audrey went straight to the restroom to cry her eyes out before she get back to work. She was heartbroken to be rejected by her first love.

*******

It was past 3 pm and Richie was walking on the street with his best friend, Anne. He was back from school and he coincidentally saw Anne who just came from the grocery store. She had gone there to buy groceries for her pastries as usual.

The duo had been seriously chatting ever since they saw each other probably because it's been a while since they had met in person.

Richie was in a school uniform and he was hanging a school bag so it was obvious that he just came back from school. Anne on the other hand was putting on a white long-sleeved sweater and mom jeans and she was holding a grocery bag containing a lot of groceries.