I thanked him and was about to go up myself.
But he blocked my way again. “Not even going to offer me a cold drink?”
4/12
16:02
Chapter 2
I didn’t want to get entangled with him. I turned to leave.
16.02
“Even if we’re breaking up, we should at least talk it out,” he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Otherwise, people might get the wrong idea, don’t you think?”
He was right. If we were breaking up, it was better to have a clean break. I was starting a new job, a new life.
I turned back and pointed to a cafe across the street. “Let’s go there.”
“Fine.”
He led the way. I followed. The sun was scorching, and the streets were mostly empty. I didn’t notice the young man on a bicycle at the corner, his white shirt billowing in the hot wind like a sail.
He was probably just passing by.
“About last night with Mandy,” Steve began, “I need to explain.”
“I had no idea she was going to confess to me.”
“It was a big scene. There were a lot of people watching.”
‘I really do just see her as a friend. I didn’t want to embarrass her.”
‘That’s why I didn’t reject her.”
He watched my face as he spoke. “I talked to her afterward. I told her I’m not with her. I…”
I smiled. I wanted to ask him, so to avoid embarrassing her, you accepted her flowers, hugged her, kissec
her. So in the future, to avoid embarrassing her, would you also have more intimate contact with her? Ever sleep with her?
But I didn’t even want to ask. It had happened too many times. I was so tired.
‘None of this has anything to do with me anymore.”
‘I came here to make things clear.”
Three days of silence means we’re over. You made that rule.”
‘Steve, please, honor your own promise.”
‘We’re broken up. What you do now, who you date, that’s your business. You don’t need to tell me.”
