DID SHE FIND OUT that Devin came to pay me a visit?

Of course from my angle, neither Devin nor I did anything wrong but if I were to reanalyse the event from her point of view, this was an unforgivable crime.

Judging from how possessive she was on the first day I came across her, she would have been so annoyed after finding out that her boyfriend went to see a lady— no matter the context. If she couldn't let him talk to me just to order what he wanted to drink, she would definitely disapprove of him coming to check up on me.

No woman would be completely comfortable with their boyfriend seeing another lady.

I sighed and stared at the floral dress lady, "Ma'am, I see what happened now. I can expla—"

The lady pushed me hard before my words could even get to her. My back crashed onto the ground and the pain brushed through all my body, then it was gone in an instant.

"Shut the fuck up!" She yelled at me, panting like she could breathe fire from her nostrils.

"Trina, don't hurt her!" Devin yelled at her, "She doesn’t feel too well."

Trina looked at Devin with a smile of surprise, then shifted her smile to me before laughing hysterically, "So, the both of you are that close to know about each other's health? How long have you been fucking my man?"

"No!" I yelled, sitting up on the floor, "I'm not— I've never..."

I watched her walk over to the counter and grab the coffee kettle that was filled with hot water from the machine. My eyes widened in horror as she briskly approached me with the kettle.

"Trina stop!" Devin said as he walked towards her to obstruct her movement.

She pushed him out of her way and poured hot water on me before I could get up from the floor and run away from her.

"Argh!" I shrieked loudly as I fell back on my knees, shutting my eyes tight.

It felt like my skin was on fire.

"Look what you did!" I heard Devin yell.

"Don't you dare walk up to her, Devin," his girlfriend responded, "You wouldn't want to lose your job."

I swear to God, I hate this place. I hate it!

She grabbed my hair as she crouched beside me, making me open my eyes, "Look at me. Let this be a lesson to you and whoever is planning on following your dirty footsteps. Stop pursuing people's men and go get yours, you cheap slut!"

Before she could shove me again, Adrian grabbed her and yanked her away from me with so much force that she landed in the hands of Devin who was standing ten metres away.

"Hey! I wasn't done, boy!" She yelled at Adrian as he helped me up.

Luckily, Devin had held her arms as she struggled to free herself, preventing her from coming anywhere near me. It felt like thousands of fire ants were dancing on my skin but I didn't dare complain because Mr. Lenin was in the main cafe and he didn't look like he was on my side on this matter.

"Miss, we are deeply sorry for any trouble our worker may have caused you," Mr. Lenin said as he approached Trina.

He turned to me, "Apologize at once, Miss. Davis!"

I bowed my head and clung to the hem of Adrian's shirt as my tears dripped onto the tiles. I couldn't utter a word even if I tried. The pain she caused me was excruciating, yet I was the bad guy in the story.

"Fine! But if I see you near my boyfriend one more time, I'm going to kill you, Wendy Davis! I'll kill you!"

She walked out of the cafe, dragging Devin with her. My gaze followed them to the door and suddenly met the narrowed eyes of Thomas that held such a cold gaze. What scared me even more was the realisation that he didn't have a hint of a smile on his face.

I stared back at him with my watery out-of-focus eyes. Could this day get any worse?

"Miss. Davis, step into my office," Mr Lenin said, "Everhart, the customer."

"I'm not here to purchase anything," Thomas shot at my manager before turning to me, "Meet me in the car."

With those last five words, he walked out of the cafe.

Shit.

I turned around and followed Mr Lenin into his office, trailing behind him as I gently brushed my fingers against my skin. It was so difficult to endure the pain, I desperately wanted to jump into icy water and stay there for at least a day.

"Tell me what happened," Mr Lenin said as he took his seat.

"That young man rescued me when I fainted the day before and I guess she thought we were seeing each other," I said.

My voice was so clear, yet tears were streaming down my face. I guess I was not so good at pretence.

"But are you two seeing each other?" Mr. Lenin inquired.

My body hurt so bad and this man was asking me very foolish questions.

"Not at all," I sniffled.

He stretched a box of tissues towards me noticing that my tears had begun to drip on his desk, steadily creating a pool.

"Thank you," I said to him as I drew out a tissue from the box and dabbed the strains of tears on my cheek.

"For the table, Miss. Davis," he said.

I paused and folded the tissue, wiping my tears off the table instead. Done with that, I sniffled and stared at him.

"I've wiped it," I said.

He stared at the table I had just wiped, then turned back to me, "I apologise for misunderstanding the situation. I would have reported this to the police if I had known sooner but you know, I didn't. The only thought that had occurred to me was that the customer is always right and for that, I am awfully sorry."

I nodded, sniffling.

"I'll inform the higher authority about this and you will be compensated. So, don't bother about work for the rest of today and tomorrow. You desperately wanted to stay off work anyway, so here's your chance."

I nodded and walked out of his office, trying not to think of the burning sensation I felt on my skin. I stepped into the main cafe and walked up to Adrian who was now mopping the wet floor.

I held my hands in front of me, "I'm so sorry."

He looked up from the floor and at me, "It's not your fault, is it? There's no reason to apologise. Are you feeling alright? The water was quite hot."

"I'm fine," I looked away from him.

"Do you have something to change into?"

I shook my head in the negative.

"I can give you my hoodie if you don't mind," he offered.

I nodded, "Thank you."

He pulled me into the back room and handed me a grey hoodie from his locker. Immediately he headed out, giving me some room to get changed.

I'd need to have a cold bath on getting home.

I walked back into the main cafe after changing into his hoodie and taking out my handbag from my locker.

"Thanks once again, Adrian," I said as I brushed past him.

"Sure. Take care of yourself."

The bell softly jingled as I walked out of the cafe, stepping into the dark night. I saw Thomas's black SUV parked some metres away from the cafe and sighed before I slowly strolled over to it.

Talk about bad timing. That was the worst time for Thomas to show up. Why couldn't he come when I was staring at his text or when I was busy wiping tables?

Finally arriving at the vehicle, I opened the car door and the cold Air Conditioning from the car washed over my skin. I would never forget that AC.

I settled in the front seat and closed the door. It's time.

Surprisingly, Thomas drove off without saying a word. The silence in the car was sharp enough to slice the air. I stared at him occasionally and on each gaze, his eyes were completely focused on the road. His grip on the steering wheel would tighten whenever he felt my eyes on him.

"Tom—"

"Don't bother," he tightened his grip on the wheel once more.

I sighed loudly and looked outside my side of the window, watching how the buildings swept by the roadside. The lamp posts slowly transcended from giving off a pale radiation of light as the sky was now dimly dark.

I touched my dried hair. I was so grateful that I had puffy hair. Maybe I would have gone bald if it was otherwise.

I turned to Thomas once more before returning my gaze to the street.

All I wanted was a nice dinner with him. How we got to this, I had no idea. As expected, I managed to mess this one up too.

After several minutes of glass silence, Thomas pulled over adjacent the alley.

"Wendy," he started, shattering the glass silence into tiny little pieces.

My chest deepened as I heard his voice but he kept on staring at the wheel like he didn't just break something so delicate.

"I don't even know what to say to you," he continued, "I'm disappointed in you, Wendy."

I swallowed and fiddled with my fingers, not daring to interject.

"I asked you a question yesterday, if you can recall. I said, 'Do you know Devin?' And what was your answer?" Thomas inquired.

"I," I paused, "I said I didn't know him."

"I asked you if you had anything to do with him. What was your answer?"

"I said no."

"And I believed your words like a fool," Thomas said, "I never found the need to investigate, I never trailed you down. I fucking believed that you wouldn't cheat on me and that you had told me the truth. I trusted you, Wendy."

His words broke into me, not because he didn't know the truth but because he had given up already. I just knew it. He couldn't even call me babe anymore.

"My friends have been talking to me about you a lot," he continued, "They told me how it was possible that you could be cheating on me."

My eyes widened in astonishment. What?

"Guess what I told them," He said, still staring at the wheels, "I told them that it could never happen. Funny how I waved off every shitty thought and trusted you with my whole heart."

He finally turned to stare at me with those gorgeous ocean eyes of his, "Because I fucking love you, Wendy!"

I thinned my lips, slightly bowing my head.

"Even with the rumours, even after seeing that Devin guy, even after you cancelled our date at dime minute, even as I was so annoyed! I fucking dressed up to come surprise you, so we can be together as our plans for today didn't work out."

I bit my lip as my eyes watered, silencing myself from screaming my heart out.

"And how do I meet you at work? I meet you getting beat up by that asshole's bitch for riding with her man," he said, "If you were in my shoes, how would you feel?"

"Every time I make plans for us to be together and for me to show you off, you keep bringing up foolish excuses as to why that can't work out. I should have known then, that you avoided these things because you were seeing someone else behind my back. You should have done that much, Wendy. You shouldn't have caused me so much pain. You could have just told me that you no longer loved me and that you'd found someone else. I'd have let you go."

I sniffled as more tears dripped onto Adrian's hoodie, "Thomas, I swear, I didn't have anything to do with that man."

"You just got caught, Wendy," Thomas breathed out a laugh, "There's no need to lie anymore!"

I shook my head, "No, I'm serious, believe me. It's all a misunderstanding."

"It's not! There's no other logical explanation for this shit. If there was, you'd have spit it out instead of keeping quiet and just babbling. Stop telling stupid lies and just admit that you cheated!" He yelled.

"I'm not going to admit to anything!" I yelled back, "Why are you being a dick right now? I told you that there's a misunderstanding, so why don't you just calm down and fucking listen! At least I listened to what you had to say when you cheated!"

I immediately covered my mouth and stared at Thomas wide-eyed, awaiting my armoured fate. If there was one skill I needed right now, it was how to swallow my words back.

Thomas shot me a bloody glare, "And what does that mean? What the fuck does that mean, Davis? That since I cheated, you're permitted to cheat whenever you feel like it? And why did I even cheat in the first place? Wasn't it all down to your stupid excuse that made the guys holler a last-minute chick for me? What the hell are you trying to point out?"

I shouldn't have let my anger loose. I should have just kept quiet and endured everything, then gone to explain things to him when he was calm. Now, see what had happened, all because I had to say what was on my mind.

I breathed heavily, "Thomas—"

"I want a break," he cut in.

I nodded. This would be our second time doing this, and once again, it was because I acted so stupidly.

"How long this time, then?" I asked him, "One week? Two? A month?"

I wouldn't want to spend up to a month away from him, though. Our last break was only two weeks but I had ended up opting to self-harm from just that. I needed Thomas, to stay sane.

Thomas fixed his gaze back on the steering wheel, "I mean it's over between us, Wendy. I'm breaking up with you."

__________________________________

Tip: The alley that leads to Wendy's apartment has a street lamp that is always on at night.