I FLIPPED the "Open" sign around and exhaled. Finally, we were done for the day. It was crazily hectic throughout my shift with people strolling in from left and right in pairs, trios and lone numbers. The last time we had such a rush was the evening when a group of people had thrown a party around the area- the day of my break-up.

The only good thing I fished out of the day's rush was the clean distance it created between me and Adrian; I was successfully able to avoid him without making it visible to the customers that something was going on. Of course, I had caught him staring at me once or twice but another customer would have showed up at the counter before he could even think of approaching me. That was how my day had gone, a struggle to maintain composure while staying in the same four walls as the crazy guy that stabbed me in the back.

I walked into the backroom, strolling past Clara and Adrian who were sorting out the last set of dishes in the sink. I halted my steps as I got into the private room and pulled off my nametag and apron.

"Have you rinsed these?" Clara's voice sprawled from the other side of the wall.

"Yeah," Adrian answered.

"What?" Clara laughed, "There are still soap bubbles around the cups. You're so terrible at this."

"That's why you're helping out, isn't it?"

I stuck out my tongue and quietly gagged in disgust as I heard him flirt. What a foolish line he used.

"I didn't know I made it that obvious," Clara laughed and went quiet for a little moment, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

I arranged my things in my bag, then adjusted my shirt. I could swear my ears had expanded twice their size from straining to pick up the conversation between the two in the kitchen.

"Go ahead," Adrian replied to her.

"Do you... have a girlfriend?"

Of course not, Clara. He was too busy breaking other people's relationships apart that he forgot to have one of his own.

"No," he replied, "But there's someone I have in mind."

I furrowed my brows. Oh, really? Then, I hoped that person's friend would feed her lies about him and make her dump him like the bag of trash that he was.

"Are you serious? Who is she?"

The lack of words between them lasted for a minute, then I heard Clara snort out a cute laugh, "Oh my gosh, you're smiling so hard! Now I want to see how you act when you're with her, especially when you're like this with me and we're just friends," Clara said, "But to be honest, I prefer the single you. I'd like you to be everyone's Adrian. You know, that way I can be close to you without worrying about your girlfriend."

His subtle laugh filled the room and I couldn't help but heave out a quiet cuss. I picked up my bag and stormed out, shutting the back door with a slam.

"Stupid," I mumbled.

Briskly walking down the lonely sidewalk outside the cafe, I headed for Thomas's apartment. I had tried to get in contact with him since the previous night but I was still blocked.

How was I even to begin the conversation? 'Hi, Tom. Your friend lied to you about me cheating' or 'Hey, how have you been?'. I had to find the perfect opening line so I wouldn't end up totally losing what I was trying to salvage.

I suddenly heard my name from far behind me and came to a pause in my steps. Turning around, I furrowed my brows as I saw who was running towards me. I had tried so hard to avoid him all day but my efforts had turned out to be fruitless.

"What?" I sharply inquired as Adrian stopped right in front of me.

"Your friend is quite the talker, isn't she?" Adrian softly panted.

"And you're quite the runner, aren't you? Sprinting all the way here, just to inform me of that."

He sighed, "Let's not get mad over what happened last night."

I softly laughed in disbelief, "Let's not get mad? After what you did, do you expect me to still put on a smile around you and act like everything's all good between us? I don't have time for this. Do you have something important to tell me? If you don't, then let me be on my way. I've got something to do."

He looked away from me and exhaled, "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for everything."

"Your 'sorry' can't do anything. It's useless," I massaged my forehead, "You know what? I'm going to meet with Thomas right now to explain all that really went down. You should come with me to tell him how you planned all this mess. Maybe then I'll accept your apology."

I turned around to walk away when he pulled me back by my wrist.

"Don't go," Adrian said with a straight gaze.

"Who the hell are you to tell me what not to do?" I yelled at him, yanking my hand out of his grip.

Was he crazy? After what he did, the least he could do was to help me fix things. If he knew that getting caught by Thomas was somewhat scary, then he should have thought twice before acting out his silly prank.

Adrian parted his lips to speak but breathed out a laugh instead, "You're so naive. It's funny how I still have feelings for you after seeing how dumb you can get when you're in love. Rather than being treated like shit because of love, can't you look around for someone else? Can't you choose someone who appreciates you? I love you, Wendy! I've fallen for you ever since the very first day I set my eyes on you, and I've had to watch you get ridiculed by the guy you've been running after for three fucking years!"

I stared at him with slightly widened eyes, letting the words he had just muttered register in my head.

"And so what?" I finally spoke up, "And so what if you have feelings for me? Did you really have to break up my relationship? Did I ever tell you that I was being ridiculed by Thomas?"

Adrian smirked, much to my annoyance. I clenched fists and glared at him, locking eyes with him as seconds passed.

"Thomas was cheating on you," he said, "He was cheating on you with Serena Landore."

The anger that boiled in me slowly dissolved into poignancy. My chest deepened and I could feel my heart ache even worse than the day Thomas had broken up with me. My hands softly trembled and my feet went cold, numb to the feeling of my tight shoes. In that moment, it felt like I wasn't in the world anymore but I was just a separate creation, watching what was going on in the movie before me. Everything around me felt unreal.

"We all found it hilarious how you didn't notice at all. I guess you aren't just physically short-sighted, you have the same issue with life also. Too bad there isn't a pair of glasses that can help you see the world around you as it really is. You've always been a minor character in Thomas's life but you treated him like the hero in yours. It didn't make any sense to me," he exhaled, "You wanted to know the reason why I plotted your break up, so there. I'm a sucker who can't stand having the girl he likes get treated terribly."

"You're lying," I softly said as tears swelled in my eyes, "You're lying again, aren't you? Tell me you're lying."

"You should hear what he says about you," Adrian went on, unfazed about my tears, "While you were busy loving foolishly, he was making a game out of having sex with you. 'I don't feel comfortable showing you my body'. Those are your words, aren't they? The whole group knows about it, and every other secret about you that you trusted him to keep. Believe it or not, you were only a fun toy to him, never a girlfriend."

"It wasn't until Carlos told him that you might be playing him too that he instigated spying on you," he continued, "You can go ahead to his apartment and ask him all about it if you want. And if you're still feeling so loving, you can propose to him right there and then."

With that, Adrian turned around and walked back towards the cafe. I stared at his back frame, too appalled to move. My warm tears slid down my cheeks and dripped unto the concrete sidewalk but my hands never made an attempt to wipe off the wet trails on my face.

It wasn't true. It was just one of Adrian's stupid lies. He was trying to paint Thomas bad, he was trying to pull us apart. All he said were lies. Everything!

Swiftly turning around, I walked down the sidewalk to Thomas's apartment. I made the turn at the T-junction and stopped before his apartment building with so much courage brewing in me, yet I couldn't bring myself to go in. Instead, tears filled my eyes again.

Adrian was right, I was a fool in love. Thomas had made a mockery of me to his peers and even dumped me over what he was guilty of doing but I was standing right in front of his apartment with high hopes of talking things out.

I turned right and walked home, wiping my wet cheeks every two seconds. I slowly transitioned into running and my vision blurred as I shed more tears. I knew that the other scanty pedestrians would be staring at me with weird looks on their faces but I didn't care. There was something else, something bigger, I had going on at the moment to worry about how others saw me.

As I ran on home, I wished my race would never end and I would perhaps run off the earth and die in space. Maybe then the aching pain in my chest would end.

I should have known I was being delusional. I should have known it was too good to be true. I should have known that someone like me couldn't get someone of his calibre to fall for her. This was life, not some Cinderella story.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry, almost shutting my eyes close to the zooming breeze. I was lied to, I was used, I was cheated on. How unfortunate was it that all these were done by the same person I loved since I was little- my first love?

Scott's arms went wide open as he saw me and the manner in which I ran into the alley. I fell into them and wailed, pouring my heart out in tears and curses.

How did the sweet innocent Thomas I had known since I was little turn into this? Maybe he was never 'sweet'. Maybe I was just blinded by love.

I started to lose the strength to hold myself upright and slowly slid onto the floor. Scott held on to the back of my head as I dropped down and knelt on the ground with me.

"It's alright," he silently said, placing my face against his chest to muffle my wail.

"My boyfriend-"

"It's okay," he cut in, hugging me tightly, "Just breathe."

I clung to his black coat and covered my whole torso with it, taking deep breaths to calm my arms of its vigorous shaking. The interior of his coat was dark and cosy, and it smelled nice around me. Scott's rhythmic pat on my back drew my thoughts away from the cruelty of life and I gradually stopped wailing. I closed my eyes, letting myself get carried away by the gentle breeze of slumber.

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Tip: Serena Landore was mentioned in Chapter Five and Chapter Twenty.