Location :- Duivel

Ace's POV :

"Well, I need to go then." Rowena starts bending to get her dress but, someone's hand stop her midway.

"Why do you need this?"

Zion and I look up at the voice. There was a girl standing with her back facing us. She bent to pick the dress up. With all her might started stretching it and finally, tore it in half.

"What the hell is this?" Rowena shouts at the girl.

"This?" She drops the strands of the torn dress and says,"Did you not say that you don't have a problem with being like this with anyone present here?"

"I did. So what?" Rowena's words seemed guarded.

"Then, you should not be ashamed to rome around with this semi nude body of yours. There are at least 15 guests here. If you're comfortable with 15, then, you shouldn't be uncomfortable with the whole town. Now, out!" She snaps her fingers in Rowena's direction.

"Excuse me?" Rowena looked taken aback by the girl's statement.

"You're excused. Now move." The girl calls for security and the security help Rowena out.

Zion suddenly rose to his feet and moved towards the window of the hall. Perhaps, it still pained him to see her beloved like this.

"Don't worry. They will give her something decent before throwing her out of the restaurant." The girl walks towards him and put her hand on Zion's shoulder as a sign of consolation. Immediate relief flooded in Zion's eyes and he smiled lightly. The girl had a mysterious aura around herself. I couldn't get a glimpse of her face as her hair was screening her face from sides.

"You need to understand that romantic rejection is not a criticism of your character. But, you know what, rejection can be a blessing in disguise, if it helps you find happiness in other people's company. Now, get up and eat something before leaving." The statements passed by Reese were quite refreshing and though everyone was not okay, some smiled at her.

She is quite energetic. A very... different trait.

Reese comes towards me and bends to my level. She pats my head and starts getting up on her feet and in the process, drags me up. We were now on our feet.

She turns around and claps to gain everyone's attention, "I know what happened was not good but, see the positive side in this incident. That girl felt he need to say hurtful things, and was just going to walk away. It may be hard to see it, but this is less about us personally and more a sign of her own issues. So, it's unhealthy to ponder upon it."

"But dear, we don't think we will be able to eat anything after t.. that. How could s-she.." Zion's mother says while hiccupping and sobbing.

"I can understand that. But, you can't go back in the past to change this incident. Neither can you remove this incident from your life. There is so much to see ahead." The mysterious girl says. Her eyes still fixed on windows.

"But, I feel a chocking sensation in my throat." Zion replied while wiping his tears.

"Food contribute to the development, prevention, and management of mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders. We can't change anything that happened so far but, we have the power to change what is going to happen in future. Not eating will not help. Instead it will make things worse. So, please everyone eat something before leaving." Reese then, looks back to Zion's direction and turns to the mysterious girl for help whose back was still facing us. But, somehow, she understood and without turning back replied.

"I think she is right. Take a moment to calm yourselves and eat something. It will not make things easier but, it will help."

"Thanks..." Zion mutters weakly while looking at the window. Still lost in his thoughts.

Reese just smiles back.

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2 Months Later :-

Location :- Ace Vincent's Office (Personal)

"Did you see that?" Zion asks barging in my office, again. He, started visiting my office. Often with some idiotic news like how he saw a very unique dog or bird, or how he invested in a lottery ticket but, didn't qualify, or how blue the sky is today.

I think he is just afraid of being alone these days. Loneliness is something most of us would like to avoid if we could. He has spent countless hours with this one person for however long, and now he is in a situation where he has a substantial amount of free time. So now what? He feels stuck in this situation and is tired of it. Not like he can't engross himself in work, he just doesn't want to. He never was a workaholic type. He lets his company officials manage work and he just supervises it.

When the breakup occured, the pain he felt turned into feeling a void. It feels like there is something crucial missing from his life. That is what loneliness after a breakup is: The void.

One unfortunate result of splitting from Rowena is feeling lonely-he was used to putting all of his time and effort into her, but now he has that time and effort at his disposal.

So when it came to getting over loneliness after a breakup, it’s all about filling the void with different things that start to build happiness back up in your life… At first, he tried to get her out of his mind by doing works like reading, exercising, watching TV, etc.

Now, these were good ways to temporarily break out of a lonely funk whether it’s being around other people or getting her out of his head, but he needs something more permanent. He needs to try at least one more thing that could perhaps make things more permanent. A relationship maybe?

I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I know nothing about these things but I just want him to be himself, again, like before.

Coming to the present time. He is once again here with some newspaper article in his hand.

"See what?" I ask while resuming my work.

"Reese is inviting us for a function." He was quite enthusiastic about this.

"Reese? You guys are still in contact?"

"She's my mother's childhood friend's daughter Ace. I have known her for long. Also, she is my friend's friend. Ryan's friend, to be precise. We just reconnected sometime ago. At that..."

He sounded lost while remembering that day. Seeing his current situation, I let go of his word twisting.

"So, what's this function about?" I ask to change the topic.

"I forgot to tell you that?"

My look must have been venomous at this moment for Zion started averting his gaze.

"I guess I did forget."

"Obviously you did. Now, will you tell me or not?"

"It's her friend's restaurant opening ceremony. This is the same friend who runs Duivel. She helped us a lot last time. By..."

"Throwing Rowena out and taking stand for you..." Both of us were just whispering as none of us have the guts to go and handle past. But, she had...

"You're right. That's why we should definitely go. I am going. Will you accompany me?"

"I will be coming." Zion's enthusiasm once again, return.

At that time, I couldn't see how the 'mysterious aura girl' face looks like. She had either her back or her half face (which was shielded with her hair) facing me. I desperately wanted to see her. I don't know why... But, this can be an opportunity to see and maybe, know, her.

The mysterious aura girl or the restaurant owner... I will definitely see her there!

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