Chapter 2: Turn of Events

“Sairyl, are you ok?” my knees felt weak as soon as I saw Cedric and I couldn’t help myself but fall on the floor, “Hey Sairyl?”

I tried to pull myself together and gather the energy to stand up again. Brian, once again, stretched his hands to help me stand but before I could grab his hands to get up, I saw Cedric running towards me and asked me, “Are you ok, Sai?”

I felt the surge of pain I tried to hide for the past months. Here he goes again. He acts as if he cares about me when he was the one who left me in the first place. He keeps sending mixed signals which leaves me confused and hurt more than ever.

“Do you know him, Sairyl?” Brian asked.

Kyla was about to say something but I stopped her and stood up by myself, “No, I don’t know him.”

“Let’s go, Kyla. I don’t really like this place,” as I tried to walk away from them, my knee felt weak again and I got out of balance. I felt Cedric touched my right arm and Brian on my left to support me from falling again. I looked at Cedric and removed his hands, I sought support from Brian instead.

“Can you walk? Do you want to sit first and rest?” Brian asked me with concern in his eyes.

I smiled weakly at him, “I’m ok, I’m probably just feeling weak because I skipped lunch earlier.”

“Kyla, I’ll go with you guys. Where are you headed? I’ll give you guys a ride so I can help your friend walk, she looks a bit unstable.”

“You can probably just take us to Sai’s house,” Kyla responded to her cousin, “I’ll give you the direction in the car.”

They took me to Brian’s car. When we got there, he told me to wait and stay in the car. I’m not sure where he went but when there was just me and Kyla in the car, she looked worried.

“Are you sure you’re ok? Who was that guy? You seemed sad and angry at the same time when you saw him?”

Right. Kyla does not know about Cedric. I met Kyla just right after we broke up. She knows about the story but she has no idea what he looks like.

“Kyla, that guy is Cedric. The ex-boyfriend I told you about.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry Sai, I really didn’t know! If I knew I wouldn’t bring you here!” She panicked and looked very apologetic upon realizing what happened.

I shook my head and reassured her, “It’s fine. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hey sorry I made you guys wait,” Brian came back but this time with a bottle of water and bread in his hands, “Here Sai, drink and eat this so you’ll have energy.”

I took it, “You shouldn’t have bothered but thanks.”

He smiled, “No problems! I hope you don’t mind me asking, but do you know Cedric?”

I looked down and lied again, “No.”

He didn’t seem convinced, “I’m not so sure about your answer. When you saw him, your whole demeanor changed. I even noticed you tapped away his hands when he held your arm to support you.”

“Sorry, but that’s none of your business.”

“Probably. I’m sorry if I asked, I was just really curious. But I bet he was your ex-boyfriend and you guys didn’t have such a nice break-up.”

“Brian!” Kyla shouted to his cousin. I was also surprised by what he said so I asked, “What made you say that?”

He smiled weakly to me, “I had the same reaction when I saw my ex-girlfriend for the first time again after a year. We also didn’t end well, she cheated on me. I could pretty much guess there was something going on between you and Cedric based on your reactions earlier.”

“Hey Brian, can you please try not to say too much to Sai?” Kyla tried to stop his cousin from saying anything further.

“It’s ok Kyla,” I looked at her then looked back at the bottled water I was holding. I could feel the heat in my eyes as I tried to hold back the tears from falling, “He guessed it right. It’s fine, that’s the truth.”

“I’m so sorry about that, Sai.”

“What are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong. It was probably just bad timing for our first time meeting.”

I opened the bottled water and tried to drink, I was not able to hold back the tears anymore and I cried in front of Kyla and Brian while I was drinking the water.

“Sai…” I heard Kyla call my name softly and she tried to put her hand on my shoulders to comfort me.

After drinking the water, I was still crying like a baby, “I’m so sorry… I’m sorry for crying in front of you guys like a weirdo.”

I said that in between tears and hiccups. It was hard for me to speak and breathe at the same time.

“Don’t apologize. It’s normal to cry when you feel hurt. It will be more painful to just hold everything in. Just go and cry as much as you want while I drive you home. And if you want, you can cry more when you get home. Put it all out until it doesn’t hurt much anymore. That’s what I did when I was trying to move on with my ex.”

He patted my head and went to the driver’s seat to start driving. It was quiet during the ride, only my sniffing could be heard while I continued to cry.

Once we got to my place, I went to open the gate and Kyla followed me. She’s planning to stay with me. But before I totally got inside my house, Brian called me.

“Hey Sai, Kyla told me earlier you needed a date tonight. Once you calm down, go get dressed, make yourself prettier. You’re already beautiful, but I would love you to enjoy dressing up tonight, and let’s have fun later during the double date. I’d love to get to know you better, let’s forget we met earlier and we try to redo our first meeting in a more enjoyable way later.”

Before I could say anything, he smiled and waved at me before he went back to his car and drove away.

I felt that time that somehow the pain in my chest lessened. I was able to smile even after all the pain I was feeling. Brian’s kind words made the situation better for me and in a way, made me look forward to tonight’s date.

What a weird turn of events.