Lizzy had been sitting down and gobbling food quite sometime now together with Lyndon. They were happily catching up with the past few years they haven't seen each other.
In her face its evident that she is very delighted of how accommodating Lyndon to her. She glances to him from time to time while sipping the tea.
"So, when's the wedding?" she finally ask when the atmosphere seems not so tense.
"January." his short reply.
"Date?" she inquired.
"You will come?" he asks instead of answering.
"If you'll invite me." she hardly smile.
"Sure. I get you one invitation when we finalize everything." he said.
"Thanks." she smiled at him.
***
Behind those smiles at him, is pain. She hardly contained the pain she is feeling at this very moment. She smiled at Lyndon but that smile is not a smile at all. It did not reach her eyes. She really wanted to cry and beg Lyndon not to marry that woman. But her pride won't let her do so. She couldn't portray to be love sick in front of the man she adored for how many years.
Being born in the family of aristocrats in France, she had everything in life she wanted but not the man she longed.
Before, all she can do was to keep the pests away from him and keep him to herself. Now that Lyndon decided to marry, she finally had a resolution to at least let him know her feelings before she give up on him.
"Lyndon." she called.
"Hmm.. Yes?" he answered. He noticed that something is bothering with Lizzy and he wanted to know what it is.
"I have something to tell you." she said. Her heart begins to thump loudly.
"Go on."
"Can we still be friends, even after this?" she hesitantly asked. She wanted to preserve their friendship that's why she didn't confess back then in their college days.
"What are you implying? asked the man instead of answering her question. He's sensing that there's something not right with his friend and he can't directly point out what it is.
" I love you." blurted out Lizzy.
Lyndon stopped his hands in mid-air. He was about to shove a piece of strawberry cake in his mouth when Lizzy confessed. He looked at the woman across him with an unreadable expression. He was quite taken aback when he heard something like that from he thought his best friend. He never imagined that Lizzy would have romantic feelings for him all this while. Instead of eating the cake, he put it down and stared at Lizzy's burning face.
"I'm sorry. I can't answer your feelings for me. I have someone I love." he outright rejected her. He didn't want her to hope that there could be a possibility for them.
"I know. I just want to let you know so that I can move on and find someone else." she painfully let out a smile. She really wanted to cry because it hurt so much but she couldn't possibly let Lyndon see that.
"You can find better man than me." said Lyndon demoting himself. He wanted to cheer Lizzy on but he knew that it would only hurt her even more so, he could only say that.
She just faintly smiled at him while drinking her tea. She looked at her wristwatch and learned that it's almost 8 pm.
"I'll better get going. It's getting late and I have some appointment too." she bid him farewell.
"Sure. See you around." he then called Butler Chen to accompany her to the front door.
Lizzy don't have any engagements that night. She just find herself an excuse to leave him. She couldn't bear the pain anymore so she said that. That night, she cried very hard to the point where her eyes became puffy and her voice became hoarse. She promised herself that it will be her last cry because of love. Not knowing the future for her.