Ayden caressed Irene's face in the pictures that he had been staring at in his laptop. "I never meant to hurt you, Irene. I swear, I never did."
Recalling their beautiful past only worsened his mood that was already off. He still remembered those pictures. They were of the day when she had surprised him by making his favorite dessert - Liquid core' – white chocolate and cardamom mousse with pistachio sponge.
He had been in awe when she had brought it in front of him. The presentation was beautiful. Visibly, it looked the same as that one would see in a restaurant.
He had felt incredibly special because it was not an easy dish to even try to make. Later when Irene had revealed that it had taken her days to make it properly… that she had failed a lot of times… that something or the other was not getting done right… that she had made it several times before she had reached that perfect result that day… he had been left speechless.
He had not thought in his life that someone would take that insane amount of effort for… him.
<>
"Where did you even learn this?"
"YouTube. Haha."
"Ugh, Ayden. You have not even tasted it yet and you are already in tears. At least let the dish get inside you and then you can complain that it is not good and then cry. I will not stop you."
"No… I..."
"Oh, Ayden. You are so cute." She rushed to his side and dropped a quick kiss on his cheek, holding his face in her palms.
He leaned back in his chair, snaking his hands around her waist. "How did I get so lucky?"
She laughed before leaning toward him as she rested her forehead on his. "I love you, Ayden."
<>
His heart leaped as recalling the 'once beautiful past' suddenly lifted mood. His hand slowly and unsteadily lifted to his cheek as if he was trying to feel her soft kisses on his skin.
The mere thought that her soft palms were never going to scoop his face in them… that she was never going to wrap her arms around his neck and stay in his embrace… that her warm hugs were never going to be there to calm his racing heart… that her lips were never going to linger on his skin and leave him with those fluttery sensations in his stomach… was unendurable.
"You did everything for me, Irene. Just… I could not be good enough for you.
<>
Waiting for him was not getting bothersome for Irene because her mind was too clouded with thoughts regarding Ayden to think of anything.
"Knock knock."
She raised her downcast eyes at the front. Having him on the bike there made him realize that it must have been quite a while since he returned. She was utterly embarrassed for being too lost to acknowledge his presence.
It was not too often that she lost the sense of surroundings. It seemed like that the break-up was bringing the worst out of her. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she got off the bench. He had already held out his hand for her.
Holding onto it, she sat behind him. "For how long have you been here?" He was going out of the way to help her and there she was… wasting his time.
"Not too long. I waited to see when you were going to notice but then… your knees need a better dressing so… Have you always been like this?" Ensuring that she was properly seated, he rode the bike after asking for her address.
"Like what?"
She could already hear him chuckle. She braced herself for another stupid comment from his side.
"Like… this. Think ten times before speaking, think twenty times before doing, worry about almost anything and everything."
"What do you even know about me?" Her response was not out of frustration. She was not offended. It was rather a response giving away easily that mentally tired of people judging her without knowing anything about her.
"I know that you are a vulnerable girl who wants the world to believe that she is strong enough to handle everything. I know that you have probably just had a break-up and you are quite not ready to get out of it and move on. I know that you are holding onto the emotional attachment a little too tightly to let go of it. I know that you are not kind enough to yourself… to leave yourself without blaming every once in a while. Is that enough?"
"See, that is what I had expected from you… silence because you feel the need to think ten times before speaking," he added, in a humorous tone.
"Stop it. I don't think ten times," she chided.
"Okay."
She was just about to express that his human reading skills were a little admirable but it was all gone from her mind and replaced with vexation as soon as his next words fell in her ears.
"Maybe, five times?"
"Ugh." Her hands came close to his neck to strangle him.
"No. You are nice enough not to kill the one who just tended to your wounds. Take your hands back. Come on, take them back."
"Ugh."
"It is so easy to get you annoyed. Hahaha."
He stopped laughing when he did not hear her for a while. "Okay. I am sorry. I will not annoy you more but you know… you are going to meet a lot of people who would annoy you and a lot of things would happen that would annoy you. You have to learn to laugh at them because otherwise, it will suffocate you."