Second Chance

She had returned home from work a couple of weeks ago, on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. The stress from her workplace coupled with the news of his newly-found love spreading around their separate friends had done its part in distorting her emotions. She sat on the garden chair in the balcony with the whole bottle of her favorite brand of red wine and soon found herself emptying the bottle while in deep tears.
    He had returned from his own workplace a couple of hours ago and noticed that the balcony doors had been left wide opened and it was only when he went to close it that he noticed her sleeping on the chair with the empty wine bottle next to her on the table.
    With a sigh, he carefully lifted her off the chair and brought her to her room, where he made sure that she was comfortable in her bed and pulled the cover over her. She had looked so peaceful, so peaceful that it almost cracked his heart. He stood at the door, wondered what had caused her drinking spell as she had never drank so much alcohol unless there was something bothering her and sighed before he closed the door shut.
    It wasn’t until now that he realized that her drinking spell had most likely been caused by him.

He caught hold of her arm and stopped her. “Wait,” he said. “I don’t care if you don’t want to listen to me, but I must tell you that I broke up with Mika this morning because I realized that it is you that I truly love.”
    “Why are you telling me this?” she asked. “You should’ve given me a thought before you embarked on the relationship with Mika. Don’t you think it’s too little too late to change anything?”
    She pushed his hand away, shook her head and softened her tone. “Truth be told, I’m damn disappointed and I’m unsure if I really can trust you anymore. If you could do such at thing, I don’t know what else you are capable of –”
    Without saying anything, he reached out to her and took the plunge and stole her first kiss, which made her limp and surprised.

She eventually sunk into him and in a deep embrace, reciprocated the kiss even though her eyes were wet. It reminded her of that part of her life when she learned seven months ago from a third party, not from him or from Mika herself but from a third party, someone unrelated, about the whole secret relationship, not knowing back then that was a couple of hands forcing and pushing him into the fire, hoping to melt and destroy his close friendship with her.
    It was because of this reason why she carefully and secretly planned her escape to a familiar territory 3,800 miles away.
    If only he had been honest with her in the beginning, neither would she have been sarcastic or cold to him when he caught her at the eleventh hour at the boarding area nor would she have made herself drunk, killing so many brain cells in that moment. It was not anger that she felt now, but mere disappointment that in a way to get back at everyone, he chose to play with the hearts of two girls, hers and Mika’s.
    She summoned the courage and pushed him away at an arm’s distance. “No,” she spoke. “It’s coming real too fast and I need my time to grasp it all. I don’t want us to rush into a relationship just because we’ve kissed and have feelings for each other.”
    He cupped her shoulders. “I’m sure about it.”
    “But I need time to put your relationship with Mika behind me. You know how much hurt that brought me.”
    He remained silent for he didn’t know what to say. She was right, he admitted to himself. In a rebellious moment, he had forgotten that his actions would’ve caused grave hurt to his love and the lady his parents wanted to be their daughter-in-law and both their parents.
    “And I just can’t believe it,” she continued. “It is only when I’m leaving your life and leaving everything that I have going on for me to start anew that you realize how important I am to you. Wow, that’s cruel.”
    “I’m sorry,” was all he found himself saying.
    “If we’re sure that we want each other and explored the unexplored stage in our friendship, fine, our friendship shall be given a chance to blossom into a real relationship but if not, we’re best suited as friends.” She laid a peck on his cheek. “Until then, be safe and take care.”

    It was three weeks later that she returned home to the condo unit that she had shared with him for the past couple of years. Their decision had set tongues wagging on both sides. He as a close friend in need of assistance and she was the only one whom he could trust, but they feared nothing since there had been nothing going on between them in secret. That was all in the past. She was sure of what she wanted and left it at that.
    She could hear the sound of the door unlocking at the turn of her key and carefully allowed herself inside the unit with her luggage as it was two in the morning on a Saturday and crashed on her bed the moment she entered her room. The ten hour direct flight had sucked the life and zapped the energy out of her.
    It didn’t take long for them to become a couple and although they had tried to keep it a secret until they were at a stage where it was stable enough to reveal to the whole world, it was an open secret among their group of mutual friends, who had saw the sparks and chemistry that the couple exuded...