PART 4
“Since when do you know?” he interrupted.
“Know what?”
“About Diana,” he said, looking her straight in the eyes as the ice cream he was holding dripped onto the grass, while Emily tried to avoid his gaze by playing with her feet like a child. “That’s why we went to that park, right? You knew the whole story about my pendant. Diana is your best friend, and it’s impossible you didn’t know the truth about us.”
“After investigating, I learned the whole truth a few months before we broke up.”
“Everything you did to me was because you knew what happened?”
“…Yes.”
“Why?”
“…”
“Emily!”
“I was scared, okay?” Emily finally mustered the courage to look him in the eyes. “I was afraid you’d decide to break up with me once you found out Diana was that childhood friend… your first love…”
“You could have ended the relationship instead of deceiving me.”
The wind blew, the birds chirped, the two ice creams they were holding slowly melted, and between phrases, only the feeling of sadness lingered in their words.
“I couldn’t do it,” Emily finally managed to say, holding back the lump in her throat. “I couldn’t break up with the person I loved…”
“The most ironic thing…” Andrew added, breaking the silence again with a bitter smile, “is that if you had told me the whole truth, I would still be with you because I loved you. No matter how deep my past was, that was only a part of it; back then, you were my present, Emily.”
“I know. I was an idiot. But… if you still feel something for me, since I still care about you… maybe… we could…”
“It’s too late for that.” He cut her off before she could finish.
“…Is it because of Diana?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Yes and no. And even if it weren’t because of her… The decision you made for both of us was cowardly. You didn’t trust my feelings for you,” Andrew said, placing his hand on Emily’s shoulder. “I don’t hold a grudge, really. We can even be friends again. But don’t have hopes of getting back together with me, as the doors are completely closed to you.”
He told Emily just before standing up, kissing her on the forehead, and throwing the melted ice cream into the trash bin next to the bench.
Those words were the dagger that tore apart her heart and her hopes. However, she needed, no, she had to clarify things with Andrew instead of continuing to harbor false illusions of getting back together with him. As long as she didn’t resolve it, she would think that, at some point in her life, the boy she loved the most would return to her.
But she acted as people expected—she was afraid; who wouldn’t be? The problem was that she acted irresponsibly, damaging in the worst possible way someone she should have cared for as if they were a porcelain doll in her hands.
In a way, Emily knew the answer Andrew would give her and tried to prepare herself; but nothing prepares you for reality. A reality much more painful than she had imagined.
Completely devastated, with no strength left but to cry, she sat on the bench staring at the ground while the drops of cherry ice cream she was holding in her hands melted, staining her thighs.
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Days passed, and Diana had recovered. The first thing she wanted to do was to speak with Andrew face-to-face. Although Andrew had been messaging her every day since he got her number, they hadn't yet discussed their past.
“Andrew, are you free?” Diana asked as she approached his group during recess.
“Yes, let’s go,” he replied, walking away with her while Mike's gaze was fixed on them.
“Since when are these two such good friends?” Johnny said, confused.
“No idea. Do you know anything, Mike?” Oscar asked his friend, shaking his head.
“No,” Mike replied curtly, moving away from them.
Once they found a quiet place with little foot traffic, Andrew returned his part of the necklace.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you,” she said, taking the pendant.
“…”
“…”
“You want me to tell you what I know about these charms, don’t you?” Andrew pointed to the tear-shaped charm hanging from Diana’s necklace and earring.
“Charms?”
“When we were kids, your mother bought this necklace for you,” he began, sitting on a stone wall, with Diana sitting beside him. “You bought it at a temple. Your mother didn’t like these things, but you wanted it because you liked its shape. The monk told you that if you shared it with someone you cared about, both of you would be safe and destined to always find each other. So, you gave me one part and kept the other. I used to travel to the village every summer vacation to be with you. But one summer, you were gone, and the neighbors told me that you had an accident and moved to the city for treatment. Since then, I’ve been searching for you, wondering how you were, but it seems you were right in front of me all along.”
Andrew finished his story, looking at Diana, trying to decipher her thoughts.