Promise Her The Moon #4 -END

Palette - end
8 Months after her wedding...
.
She walks into her favorite chocolatier with her hopes up. She can imagine his favorite opera cake sitting on their small dining table. She can picture how his perfect teeth would turn brown, so that she can clean it up with millions of kisses. Slow kisses. Sexy kisses.

" Hi!" called a familiar voice. He tapped her shoulder rythmically.
She spontantly blanks out.
"Can't believe we meet here!" He continues with that misleading tone and ambiguous smile of his.
She can't gather her minds. She just gawks with her mouth open.
"Sorry I couldn't come to your wedding. I was just..." He stops.
Not finishing his sentences is just his specialty. He seemed to love doing it, so that the other person could fill in the gap and misunderstood completely. At least, that's what she assumed.

"Ah.. no problem.." she is finally able to answer after she regains her consciousness, "How are you doing?" she continues.
"Not okay," He laughs awkwardly.
"What happened?" She asks--- only out of courtesy.
"You happened, " He answers with a one-sided smirk. "You left me and got married", he says.
"Wh-WHAT??" She can not hide how surprise she is hearing that nonsense.
"Just kidding," he laughs again. "I'm getting married", he continues abritrary.
Well that escalated quickly, didn't it? She whispers to herself.

She contemplates a bit about how she should respond. She naturally feels that she needs closure with this guy. She hates not having everything out in the open. She also hates playing games like this. They might never see each other anymore, so what is there to lose to talk and discuss about what happened in the past? She is already married, and he is getting married anyway. So.... it's a win-win,  really.... at least for her.

"Let's sit a bit and chat," she tells him.
Surprisingly, he agrees.
.
They sit in the outermost table near the door looking out to the shop's veranda.
"How is married life?" he opens the conversation.
"Lovely actually, much better than I expected," she answers honestly.
"What did you expect, really?" he replies.
You're not the one who is supposed to be asking questions here, she thinks to herself.
"Well.. like you probably has figured out.. At that time, I expect YOU would do something... so I never thought I would end up marrying my hubby. But, thanks to you I have a perfect husband, " she answers cynically. And she follows through with a plain laugh.
He looks a bit startled. "I know," he said.

He knows and he did all that push-and-pull thing with me. He knows, and yet he never, not even once, tried to settle things with me, she thinks angrily.

"I was about to ask you out, but then I changed my mind... You're too good of a friend, and I wasn't ready to move on so I didn't want to hurt you," he continues,

She just scoffs because she cannot believe what she hears.
Well, you should at least tell me the situation. You should at least try and make everything clear. But no, you chose to keep me hanging. You chose to keep me as one of your spare. She almost blurts everything out, but she knows better. None of it is of any use.

"You know who I'm trying to move on from right? I told you everything about her. If not because of time, I would probably couldn't even propose to my current fiancee. Even until now I still remember her. She left me with a deep scar and it's not easy to get out of that scar. I was trying to move closer to you, but then I didn't. And then you got married and I thought I should probably got married too. And so my friend introduced me to a girl, and I took a leap of faith. I told myself I'd just see where things go. And so we dated a few months. Then, I am where I am," he said.

What a douche, she smirks unconsciously.

"Well.. there's no use talking about it now. We're both heading to our own happy marriage. At least I know I am. And I hope you would too," she tells him. She gets out of her chair, purchase her opera cake, and wave him goodbye. Forever,
.
On her way home, she just feels so glad that everything with him is over. She is relieved that she picked her husband over that man.
If I married him, then I would probably be just like his fiancee.. An alternative of another woman. A back up plan. She feels sorry for the girl. She can't imagine getting into a marriage with that mindset-- not fully loving your spouse.
At least I know that he views a marriage only as a status. He married someone he is not in love with. He married someone because it is time to get married. I can't imagine being married to that kind of man. I can't imagine committing to someone without giving all my heart for them. I can't imagine having loose ends like that and decide to marry a girl. Isn't that too cruel? What does he think of his wife? A trophy? she mumbles.
But then that's it. She has nothing to do with him anymore. She is fine. She is married to a loving and honorable man. She is in love and her heart is throbbing with excitement. She is glad. She has completed her painting and she has thrown away the palette.

THE END.