HIDE AND SEEK

CHAPTER 19

I find Anna a good pretender since then, she can wear a mask that no one can notice. She never gets mad at me, annoyed, or shows signs of sadness on her face every time we are together. She always wears a smile on her face and acts happily, but I know deep inside her, that she also has feelings that hurt her too that she doesn't want to talk to or even show me. She is always comforting me but does she ever ask me to comfort her?

I waited for her until she came down and we walked out of the apartment together. She still teases me about what I looked like this morning until we separated ways.

After Anna and I talked about going back to our hometown at her clinic, I started my plans on proposing to her to be my girlfriend. When I knew that she had her boyfriend, I stopped my fantasies and decided to throw all my plans in the trash. But there is something that stops me from dumping it.

I started to distance myself from her. I visit her seldom at the clinic or the café and I frequently text or call her. I also limit our hangouts. I don't want her boyfriend to get jealous of me and cause a misunderstanding between the two. She finds it weird so she asked me if there is something wrong. And all I could say is that I'm kind of busy at work even if I'm not.

If I remember correctly, Anna did the same when I dated Stephanie for the first time. She also limited our meetings and let me spend them with Steph instead of her. Did she feel the same thing before? Alone and in pain? Why did I think of it just now?

It's almost a month since I started to distance myself from her, I'm kind of used to it. Sometimes if I have extra time, I visit their café once in a while. I also took Brandon from the clinic so I can take care of him in my apartment. I'm busy busting out my table in the office when I receive a text message from Anna.

She is asking me if I know what I'm going to do on my day off, I wonder why she suddenly asked me. Then I read her next message, asking if she can visit me in my apartment. I kind of miss her and we are not going out that much, so maybe, I can see her for once. I replied and sent her my apartment address and the day that she can visit me.

The time passed quickly, and it was already the day I asked Anna to come. I'm preparing snacks and drinks for us when Brandon suddenly approaches the door and wags his tail while he barks. A little while later, I heard a soft knock at my door.

When I opened it, a woman who had long black hair and was wearing a black top with a hood with her ripped black pants was standing before me. "Hi!" She greeted me with a big smile on her face. "Hi, Anna! Come in," when she walked past me, I smelled her sweet lavender scent.

Once Brandon saw her, he immediately jumped on her and gave her a lot of kisses, or let's just say he licked her face many times. I'm kind of envious of him, at least he can still do that, not like me.

We both settled down on the couch while Brandon rested on her lap. "How are you these days, Kyle?" She asked me this question many times but I always gave her the same answer. "I'm doing great. Thanks for asking," I smiled at her. That's true, I'm fine now after I realize to myself that it's time to move on and give up my feelings for her to make her happy.

But of course, I'm not as good as her at pretending. She gave me this not convinced look on her face. "Are you sure? I'm worried about you, Kyle. I never heard anything much from you these past few weeks. You know that if there is something you want to talk about you know I'm always here for you, right?"

I wish I could say this thing to you, about my feelings for you, I already did a long time ago if you don't have your special someone. I don't want to build any confusion and mess with your happy life.

"Yeah, thanks," we try to catch up on what happened to us these past few weeks and my reasoning is I'm busy at work, I even used the business trip to be my reason just to lessen our contact.

"You seem busy, huh?" She said with disappointment in her voice. "Here take this," she handed me a small brown and white envelope with my name written on it, "this Sunday is the cafe's 2nd anniversary. There were a few people who were invited to the celebration. You know me, I hate crowded places or even parties," she chuckles.

Yeah, she never attended any social activities in our school back then because she was shy and she doesn't want to socialize that much because she knows that they will be awkward afterward. And she's an introvert, she's quiet when you first meet her but you will know her true personality once you are always with her.

Most of the time, she only reads books at home, plays with her phone, or plays with me. "If you can, please celebrate with us," she looked at me with hope in her eyes and wore her warm and gentle smile.

Not so long, she said her goodbyes and left. I'm not sure if I should go. What if her boyfriend was there? This is obvious because she owns the shop, and of course, her boyfriend will be there. But I also want to meet him and see if he is worthy to be with her because if he's a jerk, I'll think of a way to break them up even if Anna hates me for that.

Since the theme of the celebration is brown and white, just like the decoration in the café, I wore my chocolate brown coat over a white long-sleeve polo with a darker shade of brown for my pants and brown leather shoes.