Arranged

Chapter-28

"I should have known it would be a Monday."

The way he said it was derisive and filled with contempt – aiming to hurt the person being spoken to without any reference. And Kelly did flinch internally, but she held her expression on the outside. She shrugged her shoulders and said, keeping the quiver out of her tone as much as possible, "It's a national holiday anyway."

Rob snorted and clicked his tongue, and Kelly flinched internally once more. She decided to concentrate on the short glass of tumbler, grasping it gingerly by its stout lip and twirling it, sending ripples through its transparent contents. Her eyes however kept drifting to the band of white gold that the second last finger of his left hand sported, the fingers drumming on the creases in his knuckle. Impatiently, of course. This ring was different from the one they had decided on when they had almost gotten married.

Along with his fingers, his foot began to tap on the bare floor of the cafe and she could feel him shift in his seat, looking anywhere but at her. She was doing the same as well. It seemed natural. Naturally awkward.

Her thoughts were in shambles and she could not arrange the pieces together for however long she tried. It was perhaps the cafe or the lack of crowd around them or the presence of only a couple a table away or just the fact that this was the closest she and Rob had gotten to each other in all this time. She closed her eyes and set about to pick the pieces of her thoughts – she wanted to say something, damn it!

Her attempt was foiled this time by an external factor when a bored waiter arrived at their table and clanged two sets of cups and saucers on the table. Kelly blinked in surprise first at the waiter, who wore an annoyed look with his lips tightly set, and then at Rob.

He answered her before her lips could even part. "I ordered. I knew what you liked, so no harm." He shrugged his shoulders and stirred the contents of his cup once before setting the spoon down and lifting the while porcelain to his mouth. He still refused to make eye contact with her, and she sighed. It was soon beginning to feel like a childish game of some sort, this constant avoidance of looking each other in the eyes. Kelly, now that she had finally looked up at him, took his appearance in.

Rob had rid himself of the longer tresses and instead, cut it short with spikes made out of excess hair gel; not the punk style spiking, rather more homely and it surprisingly made him look more handsome than in all the years she had known him. Not to mention, he had not shaven and there was a line of black stubble that traced the bone structure of his cheeks and his chin. His spectacles had become permanent, it would seem, as the frameless set concealed his gorgeous pair of blue eyes – the ones that had made her fall for him in the first place.

She bit her lower lip and moved her lingering gaze away from him and on her pre-ordered beverage instead. Black stillness reflected her face and she frowned, looking back at him. This time, he did meet her stare and asked curtly, "What?" He set down his cup of milk-containing tea and nodded towards her milk-less cup. "Drink, would you? It's getting cold."

"I don't like black tea," she replied, her lips shrinking in disgust.

"That's absurd. You ordered it that one night. You said you loved it. I remember."

Kelly stared at him first, then at the cup containing the drink she hated the most and her memory cleared to the time he had mentioned.

It had been four years ago, and it had been pouring nonstop for five hours. The streets had flooded and mud from the gardens had overflowed into the asphalt, smaller sticks and branches floating around at will. There was no lightning, thankfully, yet there had been no point in waiting around. So, without umbrellas, the two of them had stepped off the shade of her office building, huddling under her handbag while letting its contents get drenched without a second thought.