𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜. - 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚐

his new one.

Hudson Street is calm. West Village is the best neighborhood in Manhattan: houses everywhere, markets and drugstores in every corner. My car looks ugly close to these cars parked next to these beautiful mansions. Even the dogs look cooler in this neighborhood.

Andy looks nervous to talk to Joanna again. To be honest, I would be too. I park my car next to this beige house with two cars parked in the garage. I can see Andy getting nervous on the passenger seat.

"You can do this." I lean my hand on his left thigh. He looks at me and shows the saddest smile I've ever seen on his face.

"You're coming with me." he says, opening the door.

"What?" I ask, quite shocked.

"I can't go back home with my ex in it." he says, like if that was obvious.

"And I can't go to your old house with your ex in it as your new one."

"Are you my new one?" he questions, hoping that it's true.

"She's gonna assume. I just don't want to be between you two." I say, avoiding the question. I can't answer that.

He looks a bit disappointed after dodging his question, but at the end, I give up and decide to go with him. All the way here, Andy kept talking about finding a new place to live now that his engagement is over, but he could just get a place in less than 24hs. Thank God he didn't ask me if he could move in with me. That's way too soon.

Even though, I kinda want him to ask me that.

Andy gets to the front door and for a moment, raises his hand to knock on the door. He takes a deep breath, like if that was the hardest thing he ever did, and the most hurtful thing to handle. He looks at the garage and checks something. Her car is in there. Joanna's home. He opens the door, to reveal a well-designed interior, nice furniture, and pictures everywhere. His footsteps are muffled by the carpet.

Joanna is sitting on the stool in front of the counter in her kitchen. Her laptop is on and a mug with a steamy drink is by her side. She wears a pair of joggers and a plain black shirt. Her eyes go from the laptop screen to Andy and a huge yellow smile appears on her face. The dark circles under her eyes show that she didn't have much sleep last night. She was waiting for him.

I'm still outside, gathering the will to get in and face her.

"I was so worried 'bout you. Where have you been?" she asks, walking towards him. She hugs him, but he doesn't hug her back. She buries her face on his neck.

"I'm here to get my stuff. I'm already leaving." Andy says, horribly cold.

"I know we both said things we didn't mean. I can be first to apologize." she says quite desperate.

"I meant every word I said." Andy looks hurt, by the tone of his speech.

I step in and she can't see me yet. I hide behind this wall covered in paintings of unknown artists. I listen to her crying and, I can say with certainty, that she's hurt even more than him. The sound when she cries look like she's having an allergy attack. I can't see anything, so I keep imaging what Andy is doing right now.

"I won't let you go. This is our home." she mumbles, and I listen to their footsteps getting far away.

He is actually leaving her. They seemed so happy weeks ago, and now, everything fell apart for them. Did she lie to him? Did she cheat on him? Did she hide something from him? I'm hiding this from him...