Rebel Heart [#1]

NINE - Do you still love him?

I swore to myself I was not coming. Yet, here I am; at the entrance of the café, he asked me to meet him at.

After the other night, I shouldn't even be giving him the time of the day but in honour of the years we were together, I've decided to give him one last chance to explain himself.

Even if it won't change anything.

I make my way through the establishment until I find him sitting down at one of the tables. As if he sensed me, he turns and stands up when he sees me. I don't know if it was out of habit or to affect me but he leans down and almost kisses me on the lips. Fortunately, I react on time and turn my head to the side so he ends up kissing me on the cheek.

His body tenses at my reaction and the hand that he had positioned on the small of my back falls to his side. I take the hint to sit down in front of him, across the table. The more distance, the better for me.

He can't break my heart and keep trying to crawl back into it just to be able to break it again in the future.

"What do we need to talk about?" I go straight to the point.

"I want to apologize, Mel. I had enough time to think about you and us and I regret breaking up with you, we were together for so long, I can't delete that. I want you to know that I still love you and I want to know what I can do to get you back." He reaches for my hand but I recoil it, not giving him a chance to touch me.

"I had enough time to think too, during all of these months. The way you broke up with me was not nice, leaving me to endure the loss of you in a period I had to go through by myself. If those five years had meant something to you, you would have called to check up on me, knowing I'd be drowning. But that's fine, we were broken up — you didn't owe me anything else," I pause, trying to organize my thoughts. "But cheating on me for months and not coming clean? Worse, making me feel guilty about not giving you enough when in reality you were getting it double? There's nothing you can do about it. There's no way back."

"But-"

"John, I've grieved for our relationship and I made my peace with it. You broke up with me because you thought I wasn't enough for you, but it's fine because I realized that you're not enough for me either. I deserve more."

"No, wait a minute!" He frowns. "Are you doing this because of that punk? It's him isn't it?"

His voice raises a few octaves but I keep my unaffected stance.

Only him to think I'd be doing something like this because of another man.

"It isn't," I admit. "But even if it was, it's none of your business."

"Oh, I thought you were at training?" A feminine voice chimes in.

I was so engrossed in our talk that I didn't notice the girl that had approached us — the same girl from the club.