SECOND CHANCE

I had a perfect life. I had achieved everything I wished and everything was completely going the way I wanted it to go. I had a very stable career, good health, loving families and friends and most of all, a perfect love. After spending many intimate moments with the wrong ones, I finally ended with my Mr. Right, Sam, my current boy friend.

But what would you do if you accidentally bumped into your ex-boy friend amidst the crowded street on a busy day?

Here’s the scenario, I was with Sam, walking along the street packed with mixed people after work to find a place where we could share our dinner together. I initially grabbed his hand as we continued to saunter. He put his arm around my shoulder as I wrapped my arm around his waist. We were so focused on each other that world around us blurred like felt tip pen on a wet piece of paper. It was simply romantic. Then suddenly, someone unintentionally hit me hard on the shoulder and I stopped walking.

“Ouch!” I shouted as I removed my hand from Sam’s waist and placed it to my hit shoulder.

“What’s your problem, Pare!” Sam reckoned as he turned to the guy who hit me.

“Its okay, Sam” I told him.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…” said the familiar voice coming from the guy.

“No worries, I feel fine.” I said as I turned around to face the guy who bumped me. And to my surprise, I saw the person I least expected to meet on a busy street. It was Red, my ex-boyfriend. I was stunned seeing him standing in front of me.

And as our eyes locked up, the world around us suddenly vanished in an infinite darkness. Only I and Red were left in the dark. I was four-foot away from his place as we both stood motionless in a little spotlight over us. I felt the world was revolving so fast as we continued to stare at each other and suddenly gave me a motion sickness.

“Are you okay?” Sam’s voice just brought me back to my senses.

“I’m… I’m great actually!” I replied as I nodded without looking Sam because my gaze was still frozen at Red.

“I’m definitely fine!” I told him, now looking at Sam, making a fake smile, held his left arm and invited him to leave the place.

“I’m sorry Trish!” Red uttered as he tried to follow me.

I dragged Sam faster into the crowd so that Red would not be able to catch us up. I knew Sam had already realized that the guy who bumped me accidentally was Red.

Sam walked me home that night. It would give him a peace of mind to know that I had reached home safe and Red had not followed me. And he ensured that I was okay.

I thanked him for accompanying me up to my house. I even invited him to have some coffee inside but he refused. He told me to take a rest instead after what had happened in the road a while ago.

He knew about Red by stories but he never really met him by face. But I could read on his face that he was feeling jealous. And he never questioned me for anything as we walked home. He just stayed quiet. I knew in my heart that he wanted to talk about it but he never did. He knew how I had loved my ex-boyfriend. He witnessed those times I cried when I and red broke up. He became my shoulder to cry on during those moments I was seeking for comfort. He was my punching bag in times I needed to release my frustrations toward my broken relationship with Red.

He held my hands so tight and spared them a long comforting kiss. I knew he was still bothered by the incident, and I could see how afraid he was to lose me in his life. I held his cheeks, lifted his face to gaze me and gave him a passionate kiss. Then, I stared at him for a while and smiled to assure him that everything would be alright. He understood what I meant by that and I got a sweet smile from him. He hugged me so close and bade me goodbye after.

I stayed outside for more minutes and watched Sam as he left me until he disappeared from my sight.

Afterward, I decided to go inside to give myself a good rest for the night.

The next morning, I woke up feeling uneasy. I looked at the clock and it read 7:30 am, I struggled to get up from my bed and hit the shower. I would be late for sure, but still, I was not in a hurry to prepare myself for work. I stayed a minute longer under the shower and let myself totally soaked. My thoughts then wondered again to the unexpected incident yesterday. Why did it affect me that much? I knew I had moved on already and I loved Sam so much now. But I couldn’t help myself not to think about Red. The way he looked at me yesterday was so unexplainable. I couldn’t even feel the anger I once felt when he left me. What if we met not on the busy street, full of mixed people but on a serene and cozy place? Would there be something good to happen between us? Honestly, I wanted to taste again his cherry lips. How I wish I could experience again the exhilarating bliss it rendered…

My mind kept wonder and wonder but it was diverted again into reality when my mobile rang. I realized that I was still in the shower. So I immediately got off the shower, took a towel to dry myself and got dressed for my work. After that, I held my mobile and checked who texted me. Sam had sent me a text message and he wanted to pick me up later after work and had dinner together. I didn’t reply to his message until I reached my office.

I received around 20 missed calls from Sam when I checked my mobile. I didn’t know why i hadn’t heard it ringing. My mind was not really in a state of functioning properly. I was not in the mood to work today. I kept on thinking about Red. Did I really move on? Or was I just fooling myself that i did?

As I continued to ask these questions to myself, I remembered the moment that Red and I was breaking up. It was his birthday that time and we were dinning in a fancy restaurant to celebrate his big day. We were so intimate and we spent a dinner for two with white champagne all over and a romantic music background. He even invited me to dance, never knowing that it would be my last dance with him.
In the dance floor, we glided and glided so graceful until the music died. How I wished it didn’t end, because it was the beginning of our broken relationship. He held me close to him and whispered into my ear that he was breaking up with me. I laughed at first and asked him if that was a joke. He looked at me straight in the eye and just shook his head.

It broke my heart. Tears fell from my eyes. My mind got blank. As if my world was tearing apart. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t bear the pain. It’s killing me inside…

Out of control, i slapped him so hard and didn’t even utter a single word. Then, I turned away from him and ran outside the place. I knew he didn’t even bother to follow me that moment.

It was raining hard but I didn’t mind it at all. Instead I kept on running away from that place until I reached the waiting shed. I was so confused and soaking wet. I took a seat and waited for a bus or cab, unfortunately, I didn’t catch any that night. And there, I sobbed harder than ever. I felt so cold and lonely…

I heard footsteps. But I didn’t even bother to look who came to share with me the shed. I kept on crying but I knew someone was in front of me. To my surprise, a guy just had handed me his white handkerchief. I stopped crying for a while and lifted my gaze to face the guy. There I met Sam. he was wearing his khaki jeans and white long sleeves that suited his angelic face. He came at the right time when I really needed someone to rely on. He just listened to me that moment. We were totally strangers. I was so vulnerable that time but he never took advantage of me. He was a perfect gentleman.

After that moment, Red didn’t communicate with me. I guessed he totally ended our relationship. I hadn’t heard anything from him except that he went abroad with his ex-fiancé. It hurt so much losing the one you had love so much. But there was an old saying that when you lose someone, there comes a better one. I guessed that what had happen to me. I lost Red but there came Sam.

He came into my life at the very right time. He was a stranger who became a good friend for almost a year. We got along fine. We always met up after work to have a dinner together and updated each other’s happenings. He was never tired of listening to my mushy stories about the heart breaks and heart aches. Somehow, he helped me coped up with my life. He helped me fixed my broken soul and brought back my shuttered world and made it a better one by loving me unconditionally.

“Hey, Trish, are you okay? You seemed not well” Nimfa asked me as she distracted my deep sentiments and diverted my thought back to reality.

“Yeah… never been better…” I looked at her, wide eyes and nodded.

“Indeed you are my dear. Meet me for lunch and we’ll have a little chitchat about it.” she replied while tapping me on my shoulder and left me.

“By the way, Sam called many times, asking for you. Give him a call okay?” she continued as she headed her way to her desk.

She really knew what words to choose to uplift me and I was in mind-trouble. By the way, Nimfa was my best friend. We’ve been friends since college and we even tried to have the same company to work on after graduation. And we did.

At lunch time, I and Nimfa met at the canteen. We ordered our lunch first at the counter and went to the empty table after paying our dues. As we sit, we placed our trays on the table. She just stared at me, waiting for me to start the conversation.

“So what is this all about then?”” she started impatiently.

“Nothing!” I rapidly responded, dodging her glances.

“I know something’s bothering you, you met him already?”

“Huh? Is there something I should know?” I asked confusedly.

“Oopppssss! Sorry! Nothing!”

“You know Red is here?”

“Uh-uh,,, Yeah!” she answered in a low voice.

“Why you didn’t tell me?” my pitch was starting to get high.

“I think you don’t need to know.”

“And why so?”

“You have Sam already. And I know you’re happy with him.” She replied.

I kept quiet after hearing those words from her. She was absolutely right. I had Sam now, and I should not mind about Red. But I couldn’t help not to.

“I met him already. No, he accidentally bumped me yesterday on the busy street.” I broke the silence now.

“Yeah, I know, he already told me yesterday. He called me actually.”

“And you didn’t… grrr!!!”

“I didn’t want you to get confused that’s why I didn’t tell you”

“Confuse for what?”

“Don’t you see yourself now? You’re telling me you’re okay but the truth is you’re not!”

“Maybe you’re just over reacting” I defended myself from her accusations.

She just looked at me. She didn’t say anything. I knew she was right about me. I was just convincing myself that I was okay, but the truth was, I was too much affected when I met Red accidentally on the road. No matter how I convinced myself that I had already moved on, I couldn’t faced the fact that I still had this feeling for him.

“Do you believe in the old cliché, that when you love someone, you have to set him free, and if he comes back, you’re meant to be?” out of nowhere I asked Nimfa.

“I’ll ask you the same question, do you believe on that?” she asked.

I didn’t answer her. I just stared at her, trying to read her reaction from her face. But she was just looking straight at me. I knew, she was also thinking deeply about my situation.

“If you do believe on that, meet Red. Gosh! I should not be saying this. It will make your life complicated more.” She told me.

“He keeps on calling me, asking for you number or your address. I don’t want to give him the details, but the way I see it right now. I know you wanted to talk to him. Think about it seriously, Trish, and be mature on the decision that you’ll gonna take.” She told me in a serious tone while she was handing me a folded paper she got from her purse. Then, she stood up and left.

I looked at the paper for a long time. And thought about the question I casted to Nimfa a while ago. What if he came back to fix what he had broken. And to continue the love he ended before. What if we were really meant for each other? What if this was the second we were waiting for our love to work out? Do I have to let it pass then?

I reached for the paper and unfolded it. My hearts beat so fast. i didn’t really know what i was thinking then. i didn’t want to open it but i had no control against myself at that very moment. My hands were shaking while unfolding the paper. Then, i started to read what was written on it.

It was Nimfa’s penmanship, I could tell by the way the words were being written. I guessed she wrote the message that Red wanted to say to me. He wanted me to meet him on wednesday, which was tomorrow at the park around six o’clock in the afternoon.

I thought about it the whole day. I even forgot to call or message Sam because my mind was ocupied by the thought of meeting Red. I didn’t even remember that he would gonna meet me after work and walked me home.

I went home early today, not realizing that Sam would be waiting for me outside my office. And I didn’t even bother to call him for that matter. I Knew, I was bad for that, but you would never thought of it when you were caught up a complicated situation like this. I knew, it was not really complicated, I was the one making it complicated actually. I could choose now to end everything, but the thing was, it was very hard to make a simple decision. Because a simple decision for this matter would change everything; as in a total change for my life.

I reached home and I was feeling so tired. I headed straight to my room, dropped my bag near to the bed side and laid my back on the bed restlessly. I stared blankly at the ceiling while scrutinizing about the Red’s note earlier. Suddenly, my phone rang. I was too lazy to get up from the bed, so what i did was, extended my left arm to reach my bag and got my phone inside it. It was Sam, who was making my phone ringing. I just looked at it until it rang off. Then, I received a message. I open the message and it said,

“Whatever decisions you’ll gonna make, I will respect it. I’ll just give you the space you wanted for now.” a message from Sam.

With that, I had made a decision. I would going to meet Red. Maybe, this was the time that I had been waiting for both of us. Maybe this time, we could work it out.

The next morning, I went early to the office. Somehow, I was feeling okay. I was in a mood to work. And actually, I had finished all my pending works for today. After work, I went to the place where I was going to meet up Red.

He was already there, sitting on one of the benches at the park. When he saw me, he immediately stood up and walked near me. He tried to give me a friendly kiss but i refused. Instead, I walked past him and headed straight toward the bench and sit on it. He followed my lead nad sit beside me.

“Thanks for coming today.” he started.

“Why did you come back into my life?” i replied instead.

“I wanted to fix what I left behind that time”

“I’m okay now, can you see? Im happy with Sam already.”

“I still love you!” he said.

“And why did you leave me then?”

“I thought I love Lisa more than you. But when we both reached California, I realized it was you that I love.” he uttered.

“I broke up with her and tried to contact you. But i think you changed you number then and so does Nimfa. tha’s why I hadn’t any communication with you.” he continued.

“Why would I believe you now?”

“I know you would not believe me about this but that’s the truth. I’m still in love with you, Trisha.”

I couldn’t stand this any longer. It seemed my heart wanted to burst. What if everything he was telling me now were all true. What if, this was the moment I had been waiting for. Maybe, this was another chance to continue what we had left behind. I kept on scrutinizing the situation. I couldn’t bear to hear another sweet word from him. Because, if I did listen one more of his sweet words, I would going to fall for him again.
I really couldn’t take it so I stood up. And started to walk away from him. But he was behind me, immediately got hold of my right hand and pulled me back. I stopped for a minute, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My heart was beating so rapidly. I was so confused. I didn’t really know what I was feeling at this very moment. I knew I still loved him and I was so delighted to finally see him again. I had waited patiently for this day that he would come again in my life and held my hand so tight.

I missed his touched. The way his hand touched my hand, it suddenly brought back the emotion I once invested on him. I didn’t realized that my cheeks were already wet with my tears when I opened my eyes again. He was still holding my right hand so firmly. My heart was telling me to face him and spare a tight embrace around his neck. I couldn’t suppress what my heart was telling me. I didn’t have the strength actually to fight what my stupid heart really wanted.

I decided to eventually face him while he was still holding my right hand. Then, I looked at his angelic face and straight at his big almond shaped brown eyes. I started to lift my right hand slowly. When it was almost leveled to my chest, I suddenly swayed it downward with force, so as to remove his firmed grip in my hand. I slowly took some few steps backward away from from him. But my gaze was still upon him, just like giving myself a chance to see him for the last time as a bid him goodbye.

“Make me your world again!” Red shouted. when a was around 6 steps away from him

I suddenly stopped taking steps upon hearing him. I stared at him for quite a long time and started to say something.

“Honestly, no one had replaced you. You’re still my world, Red.” I told him

“I’ve waited for this moment to come. That you’re in front of me, saying sweet words like you used to do…” I paused.

“I’ve realized that i still loved you, and you’re my only world… but… things are different now. I’ve realized also… that i… love… Sam more… and he’s my universe now.” I said to Red confidently.

Then, I turned my back at him and started to walk away. In an instant, i felt light inside. I took a deep breath and I smiled. The emotional burden inside me has finally vanished from my heart. I felt free at last from the shadows of my past.

“Don’t you want to take a second chance with me? What if you and I were really meant for each other?” he pressed insistently.

I stopped walking hearing those words from him. I turned to see him again and walked toward him. I held his hand so tight and said to him in a low voice…

“I want to take that second chance… not with you… but with SAM!”

This time, i really walked away from him. I never looked back. I continued walking away from. He kept on calling my name, begging me to come back with him. Then, I smiled, got the phone on my purse and dialed Sam’s number. It was ringing and he answered.

“Hello?” he said

“Hey, it’s me!” I replied.

He didn’t answer. He kept quiet when he heard my voice. I guessed he was waiting for me to say something sensible. So, I didn’t waste the time and started to tell him the things I wanted to say to him.

“I know you’re mad at me for not answering your calls nor replying to your messages… and I’m so sorry for that… sincerely… I’ve just realized that… from all that i have been through these past days… It was you that I wanted to take that second chance… not with Red.. but with YOU… and I hope you will let me take it with you?”

He still didn’t answer. I kept quiet as well, waiting for him to say something. Then,

“Is that all you can say?” he said.

“I’m glad you wanted to take that chance with me” he continued.

I was so happy. I was in tears when he accepted my apology. I knew from that moment, he was the one I wanted to spend forever with…


by: Bhelat23