Until July *COMPLETED*

Chapter IX

The fact that another boy was that close to Briella did not sit all that well with Ryan...

"So, what's your number?" Briella ejected Ryan out of his trance.

"Hmm?".

"What's your number?".

"My number?... Ah right, here...". Ryan moved Briella's phone closer to him before typing in his phone number and dialling himself. Seconds pass before his phone began ringing. "Perfect. There you go.".

"Thank you, Ryan..." Briella said as she backed out and onto the home screen. The photo of both Dylan and Briella once again lit up the screen.

Unintentionally, Ryan stared at the picture.

He took in a deep breath as if he was about to begin talking but immediately kicked himself for doing so.

What's worse was that Briella noticed his action.

"Is everything okay? Were you about to say something, Ryan?" she asked.

He could have straight-up denied her and told her no, but instead, he blurted out. "Well, I was about to ask you something, but never mind it now...". He widened his eyes at his poor choice of words.

"Ahhh, you are leaving me on a cliffhanger. Tell me, what is it you wanted to ask me?" Briella responded with a small smile.

'I can't back out now, can I?' Ryan thought to himself. "You sure? I have a fairly good grasp of the fact that you don't like it when people have their finger in every pie..." Ryan trailed off, to which Briella replied by raising an eyebrow. It was his words that caused such a reaction to occur.

"When people have their finger in every what?-".

"I believe it means when others don't mind their own business..." Ryan spoke out with a raised brow, having his hand on his chin.

'You believe?... Shouldn't you use saying that you know what the mean??' Briella questioned herself as she only became more confused. "Anyway... what was it you wanted to ask me?".

Suddenly, the lightened atmosphere that briefly took its place between Briella and Ryan changed with the click of a finger. The comfort that was there slowly began to slip away.

"Well..." Ryan began before looking back down at Briella's phone. "Is that your boyfriend?" he inquired, referring to the wallpaper.

The question took Briella by surprise. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as the small smile that was once present on her lips, now neutralized out into a slight frown.

She took in a deep breath. "He... was my boyfriend...".

"Was?... did you break up with him?".

"No. He broke up with me... " Briella corrected him. "He broke up with me over the phone...". She inhaled in another deep breath as if it was her energy recharge to continue her rant. "And that's what hurt, and still hurts me the most. The fact that he didn't have enough decency to break up with me face-to-face.". Silence followed.

Ryan continued to look at Briella, her eyes were concentrated on something, somewhere other than him.

He thought over her words, slowly, everything began to make sense...

"I am sorry to hear about your break-up," he began. "But I can reassure you, you will find someone. Someone better, someone worthy of your love.".

Briella felt some sort of fascination with his words. Mainly because she believed it to be otherwise.

But she disregarded his words. Instead, she asked, "were you ever in love?".

Ryan replied with a smile before nodding. "I was in love, yes... and saying that I still am... It would ruin my chances of getting myself a partner soon, or so I think of it that way.".