26 min 59 sec | English Short Story

03:27

Her

"Hey," I could feel a slight movement on the bed I was sleeping on and instantly made my previously closed eyes open slowly.

"You look not so good." A woman who came without me hearing any sound for her arrival in my room—except for the slight movement of my bed as she sat on it. My eyes glanced at her who was taking the magazine on the nightstand beside my bed and then lay down beside me while opening the magazine. "Are you not getting better?" She asked as she flipped through the pages of the magazine while glancing at me every now and then.

I didn't intend to open my voice with her question just now and keep silently stared at the ceiling of my room.

"Did something happen? Last night you cried. I can hear it from my room." Well, this woman lives in the same house as me which she can definitely hear because our rooms are opposite each other. "Since a few days ago, I saw that you were unfocused. And last night I think your peak was crying, I didn't even dare to open your door, I think you need time." She put back the magazine which she had only been flipping through page after page, and now her hand was reaching for my right hand to grip it.

Her grip that seemed to send positive energy made me glance at her who now slightly widened her eyes after seeing my swollen eyes. "Holy Moly! Your eyes, tsk tsk," she commented.

"I've broken up with him." My tears flowed in a hoarse voice that I tried so hard to expel, resulting in pain in my throat.

I could see she didn't blink after I said my first words, she just looked at me expressionlessly, I could tell she was surprised.

"He said I can do whatever I want, and we broke up, and I'm crying all night long, and... I don't know. I've broken into pieces I guess." Both of my palms raised to cover my face when I couldn't continue my words and started crying again, it still hurts remembering him like he didn't care at all yesterday, even he didn't ask me the slightest excuse and accepted it easily.

"Why? Did you decide to give up? After all, that went well for these 3 years and you want to give up?" Her question actually made my heart sting even more, I was still crying behind my palms like I wanted to spend all the pain but I knew this would never go away. It will be quite hard.

"I'm just trying to understand that this isn't going to last forever, it's only temporary," I whispered with the sound of my sobs.

"Let me ask, does your heart really want to break up with him?" Now her voice sounded very low and careful because I was already crying out of breath.

"I have done what my heart didn't want. Cause if I following my heart, it'll always lead me back to him. And I don't want to make him unhappy with that." I pulled the tissue box that was beside me and wiped the tears that were running down my face, after sniffling again.

"How do you know if he's unhappy?"

That question brought my memory back to the day I saw his other laugh. After days of indecision about my relationship with that guy, I finally saw something that prompted me that it was a good thing to end it.

"A few days ago I saw him with another woman, and he seemed to be laughing out loud. He never even did that when he was with me, he was happy with that woman, I could see it." Seeing a scene like that yesterday, actually made my heart hurt. "From the beginning, it was I... who offered this relationship to him, and that's true if he's not a part of ours. He didn't promise me anything and I had no right to demand anything from him, like asking him to love me back. Because just being with him should make me feel happy, even though it's not enough to build a stronger relationship because the foundation is only me." I looked up at the ceiling and occasionally closed my teary eyes.

"And are you sure that after the thousands of days you've been through, he doesn't feel anything for you? He doesn't have any plans for you?"

"Um, when my stomach got hurt a few days ago I called him from my office, I meant maybe he could take me to the doctor but he didn't reply to my messages and didn't even call me back until that night I found him having dinner with another woman and his face looked so happy."

"I feel like I've come to the end of my consciousness, that I'm done with all the dreams that I've made up alone. If I don't end it, then I will keep dreaming and he can't reach his own dream."

"However, you also have to hear from him, if you just act from your own self that means you are the one who is selfish. Because regardless of the outcome, he still has the right to speak from his own side, and you should hear about that." Now the woman turned around to face me.

"He's even agreed to this breakup because he was never a part of it," I whispered and turned to look at the woman who was now looking at me with exasperation.

"If you keep perceiving alone, then you will never get any answers from him. You won't know that it's not only you who is sick alone, it's not only you who fall in love alone, and enjoy everything alone. How do you know if you don't ask at all? Maybe it's all on him too." I can hear her voice a little shrill. "Remember, heart is a complicated place. If you really want your heart to work, don't let what's in your brain interfere or give you the slightest bit of advice."

"But he deserves a happy ending of his own." I still stare with a languid gaze until that woman occasionally wipes my tears with the tissue she reaches in the box.

"Both of you deserve a happy ending, Darling."

"I still love him. How can I mend this broken heart?" I hugged the woman beside me and cried again, I hope this is the last time I cry.

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Flashback, on the other side.

"I thought it was winter here." A woman sitting opposite a guy is taking her cup of coffee to drink.

"It's always cold here at night." That guy also drank coffee in his cup.

"So, how's the woman? Why didn't you ask her to come to pick me up?" That woman put her coffee cup back on the table and moved her head towards the guy in front of her.

"I've forgotten my phone, later I will bring her to you when the time is right." He flashed a crooked smile.

"Eiiiyyy, I can't wait to meet a woman who can turn you into this. She must be really pretty, right?" That woman raised her eyebrows as if teasing the guy in front of her.

"All I can say, she has a beautiful soul, a beautiful heart." That guy smiled even more as he said those words.

"Ahh, you're in love, apparently!" her chuckle also made that guy's laugh escape. The woman in front of him groaned happily and clapped her hands happily while cheering, making several people turn their heads towards them.

They laughed happily that night, not realizing that another woman was watching them from a distance.

__

"The couple were worried and hurt. They made decisions that had to be made and grew more mature by themselves... or even together?"