Before You Say Goodbye

CHP 39: THE SHARED AGONY!

Two missed calls, ten text messages, fifteen Chatpad messages, and one Voice note later. Oliver had sent it all to enquire about Cheryl. But, it had been a week since they had properly spoken and she had almost been ignoring him. She used to arrive exactly on time for the lectures, be with Felix and leave immediately after the lectures were done with. And as the internships were nearing, everyone got busy with their own stuff; preparing for interviews, studying for the finals, and packing, and hence, Oliver couldn't really keep chasing Cheryl and kept showing up at her place to have a conversation.
Oliver, though an extremely rich dad's rich son, born and brought up in literally a perfect house, fed with diamond spoons, worked very hard to get an internship. He didn't want to get his father's money without working at all and just getting everything despite him doing nothing. He wanted to have an experience of working and wanted to be capable enough of bearing his own expenses. Even though he had a very busy and hectic schedule, he noticed how Cheryl was getting distant from him, how she kept looking for excuses to avoid meeting him.
Whenever they met in the class or the canteen and Oliver asked her where she had been lately and why wasn't she replying to his texts, Cheryl always used to say that she was busy with the internship work and that she had no access to social media lately. Apart from ignoring, Cheryl also used to taunt him at times saying that she was with Felix and that OLIVER could go with Jennifer anytime he wanted!
Oliver was confused. At first, he thought that he'd been too early to have kissed Cheryl, and maybe that's why she was upset or behaving weirdly. And hence, he gave her time to process it and didn't stress much about meeting her or talking to her too much. But this was taking a very long time and Cheryl showed no intentions of even replying to him. Even so, he tried to remain as calm as possible and try to put all the pieces together. Oliver had started to accept that there was no way now that he was going to confess to Cheryl who had been ignoring him for the longest time. Instead, Oliver had started to think that Felix and Cheryl were in a relationship or at least they liked each other since they were spending all their time together and that HE himself should just wish them happiness and not force Cheryl. Because in the end, all that mattered to Oliver was Cheryl's happiness, no matter whom it was with. He decided that he has to move on. But before that, he MUST talk to Cheryl.

"Hey? Busy? Can you meet me in the canteen right now? It's urgent" texted Oliver to Jennifer. He asked for Jennifer because for now, she was the only one in the group who was a bit free as her internship work had been completed and she was the only person who was without a partner, apart from Oliver himself. Kate was with Michel, helping him with his projects, Cheryl was with Felix (as expected) and hence, there was only Jennifer who had time to meet up.
"Sureee!" she replied.
"Hey OJ! What's the matter boy?" asked Jennifer after hugging Oliver since she could sense something was wrong with him.
"Umm...We need to talk about something.." replied Oliver in a deep tone.
Jennifer thought that maybe Oliver had realized that he'd kissed her that night and expected him to talk about it and how he didn't mean it and how the kiss was for Cheryl, but instead, he told Jen about how Cheryl was ignoring him and asked her what he should do now.
"...and so, she has been with Felix lately and I don't know what to do. Why ignore me!?,"
"Ohhh, so that's what's happening. I get it" responded Jennifer re-analyzing the whole situation and trying not to show too much of all the mixed emotions she was going through.
"Look, I am not jealous of Felix it is just that---"
"-that you won't have Cheryl if this continues, that you won't have anyone else to love, that you would develop a void inside you, a void so big that you didn't even know was possible to feel" completed Jennifer.
"Umm...yeah EXACTLY! Jen? are you umm.. alright? I mean how do you know all this? I wasn't even able to put all this into words and you just... Are you okay?" asked Oliver with concern.
"Yes fine...Been there, done that." giggled Jennifer while replying to Oliver's serious question.
As they were speaking, Oliver saw Cheryl entering and walking towards the canteen counter along with Felix (of course). Cheryl suddenly threw her arms around Felix, hugging him and giggling.
"Haha! Felix, you're so sweet! You've been that best friend I never knew I needed so much.." said Cheryl giving a big smile.
"You too Cher! Okay...what do you wanna eat today? Burger, chips, pasta, or something else?"
When Oliver saw this, he started fuming and it felt as if his whole body was on fire yet, he had a smile on his face and tried to remain calm and be happy for Cheryl. But his mind was running wild - "Why the hell is Cheryl not with me! What is wrong with me! I look decent enough, I'm a nice guy, I care for her so WHY doesn't she like me back? WHYY!!?" He felt like screaming out loud and just going upto Cheryl and demanding for answers. But, he decided against it. Instead, he just punched the table.
"Woah Oli! What's gotten into you? Are you-"
Oliver interrupted Jennifer's sentence in between and said "Tell me something JENNIFER, be completely honest. Do you still LOVE me?"
"What!?... I..uh..umm" stuttered Jennifer, thrown completely off by Oliver's startling out of nowhere question.
"DO you, Jennifer?"
"I do but-"
"Alright then, I like you too. Where are we going for our FIRST DATE?," asked Oliver, still fuming on the inside while watching Felix and Cheryl holding hands, laughing together, and walking out of the canteen hall without noticing Oliver.
"Say what now? Oliver...what's gotten into you? Are you oka-"
"Look here Jen...isn't this what you always wanted? Since the beginning of the year...you even did something at the party at the start, remember? But that's a long while back now. So, forget it. I AM ASKING YOU TO COME ON A DATE WITH ME... will you come or NOT?? Let's go to SCOLA LA PASTA? I've had enough of waiting for Cheryl and getting all sad over her. I want to date you, Jen, will you accept me? Will you give me this date?"
"Uh..sure.. I mean, if it's just A date...it's not like we haven't had food together before, just the two of us. So, As you wish OJ..we can go to this pasta place". Jennifer still completely shocked and surprised at what just happened was trying to make sense of what was going on in Oliver's mind and what led him to come to this decision so suddenly. She liked Oliver more than anything, but this, this was just so random that Jennifer couldn't figure out what to make of it...Had Oliver thought this through before asking her or did he just say this in a sudden outburst of emotions?
Jennifer was speechless and she just said yes. That's when Oliver took her hand and they walked out of the canteen area holding hands. The news of them holding hands spread like wildfire and obviously everyone jumped to the conclusion that those two were dating.
"Jennifer and Oliver... NOOOO WAYY!" Exclaimed Amanda.
"I would have proposed him instead..." said another classmate named Monica.
"What about him and Cheryl? I thought something was going on between those two. They even went to prom together" commented Taylor.
Everyone was just talking about them and how weirdly sudden these two started dating. "On one side, we have the prince Charming, the dashing Oliver, and on the other hand, this total piece of crap!...I'm so shocked as to how Oliver even agreed to date her! I got so late in proposing to him...it should've been me with him and NOT HER!" whined Charlotte, another classmate.
Everyone was amazed and astonished by Oliver's choice and how he had gone to prom with Cheryl but started dating Jennifer.
People even doubted that there was a love triangle between these three.
"I think there's a love triangle here... How dramatic! God knows who's gonna finally end up together" wondered all.
Until the news reached Cheryl, it had all the unnecessary spices mixed in it. We all know very well how such rumors are spread. From a simple date idea, it went to Oliver and Jennifer getting intimate in bed and discussing about their marriage plans at Oliver's place. Everyone narrated their own story with their own set of spices added. It was almost like a fuel to the fire already inside Cheryl.
"Wow! Brilliant! Just brilliant! I was a FOOL to have started to think that it was my mistake for avoiding Oliver and that I should go talk to him about that night. I thought it would've been some misunderstanding on my part or his and that I should get it cleared. I felt maybe he didn't mean to kiss Jennifer and that he was too drunk to even realize what he had done BUT, seems like he knew exactly what he was doing! That was all meant to happen and he liked Jen since the beginning.... I should've known... I should've known that were his intentions all along." whimpered Cheryl.
"Whatever! I shall move on too. No point in whining about what's happened...My career my goals, my dreams are way bigger than romance, that too with someone who takes people as a joke. I thought Oliver was different. But seems like I was wrong! He is of the same kind....such individuals first talk to people then, build a very sweet relation with them and then, later on, smash their heart into uncountable pieces, and DON'T EVEN BOTHER AT ALL!!" howled Cheryl, sitting in the corner of her room, all alone, thinking about what a mess she had gotten herself into.
"I will move on now... there's nothing left to say or do... Enough is ENOUGH. I will now go ahead in life and free myself from a relationship that was never gonna happen anyways" said Cheryl to herself with anger, tears in her eyes, hurt and broken with nothing more left to say.

What was going on? Was it the aggression that had made Oliver go out with Jennifer? Or had he really moved on? Did he really let go of Cheryl and start dating someone who actually loved him?
Was even Cheryl ready to move on? Or had her pain and heart ache said it all?