Favorite Mistake

FM 32

Den was seated at starbucks, looking out the window, watching every car that passes by. Coffee cup in hand, her coffee is now cold, while the frosting on her cake trickled melted on the plate. She tried to take a sip from her cup but immediately regretted her decision as the taste of stale coffee coated her mouth. Wiping her lips, she again looked out the window.

The manager threw a glance at her, rolling his eyes, obviously irritated at the customer who has hogged the seat for more than 3 hours, but has not purchased anything else from his store. Den smiled at him, making him snort as he moved on to the other customers. She tried reading the magazine, to while away the time, but her focus was somewhere else.

"Hi Dr. Lazaro, anything for lunch?" She heard Jane, the barista asked her.

Den was startled and she immediately checked her watch. It's past 11, she has been waiting for more than 4 hours, and still no signs of Ly.

So, I guess that's her answer. How much more clearer do you want it to be?" My mind taunted me.

"Thanks Jane, I was just on my way out" I smiled at her, picking up my bag as I stood up.

"Would you want these to go mam?"

Den looked at what Jane was referring to and she saw her untouched food. "No need Jane, I'm gonna go now" she tried to sound jolly, but the quiver in her lips give a clue as to the sadness within her.

With lead on her feet, she started to walk away.

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Ly was in her clinic since 7am, but she asked Ivy to cancel all of her appointments and lectures today. She was just not feeling up to it, and anyway, she had a lot of paper works to finish.

"You owe it to yourself to find out if we are really over, Ly. We'll start where we left off. I'll wait for you tomorrow, 7am at starbucks."

"And what makes you think I would come?"

"I know that there's a probability that you won't, but I will wait for as long as I have to. But if you don't come, then I'll know your answer and I promise to stay away."

Den's message yesterday kept repeating over and over in her head. Like a broken record, it refused to be silenced. Ly shut out all her thoughts and buried herself deep in her work.

She felt so tired and drained, but was surprised when she checked her watch that it was only 8am.

She focused so hard on her patient charts that by 10am, her table was clean from all her backlog which had been seating on her desk for the past 2 weeks.

Walking around in her clinic, she looked around for something else to do, anything to while away the time. She decided on fixing her bookshelf and arranging all her research work. In the middle of the pile, she retrieved a copy of Den's thesis, the one that caused them to cross paths again.

Standing up, she sat on her desk as she read Den's note on her copy. "Ly, this wouldn't have been possible without your help. But more than the accolade, I am most thankful that this work brought you back into my life. With love, always, Dennise"

She let out a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding. Checking the wall clock, it was 11:45am. Her heart started pounding hard, and she grabbed her bag, and she ran out of her clinic.

"Ivy, I just have to do something. Close the clinic for today, ok?" And she was already pacing even before she could finish her sentence.

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Ly barged into starbucks, panting and out of breath. She scanned the entire place looking for any signs of Den, but she wasn't there.

Disappointed? An inner voice within her argued with her