Living the In Between

Prologue

Disclaimer: This book is a product of the author's imagination and purely fictional. Any thing, name, places, or incidents that could be used in relation to real life is coincidental.

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September 7

I sit alone inside a cafe while sipping my latte and quietly observing my surroundings. Looking for something good to write about. Hmm. What should I write about? Zombies? Vampires? Rom-com? Murder? There's just too much inside my head that my mind's too small for my imagination. Argh! This is so frustrating. I calm myself, close my eyes and breathe. 1... 2... 3...

As I open my eyes, I see someone familiar opening the cafe's door. Wearing his normal outfit on a sunny day, his black shirt underneath his leather jacket paired with maong pants and white sneakers he always use. I scan his face and see a slight bruise in his right cheek, making him look a baddie even more. His eyes scan the whole area as if looking for someone. When his eyes reached mine, he smiles and his bad boy aura comes off easily with that shy smile of his.

"Checking me out, aren't we?" He took the seat across mine and his cologne that makes him smell like a baby fills my nose instantly. I smiled. I offered him my already eaten blueberry muffin but he declines nonchalantly. I shrugged and let him be.

"You look just like the usual days I see you. There's no need to flatter yourself." I rolled my eyes at him and he just laughed at me and messed my violet dyed hair. "And you're harsh as always, Annie." He looks at me like I'm an adorable puppy, lost and trying to find its way home.

"Stop looking at me like that. I hate it." I put down my coffee and grab my pen lying between the pages of my new journal I found earlier in the old library down the street. It has embroided flowers on its leathered covers and the center has golden colored infinity symbol that made it old yet aesthetic.

I'm just staring down at the blank pages of my new journal. Unable to write anything. Out of awkwardness, he turns his attention to what I'm looking at. "Is that new?" Enzo grabs the journal out of my hand and checks it out. His eyes glistened looking at the journal. He always love seeing antics. He says its beauty is timeless and it always made him feel something pleasingly weird.

"Where did you bought this beauty? Wow! I'm literally in awe."

" I know. It's too pretty to write with." I laughed. The journal's pages are like papers used to write letters back in time. It's really beautiful, and maybe that's why I can't stand writing in it. He hands me back the journal and turn to call the waitress for his order. Iced coffee. Typical him.

"Have you seen Leila lately? I can't seem to reach her. I've been trying to call her these past few days but it just keeps ringing." Enzo turns his gaze outside the cafe's window, watching the houses that were beautifully crafted for people to call it home. I turn mine too. There aren't a lot of people walking past by this cafe in a sunny afternoon.

The cafe's located centered inside a village. People that mostly come by are people living in the village. And me, a commoner, it's a rare sight to find me in this cafe. That's why I chose this for my hideout.

"Leila's just busy with her life and shit. Pulling it all together. Plus, school's really draining her energy out." I shrug. Leila and I are best friends since we were kids. Enzo came in the picture during 6th grade. And we, three, became inseparable, not until college came. I had to stop for some reason, Leila in a private university because she never gotten any scholarship grants from the universities she applied to. And Enzo being a smarty pants as he is although it's not obvious, he passed the entrance exams. We still have the connection so we're all good.

"Did you try visiting her?" He asks but before I could answer, the waitress comes back and gives Enzo his iced coffee along with a tuna sandwich. He thanked the waitress before she walks away from our table and starts eating after. "I did. And she looked tired when I came. She obviously needed sleep, so I told her I'd come back." He nodded in agreement and continue eating his sandwich,without giving me attention. After finishing it, he takes a sip in his iced coffee.

I watch him closely. Looking at his features that girls drool over at. Thick, well-groomed eyebrows like he went to a salon to trim them nicely, his natural short curled eyelashes, pale red lips that's always in a line, pointed nose, and sharp clenched jaw,  most of all, his gray charcoal squinted eyes that makes you wonder how on earth does that small eyes can have a 20/20 vision. Chinito charms as they say. I wonder how he captivated those hearts. "You know, if I haven't known you any better, I'll really assume you like me." I cough out of awkwardness. For Pete's sake! If I was drinking my coffee, I would have literally spit it out of embarrassment. What the hell, Annie?! My eyes almost gone out from my eyeball after hearing what he said!

I fix my composure and raise my brows at him. "I'm not checking you out dude. I'm just looking for proof about what girls said about you being hot and handsome. I mean, yeah sure. You have the typical beauty but it must be your eyes? I don't know. Maybe because it's gray?" I tilt my head as if I'm really curious why and continue with my drama to save my face. He just laughs at me and shake his head in amusement.

12: 30 AM

"You lied to me for a thousand times! How can I ever believe anything that you say?"

"No! Because in the first place, you never really trusted me. So don't you ever put the blame on me!"

"Stop! Just stop, okay?!"

"No. Let's stop. This marriage? Let's end this now. How much more do we have to endure for us to realize it's not gonna work? It's better to end this now."

" Mom. Dad."

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