The Man He Chose

Chapter 13

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Cooheart's POV

With shaky knees and trembling hands I got inside my car and drove back to my condo. I didn't realize how much meeting Kao again after all these years would affect me this much.

I started to wonder whether it was a wrong decision to break off with him while he was in Japan and if it was too late to patch things up with him.

While driving I could not help looking back at all the fun and loving times that we had shared. How much he loved me and how much I loved him. Those were magical times for me.

I received a loud honk when a motorist narrowly missed me because I had unknowingly wandered partly onto his lane.

I finally got safely to my condo unit and parked my car in my allotted parking space and made my way to the lobby.

It was nearing lunch time. My stomach was starting to complain loudly and I regretted not stopping by a fast food restaurant to pick up a large order of fish and chips.

I know that Santa would have scolded me if he knew that I bought food from a fast food restaurant. He would tell me that food from there were far from nutritious, that it would always be best to cook your own food so that you can make healthy choices. Easy for him to say because he is an excellent cook whereas I knew next to nothing about cooking. Each attempt at cooking always turned out to be a disaster.

Santa would always say some loving sympathetic inspirational shit to me to make me feel better but it didn't erase the fact that l am shitty when it comes to culinary skills.

Oh well, I will just have to make do with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a tall glass of iced strawberry milk.

I almost lost my balance when upon entering the lobby I saw Kao standing beside the receptionist counter.

He quickly approached me the moment he saw me enter the lobby.

"How ...how did you know where to find me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"I took the chance," he said. "I took the chance that you would not relocate to a different address just because you broke off with me."

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"That we get back together, Cooheart," Kao replied. "I have never been unfaithful to you. It's you who has been unfaithful to me."

"That's not true," I said.

"Oh yeah? When did you hook up with Title? Way before you even broke up with me, right? You accused me of cheating on you to justify being with Title, right? Right, Cooheart?" his voice sounded angry and agitated now.

I turned my back on him and started walking towards the set of elevators down the hallway.

He came after me and grabbed me by the wrist.

"Cooheart," he said, making me face him. "As long as you're no longer with Title, I'm begging you to please come back to me. You still love me, don't you? As much as I love you? Or maybe less than how I love you, but it's okay with me. As long as you love me back I will be fine with that, Cooheart."

I could no longer fight my emotions. I had to admit that I had never stopped loving him.

I looked down in defeat.

He came closer and then hugged me tight.

"Come with me to my house, Cooheart," he whispered in my ear.

"I don't want to go anywhere right now," I said. "I want to fix myself some lunch. I'm really hungry to be honest."

"I'll cook something for you at my house," he offered.

"How far is your house from here?" I asked.

"A few miles after the city boundary up north," he replied.

"Noooh... that's too far," I protested. "I have food stuff in my fridge. I will cook us something."

"Really, Cooheart?" he asked with a teasing smile. "You will cook something for us?"

Dammit, he was another witness to my culinary disasters.

"You cook for us then," I said with an angry frown. "You can look through the ingredients available in my kitchen."

We went up to the third floor of the condo where my unit was.

As I unlocked my front door, I could smell something delicious coming through the door.

I slowly peeked inside before entering the kitchen which was on the right side as you enter the front door.

Santa was busy stir frying something in the kitchen.