Breaking the Limits ✔

6. Dating Complex

Telling our lover that we couldn't date anyone else after them was downright bullshit, but it didn't feel like it back then. Maybe that was what they called naivety, or being blinded by love. I was carried away with the moment given how unstable my emotions were back in the day. Blake was my only rock to keep me balanced while I moved forward.

And the very man I used to call my rock just entered the bar with one arm wrapping around the waist of a blonde woman. She was tall, almost at Blake's height, and the way she carried herself said enough that she was coming from a higher social class. I shouldn't have felt anything, nor followed them with my eyes when they were being escorted to a VIP room by a waiter. My stomach shouldn't have churned. I shouldn't have cared.

"Are you alright?" Bim poked my elbow slightly, his eyes trying to follow my line of sight. "You look like you saw a ghost."

I turned my head away from the VIP room's direction, hoping Bim didn't spot anything since I'd once shown him Blake's picture back when we were still together. "I thought I saw someone I knew but I don't think it's him," I replied quickly, waving my hand in a dismissive gesture.

"You have no idea how many times I've mistaken someone for someone else while drinking. There was a guy I hugged and squeezed without warning because I thought he was my high school pal, and the guy punched me in the face." He chuckled at his own story.

"Must've been painful."

"And embarrassing."

He drummed his fingers on the bar counter, his lips pursing. "It's past nine, and I think I'm going to order my last drink and go home. Have you heard from Noah?"

"He's on the way. Should be here in any minute," I said while turning on my phone screen to check if I received an update from Noah. No new message.

After having pizza for dinner at work, Bim, Roger, and I agreed to hit the bar together. Noah was going to join us, but an urgent situation at work held her back. Roger left fifteen minutes ago for his fiancé's house, leaving Bim alone with me. Knowing Bim, he wouldn't let me sit here alone to wait for my date.

"Alright. Then he should be here before I finish my last drink." Bim raised his hand to get the bartender's attention. "You want something to drink, too?"

"No, thank you. I haven't finished mine." I slipped my phone into my bag, thinking that I would also leave this place when he left. If Noah still hadn't shown up, he could just drive straight to my place. I didn't want to be in this place longer than planned, especially after knowing a certain someone was here too.

"I'm curious, though," he said after he ordered his last pint.

"About what?"

"You and Noah."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

Bim slid his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. "He seems to put up with this casual thing you have with him for quite some time now. Doesn't he want a real girlfriend or something?"

I shrugged at his question because it was exactly the question I had in my mind sometimes. "I honestly don't know. He said he was fine with what we're doing since he's not looking for something serious at the moment."

"At the moment, huh? Does he know what you want for the long run?"

"I guess." I shrugged again, picked up my glass, and took another sip, refraining from glancing in the direction of the VIP rooms. At least, talking to Bim distracted me a bit.

"Thanks, man," he said to the bartender who put the beer on the counter for him. "So," he continued, turning his head to me again, "he thinks you're going to change your mind or something?"