Office Hours

30 | the e n d

| Z O Y A |

YESTERDAY, Zoya did what she didn't want to do. She spoke to Alyssa.

She dismissed the anger at Alyssa for the jealousy towards Caden, and her own guilt for the interactions with Alexi.

Being back on good terms with her friend distracted her mind from what happened yesterday. . . Caden stood her up.

Wanting to make Zoya feel better, Alyssa and Pia took her to a karoke joint. They enjoyed their Monday night like it was a Saturday.

Her sadness returned the following morning while she was getting ready for school. It was seven a.m. and Caden said they needed to talk.

She should've felt happy that he wanted to talk to her, but his wanting to meet so early after an entire night of radio silence, left a bad feeling in her stomach.

Slipping on a jacket because the sky was overcast, Zoya went outside to him.

Caden looked restless. There were bags beneath his eyes and his waves weren't as kept as they usually were.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching a hand out. Zoya frowned when he took a step back.

No sah! Aye, one thing with me? Me cannot tek shame!

"I'm sorry," Caden said.

"For what?" she asked and he sighed, refusing to meet her eyes. "Caden."

"This isn't going to work, Zoya."

"W-what?"

"You-" he paused when the rain suddenly started falling. "Shit," he hissed, looking around for shelter. Spotting a building that students were running to, he held her hand and brought her there.

Under normal circumstances, Zoya would've swooned that he cared about her.

But he didn't.

He didn't care about her or else he wouldn't try to end things before they actually began.

Caden looked at her again, brows knitted and she forced herself to look away. She didn't want him to see her tears that mixed with the rain.

"Zoya, I really like you," he said and she cut him off with a glare. "I do."

"You like me but you stood me up yesterday? You like me but this isn't going to work?"

"I was. . . I-" he paused to sigh. He looked away from her before meeting her eyes with a cold stare. "I need to focus on school. Every time I trust people, they fuck me over-"

"It's not fair for you to group me with everyone else when I've never given you a reason not to trust me."

He sighed and looked away to the ceiling. The rain was raging outside but she still heard when he said, "Stop making this so hard."

"Mi naa mek nun hard! You can leave if you want to. I'm not forcing you to stay."

Even though I don't want you to go.