Don't Mess With Anol

The last straw

King and I haven't spoken to each other for the past 10 days since our outburst in the parking lot.

At noon, King goes to dinner with a bunch of other programmers and he passes by my desk, but he doesn't even glance at me. My comrades quickly saw that we were fighting and I heard them talking about us behind our backs but no one dared come over to ask what was going on. Only Jade came to ask me on Tuesday but I only briefly mentioned that there had a bit of a conflict with King, but I didn't give details so Jade wisely didn't ask any further.

When I had the fight with King, I was really dissatisfied with him, but as time passed, I started to calm down and reflect on what happened that day. Even though he scolded me that day, it was also because he was worried about me. Half of it was my fault, because I also scolded him badly that day, and his worries were cruelly ignored by me. If I were him and the people I care about were harassed, I would be sad too.

It's not the first time I've had a fight with King, we've fought many times, from trivial things to 'serious accidents' like last year's Mai Orientation Party, but none as sad as this. This is because my heart knows that even if neither of us say it directly, the relationship between me and him is really over.

The copier beeped paperless, pulling my mind back to the situation in front of me, and as I pulled out a new stack of white paper to put in the copier drawer, I heard Jade call out to me.

"Uea."

"What is it?" I turned to look at Jade who was coming to me.

"Mr. Grit asked you to meet him in his office about some areas that need improvement."

"Okay." I replied nonchalantly.

The man was still happily trying to annoy me at work. I hate people like this the most, but I know that I can't resist. I've started thinking about a way out, but I still don't want to use that method until the last minute. After all, I don't want things to lead to that point.

Jade: "You..."

"..?" I asked him with my eyes.

Jade looked around and saw that the other colleagues were all working. He mysteriously leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Have you talked to Ai King yet?"

I shook my head. I don't know if he still wants to talk to me. From the attitude he has shown the past few days, the answer seems to be no.

"Are you okay?" Jade's question made me hesitate a bit.

Me: "Why do you ask that?"

"I see that something is wrong with you. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

I don't know what expression is on my face right now, but the worry in Jade's eyes is clear, which reminds me of my argument with King last year. Back then, Jade asked me the same question that day, and my answer was. "I'm fine."

I gulped and forced an answer, "Don't worry, everything will soon be..." It will end soon ...

The last words stopped at the tip of my tongue; my heart hurt so much that I couldn't speak. I took my eyes off Jade, pretended to focus on the copier, and heard Jade's heavy sigh in my ear. He then put his hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know what's going on, but if you feel uncomfortable now, you can talk to me whenever you want. I've asked, uh... I mean I'm always ready to listen. I don't want to gossip about your personal affairs, don't get me wrong, I understand."

The momentary hesitation in his tone made me burst out laughing.

"Thank you." I said quietly.

Jade patted my shoulder and returned to his seat. I looked at his back, and was so grateful he took the initiative to come and greet me on the first day we met at the academy, otherwise with my character, I would never have met such a good friend. If I didn't know Jade, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet King.