It Was You All Along

3.

Even after a few days, Catherine had found herself flustered. He was supposed to be her soulmate?! Every time she went back to that day, her heart melted when she replayed the event in her head. Then she thought about what just happened a few minutes ago.

*Catherine's P.O.V.*

When I got home after fleeing from Yao's restaurant, my face was still red. My mind was somewhere else so I could barely concentrate when I was driving. Idiot me almost crashed about 50 times before I got to my apartment.

Laying in bed, I thought about how I could've avoided all of that or maybe how I could've reacted differently towards Yao. My thoughts were interrupted by phone vibrating again. Geez, who was it now?

I pulled my phone out of my bag and looked at the lock screen, I froze.

'Friend Request: Yao Jin

Confirm or Decline?'

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I unlocked the phone and opened Facebook, which redirected me to the notifcations.

'Should I..?'

It wouldn't hurt, right?

I accepted it and a few minutes later, a new chat opened.

'Hey, we need to talk

About today'

~

Damn, she still had to reply to Yao. She left him on read because she was nervous and didn't know what to say to him.

Picking up her phone again, she tapped the Messenger app and started typing.

'I rather not talk about it :/'

She hesitated before hitting send. It was true, she didn't want to talk to him. Not right away at least. She saw that Yao had read it, but never got an answer. Maybe he understood.

~

The next day, Catherine was back in 'Cafe Tardo'. Since it was the afternoon, the cafe was packed with kids and people on breaks from their day job. She was taking care of the cash register while all of her employees were waiting tables and tidying up the place.

"Oh Bonjour mon fleur~" A man approached the counter, leaning against it looking suave. Catherine scoffed inside her head, but he was probably a customer and she had to be kind. "Hello sir, how can I help you today?" She said, plastering the kindest smile she could manage.

"How about a cup of your finest caramel latte, a small, and maybe your number~?" He said winking and she chuckled. "I can get you that latte. Is that all?" Adding the item to the register, he sighed.

"I really wanted that number, but no that's all." He said and smiled. She nodded, "That'll be $3.50." He handed her the cash and she put it inside the register.

"Could I at least know your name?" He said and sat at the stool on the side of the counter. "It's Catherine, Catherine Tardo." He shook his head and laughed. "No no, it's Catherine Vincent." She looked at him confused and tilted her head to the side. "That is my last name, and you should know my first too. Francoise~ I'd be honored if you'd take the last name though." She was about to reply to his rather forward comment, but someone had stepped in front of her.

"Who are you and why are you flirting with 我的灵魂伴侣 (1) ?" It was Yao's voice, Catherine was frozen with surprise and Francoise looked over at Catherine, as if he was saying 'Who's this idiot?' with his face. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Japanese..."

Yao looked offended. "First you flirt with my soulmate, but you also assume I am speaking Japanese?! I am Chinese and this girl here, is mine!" When Catherine heard that, she was furious. She wasn't anyone's, especially this jerk's!

"Excuse me?! I don't belong to you. I don't belong to anyone, but myself! Even so, you hated me until you realized we were 'soulmates'! Whatever that crap is, you're being ridiculous!" Both Yao and Francoise were surprised as Catherine raised her voice.

"W-What are you talking about..? We're destined-.." Yao spoke quietly, but was quickly cut off by Catherine. "Oh puh-lease! What this is isn't love...love at first sight doesn't exist! Love takes patience and time..At the very least you should know the person and you sure as hell don't know me!" The whole cafe was watching by now, Francoise was enjoying the show and Yao had the look of heartbreak all over his face.

Catherine looked at Yao's facial expression and instantly felt bad for him. "Wait..I was being--."

Yao cut in, "You're right...but.. give me a chance. I want this to work.." He said with as much sincerity as he could. Catherine nodded, "Okay...let's start over.. and try not to be rude this time.." She said and he chuckled, "I can try.."

~

The plan originally was that Yao and Catherine would calmly talk about what the future had in store for them and to get to know each other, but that didn't happen. At first, it was a regular conversation. That regular conversation went to slight disagreement and slight disagreement went to full on arguing. It was over the stupidest things, Catherine would get angry at how forward Yao was and Yao was mad at her for being too quiet.

"Well, you know what--!" Yao was about to yell at her when his phone rang. He groaned, answering the call with an unpleasant 'Hello'.

"....Oh hello mother....me? I'm with--....yes her!....how is it going?" He paused, groaning with aggravation and continued, "Not well.....what? No, that's ridic--...fine fine! I'll try it....okay, bye mama." He put the phone down and looked over at Catherine, irritated and tired.

"She says we should try couple's therapy..." He said plainly and she thought for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, that sounds doable.." She said and Yao scoffed, "You think it's a good idea? Bah! It's a waste of time.."

"Did you not say you wanted to work on this?! Us?! You're so irritating!!" She exclaimed with frustration and he looked shocked. "Me?! Irritating?! You are the one who is irritating!" Yao shouted back at her and at that moment, she wanted to jab the plastic spoon in his eye.

She breathed in, calming herself down. "Can we just...talk? All we do is yell...and when we're both yelling, no one is listening.." She looked at him, pleading and Yao let out a sigh. "Yeah...sorry.."

They looked into each other's eyes again, no one spoke. The warm feeling came back, following with the slight light from their chest. Catherine was red in the face and Yao was smiling like an idiot.

'I think I'm in love.' Yao thought to himself.

'He's so complicated..' Catherine thought to herself.

~
1. My soulmate