#ILoveYou #YouLoveHer

#TheBreakUp

Tia

I told myself not to cry. No, this will not be the day a guy makes me cry.

What a day this ended up to be, I thought grimly.

It had been a whirlwind, starting from that... I blinked to block out the memory.

Nathaniel has respected my wishes. He didn't say another word to me as he waited with me for my uber. When the car arrived, I got in and told the driver to drive off. I couldn't even help myself though, at the last minute I turned to watch his face as the car drove away.

There was only one word fit enough to describe his way- tormented.

But he deserved to be tormented.

I mean, how dare he?

How dare he pretend that she of all people was his girlfriend?

She matches her family's criteria... I don't even want to think about the glaring differences between her and I.

I had asked the driver to drop me off back at my office, because I didn't know where else to go. I couldn't exactly go home or to church since I had lied and told them I was caught up with something, implying work.

I had never lied before. I think. At least I had never consciously lied.

At least not in the way Nathaniel had lied to me and his family.

And she had been part of it.

Was that why she wanted to make sure that I was on the same page as he was. No, we were definitely not on the same page. I was falling deeply in love with him. I wanted to marry him right then and there, and then tear his clothes off so I can get to know every single inch of him...

I shook my head to dismiss the thought.

Get your head straight, Tia. You just broke up. He lied to you.

I hate to think about it, but he is probably texting or calling her and telling her all about it.

Michelle

"You what?" I asked in my loudest, most exaggerated voice ever.

Nate had dropped by my house and told me the worse story ever. Not that I wasn't expecting it.

"We broke up," he repeated again. "I told her about you and my family and..."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I couldn't lie to her anymore," he said. "She wanted to get married, have kids and all that."

"Have kids?" I couldn't resist raising a sneaky eyebrow at him. "You mean that thing that-"

"Don't be perverted, Mich," he interrupted.

"I wasn't-"

"Anyway, she wanted to get married-"

"You already mentioned that-"

"Now," he clarified.

"Oh, wow, that girl is desperate to get into your pants," I replied with a laugh. "What they say about Christian girls, right?"

"You don't even know the rest of it," he commented.

"There's more? I mean, you're actually going to tell me a play by play?" I asked, surprisingly enthusiastically.

He seemed hesitant at first, but he did tell me a play by play about what happened between him and Tia. Starting with a hot make out session to a romantic breakfast and then a spontaneous road trip. But somehow that ended in a talk about wedding bells that led to an ultimate break up.

"Wow. Tia is really surprising, isn't she?" I commented.

"The thing is I did want to marry her. I did want to spend the rest of my life with her," he lamented.

"Family obligations suck, huh."

"More than you know."

"She actually came to see me," I told Nate. "She warned me to stay the heck away from you. But then here you are."

"Here I am."

"Did you want to spend the rest of your life with Tia because you loved her? Or is it because she loved you?" I asked. When I asked him that question the first time, he gave a cryptic answer. Really? Did I really know his answer to that. Because I honestly don't have a clue.

"I think we're past that point," he replied. "I ruined everything."

"In what universe would it actually work out though?" I asked, adding fuel to the fire. "You know you had been delaying the inevitable the whole time."

"The inevitable?" he glared at me.

"You know that your parents and your family will never approve of her-"

"I told you. They wouldn't care what her race is when they are desperate for grandchildren."

"No. You never shared that part of your not so brilliant plan with me."

"But they are not going to be desperate until I'm at least 30."

I had an idea. Actually, it wasn't my idea. It was what my other classmates did with their non-Chinese girlfriends - planned accidents.

"You can always give them grandchildren first, considering how horny Tia turned out to be, and no one can say no to babies. Babies are adorable," I told him my plan. "You know what they say about breakup sex, right?" I lifted an eyebrow suggestively.

"That is the worse idea ever."

Tia

I had expected the office to be empty, so I was surprised to find Jake there. It was just as well, because I needed an ear and a hug. And maybe more of that beer that he claims to solve all problems.

"Okay, same question. What did your chinito boyfriend do this time?" he asked me.

"I think we broke up," I said.

"You think?"

"Well, we had a fight... Actually, we didn't have a fight. We told me the truth and I walked out."

"The truth? About what?"

"About Michelle..."

"The chinita? So he was cheating on you?"

I shook my head. "He just... in not so many words told me that she was everything his family expects from his girlfriend and future wife, while I... am not."

"It's the chinita thing?"

"I suppose so..." I feel like I'm stuck in that Romeo and Juliet story and the only available ending is the both of us dying.

Deny thy father and refuse thy name.Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,And I'll no longer be a Capulet.Except Juliet cannot refuse her name as much as I can never change my race.

Nathaniel

"We get to freely fall in love and marry who we want to marry..." Mich had said.

Really? Then why did my girlfriend just break up with me?