Tearing Paper

Cafe

"You know Nate Avner?"

"It is a misfortune, but yes, I happen to," Lucio said coolly after thanking the waiter who just brought his coffee. It was a windy evening. He never knew why his brain practically forced him to ask Ella out for a drink in Dianne's favorite café, but she seemed to know the place well too.

She no longer looked like the sick, frail girl on the hospital bed few days ago. Her hair looked shinier under the sun, and she had a beige beanie that matched her simple dress and wedges. She really was beautiful.

"He's the very reason I spent months making that damned hospital my second home," Ella laughed as she sipped her peach tea. "Not bad. Nate once took me here too."

"What?" The surprises of life. The world felt much smaller now. "N-Nate's the murderous ex-boyfriend?"

"Mm-hm," Ella shrugged. "I'm over it. I-I mean I'm trying to fool my mind to thinking that I really am."

"Does it work? I've been doing the same for months and-it doesn't."

"Seriously? Look at us. We're hot as hell, but here we are, mourning over people who don't give a second look," Ella replied. "I suppose you know Nate from work? You're Franc, right?"

"Don't even think about it," Lucio stopped her. "I'm a Franc disgrace. My father kicked me out after I decided to support an island girl to become a writer."

"That sounds so dramatic," Ella intertwined her fingers. "Hell, is that island girl the same person that Nate took as his tour guide in Namiri Island?"

"For an ex-girlfriend, you really are a professional stalker," Lucio joked after he got over his shock. So asking this brunette out was not so useless after all.

"Does she leave you for Nate?" Ella grinned mischiveously. "When I was part-amnesiac, I thought Nate did the same to me because of her. Is she really that pretty?"

She was-she indeed was, but Lucio struggled to describe Dianne to her when every part of him felt more and more crushed as he realized how invisible Dianne was in his life now.