The Rubys

7| r e v e a l

[ Friday | 9:15 p.m. ]

The golden glow of the carousel illuminated the waterfront like a beacon on a stormy dark night. T.J had taken Rey to the pier, which ended up in both of them stuffing up their stomachs in corn dogs and burgers from street vendors before they could reach the restaurant T.J had reserved for dinner.

Then, they went to the carousel where they arrived three minutes later after closing hours. After begging the controller profusely to let them have just one ride on the carousel, the man reluctantly agreed after five minutes of immense coaxing. But the effort was totally worth it. And now they were strolling down the riverside esplanade hand in hand.

Rey couldn't help but admit this was one of the best dates she had ever been on out of all her relationships. All the previous boys were trying so hard, taking her to expensive date setups, when all she wanted was a normal simple date. Like right now. The staggering views of Manhattan and the brightly illuminated bridges couldn't look more beautiful, especially with the romantic stroll along the waterfront.

Rey leaned against the metal railing and breathed in the crisp cold breeze to settle her mind. She should be sighing in content — she was with the man who loved her dearly and she had possibly everything in her life — but was unable to. She couldn't feel the spark between them anymore and it troubled her.

T.J leaned his body sideways against the railing and watched his girlfriend with an unreadable expression on his handsome face. The slight breeze ruffled her long red curls and she was indeed beautiful. In fact, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Rey, noticing T.J's intense gaze on her, shifted her body to his side and he came face to face with her gorgeous emerald eyes whose bright color have seemed to dimmed these past few weeks. T.J could guess something have been stressing her and it made him feel more guilty at what he was going to do.

"What is it?"

T.J ran his hand through his blonde hair. He looked frustrated and concern started to cloud Rey's beautiful face.

"What's wrong?"

"I have to tell you something." His voice sounded hoarse as though he was struggling to get the words out of his mouth.

"Why do you sound like you are about to break up with me?" Rey joked, trying to lighten up the sudden sullen mood that had befallen between them.

The guilty look on T.J's face stopped Rey's chuckle as soon as she saw it. "Wait. You're serious?"

He rubbed the back of his head anxiously as though he would be doing anything but this. "Rey, I'm sorry. This is killing me. I know we've dated for so long, and you know how much I love you, but we should stop seeing each other."

Rey blinked at T.J, trying to let his words sink into her head. He was breaking up with her and the first thing she noticed was that she didn't feel anything. No pain, no cracking of her heart — she felt none of those stereotypical emotions people had described heartbreak as. Rather, it actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her, setting her free from a burden that had been pulling her down.

Rey sighed and looked up at her now ex-boyfriend with a small smile. "I've been wanting to tell you the same thing, T.J. I guess we have been dating for too long." For the past few weeks, she knew there was something missing whenever she spent time with T.J and only now she realized that she had been falling out of love. "And I'm totally fine if you wanna start seeing someone new right away. You don't need to feel bad about it."