FACE TO FACE [ ruel van dijk ]

ten

ruel

there i was,sitting quietly in my car,the silence was only broken by justin's loud snores.

but other than that,there was her car.

this must be your building,jade.

your lights are still on.i figured you just arrived.

alexa had already beaten justin before she gave up and left.

i'm not surprised that justin cheated again,i am more surprised with him cheating on her with krissa.

but i doubt krissa knew.she didn't seem like the side-chick typa girl.

nevertheless,she didn't deserve this.

i found myself in her doorstep,my fingers shaking and all of a sudden the feeling of drowsiness left my body,replaced by anxiety and fear.

"hey.." she said.

the conversation started off really bad,but all i could think of right now was the feeling of happiness that i got to talk to you again.

as i spoke, i looked deep into her eyes,hoping she'd feel something despite the abyss of cold rage i know she has in there.

i know she's hurt because of what happened,too.even though her words and facial expression seemed resilient.

i offered comfort,but she hesitated.

are you really that tough,jade?

are you still testing me,or are you just playing hard to get?

i can't force you, though.

i have to take things slow.

i'll show you,jade.i'll show you how i can care for you.

i'll show you.

*the next day*

this latte doesn't seem like it's doing its job.
this is my second cup and i still feel exhausted.

i closed my laptop,planning to leave before marcus the great comes and recognizes me.

speaking of marcus,i see him just a few tables across the room.he was seated across two girls.

two awfully familiar girls.

that's right,jade and krissa.

why are you talking to them?

shit, he's friends with them.

out of curiosity,i opened my laptop again,and for the first time in weeks,i opened my instagram.

it was easy finding their socials because of justin's posts.i quickly clicked on jade's tagged photo and went on her page.

very beautiful.

you really are art,babe.

and,i was right. three is a crowd.

marcus kid perez.

so that's where you got the cafe's name from.

athlete,yoga instructor,and ofcourse,the manager of Kid's Café.

looking at his physical appearance,he can take any lady.but make him talk and you will be surprised.

i see the way he comforts you.i'm pretty sure it's because of last night.

i can tell with the way he gestured he was not happy with the story.i can only imagine him trash-talking justin if he were here.that would probably be fun.

as of justin, he's hungover,i'm sure.

i don't want to talk to him yet,i'm still pissed.
i've been avoiding him all morning.

and plus,i can work on this play alone.
i'm almost done editing anyway.all he needs to do is yell at the casts if he doesn't like what's happening.

i didn't notice jade and krissa left.marcus is probably at the counter snitching on his customers like it's his usual routine.

"hey pretty boy."  a voice startled me.

i quickly closed my laptop,hoping he didn't see anything.it was obvious who it was.

"marcus."

"don't feel weird with me calling you that.you're not my type.i just don't know who you are..." he sat across me.

"...mind telling me?"

i was sweating.but not because of him scaring me,or the fact that he almost caught me looking them up on social media.

but because he wanted to know who i was.

"m-me?" i say.

"did i stutter? don't think i didn't see you checking out my girlfriends earlier."

"i- i wasn't.."

"and you're a bad liar too.is it the latte?"
he says.

"i....look.i gotta go." i quickly got up and headed out.

jeez.

jade

"thank you for taking me here." krissa says,while we rested in the car.

we just had to go and see marcus.

"i know i may not be the best with comforting but,i know another way." i smiled at her.

"thank you,jadelyn."

"anytime, kris. let's just try to get your mind off last night,okay?after all,it is our day off."

"movie marathon pleaasee." she cried.

"okay,okay.but we gotta get more snacks first." i laughed.

i started the car when krissa noticed something.

"hey isn't that ruel?" she pointed out.

i looked out and it was really him.he just got out the café and looked like he was in a hurry.

"i didn't know he comes here." i say.

"what if he's with justin and they're following me?oh my god,we gotta go jadelyn,drive."

"baby calm down.i think it's just him."

we saw him get inside his car and drove off.

"that was weird.let's just go." she says and we headed out to the store to get some snacks and drinks,then headed home to start the movie marathon.

what happened to ruel?

and why was did he seem uncomfortable?

uggghhh,ruel.

ruel van dijk.

why did i have to feel this?

why you?