Goodbye Kiss

Chapter 1:

"It's just people have these romantic projections they put on everything, that's not based on any kind of reality." -Jesse, Before Sunrise

Present...

Arielle's POV:

I am a hopeless romantic.

I absolutely adore romantic films like "Before Sunrise", "The Notebook" and "Titanic", which depicts how two people could fall in love in such a short period of time, or be separated for years but when they find each other again, it's like they never left each other at all. These characters have something in common, they have a love so noble, so rare, so beautiful that makes so many envious. But just like what Jesse in "Before Sunrise" said to Celine about how people tend to have "romantic projections" about things, to me, these films are classic examples of "romantic projections" of love. For their love seem to exceed the realms of reality, for it is simply out of this world.

As the years went by the idea of falling for someone and calling it love when you've only known them for weeks, sounded foolish and naïve to me, and so did the plausibility of rekindling a love that has been lost for years. But five years ago, eighteen year old me had so fervently believed that I found my once in a lifetime, the one whom I would chase my dreams and grow old with. But that daydream was abruptly extinguished on a rainy summer afternoon. And that was the end of it. The last I have heard from him, for the last five years.

But here he is, in a crowded café. Chase Evans, staring back at me. Looking as mesmerizing as ever, with his hair combed back in a perfectly dashing quiff, and his six foot tall figure in a brown leather jacket that emphasized his biceps. To say I am shocked would be an understatement. And for a minute we stood in silence, as we stared into each other's eyes. "Hi", he says with the same grin that I had once fallen head over heels in love with, finally breaking the silence and tension that stretched between us.

"Hi- wha-what are you doing here?" I stutter, attempting to sound as enthusiastic as possible but also trying my hardest to conceal a certain emotion that had surfaced out of the blue. A feeling I can't quite describe. Its subtle, but overwhelming at the same time. Like a heavy sadness or an ache of some sort that has unknowingly found its way to me. I cleared my throat and forced a smile, desperately trying to recollect myself. I was dumbfounded, completely clueless as to why I had all of a sudden felt a heavy sinking feeling. Trying my hardest to ignore it, I divert my attention back to him, who was watching me intently.

"Oh I'm actually here on a holiday... with my family... just thought I would drop by and say hi." he explains, shrugging his shoulders.

"How did you... find me?" I ask, confused as to how he got to know of my whereabouts.

He chuckled before saying, "I may have went to your place, but your mother said that I might find you here instead."

There was a pause before he continued, "I hope I'm no intruding or anything, just thought I would visit an old friend."

"Yeah, no- don't worry about it. It's so nice to see you- it just- it took me a minute to comprehend that you're really here... I mean- it's been years." I say, as I shift, trying to get comfortable in my seat. He drags the chair out across from me and takes a seat.

"So what have you been up to?" I ask, before taking a sip of my hot latte and closing the book that I had been reading. The last time I saw him, was the day he left for New York. And we hadn't been in contact ever since. For the next two years after he had left, I found myself constantly checking his social media accounts for updates, till eventually I realised that it wasn't healthy for me and so I removed his profile from my account and haven't looked back since. There were times where I had subtly asked our mutual friends in the first year after he had left, if he was doing well, but they told me that he wasn't in contact with them anymore. And so gradually and naturally I began to think of him less and less as the months and years went by. But with him sitting two feet away from me, it felt as if the feelings that I had kept buried for years came rushing back. As if the levee that had been holding back them back had all of a sudden collapsed, sending a great amount of emotions gushing into me.

"Well uh I'm still doing theatre... I recently got my own studio." he says, breaking me out my trance.

"Oh wow Chase, that is amazing! Congratulations!" I say, genuinely happy for him that he was pursuing his dream.

"It's pretty cool. Should you find yourself in New York one day, you should definitely come visit." he says, before continuing, "What about you? Writing your next book I suppose?"

"So you've heard about me." I say with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah- I've been working on it, I've just been lacking some inspiration lately." throwing my hands in the air, exasperated.

"What's it about" he probes .

"Well...it's a book of poems actually, surrounding the topic of love."

"Oh. I may have just the thing that can render you a little help there." he says, breaking into a grin.

I frown, confused but also slightly amused at the same time as to what he was up to. I watch as he reaches into the pocket of his brown leather jacket and pulls out a brown paper envelope with his name scribbled on it. My eyes widen and I instantly feel my cheeks redden with embarrassment as I recognise what he is holding. The farewell letter that I had written him five years ago.