The Heartbroken - S01 E168

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E168

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 168

Of course, that didn’t mean that

Cedric was completely out of the

picture now.

The moment I pulled into the

parking lot in front of the museum,

I saw him standing by a pillar in

front of the run-down marble

structure. He didn’t seem to notice

me arrive, too busy fiddling with a

camera, and from where I was

sitting inside the car, I found myself

studying him.

I let myself look at him, realizing

that despite the fact that I’d seen

him every day at school, I hadn’t

really been looking at him at all, and

now that I did, it was like I was

seeing him for the first time in a

long time.

He was still the same Cedric that I

had fallen in love with two years

ago, the same Cedric I met back in

grade school, the same person who

picked me up and help me get

through the first few months after

my father’s death, and yet it felt as

though everything had changed.

I looked away, forcing myself to

take deep breaths to calm myself.

He looked up when he saw me

walking towards him. I couldn’t

quite look him in the eye so my

gaze landed on his dark grey tee,

which made him stand out in stark

contrast with the off-white walls of

the museum. He lowered the

camera and just stared at me.

“Let’s go,” I said when the silence

became too much to bear. I walked

ahead of him, gripping the handle

of my bag tighter than I should, my

nails digging into the skin of my

palm.

The museum was nearly empty,

save for a handful of old people

milling around, as well as a group

of grade school students lining up

to get the tour with their teachers.

Still, there was too much space to

fill, which meant that the distance

between me and Cedric seemed

much larger than it actually was.

We didn’t speak much, save for

when we worked out the details of

the project and how we were

going to do it, then we immediately

set off to work, taking pictures and

making notes first, deciding we’ll

do the videos after roaming around

the whole museum.

We worked like we were strangers;

like two classmates who were

simply forced to spend the day

together to work on a project, and

I realized that maybe we were

simply just that.

Sure, he might still be the same

person I’d grown up with, but in

the short time we spent apart from

each other, we’d changed.

At least I did.

I wasn’t surprised that we finished

early. He was always efficient when

it came to everything he wanted to

do, like everything always went

according to his plan, and briefly I

wondered if dumping me had been

in his plans all along.

I watched him as he packed his

stuff up, never once looking my

way, and I realized that we could

coexist this way. We could act like

the past had never happened,

burying it deep where nobody

could ever find it because that was

the only for us to spend a day

together without hurting.

And perhaps I would have left

unscathed if I hadn’t stepped off

the museum steps the same

moment a man decided to run

across the sidewalk.

He hadn’t seen me and I hadn’t

noticed him until he was already

barreling into me, hitting me with

such force that I lost my balance

and stumbled on the ground.

Almost as if by reflex, Cedric

immediate crouched next to me.

“Shit, Ky, are you okay?” he asked

me just as the man started to

apologize.

“I’m fine,” I said, wincing when I

pushed myself up to sit. “It’s okay.

I’m fine.”

When I tried to stand, Cedric

immediately placed a hand on my

waist to assist me. I tried to

remember to breathe, forcing

myself to ignore the feel of his

hands on me, and was thankful

that the man still kept apologizing,

which made it easier for either of

us to ignore the way he had

casually touched me.