Bad Blood To Bad Romance

I hate mornings. I always do. But this morning is, arguably, the worst morning of my life. I take another sip of my lukewarm coffee. The events that occurred last night have once again invaded my thoughts.

Last night, I found out that my girlfriend, that I have been with for three years now, had been cheating on me. Yesterday was our third year anniversary. I took her out to a fancy restaurant by the Manila Bay.

I am only a college student who still depends on his parents for financial support. But even that's the case, I saved my allowance. I did this so I can take her to that seafood restaurant that she had been dying to go to. I even got her a fresh bouquet of real pink roses and a pair of pearled earrings.

I dressed semi-formal with a red long-sleeved polo shirt and some black slacks and shoes. She even wore a red dress to match. It was supposed to be the perfect date, the best night of our lives. But one small instance changed everything.

During dinner, she rushed down to the first floor to get her wallet. She accidentally left it in one of the bathroom cubicles. In her rush, she left her phone on the table unlocked. The moment she disappeared down the stairs, her phone dinged.

I am not that kind of person who likes invading other people's privacy like their personal phones. Yet, I felt my gut nudging me to take a look at the message that just came in. I didn't want to look at first, but the strong pull of my gut combined with my curiosity convinced me otherwise.

When I looked at her phone's screen, the preview of the message was on a pop-up window. The moment the words of the message processed in my head, I was in a complete shock for a few seconds. I even reread the message hoping that my eyes were only deceiving me. Or... I just misinterpreted the message. But neither of those were the case. It is what it is.

The message goes like this:

"I know and I love you too. But I just hope you break up with him already so we don't need to hide us anymore. I'll see you tomorrow by the bench at the corner of your street at 8 am. Love You."

I couldn't accept it. I keep denying the fact that Aria, my girlfriend for three years, is seeing another guy behind my back. I couldn't process it.

I put down her phone and pressed the lock. A few moments later, Aria came back with her wallet in hand. She didn't suspect anything. She continued our interrupted conversation like nothing unusual happened.

Throughout the dinner, I really acted as if nothing happened. I tried to enjoy our dinner date despite the constant nagging voice in my head. There's also that pain in my chest that is slowly building up. But, they soon grew unbearable that I can no longer keep up the facade. It's even worse when she occasionally opens her phone to reply to a text.

After we are done eating, we didn't go home yet. Aria and I walked by the cemented sidewalk near the Manila Bay. We were very silent as we took a stroll.

Aria was enjoying the breeze brought by the winds coming from the bay. She also looked happily at the nightlights of the glamorous Roxas Boulevard. She seems liked she enjoyed our night.

We stopped by a bench to take a seat. We sat in silence as we look at the moon's distorted reflection on the bay. My thoughts are too treacherous. I can't get that message off my mind. I shook my head and I looked at the woman I love beside me. She was spacing out looking at nothing in particular.

What is she thinking about? Is she thinking about our date? About me? Or is she thinking about him?

I held her hand making her look at me. I pulled out my gift for her from my pocket.

"Happy 3rd Year Anniversary, Aria."

I said as I opened the box revealing the pearled earrings. She looked in awe.

"Oh, thank you, Justin, it's beautiful!" She said as she took the box from my hand to get a better look at the earrings.

"Here. Let me help you try them on." I offered. As a reaction, Aria pulled the box away from my hand then said...

"No, thanks. It's hard to remove the earrings I am wearing."

I felt the pang of rejection but I tried not to let it show.

"Okay," I replied.

Sensing the tone of my "okay", Aria spoke again.

"But I'll wear them tomorrow. I'll send you a pic if you want."

Tomorrow?

"...I'll see you tomorrow by the bench at the corner of your street at 8 am. Love You."

"No need. I'll just go to your apartment tomorrow." I said testing the waters.

Aria looked at me almost in shock. She even hastily replied saying.

"Oh no! You can't. I have other plans tomorrow. I'll be out the whole day."

So she is meeting up with him?

"Okay."

Silence has once again taken over us. But the burning agony in me has not stopped. I couldn't hold it in much longer. I once again took her hand with both of my hands and asked her.

"Do you love me?"

Aria looked at me as if I am asking her a weird question.

"Of course, I do. Why would you ask so suddenly?"

Because I want to understand why you even thought of cheating on me...

"Nothing." I just said. Then I pulled her close to me and hugged her as I gave her forehead a light kiss. A small tear fell from my eye.

Once again, tears flow from my eyes as I take another sip from my now lukewarm coffee. I had been up all night. Sleep won't come to me. I gave up on the idea of sleeping when I saw the clock on my nightstand that it was already 5:14 am.

After I took Aria back to her apartment last night, tears flowed almost nonstop the moment I got in my car. I clutched my chest trying to ease the pain inside of it. It took a few minutes for me to recomposed myself and started driving off. Right before I took the turn, I saw a bench at the corner of the street in front of a closed bookstore.

"...I'll see you tomorrow by the bench at the corner of your street at 8 am. Love You."That is the place where they planned to meet. I thought to myself, if I go there tomorrow, I will see them for myself.

Should I go? Or should I keep pretending as if I never read that message? But if I let this go on, will this disappear one day? Will Aria realized her wrongdoing and do the right thing? And if she does, is the right thing she would do be breaking up with him or with me?

Aria, why? Why did you do it? How am I not enough for you? I thought you love me. Was it all a lie? Am I too blinded with love to see the reality that you never loved me in the first place?

I could not believe Aria would even do such a thing. She never showed interest in any guy apart from me and her ex, Patrick, who is also my friend. She didn't have crushes, not even a celebrity crush.

I thought she'd be the perfect girlfriend. I thought she would be different from my two previous girlfriends who both broke up with me to date another guy. At least my exes had the decency to end it with me before going off to someone else.

Just as I am contemplating on this pathetic life of mine, the door beside my room opens. Out came my brother who looked like he had the best sleep of his life. I almost feel jealous of his bright smile.

"Good morning, Kuya Justin Cyrus!" He greets happily.

"There's nothing good in my morning, James Ryan." I retort.

"I know. I can tell by the bags under your eyes, the sulking mood you give off, and... this cold coffee you don't even bother to reheat." Says Ryan as he touched the coffee maker kettle.

He picked up the kettle place it on the coffee maker machine and pressed the reheat button. As the machine starts working, Ryan head to the fridge to get some ingredients out. By the looks of the ingredients he is going to use, He is going to make some omelet. When he got everything set up, he started cooking.

Ryan had recently moved in with me in this apartment. He'll be attending college in the same university as me. Since this is his first year in college, he excitedly packed his bags. He moved right in even if it's only early July and classes start in mid-August.

Having my brother around made it less lonely for me. I had someone to talk to. Plus, he cooks well. But his presence isn't enough to stop the ache in my chest.

"You know what?" Ryan says as he finishes cooking.

"Let me guess. Did Aria break up with you? Or did she cheat on you?"

I look at Ryan and stare at him.

"The latter, how did you know?" I ask.

Ryan looks at me seriously before answering.

"I knew she would do something like that to you when I first met her."