Shall We Be... Friends?

colin sat across shayna at the cafe. he was leaning back against the seat, trying to piece up his proper script to say to shayna. meanwhile shayna just fiddled with her spaghetti, tossed and turned it around. it almost looked like the state of her heart.

after a few moments of silence, colin gently touched shayna's hand and stroked it a little. that made the both of them tickled in their hearts. especially shayna. colin knew how to make her leap in her heart.
"darling, i have something to tell you," colin finally said. shyan just gave him her fullest attention. colin sighed, maybe that was gonna be the last time he was going to call her that.
"i guess you have heard about the brealup between me and megan," colin said. that was according to the script.
"how is she? is she talking it alright? it must be hard on her," shayna said softly to herself but audible enough for colin to hear it.
"she did cry for a night but she moved out the next morning. i'm not sure where she went after that," colin answered.
"i see she still cares a lot for you colin," shayna said, now she realised what alyssa meant about rebounding.
colin interrupted, "but i care more for you darling. that's why i think we should..."

"we should just take some time off each other and start off being friends," shayna finished it for him. colin's eyes grew big. did she just peeked into his mind or were they just thinking alike?
"i've been thinking a lot about this lately. you just broke off from a relationship and you needn't go into another so fast. i just don't want to be seen as a rebound girl," shayna said.
"i understand. i was thinking the same thing too. i really don't want you to be just another girl i go into a relationship with. i want you to be the last woman in my life and we'd fall in love, get married, have kids, live in a great house and grow old together. that's how much i care about you shayna," colin said, holding her hands tight.
shayna smiled as colin leant over to give her a final kiss. she know she'd be missing his kisses for a long time.
"finish up and i'd sned you back to the hospital," colin said, kissing her right hand.
shayna smiled at him. boy, she'd be missing his kisses really bad.

***

the afternoon at work was just dreadful. it was no longer as exciting. colin just felt really low. he'd miss shayna so much. it is even worse because she didn't want him to send her back because it would be harder on the both of them to say goodbye in his car since it was the place that most of their lovin happened. as he sat in front of his desk, he looked at the photo frames decorating his desk. one had him and colby in it and they were playing on the swing when they were young. colin couldn't even recognise himself. he was about 21 and he had just come out from the army. colby was just a little tyke, a smiling but ill little tyke. then beside it was a picture of the whole Tan family. Mr. and Mrs. Tan and Colin standing together during his graduation from university and colby being carried by colin. they just look so happy together.

he couldn't bear to look at the next one. megan and him at the beaches together in Koh Samui. they looked happy together. he was beaming with his wine in his left hand and cradled in his right arm was megan holding the roses he had bought for her. as he took out the picture from the frame, he wondered why didn't he ever took pictures with shayna. he took one last look at that happy looking photo and then kept it in his drawer. he vowed to take a photo with shayna soon to replace that empty photo frame.

"hey, you look glum," tyler said, walking into colin's office.
"don't you knock?" colin said as he forced himself not to think about the issue on photographs anymore.
"i'm your best bud. do we need all these courtesy things get in our friendship? anyway i came to ask if you were alright. alyssa told me that you and shayna are..." tyler said, lifting his hands in a surrender form.
"seems like the both of you knows everything..." colin said.
"come on, we're just being concerned. shayna's with alyssa now. she didn't go back to the hospital. heard from lyss that shayna is crying," tyler said. colin's heart soften when he heard the word "crying".
"did i make a mistake ty?"
"no you didn't but you all just need some time to cool off and spend it with friends. that is why i'm here and lyss is gonna spend more time with shayna now. so we can help you through this," tyler said.

"thanks. i just hope that she will one day stop crying and my heart can stop crying too," colin said.