Chapter 4. After the Kiss

Mikaela was still thinking about the kiss she had shared with Sam while she was on her bed. It was the sweetest kiss she had ever experienced, and her heart was racing just thinking about it. The softness of his lips, the way his hand had gently cupped her cheek, the way he had pulled her closer to him—it was all so perfect, not until Mika remembered that she was engaged with someone else.

She shook her head and let out a sigh of disbelief.

“What have you been doing, Mika!” she scolded herself, and then she headed downstairs and saw Alex, her fiancée, cooking breakfast for them. She smiled while looking at him, and then she hugged him from behind. “Good morning,” she greeted with a wide smile.

Alex was kind, loving, caring, and he was a perfect husband material. He had everything—talent, wealth, and loyalty. Mika was still looking at him as her thoughts jumbled with Sam. She remembers that kiss again. She shook her head, but Alex noticed her.

“What happened? Is there something bothering you?” she shook her head, “No. I’m fine.”

After their breakfast, Alex kissed her on the forehead before he left for work. She waved her hands while smiling at him. Mika then headed back to bed.

Mikaela sat on her bed, staring at her phone. She knew she had to tell Alex about Sam, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. It wasn’t that she was hiding anything sinister from him; it was just that she wasn’t sure how he would react.

Mikaela didn’t see anything wrong with this—after all, she and Sam were just friends. But she knew that Alex would probably feel differently. He had always been a little jealous of Sam, even though he had never met him.

Mikaela decided to meet up with Sam in the place where they lived before. She waited for hours, and then he showed up. Mika fixed herself; she was wearing a fancy dress, but Samuel just wore his usual clothes.

“Mika, it’s been so long. How are you?” he asked.

“I’m doing great, what about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m great,” he answered, but the look on his face was different.

“Mika, about that kiss. I-”

“That was fine. We should forget about that,” she cut his sentence.

“Alright, you’re right.”

Samuel was staring at Mika, and he felt so little. The way Mika dressed, the way she talked, the way she walked. “You have changed so much, Mika,” he uttered, and she looked at him.

“I heard about what happened to your parents. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she said.

“That’s fine. I am slowly moving forward after losing them.”

“If you need any help, I can help you,” she said, and Sam shook his head. “I can take care of myself, Mika. I’m planning to go abroad and work there.” The moment Mika heard it, she frowned.

“What? You’re going abroad? You can work for me if you want. I have a job hiring at my company. You can apply there,” she smilingly offered to him.

“Is it okay with you? Don’t you feel uncomfortable working with me?” he asked, and Mika shook her head, “It’s fine. I am your friend, and that’s what friends are for, right?”

Samuel hugged her, pleased about the job offer. Mika patted his back, and he stepped back, thanking her again.

“Uhm, Mika?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes while looking at him. “For what?”

“For laughing at your feelings back then. I’m sorry.” She was surprised when he opened that up.

“Sam, it was so long ago. Past is past, right?” He nodded his head and smiled. “I am engaged, Sam. I am getting married.”

He seemed to be deafened from what he had heard from her.

“What?”

“I am engaged. We’re living together, and the wedding will be announced soon,” she added, and Sam just nodded his head. He thought she had been waiting for him too.

“So, we need to keep that a secret about what happened in the bar. Let’s keep our mouths shut, okay?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Samuel headed back home with heaviness in his chest. “I thought she had been waiting for me, but I was wrong. I have been waiting for you, Mika. I have been waiting for your return,” he said to himself as he slowly sat on the floor.

The news hit him like a ton of bricks, and he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. He had been waiting for Mika to come back to him, and now it seemed like that would never happen.

The cold wind hugged him. Samuel was hopeless once again. He really did think that Mika and him were the only ones for each other.

But now, Mika was engaged to someone else, and Sam felt like his world had come crashing down. He couldn’t believe that she had moved on so quickly without even giving him a chance. He felt like he had been waiting for her for years, and now it seemed like it had all been for nothing.

As he sat there on his couch, Sam felt a range of emotions wash over him. He felt angry, hurt, and confused. He didn’t know what he had done wrong or why Mika had chosen someone else over him. He felt like he had lost his chance at true love, and he didn’t know how to move on.

There were regrets that he had been feeling right now while thinking about Mika, who was about to settle her life with someone else.

“I wish I could just turn back time and tell her how I feel. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe we would have ended up together. But now, it’s too late. She’s moving on with someone else, and I’m left here to pick up the pieces of my broken heart.”