|| Coral ||

I wanted to have the least interaction possible with Wyatt, and of course, his room was right in front of mine.

Maybe I should just be grateful that we weren't in the same room since that cliché would've totally happened if I was in a romantic novel.

I woke up early as usual since I used to start my café at eight and decided to go down for breakfast. It should have been a safe bet. Wyatt had never been quite the early-riser. As far as I knew, even his office used to start at nine. Surely, he wouldn't be up at seven.

And yet, the first face I saw as I got out of my hotel room was Wyatt's.

Fuck my life.

"Hey, good morning!" I greeted with a bright fake smile, but after a second, as he turned to me, I noticed his Bluetooth device connected to his ear. A flashback came to my mind, and I immediately let out, "Sorry for talking—" But I paused.

What the hell was I doing? Apologizing to him for interrupting his business call? Afraid that I would make him upset with me?

I wasn't his girlfriend. I didn't need to do that.

I glanced up at him to find him staring at me with wide shocked eyes, but I decided to ignore that and just walk away. I waited for the elevator while tapping my foot impatiently, hoping that Wyatt wouldn't follow me. Thankfully, he didn't.

I got to the downstairs restaurant and sat at the corner table. I made my order and took out my phone to text in my café members' group.

"Um, do you mind..." I looked up at the voice to find a brunette man in his mid-twenties, motioning at the chair in front of me.

"Actually, yes—" I wanted to be alone for a while, but at the same time, I wanted to stay distracted, so maybe having a partner wouldn't be so bad. "Definitely not. Please sit." I flashed the man a welcoming smile.

He returned my smile and sat in front of me. "You alone here?" he asked.

"For now, yeah."

"Good for me, then. I'm Blake, by the way." He forwarded his hand to me. "And you are?"

From the corners of my eyes, I saw Wyatt taking a seat at a faraway table while accepting Blake's hand. "Coral."

"That's a nice name."

"I like yours too. What are you here for?"

"For official work. What about you?"

Blake and I chatted with each other during our breakfast and even exchanged numbers, in case we needed an eating partner again. He was going to stay for two weeks as well. He was a pretty nice guy.

I wanted to talk more, but I had to hurry out of the restaurant when I got a text from Ara, stating that she was standing in front of my room.

The elevator in front of me was about to close and the other elevators were way on higher floors. I couldn't wait that long, so I just leaped in, narrowly escaping from being crushed by the doors.

I was thanking the stars when the person in front of me spoke up, "That's dangerous, you know?"

I flinched at the familiar deep voice and looked up. Wyatt was leaning his back against the elevator wall with his phone in hand, looking at me with a somewhat concerned expression.

I frowned and stood up straight. "Yeah, I know. But you don't have to care." I crossed my arms and kept my face the other way.

I wished for the elevator to quickly get to our floors, but God, clock hands really became tortoise when you wanted it to run like hare.

"So... uh, you really hit it off with my assistant," he mumbled.

"Blake is your assistant?" Wyatt nodded, and I shrugged. "Oh, so? You jealous?" I said without thinking.

"Yeah."

I whipped around my neck at him and snapped, "What the fuck do you mean?" What right did he have to be jealous after all this time?

He chuckled faintly. "I wanted to ask you to have breakfast with me and he got in the way, is all."

I narrowed my eyes on him. "Why though?"

Wyatt looked me in the eye and uttered, "No reason. Maybe I just wanted to talk to you, Angel."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest at the nickname. "Don't..." I swallowed the lump in my throat and drew the line for him. "Don't call me that. You lost that right."

He smiled bitterly. "Right. I did. I'm sorry. Old habit." I didn't want to notice the tightness in his voice because that would make me weak, and he didn't deserve to see that side of me anymore. I hated that he could still make my heart ache. I fucking hated to be here.

I took a sharp breath and said, "We can talk now."

"No, it's fine." Just then the elevator door opened. "Your best friend's waiting for you. We can talk later."

I nodded curtly and got out of the elevator with Wyatt behind me, but I couldn't stop thinking about what he wanted to tell me.

What could he have left to say? Maybe a lot. Considering I never gave him a chance to object when I made that decision for us. But I was pretty sure that I made my reasons clear. So he couldn't possibly ask why I broke up with him. Then what...?

While being lost in my thoughts, I found a woman with wavy light brown hair standing in front of my door and talking on the phone, "I can't wait to—" When her hazel eyes fell on me, her entire face lit up like a Christmas tree. "She's here. I'll talk to you later, Theo. Have a good day." She hung up her call and practically flew into my arms. "Coral!" she exclaimed, grinning widely.

"Ara!" I exclaimed in the same excitement.

We two always acted like a couple of emotional chimpanzees when we were together, and we weren't even ashamed. So since we last saw each other four months ago, our excitement was naturally through the roof.

Pulling apart from the long tight hug, I grabbed Ara's left hand. "Show me the damn ring." I had only seen a photo of her engagement ring and couldn't even attend the engagement party six months ago. "Oh, my God, it's just as beautiful as the pictures. Way to go, Theo! I'm so happy for you guys!" I hugged her again with tears brimming my eyes due to happiness.

I know I was hating being back here, but Ara made everything worth it. Even if I had to have awkward conversations with Wyatt, I would do it. That's how much she meant to me. She was like a sister to me. Therefore, I was definitely over the clouds that she was finally getting married to the love of her life.

"Thank you. I'm so glad you could come," Ara said and broke off the hug. "You know, you should tie the knots too," she teased.

I rolled my eyes and snorted, "Find me a groom then."

"Speaking of a groom..." Ara's smile got cheeky as she waved a hand behind me. "Hey, Wyatt! Glad to see you."

I looked over my shoulder to find Wyatt standing two feet behind us. Oh, I had totally forgotten.

Wyatt smiled warmly at Ara and went to give her a side hug, but her slightly shocked face didn't escape my attention. "Same, sis." It was nice to see that some things hadn't changed even since high school. Ara and Wyatt had always treated each other as siblings. "Where's that annoying fiancé of yours though?"

Ara composed her shock and replied, "Oh, Theo went to the office."

"On a Saturday?" Wyatt asked.

Ara nodded sympathetically, no doubt feeling bad for Theo. "He's finishing his work in advance for the wedding. He's been working overtime too." She cheered up again. "But he will drop by to meet you guys in the evening, then we can all go to the dance lessons together."

"Seriously? He makes me work online and goes to the office himself?" Wyatt asked, frowning.

"Well, it's your job to do the preparations, not the groom's," I pointed out.

He opened his mouth to retort but then closed it for some reason. "Yes, you're right."

I just stared at him blankly, and he stared back. Did he just... give up an argument with me like he used to do?

Ara loudly cleared her throat and interrupted, "While this isn't awkward at all, Coral, can we go inside your room?"

I snapped out of our staring contest and turned to Ara. "Yeah, of course. Let's go." I quickly opened the door to my room and got in with Ara.

As soon as I closed the doors, Ara looked at me with a nervous expression.

"Um, so... I have to tell you something."

Why did everyone have to tell me something?

"Sure, what is it?" I plopped down on the bed and crossed my legs while hugging a pillow.

"You're gonna hate me for this, but here it goes. Remember I told you that you've to come here early to practice your dance?" Ara started, and I nodded. "You see... you are the maid of honor." I nodded yet again. "There's, of course, Theo's best man." She chuckled anxiously, and my confusion increased further. "You know, as customs go, the maid of honor and the best man dance together at the wedding reception."

"And your point is?"

"You have to rehearse dancing with the best man every day until the wedding."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't see why I'd hate you for this. I mean, yeah, I'm not a pro at dancing but I'm pretty good at it. But I always knew I was going to dance at your wedding—"

Ara closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shouting out, "Wyatt is the best man!"

I blinked dumbly for a few seconds until my brain digested the information.

"What?"

Seriously, fuck my life.

★★★