|| Coral ||

I opened my eyes slowly, regaining consciousness, only to feel someone's lips on mine. When my vision got clearer, it turned out to be Wyatt.

I screamed and tried to get up, headbutting Wyatt in the process. "Why the fuck are you kissing me?"

"I just saved your life, idiot," he shot back, and I looked around myself to find a few people surrounding us. "What the hell were you thinking while surfing? Don't you know it's risky?" he scolded.

"Yeah, yea—"I coughed up some water while Wyatt rubbed my back. When I looked at his pissed-off face, I couldn't help but want to tease him a little. He didn't get angry often, so... "You know, I didn't think that you'd do CPR on me—"

He rolled his eyes. "What about it? It's not like we have never done anything mouth-to-mouth before." I coughed more at his words, and he sighed. "Let's get you to rest somewhere." Saying so, he picked me up bridal style and I yelped.

"What do you think you're doing?" I shrieked.

"Taking you somewhere to rest," he replied flatly.

"Yeah, but why are you carrying me?"

"Because I want to."

"What do you mean by that?"

He didn't reply to me anymore. With a straight face, he kept walking towards our picnic mat where Ara was peacefully napping.

"Wow, here I almost drowned, and look at her sleep— Ah!" Wyatt suddenly dropped me on the mat. "What the hell, man?"

"Oops, I lost focus," he deadpanned. "Imagine if I were in a sea, I would already be drowning by now. Tsk."

I gritted my teeth and kicked his ankle which probably didn't even hurt.

Shaking his head, he plopped down beside me. I wrapped a towel around my shoulders and also sat up properly, watching some teenagers playing handball in front of us.

I heard Wyatt sigh again. "Don't... don't be so careless." I looked at him blankly and was about to open my mouth. "I know what you're going to say. I also know I've no right to worry about you or scold you for that matter." He ran a hand through his damp hair. "But I wouldn't want something bad to happen even to my enemy, and you are..."

"I am what?"

He met my eyes and asked, "Do you want me to say?"

"Say it."

For a moment, he just stared into my eyes, and I could feel emotions that had been estranged for a long time welling up within me. But then the look changed as if he remembered something. He looked ahead at the ocean and said with a bitter smile, "You know it."

'You are my ex, someone I used to love once' — was what accompanied his words, and I clearly heard them.

Of course, he wasn't wrong. But I couldn't understand why he felt bitter about me. I mean, I had my reasons, I even explained them. Even if he had his complaints about me, he didn't love me anymore at that point, so he had no right to be bitter about it. Maybe it's just because he was dumped and his ego was hurt. Yes, that must be it.

———

The ride back to the hotel was painfully awkward, even Ara couldn't break it. Much to all of our rescue, Ara's fiancé, Theo, was waiting for us in the lobby.

"Hey, you guys! It's been so long!" Theo came and pulled me and Wyatt in a hug together. "I'm so glad you guys could come."

"How could I not after you threatened me?" Wyatt grumbled.

"C'mon, don't be so sour." Theo pulled apart and grinned. "I brought gifts for you guys."

Wyatt eyed Theo suspiciously as he walked over to the bench and brought two boxes. He handed each one to us. I shook it to feel its weight to be very light. "Ang— Coral, you open it first," Wyatt said.

I glanced at him with irritation and tore apart the box, only to have a joker pop out of it and scare the crap out of me. I screamed and dropped the box while Theo and Ara burst out laughing.

"Theo, you son of a—" I grabbed his collar and tried to strangle him while he kept laughing until he looked behind me and stopped. His eyes widened a little, which made me curious, so I looked over my shoulder as well to find Wyatt laughing quietly with his hand pressed over his mouth.

But I didn't find it anything surprising because that was how he always used to laugh when I was pranked since he knew I would kill him if he made fun of me out loud.

I turned back to Theo to glare, but he was smiling softly at Wyatt. "He's laughing," he mumbled as if it was a miracle. I let go of his collar to look at Wyatt again, having a strange hollow feeling in my chest.

Catching our stares, Wyatt faked a cough and said, "I'm going to my room." He strode towards the elevator with his gift box in hand.

Theo suddenly turned serious, and I had a bad feeling about it, "Annabelle, you go with him. I've something to talk about with Coral."

"Okay." Ara kissed his cheek and ran towards Wyatt.

Theo looked back at me and said, "Wanna take a walk near the poolside?"

I nodded reluctantly, and we started making our way to the pool area. It was quiet, not exactly awkward, but we had met after more than two years, so I wasn't sure what he wanted to say to me.

"You won't like to hear what I'm about to say, but I think you need to know," he started.

I nodded.

"You know, Coral... for the last two and a half years, Wyatt hasn't been himself. Trust me when I say that he hasn't smiled truly ever since." A dull anguish started renouncing in my chest. "He had completely shut everyone out. Everyone, especially his dad, has been worried sick about it. But..."

"B-but what?"

"Bits of his old self has been coming back. I heard from Ara that he has been smiling again, and I, myself, saw him laugh."

As my chest started to hurt, even more, I quickly said, "And what's the point of telling me all these?"

Theo chuckled faintly. "I don't even know myself. I just... I just felt like you should know, like how he's been ever since you left him."

"So what are you suggesting? I should get back together with him?" I snapped, getting angry now.

"No, no, of course. I just want to say that you never gave him a chance to explain. No one knows his side of the story."

I scoffed. "I'm sure he told you."

"No, he never did when I asked. Just once, he had asked if I knew where you were after a month of your break-up. You were there, so you know." I nodded since it was me who made Theo swear to never give my location to Wyatt. "After that, he forbade me to mention you, so I didn't until recently for the wedding."

I hummed in response, not knowing what else to say.

"Ugh, never mind. I shouldn't have said all that. Let's talk about something else. How's your cafe going?"

Even if Theo dropped the topic, I couldn't shrug it off. It kept bothering me. I understood the part where Wyatt closed himself off, but why was he starting to smile again?

Clearly, he had moved on from me. Right?

———

The four of us had planned to head to the dance lessons together, and yet, Theo and Ara being the spawn of devils they were, they sneaked ahead, leaving me and Wyatt to walk together.

I was grateful that the walk to the studio was supposed to be short, still, it felt incredibly long, especially with Wyatt glancing at me every ten seconds. Since I already had enough thinking on my plate about him, I didn't want to poke either, but it was getting unbearable.

"If you've something to say, spit it," I finally said, trying to keep my voice as nonchalant as possible.

"No, it's nothing. Nothing important, at least," he said and turned his head ahead.

I sighed. "Just say it. You wanted to say something to me this morning as well."

He hummed, still hesitating. "Alright," he said and came to a stop. I gave him a confused look. His eyes seemed determined now as he pulled me inside the park that we were passing by.

"What is it?" I asked, frowning now.

"I know I shouldn't bring this up right now, but it has been killing me for years." He shook a sharp breath and went for it. "Why did you break up with me?"

I stood there dumbfounded for a whole minute. Was he seriously asking me that? As if he didn't know why.

I scoffed. "Are you bullshitting me right now, Wyatt?"

His eyes were now hard, no longer hesitating, just plain anger and a hint of betrayal. "Why would you think I would do that when you just left a text saying we were over?" His voice got a pinch louder as he said, "No explanations. Just over a text?" Now his voice got lower, filled with only raw pain. "Was our relationship that petty to be broken over a single text? Didn't I deserve to know why?"

"Petty?" I couldn't believe my ears. "You were the one who thought our relationship was petty. And what nonsense are you spouting? A single text and no explanation? I left you a big—" I paused, remembering that day, the rain, and... my phone.

It turned off right after I pressed 'sent', then I threw it away. Then it clicked.

Maybe... my explanation never reached him. All that I vented out, hoping that maybe... just maybe... it would make him come running to me after he knew what I was feeling. To me, he was the jerk who didn't try to contact me after I said all that.

And all this while, he has been thinking that I left without any reason, without giving him an explanation. That I was the jerk. Not him.

★★★