The funeral was small and intimate, with only family, close friends and a few neighbors to send their final regards to her father. Abigail couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. The feeling had been real in that very moment, she was burying the man she called her father. Even though her mother's arm was wrapped around her, comforting her, she felt it wasn't enough. It didn't ease the pain she was feeling deep in her heart, the one that simply doesn't go away just because you want it to. At that moment, all the questions she had been asked by her family members on where she had been all those years and how she dodged those questions as much as she could because they reminded her on why she had to leave in the first place, they were the least of her worries.

Hector Albert Haines

A beloved husband and loving father

After everyone scatted to different directions to their cars at the graveyard, Abigail stayed behind as she sat beside her father's grave and rearranged the flowers to keep herself occupied

"I forgive your father", she found herself to whisper as she stood up to her feet, although she wasn't entirely convinced she had forgiven him. She may have said those words with her own lips, but it didn't mean she would forget. "I hope you're at a better place now. "And even after everything, "I'll always love you", she said stood there, taking the sight of her fathers grave one last time. She brushed some soil and grass off her dress and walked to the car where Stephanie and Emily were waiting for her.

Abigail stood outside, thanking the guests for coming after they got served some refreshments at her home after the service

After they were gone, she sat on the outside swing and took her heels off and breathed out exaggeratedly. She undid her bun and let her red hair hang loose on her shoulders. Calvin strode towards her to sit beside her. "Emily just fell asleep", he said as he leaned on the swing. "It was a long day for all of us. I didn't think there would be so many people at the funeral".

"Yeah, I was also surprised. Father hasn't always been a saint, you know?"

"No kidding", Abigail ran her hand through her curly hair and Calvin took her other hand and entwined their fingers together. "I'm sorry about what he did to you Abbie", he said and Abigail rested her head on his shoulder.

"It's okay Cal, I'm over that now"

"I'm glad you're here"

"Yeah, me too"

Calvin felt his phone vibrate against his leg and he took it out of his pocket. The minute he enabled his mobile data, notifications came popping in, and he sighed as he scrolled through his social media.

"Still a player I see", Abigail joked, and he chuckled lightly

"I've never been a player Abbie", she could feel him shake his head before he wolf whistled. "This Mira chick is so gorgeous. Look", he nudged his sister, so she takes a look at the woman on the picture.

"Yeah, she's beautiful", Abigail wasn't interested, but she took one quick at the picture and returned to her previous position. "Is she a model?"

"You bet your sweet ass she is", Calvin gave a soft chuckle and scrolled on his timeline. "I follow her everywhere on social media".

"From being a player to a creep. Nice one Cal", she joked earning a quick playful glare from her younger brother.

"You should have seen the pictures of her and Austin Jenkins's wedding. Talk about going over the top. It looked unnecessarily expensive", he rolled his eyes, but then he remembered he spoke too quickly and spilled everything all in one go and stopped scrolling on his phone. For a moment he had forgotten who he was talking to. He had forgotten who Austin was to her and how much the news he just broke out would affect her.

She froze for a moment. Calvin's words lining up in her mind as she slowly connected the pieces together. She forced herself to sit up straight. She somehow felt weak for a moment.

"Austin is married?", she asked quietly. She needed him to confirm it for her one more time.

"You didn't know?", he frowned as he watched her shake her head. His eyes dropped from her as he couldn't even bear to look at her. Tears already building up in her eyes. He sighed heavily before he nodded his head.

"He got married two years ago", Calvin answered with sadness evident in his voice. "I'm sorry Abbie. I shouldn't have said anything", a tear fell down Abigail's cheek as she placed one hand on her chest, like something just died inside her in that moment. Her hands started shaking as a loud sob threatened to leave her lips. Her mind went blank as she forced her eyes closed shut. This was just a dream, by the time she opens her eyes again, Calvin would tell her it was just a joke. That man she loved, didn't love another woman.

The warm tears that were streaming down her face told a story of their own. It was true, Austin didn't care about her anymore, she had vanished completely in his thoughts. He had put all that had happened between them behind him and actually moved on with his life.

It was all over

Later that night, both her and Stephanie were sitting on the porch swing. Abigail was still digesting the news Calvin broke to her. She was hurt. She felt her heart shamble into a thousand pierces when Calvin confirmed that Austin got married to another woman. He had forgotten all about her. She was screaming inside.

"Do you want to talk about it?", Stephanie wrapped her hand over her shoulder, Abigail shook her head as she sipped on her wine and stared into space yet again. Her were eyes puffy red and she had dark circles under her eyes.

Stephanie heaved a deep sigh. It has been a while since she saw her friend this broken. She could hear the other woman's stifled cries and sobs all the way to the room she was sleeping in. Her cries were silent, but in her ears, they were loud like a bomb.

"I don't want to talk about it", she whispered as she placed a joint between her lips, then let out a huge puff and passed the joint to Stephanie and sat lifeless on the swing.

"Just let it go Steph", she said as she felt she didn't have any more tears to cry, her eyes were all dried up

"Do you think we can leave early tomorrow morning?", she took a huge gulp of the remaining wine in her glass as she turned to look at Stephanie lazily

"Why?", Stephanie hiccuped. "I thought we were leaving the day after tomorrow", Abigail lazily blinked as she ran her hand though her curly red hair, the wine was definitely kicking in.

"I'm done with this place"

She wanted to leave everything behind. This place just remained her of Austin, the moments they shared together. She gave him her soul and everything she was. As much as she was hurt that he was married, she was more disappointed that it didn't take long for him to get over her and love another. She felt the walls closing on her, like she couldn't breathe. The more she thought about it, the more pain it bought to her heart. She also had to move on from all of this, she knew it was going to be hard, but she was willing to try.

A few weeks passed, Austin's marriage still haunted her. She wasn't coping and was desperately trying to forget. She always had to fight off the urge to search for him and his wife on social media and Google, but that wasn't her, she didn't want to give herself more reason to keep hurting over this. Her job, her school work and having her hands full of Emily kept her distracted, a good distraction as she would call it. But the feeling came and went. Where she would feel so lost she failed to keep it together. It was those kinds of moments when it just hit her from out of nowhere, and she would just doze off.

Abbie?", she felt a hand pull her from her thoughts. It was Ginger, looking concerned at her. "Are you okay?", she asked as she noticed Abigail was wiping the same spot on the counter for more than two minutes. Abigail nodded her head.

"I just have a lot on mind", she gave a weak smile and the other woman didn't seem convinced, but also didn't want to pry into Abigail's business

"You have a customer waiting", Ginger pointed out to one of her tables and she looked at the person sitting on her table. The man didn't seem to be bothered by sitting too long without being served, he was even occupied by with his phone. He was trying to reach his older brother but the same as always, he was rejecting all his calls.

Abigail took her pen and notepad in her hands and walked towards him

"I'm sorry you had to wait. Can I take your order?", she said with her eyes already glued to her notepad in her hand, ready to scribble the order, and she didn't hear the person say anything.

She rose her eyes to look at the person, finding his eyes already on hers and his lips turned up to form a smile. She was taken aback by this, most of her customers didn't even look at her when she took their order, they would simply just say what they wanted and dismissed her without even bothering to look up at her, let alone smile at her.

Just when he thought his day couldn't get any better, he just happened to see her standing beside him. He felt like his eyes were playing some sort of tricks on him, how is it possible that this woman had the same features as-

"Can I take your order?", her voice pierced through his wondering thoughts. He realized he was starring uncontrollably at her. He blinked for a second but couldn't find the courage to look away from her eyes. Not only that, but he watched as she dropped her gaze shyly form his piercing dark eyes.

"How long have you been working here?", she heard his voice ask, and she furrowed her eyebrows before raising her eyes to look at him again. Did he just start a conversation with her?

"Excuse me?"

"How long have you been working here?", he repeated, with his thick eyebrow raising slightly

"About three years", she replied uncertain about why was he intrigued about knowing her

"Damn", he chuckled lightly. "Have I been gone that long?", he asked, more like he was talking to himself. He looked at her again, noticing he had wasted enough of her time. If he was aware of her existence, he wouldn't have left. She would have been his reason to stay.

"I'll just have coffee, thanks", she nodded her head in acknowledgement of his request and walked to stand behind the counter to pour him the coffee he asked for. She looked up again before placing the cup on the saucer, and he was still looking at her. She didn't know why, but she felt her cheeks redden before she dropped her eyes again and placed his coffee besides him.

"Thank you", he said as he took the cup by the handle and rose it towards his lips. Abigail turned to leave and attend to her other table that had just been occupied.

"Wait", he called out to her, and she stopped in her tracks and turned to face him

"Yes?"

"What's your name?", he asked, and she was about to point to her name tag pinned on her shirt, but remembered she forgot to put it on. She did not find time because she was already running late that morning, she was never late, that was the first time she ever arrived late for work that morning.

"I'm Abigail"

"Abigail", he prompted, and she gave a short nod. She indeed had a beautiful name.

"I'm Ian", he introduced himself before he cleared his throat

"Tell me something", he put his cup back on the saucer, placed both his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his entwined fingers then looked at her dead in the eye

"Are you by chance, seeing anyone, romantically?", he asked, and she scoffed at his question. He wasn't the first customer to try to make a pass at her, but this particular one...he was different.

"I don't see how that's relevant-"

"It's a simple question Abigail. You can answer by a yes or a no", he replied quickly, to her surprise and her mouth went dry, to top it up, he was smirking at her.

"No"

"Great", he grinned. "I would like to take you out on a date"

She was lost for words as she stared blankly at the handsome stranger in front of her

"I'm sorry?"

Before he could say anything further, a customer called behind her

"Excuse me miss?", she waved her hand to get Abigail's attention when she looked at the young woman motioning with hand, telling her to come closer

"I have to go", she excused herself from him and walked to the other table to take their order. As she was scribbling the meals on her notepad, she began to overthink. How can he just ask her out on a date, just like that?

"Coming right up", she finished writing their order down and walked to the kitchen to place the order. As she came back and looked over at the table he was sitting at, he was gone.

"Here, the guy sitting over there paid at the till and left this for you", Ginger said as she handed her a folded serviette

She unfolded it and read the words, 'I look forward to hearing from you about that date'