💠 Amber 💠

I was dragging my feet while walking to my workplace. My eyes could barely even open as I tried to rub away the sleepiness. I covered my mouth as a yawn escaped rather loudly. An old man with winter-white hair shot me a look of disapproval. I turned to look at him with a cheeky grin gracing my features.

When I am tired, I would not have the time to care about what people think of me. The only thing on my mind right now was to survive the day. I was unlucky enough to be doing full shift on a Sunday. My colleague took the day off because of some family matter. While the other colleague who is a student too, called in sick today. So, my manager had no one else to call other than me.

I was snoring away when the call came and had to drag my lazy ass off the bed. If I had not owe my manager a favour, I would not have accepted the request. I was working the night shift and looked forward to having an uninterrupted sleep till at least ten o'clock.

My workplace came into my line of sight and I pasted on a smile before entering. The store was already full of customers and I had to squeeze through the crowd to get into the staff's room. I quickly changed into my uniform and walked towards the cashier counter.

"Thank you so much for coming!" My manager gave me a pat of the back after passing the customer their change.

"No problem." I stood behind the counter and started scanning items from the shopping basket.

In the blink of an eye, it was already my lunch time. I was busy attending the customers and did not have the chance to check my watch. My stomach was grumbling by the time I walked out of the shop.

I bought my lunch and headed over to the park. At this timing, all the dining places are packed with families eating out on a Sunday. Luckily, there was an empty bench and I quickly made my way to it. As I unwrapped the plastic covering my sandwich, my foot was hit by something. I glanced down to find a pink ball rolling to the right after making contact with my foot.

A little girl not more than six was running towards me. I bent over to pick up the ball as I heard the little girl giggling in front of me.

"Thank you!" The little girl beamed at me after retrieving the ball from my hand.

I grinned in response and gave her an awkward wave. The little girl laughed as she ran back to her family. I bit on my sandwich and leant back to relax. My gaze wandered around the park and landed on a familiar side view of a person.

I was squinting my eyes to get a better look of that person. At that moment, I was looking into the eyes someone I would never thought of seeing again. Recognition began to register in his gaze and it sparkled under the bright sunlight.

I froze in my sitting position as I saw him making his way towards me. I immediately dropped my gaze to look elsewhere as if I had not seen him. I was contemplating if I should stand up and walk away. But he took a seat next to me before I could come to a decision.

I tried not to play with my fingers because I always do that when I am feeling awkward. I glanced down to look at the half eaten sandwich that lay on my lap.

I drummed my fingers on the armrest and took a quick peek at the guy sitting next to me. He haven't changed one bit since the last time I saw him. In fact, he actually became more irritatingly handsome. It's not like I regretted my decision of breaking up with him. He's a jerk and always would be one.

"Are you enjoying the view?" Raymond chuckled as he looked at me with eyes shining with amusement.

"Never." I answered curtly and tore my gaze away from his good-looking face.

Once again, silence began to slip between us. I was fed up with the fact that he interrupted my lunch time. He always had to find the perfect timing to appear in my life.

I grabbed my sandwich and stood up but Raymond wrapped his hand around my wrist before I could take a step out. I tried to pull my wrist away from his tight grip, which made Raymond grin as he sensed that I was uncomfortable with his touch.

"Let go of me or else I w-"

"Scream? Well, go ahead." Raymond challenged me with a slight tilt of his chin.

"Raymond, stop it. I really need to finish this sandwich that has been waiting for me since you appeared."

"Then eat it. I'm not stopping you." Raymond used his other free hand to gesture for me to continue eating.

"You're already stopping me!" I said in exasperation and successfully extracted my wrist from his hand.

Raymond could not get hold of my wrist any longer so he pulled me down to sit down by my waist. I turned to glare at him but immediately regretted that decision. We were sitting way too close and the tip of our nose were touching one another.

I could feel the flush of my cheeks and secretly prayed that he did not see that because of the close proximity. We were staring at each other and I felt his hand tightened around my waist. I quickly place my hand on his chest and push him away when he leant nearer to me.

"Sorry. I didn't meant that to happen." Raymond apologised as he scratched the back of his neck.

"What do you want from me? And since when you're back in town?" It's not like I cared that he came back to his hometown or not.

"I just want to look at you a little longer." Raymond replied with so much sincerity I almost believe it. Almost.

"You and I know that's not the truth."

"Believe it or not, Am. How are you?"

"Better than ever." I munched onto my sandwich and moved myself away from Raymond before leaning backwards.

"That's great to hear.." Raymond gave me a smile which I once found it heart melting. Well, now it's more like a smile to break my heart all over again.

"My life hasn't been the same without you."

I rolled my eyes as Raymond voluntary provided an answer to a question I never intended to ask. With a few bites, I finally finished my lunch and stood up at a position where Raymond could not stop me from walking away.

"Just to let you know, I've never regretted breaking up with you." I said as he lifted his gaze to meet my eyes. A shadow flashed past his eyes but I ignored it. I attempted to give him a polite smile but it probably came out as a forced smile.

As I made my way back to the shop, memories of Raymond and I started to fill up my brain. I chided myself as unwanted memories kept on flooding out. Unforgettable yet painful recollection was the one thing I hated to do. I always place unnecessary sadness into my life.

I stopped in my tracks as the traffic light had the red man lighting up. I was staring off into space and did not notice that the green man have already lit up.

I snapped back to reality and quickly crossed the road as the countdown of the traffic light began. My manager smiled in relief as she spotted me coming towards the counter.

As I stood behind the counter, my brain automatically switched to working mode. I pushed aside all the distractions and focused on doing my job.

.........

I waved goodbye to my colleagues and turned to the direction of where my bus stop is situated. My hands were digging through my bag for the ear buds, that always love to play hide and seek with me. A small smile made its way to my lips as I finally get hold of the ear buds.

I tapped on the music app and chose my favourite playlist of all time. I hummed along to the song while trying to remember if I had done all my homework. I breathe a sigh of relief when I double confirmed that I could head straight for my bed when I get home.

I assumed that the bus stop would be empty as usual because of the timing right now. However, there was someone waiting at the bus stop. The back view of that person seemed familiar. As the truth dawned on me, I rolled my eyes and stifled a sigh.

I quietly sat down on another bench, not willing to strike any conversation with Raymond. I crossed my fingers to hope that Raymond have not noticed me and he was not here waiting for me.

"Oh hey there. What a coincidence!" I could clearly hear Raymond's voice despite the attempt to block out any sound with the music playing into my ears.

"Oh wow. I would rather not be bumping into you."

"Ouch, Amber. Why are you being so hostile towards me?"

"Did I? I thought I was being really polite to you."

Raymond chuckled lightly as he found a seat next to me. Again. He have been messing with my mind the entire day. I wanted him to disappear from my line of sight. I did not want to admit that he still have an effect on me.

"Amber, I wish that we can start over."

Those nine words kept on repeating inside my head as I took the bus home. I walked into my room without greeting my parents. I was too preoccupied to even realise that I have reached home. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

My mother came into the room one minute later and asked what was wrong. I was tempted to tell her that everything was wrong. However, I simply smiled and told her that I was just tired after work.

Damn you Raymond Hawkins. Why did you have to squeeze your way into my life again?

A/N :
Yo guys! I apologize for the long wait 😞 These few weeks, I have been rushing projects after projects. I still am busy with all the project submissions and presentations. But, I finally managed to complete this chapter before it has been 1 month since the last update! 😅 Thank you all for your patience! ♥

Oh well, I hope Raymond isn't here to ruin anything 😕 Don't be shy to comment down your thoughts on this chapter/story! Give the vote/comment/share button right below a tap, if you want to! 👇💟