De' Lamour - the restaurant of love was where Brian chose to end things with Erinen
"No, please we can work things out, don't leave" Erinen cried out "Atleast explain to me what went wrong" the words came out unsteady.
Brian just smirked adjusting the cuff of his tailored suit as if the conversation was a waste of his time"Try with someone else, it's exhausting pretending to still love you"
Erinen stared at him in wounded disbelief
"Don't bother trying to convince me, my mind is made up" he continued as if nothing in her expression had fractured.
Erinen watched as Brian stood up and strutted out of the restaurant without looking back, she lost love at the restaurant of love.
She looked up trying to keep the tears in her eyes from falling and then noticed that the cold neon light on the ceiling had the shape of a mistletoe. And that was when the first tear fell and the rest followed.
Hasn't she suffered enough heartbreaks? She mused.
But something about the look in Brian's eyes told her that he was serious about this. Conversation around them have quieted down to careful whispers.
One of the onlookers - an elderly woman walked up to her.
Erinen recognized her. She had noticed her earlier seated with her husband, cracking jokes across the table.
Back then she had thought how beautiful it would have been to grow old with Brian like that.
"Hey...sweet child."
The woman's voice was gentle.
"I'm Elda. I couldn't help but notice what just happened. Are you alright? Do you need help going home?"
The kindness in her tone made a lump form in Erinen's throat.
"I'm fine" Erinen said, managing a fragile smile
Elda looked at her for a long moment, her gaze soft with understanding. She gave her a small nod.
Just before walking away, she added softly,
"The right one will stay."
Erinen couldn't bear to stay at the restaurant any longer so she stood up and walked out, tears still blurring her vision.
She boarded a taxi and murmured her address, tears slipping quietly down her cheeks. The driver glanced at her through his rear view mirror, then looked away. Whatever her story was, it wasn't his place to ask.
Erinen got home and opened the door with a trembling hand. She walked in and sank into the couch, still clutching her bag. Her breath hitched, her chest rising and falling out of rhythm.
I will be fine. It shouldn't hurt like this, Erinen said to herself, this wasn't her first heartbreak but it will definitely be her last.
At some point, she drifted off to sleep. Erinen woke up to her phone vibrating with a new text.
She reached for it lazily
Ella: I didn't hear from you last night. How was your date with brian? Did he propose?
Something about the message, maybe the timing, maybe the innocence, made a laugh burst out from her.
It was loud, sudden. Almost hysterical in the quiet room.
Propose? Lol.
Erinen got up from the couch she had fallen asleep on and pressed a palm on her forehead, laughing again.
If only ella knew.
For a second, she thought about calling Brian, even flooding his phone with messages, cursing him out or begging but then she stopped.
He had ended things fully aware of how much it would hurt her, known how cruel it was to walk away without explanation and he had done it anyway. Without hesitation.
Why should she be the one to beg again?
It wouldn't change anything.
She dropped her phone on the table beside the couch and then her gaze drifted to the calendar. She was a nurse at the Miracle Haven Hospital, and right, she was on two days off.
Then she made a decision that she would stay off the grid.
Turning her phone off, she decided to do nothing for the next two days. No calls, no messages, no world outside this walls.
Silence settled into the apartment.
Her brain told her the pain would pass
And then it hit her..the irony of it all
Brain.
Rearrange the letters and it's his name. The same brain trying to calm her down carried the same spelling as the boy who unraveled her.
It felt cruel, like even language was mocking her
She let out a dry humorless laugh.
How was she supposed to think clearly when even the word for logic echoed him?
---
The third day arrived, the day Erinen was meant to return back to work, there was a lightness she hasn't felt in days though a cold feeling still lingered, it wasn't the suffocating type, this one was quieter. Settled. Almost peaceful
Why ache when the one who hurt her is definitely fine?
Erinen stared at the ceiling of her small apartment, and for the first time since her isolation, her mind wasn't replaying the restaurant
She did't feel broken, she felt done.
She stood up slowly and walked to the bathroom. The mirror showed swollen eyes, smeared mascara but no tears. Just clarity.
She hadn't showered or eaten since she got back from the restaurant two days ago. She took a shower.
After that she went back to the living room, picked her phone,switched it on and opened her messages with brian.
She did not reread them
No scrolling.
No hesitation.
Delete.
Then she unfriended him on instagram, snapchat.
Everywhere. Blocked.
It felt strangely ceremonial.
Like signing the last page of a chapter.
"fuck him"
She lit a sandalwood candle and watched the flame flicker, the scent filled the room, strong, steady,and stubborn. Exactly what she needed.
Then she walked to the fridge, grabbed a tub of ice cream, the biggest size - the one she usually kept if she had a hard day at work, and sat on the kitchen counter, eating straight from it.
Right there, with the cold sweetness melting on her tongue, she made a vow.
Her mind was made up.
She was done loving.
Not anymore.
Love had it's price, and she wasn't paying it again.
Not for him.
Not for anyone again.
Then she went inside to prepare for work, her heart firmly closed to anything called love.