Disbelief

That day….

Was that a problem? Giving her the 100th day anniversary gift to her --- A surprise gift that made her feel uncomfortable.

Sometimes I don't understand you at all.

---

Ally wring the sheets out of her hand to dry off the remaining moist when she spotted Ian stopping by.

"Good morning," she greeted off with a smile. "You're early today."

"Morning" he stopped in his tracks and wiped off his sweat.

"Are you a morning person?" she asked, whilst trying to hang up the sheets one by one. "It's hard to wake up every morning especially when it's on vacation days."

"I guess," he said nonchalantly.

He noticed two horses behind him and began tending to it.

Not noticing Ian was not listening, she rambled off again, "It's nice to walk around the neighborhood and jog around it. There's another trail that you can find here."

No response.

She looked towards Ian who was busy tending the horses.

She once again cleared her throat to gain his attention. "Are you sure you're not staying for another night?"

Finally getting his attention, he responded, "No, we've booked to another hotel."

"Ah, I see," she nodded. But not wanting to waste an opportunity, she gives another offer, "We offer a 10 percent discount for customers-

"We can ask for the discount in the hotel we booked at." He cut her off.

"Ah," she clicked off her tongue in dismay. She sulked at her first try.

"Try harder next time in attracting customers," he finally stood up and grabbed another towel to dry his sweat.

Ally couldn't say a word at his remark. With her mouth still wide open from surprise, he added," We're checking out today."

And went off.

"That was harsh," she shook her head in. "I hope something bad will land on him."

…

We decided to take up a journey on the hill for the whole day. The hills were close beside the ocean. It was refreshing to get some air after quite some time. And for a moment, I was able to get a breather.

"How about we stay from the place we stayed in last night?" Mark said. "I like the place there."

"No," Ian disagreed. "The owners think we're idiots."

As if in response, a bird flew by and dropped its droppings to Ian's neck.

"Ack," Ian said in disgust. "What's this?"

"Hahaha," Mark said in amusement. "I think the bird thinks you're the idiot one here."

"It's okay," Ian rolled his eyes, trying to wipe off the dirt. "We're almost near the beach. I'll just wipe this off with water."

"Wow," I said, "You really have the answer to everything."

"It's nothing," Ian waved it off.

Several minutes later, we managed to discover a clearing up in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" Mark asked. "Sounds like something's going on. Let's go look at it."

From the distance, a small event was going on. Several people were lined up seated on the ground. We managed to take a seat in the front.

The host spoke up, "I'm not going to be listening to couple's stories today. I'd be jealous."

The crowd laughed in response. Everyone seems to be excited at the said event.

"For this event, please share us if you think it is your worst and tragic break-up in the whole world. For anyone who would like to share, would be given some wonderful prizes."

The crowd applauded.

"We should join," Mark nudged to Ian to convince him. "What you think?"

"For the first winners, they would be receiving one kg of freshly picked oranges and mandarins," she added. "And for the second place, I'll be giving out a first ever edition book series of "The Break-up Playlist". Who wants to go first?"

And at that several hands went up,

Eyeing at the prize, Mark wasted no time nudged Ian to proclaim it. It was tempting offer some thing that will last them for a few days.

"Ian," Mark insisted, whispering him. "Let's get the first prize. Think about it, my older sister gave me money to buy those and if we manage to get that we can more money. At the end of the day, we can do anything we want."

"How are we going to do that?" Ian narrowed his eyes.

And with that, Mark turned his attention to me. I had a bad feeling for this. Ian followed his direction and he knew what just to do.

"You," Ian pointed out. "You're going to get the prize."

He smiled at me willingly as if I had no choice about this. Mark grinned at his own suggestion.

"No," I said repeatedly. "Don't even dream about it."

"It's just once," Ian said. "Give it a shot."

The host called out the first contender who raised her hand.

She stood up and said, "I once dated my co-worker. Turns out he was two-timing me. And the worst part was he dated one of the co-workers in the different department of the same company."

"Not enough," the host shook her head. "And we've heard this kind of story before. Isn't it?"

The crowd cheered with agreement.

Another guy stood up, "my girl would always get annoyed whenever I wouldn't give her anything I asked for. There was one time I gave her tickets going to Hawaii and I never heard from her again. I thought we'd go there together but I wrong."

He laughed nervously at his own story but that wasn't not enough.

The host was disappointed. By then, there'll be no winners to claim for the prize.

"hm," the host shook her head. "Is there anyone who can tell a better story?"

Mark having no choice, grabbed my hand and raised upwards. It was already too late to pull it down. The host had already called out my name.

"Why don't we try the gentleman from the front?" she pointed me forward and smiled.

I sighed and brushed off my seat, "Good morning. Hello, my name is Tyler Fischer.

He paused. "I was dumped in our 100th anniversary. It was a perfect day. But on our way home, she dumped me."

Mark laughed half-heartedly and playfully threw a punch, "Isn't it that tragic"

Everyone agreed to his words.

"She even gave me gifts that day," I continued. "She even told me I was his ideal type. But I don't really know the reason why she dumped me."

I finally finished my story and sat down in my seat.

The host was disheartened by his story.

"Good job," Mark said excitedly. "The first prize is ours."

"Is there anyone else who wants to share their story?" the host asked. "If there isn't, the first place goes to…."

"Me"

Another person stood up.

"Okay," the host pointed out. "The lady standing there. Please share your story with us."

"Oh," Ian said surprisingly. "The girl from yesterday. Romance Novel Enthusiast"

"Hello," the girl bowed. "I told my boyfriend to break up with me on my birthday.

Memories flooded in. "I wanted to do something with my boyfriend. But I couldn't reach my boyfriend. He often went off the grid."

She continued again. "He didn't even wish me happy birthday. A lot of people greeted me, but I've never felt lonelier in my life than that day. I never felt so pathetic and worthless waiting around my boyfriend who didn't put me first even on my birthday. He finally called me after 11 o'clock at night. He asked me to go out to get the cake. It had been five days he called me.

"I thought he would stay longer but he left after he gave it out," she paused. "Strangely, I wanted to cut him some slack. I didn't want to trouble him. It would be stupid of me. I excited opened the gift but was disappointed. The cake he gave me was made out of strawberry. I'm actually allergic to strawberries."

She laughed. "I told him several times, but he forgot. That's when I realized it was over between us. So, I broke with him. It was the saddest birthday of my life…."

"That was a good one," Mark said with regret. "We lost."

"Tsk," host agitated with her story. "that horrible basta-". She shook her head and recollected herself.

"Special Occasions like Birthdays and Anniversary are meant to be happy moments in our life," the host commented. "We have winner. Please come up on stage to claim your prize."

We both stood up and came in to grab the prize. We stood side by side awkwardly trying to take a pic together. I never would have thought I'd see her again.

….

"Aw," Mark grumbled. "You should have cried awhile ago. The story would have been more convincing."

He began to act dramatically.

"In my 100th anniversary huhu I was dumped," Mark trying to cry softly. "Like that."

I rolled my eyes at his suggestion and ignored him.

"Was the story even real," Ian wondered. "Or was it another one of her novels that she read?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Let's go. It's getting late."

We were about to leave when that girl stopped us from behind.

"Hi," she greeted. "I was wondering if we could switch prizes."

Ian and Mark stopped in their tracks.

"We'll get it- "

"Why?" Ian disrupted Mark before he said anything.

"Why did you say that," Mark whispered in his face. "We need that."

She slowly purses her lips and said, "It's the limited collections that I want actually If you don't mind."

"Yes, you can get it," Mark said excitedly.

Ian lightly punched Mark.

"What?" Mark said incredulously. "What's your problem?"

"She doesn't have the prize in her hand," Ian muttered.

"Ah," she added. "If you're wondering where the prize, it's in the hotel. It was too heavy, so they delivered it in there."

"Hmm, I see," Ian said. "We'll just head there then."

….

"Weren't you supposed to check-out today?" Ally sneered, folding up her shoulders. "What are you still doing here?"

"We came to switch the prizes." Ian shot back.

"What?!" Ally said surprisingly. She grabbed her by the shoulders and whispered, "Are you serious? That's worth than 100 dollars or more."

"I've always wanted those limited books," she said, pleading with her own eyes.

"Alright," she said. "I'll give it to them."

She turned towards her attention and finally said, "We'll switch the prizes."

A phone call rang. Ian went to pick it up. "Excuse me, I'll take this call."

While Ian was still on the phone, Mark remembered something. "The novel that you said awhile ago… was is it real or just a story?"

"Story?" Ally asked."

"Oh that," she something from her bag revealing a book. "It came from here."

"Ah," Mark pointed out. "So that's why…."

Ian finished up his call and came back.

"I guess we're going now," I said. "Goodnight."

We all grabbed our bags and began to walk away. When Ian suddenly came back and said, "Do you still half of the oranges?"

Mark was shock at his sudden outburst and began to grab him back when he added, "How about all of it?"

"What happened?" I asked.

"There were some problems in the inn we were staying at," Ian informed, whilst fixing his glasses. "The water heater broke. It will take some time to be fixed."

"Well, well," Ally chided. "The room is all booked. And we're not allowed to check-in with walk-ins."

"You can have the prize that I have," Ian urged. "We just need a place to stay."

"Hmm," Ally hesitated. "Lemme check for a while."

She pulled out her tablet really quick.

"Oh," she said in surprise, scrolling on her tablet.

"You guys are lucky today," she added. "Someone just checked out today. But there's a rule that you have to reserve the place one day before."

Ian gave out a disappointed look in his face.

"But I can make an exception today," Ally noted. You can all go in."

"Nice one!" Mark exclaimed. "Thank you so much."

I was relieved that we manage to get the room.

"But," Ally interjected. "In one condition…"

"What?" I asked, surprised at her sudden condition.

Ian had a skeptical look at his face. But she continued, "Will you accept it?"

Everyone looked wide-eyed wondering what her request will be.

….

"Are you sure you didn't want to give them discounts," she asked. "They looked nice."

They were in their bedrooms already getting ready to sleep. Ally was busy with her face.

"I was supposed to give them discounts," Ally replied, rubbing her face with some lotion. "But after remembering this morning, I changed my mind."

"Hahaha," she chuckled. She grabbed a book from her bedside and began to read.

"What story did you tell by the way?" she asked. "A story from a novel

"Oh that," she smiled at her friend and sighed. "I really wish it was from a novel."