Chapter 16

"Ta-da!" Nate presents the cute set up of his car. He looks so happy and proud of it.

"Wow! Did you buy the entire aisle of chips?" Cela asked.

Bags of chips and soft drinks good for more than two people fill the back of Nate's car.

"I didn't know which one to get for you so I bought at least one piece each," Nate explained. Clearly, he made plans for this day.

"That's so considerate of you. To be honest, I love everything," she said.

"What's with the formality? Let's drop that," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"I mean the 'that's so considerate of you'. C'mon, these are just snacks and it's just me," he said.

Cela couldn't contain her amusement. She realized she'd be keeping her guards up to the point that it's so obvious already.

"I agree. There's no need for exchanging pleasantries and formalities," she said.

Nate smiled. "I never imagined this moment would be possible one day," he said with a bit of seriousness in his tone.

"But it's happening now. Here we are," Cela said. "I missed these snacks!" she added to keep the mood light.

"Help yourself. We have a lot here," he said.

Cela sits on the foldable chair while Nate remains standing but they look more comfortable near each other.

"I've always wondered what happened to you when you reached home that day," he said.

Cela sensed guilt in Nate's voice. It's so easy for him to go back to that day.

"Mom never hurt us physically ever. The least she would do was to nag at us. Stop being guilty if you thought she hurt me that day because she didn't," she assured him.

"I'm happy to hear that. Finally, I am now relieved," he said.

"I'd always give her cold treatment so she would stop nagging me. That's how you counterattack someone like her," she explained.

Nate is silent.

"But yeah, she'd meddle with people's lives, redirect their goals. And she'd stop supporting them if they went against what she wanted," she added.

"She's a hurt woman. Not everyone would understand that. But that's all behind us now. I'm glad that you were able to step out of the trauma and the hurt and be the person you really wanted to be," he said.

"It was never easy. I'm still fighting it," she said.

"Did you have a friend or anyone who you could confide with during those times?" he asked.

Cela shook her head. "I chose not to open up to anyone. I thought it was just a waste of time," she said.

"How about Ivy? I never imagined that you'd be working together. She's the last person I thought you would want to get connected ever again," he said.

"Why not? I needed a job where I could do what I really wanted to do and she needed someone to do the job to help her company. It's a win-win situation. In times like that, no one cares about the past," she explained.

Both took a sip of their drinks.

"I wonder if you ever thought about….," she couldn't finish what she wanted to say. She realized it's so dramatic and perhaps unnecessary to ask.

Nate waits for her to finish what she has to say.

"You know these snacks bring back many childhood memories, don't they?" she said to change the topic.

"I'd always wanted to reconnect with you but there was no means. I couldn't find you anywhere. I was trying for the longest time until I gave up at some point," he said ignoring her attempt to change the topic.

"Oh, I didn't set up my social media account until I joined Ivy's company. I only had a few friends," she said.

"Some things aren't meant to be huh?" he said.

"But we met," she said.

"No, I meant, if we reconnected much sooner….," Nate did not finish what he had to say.

"I guess, there's time for everything and there's reason why some things happened sooner and others later and perhaps never," she said.

Nate smirked. "This conversation is getting serious," he said.

"You're right. What's with these snacks and drinks?" she said to lighten up the mood.

"Does Nina like these too?" she asked.

"She's not into junk foods but she loves street foods," he said.

Cela thinks its better to insert Nina in their conversation even a bit to remind her of the reality.

"But does she eat literally on the street?" she asked.

"Oh, it's either that she would ask someone to buy it for her or we would visit night markets set up in parks. You're the same when it comes to that," he said.

"Which one?" she asked.

"That you're both sheltered. I always worry that she might feel uncomfortable if we eat on the street," he said.

Cela just smiled.

"Have you tried at least going to night markets?" he asked.

"I tried very few times but mostly Saturday markets after our overnight at work," she said.

"You went with friends?" he asked.

"My teammates like Hyun. You met him, right?" she said.

"Yeah, I remember him," he said.

Cela feels Nate is dragging the conversation. There are things to discuss but it's clear the none of them wants to start on the real topic. One day will never be enough for things left unsettled until now.

"I don't want to leave yet," he said.

"I understand you. It's peaceful here and the weather is fine today," she said.

"And it's all to ourselves," he added.

"Umm…do you have anything that you want to ask or clarify?" she asked.

Nate walked a few steps away from the car. He checks the view around them completely ignoring what Cela asked.

"Nate," she called his name.

He continues to pretend not to hear her.

"Your phone is ringing. It's Nina calling you," she said.

Nate suddenly stopped pretending not to hear anything and grabbed his phone he left charging in the car.

Cela typed on the notepad of her phone. It reads: "I wanna talk to her." She showed it to Nate.

Nate excused himself from the call. He muted the phone and asked her if she's sure about it.

She confirmed. She wants to talk to Nina.

Nate went back to the call. He told her about Cela's request to talk to her.

"Please put the phone on speaker," Cela requested.

Nate did what he was requested. He starts to feel awkward as soon as he clicked on the speaker button.

"Hi, Cela." Nina was first to greet. "I'm Nina," she quickly introduced herself.

Cela tries to compose herself. She knows she can do it. She has to.

"Hello, Nina! How are you?" she greeted back.

"I'm mixed of good and excited and nervous. But I guess, I'm still okay!" Nina cheerfully answered.

"Good to know. By the way, I'm here with Nate in the park. We were just talking about you," Cela said.

"Oh, about the book you're writing? Did he tell you our story?" Nina asked.

Cela smiled at Nate. "Yes. I am happy and honored to know about it. I thought I could draw inspiration from your love story. I hope it's okay if I used it in one of my stories," Cela replied.

"Oh, of course. I'm okay with it. I'm sure Nate is too," Nina said. "Is that right, honey?" she then asked Nate.

Nate agreed.

"Then, we are good!" Nina said.

"Well then, thank you for sharing your story and best wishes in advance," Cela said.

"You are most welcome," Nina said.

They continue to exchange pleasantries.

"I won't make it long. I have to go now. I'm glad that we're able to talk even briefly in this call," Cela said.

"I feel the same way and thank you," Nina replied.

"Let me call you back, hon," Nate told Nina.

Cela stands in front of Nate ready to leave. The interruption was good as it put a stop to whatever amount of hope that was starting to build up.

"It was great to finally having a longer conversation with you and knowing a lot of things that I never knew all this time," she told Nate. "I have to go now."

Nate looks sad. "So this is it?" he asked.

"I am certain it is," she replied.

"I don't know but I feel we still have a lot of things to talk about," he said.

"But this is it for me. If there really were things that you thought we're not able to talk about today, maybe they too will be cleared someday," she said.

"Are you saying that we'll still meet one day? I'm kind of a confused," he said.

"I can't tell but for now, I guess we'll have to leave things this way," she said.

"Are you really leaving now," he asked once again.

Cela gave a bittersweet smile before lowering her head. She doesn't want any unwanted emotions to show on her face.

"Yes, I am," she said.

"Don't this day bring anything to you?" he asked.

Cela pretends to be cool.

"It did," she said.

Nate listens intently. He looks at her waiting for her next words. He knows she still has something more to say.

"This day – I wouldn't say I never imagined or wished to happen one day. And here we are now so it's a wish come true, an answered prayer," she said.

"And that's it? You only longed for this day just to spend it with me and nothing more than that?" he asked.

"What are you trying to say? What else is there to ask?" she asked. She tries to put a solid front to tell him her emotions are stable and nothing of what went this morning affects her.

"C'mon. You knew what I meant," he said.

"Nothing that happened this morning changed anything. But today, we were given a chance to clear our doubts and give things closure just like what you wanted," she said.

"There are new things I don't understand," he said.

"Please don't think even for a second that there is still something left or something new to explore after everything that happened or did not happen. This is not a novel. This is reality. We don't get sequels or spin-offs in real life. We just continue. We move forward and that's how we get to the ending," she said.

Nate looks away. He's really more confused now than ever trying to make sense of everything and how one connects to another.

"I never really wanted to change anything last minute. Maybe I just want you to be around longer. After today, there will be no reason to ask you to join me," he tried to explain.

"And then what?" she asked.

Nate shrugged his shoulders. He simply doesn't have any answer.

"Go back to her," she said while pointing to his cellphone.

Nate holds his cellphone tightly.

"Hey, don't look like that. I don't want sad goodbyes," she said trying to cheer both of them.

She gently patted his right arm signaling a goodbye and then took her first step away.

"Can we just give each other a hug? We're not business partners or simple acquaintances after all," he said while holding her left arm.

Cela breathed deeply. "I like that but no longer than a minute," she said before giving Nate the hug he asked for.

She closed her eyes to feel him in every second of that moment. She knows it's going to be quick and there's no more next time like this.

Nate holds her closer. She doesn't see his face but it's enough that they are this close even for a very limited time. The moment will never be enough to cover the many years they kept their feelings to themselves.

"I better go. You take care," she said. She made sure to break free from his embrace a few seconds earlier than the one minute that she herself set.

Nate remains staring at her. There's not a single tear in any of his eyes but perhaps he really has new questions that he will have to keep to himself for the rest of his life.

"Congratulations. Try not to cry on your wedding day," she joked.

Nate tried to smile.

"This is it," she finally said before walking away.

In many love stories, there's a popular scene when the man would chase after the woman to take her in his arms in the count of three. But again, this is the reality.

"This is not a novel. This is reality. We don't get sequels or spin-offs in real life. We just continue. We move forward and that's how we get to the ending." She could still hear herself saying those lines.