"Yeah, sure," she hears herself say again. Soon, the time and place is set. And he hangs up. She buries her head in her hands and tries hard not to cry. Everything is going to be ok, she tells herself. It's just that, it has been so long. And now, feelings she thought she had buried deep within her were being unearthed. She wasn't just meeting him, she consoles herself. He was not going to be alone. Last time the meeting had not been so hard, when they had others there. It was going to be ok.

She feels someone sit next to her and lifts her head to meet Vincent's eyes.

"Am good. Just an unexpected phone call." He keeps eyeing her and she forces a laugh. "Seriously, I am fine. Now lets go get this party over with, shall we?" He stands up and helps her get to her feet. 

She decides to get there earlier. She is too nervous and doesn't trust herself very much. She figures it would be easier to see them coming in and walking towards her, than for her to walk towards him, towards them! The last thing she needs is to lose her footing and knock someone else's food or something. She walks into the meeting place five minutes early and is just about to walk to a table at one of the corners when she sees him at the further end. Her heart misses a couple of beats, her knees weaken. She is tempted to turn and walk back out to compose herself but she doesn't get the chance. He has seen her. He! It's only him. He waves at her and gives her the smile that she had missed to see for so long. She waves back, and forces a smile to her face. She starts walking towards him. She is happy to see him. That is no lie. It is written all over her face. She is a bit scared, her nerves are all jumpy, but that she has to hide so he doesn't notice. He stands when she gets to the table, and hugs her. She had missed those too, she had missed a lot. And seeing him again brought all the memories back.

"Yeah," he says and looks at her, "I'm getting married!" She is glad she didn't have anything in her mouth, and that the momentary pause of her drink on its way to her mouth may have gone unnoticed. She manages to take a sip without choking, place the drink back on the table without dropping it, and manage a bright smile without breaking into tears.

"Wow, Michael, that’s great. Congratulations!" She knows she should probably stand and give him a hug or something, but she is not strong enough. She hopes the darkness looming over her insides isn’t visible on the outside. "That’s totally brilliant. I am happy for you." She is, she tells herself. She is happy that he is. She hasn't managed to look directly to his eyes since he made the announcement, she is not strong enough. Yet she is tempted to, just to confirm if he really is happy. She knows she should probably ask who it is, but she is sure she doesn't want to know. She is not strong enough. Frankly, she doesn't think she is strong enough to take all this in at all. And she is pretty sure she is minutes away from breaking down and making a big fool of herself.

"Oh really, what difference would it have made?" She smiles as she takes another drink from her glass. Pity, that’s what it is. He pities her! All this time she had wanted to see some emotion, any emotion from him to make her know it had not all been one sided, but pity wasn't what she had expected. Pity was the last thing she needed from him. "So when is the big day?' She asks, her face all bright again. He looks a bit confused and for a moment he seems to be tongue tied. What had he expected her to do? Fall down on his feet and profess her love? Ask him not to marry another woman? Well, she was not going to do any of those. He may pity her all he wanted, but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how she felt. How she could feel him twist the knife that he had once upon a time stabbed into her. 

"Yeah, what? I thought I told you where it was? Ok. Fine. I will be there as soon as I can. Twenty minutes. Just give me twenty minutes." She apparently hangs up the phone and gives him a sorry look. “I have to run. Work calls." She smiles at him as she stands up. He stands too. She hopes she survives the next minute in one piece. 

"Nah, don't worry about it. In fact," she says as she gives the money to the cashier, "cut the whole bill." She is going to be so broke at the end of this week. But she has a point to prove, or does she? She doesn't know. But she just feels she has to do it. It's her pride calling, she has to answer. He walks with her outside the hotel. She hopes he doesn't follow her past there. Once outside, she stands, wanting to say their goodbyes there and then. 

"Nothing I can't handle!" She says with a grin."I’m really strong, remember?” He used to like saying that to her. “Say hie to the others for me. Gotta run." And she just about does that as she turns and walks away from him. Every step she takes pains her, but she keeps her head high and keeps walking, not once looking back. She didn't hug him goodbye. Did he notice? Probably not. She didn't care anymore. After all this time, it was time to let go.

She rounded a corner and stepped into the first pub she came across. It was three in the afternoon. She walked over to the bar and asked for two tequila shot. She had them all at once, reached in her purse and paid for it. Then she headed out again and walked towards the bus station. She felt a little lightheaded, but she knew she would make it home in one piece.

As she waited to cross the road, she felt eyes watching her, she turned and saw him. He had followed her!  He held her gaze for a long time. For a minute she really wanted to run back into his arms and make a fool of herself. But then she realized why he was concerned. He was a friend. He didn't want to see her hurt. And no matter how much hurting he may know he was causing her, he wanted to make sure she was safe. Tears came down her cheeks then. She saw him start towards her but she stopped him with her hands. She wiped a tear that was making its way down her cheek and waved.

"Goodbye Michael!" She whispered.

Then she turned, crossed the road, and got into the first bus. Luckily, it was the right one. He was still looking as the bus pulled away. She could have sworn she saw some glistening on his eyes, but she didn't want to believe it. She sat back on her seat and took a couple of deep breaths. Then she reached for her phone, deleted the one number that he could be reached by, then screened it to make sure he couldn't reach her. She needed a clean break.

She scrolled down to v, and landed on Vincent. She stared out for a long time. It was time to move on. She was in no hurry, she was sure of that. But right now, she needed a friend. 

"Whenever you are ready, you know how to reach me." He had said. She had laughed at the time. But now she was ready. She dialed!

He answered on the first ring. He promised to meet her at her place in twenty minutes. Then he hanged up.