Break-up

“Let's break up,” Coral announced. The man who was casually drinking his coke choked.

“Oh baby, you got me” the naive man chuckled, composing himself. He thought she was joking.

Coral Shen breathed out a sigh and pushed a strand of her golden hair from her forehead with her slender index finger. “I'm not joking, Sean.”

Sean stopped slurping his coke and gaped at her. His turquoise eyes dilated as he realized she wasn't fooling. “You want to break up?” he stammered, unable to accept the truth. He loves her too much to accept what she said.

Coral nods with a small smile. A horrified expression took place on Sean's face. “Why?” he pleaded.

With a small sigh, Coral articulated, “It's not working. You do realize that right?” Sean frantically shook his head. He didn't have that thought at all. Instead, he thought that everything between them was going great like it has been for two years. Panicked, Sean grabbed Coral's palm in his broad ones and pleading her. “Have I done something wrong that upsets you? Tell me and I'll fix it. Please, baby, I cannot live without you.”

His heart broke further with the fear of Coral slipping away intensified when she removed her hand from his hold. “No, Sean, you did nothing wrong. Our relationship is just not working, that's all.” Coral didn't know what she should explain to him so that he would understand. She practiced at home what she would say to him when facing him but now that he was in front of him— all puppy and teary eyes— she was having a hard time thinking what to say.

“Is this because I was unable to attend your musicals? Or I didn't bring chocolates for you today?”

Coral gave him a dissatisfied look because how could he think that she would break up with him just for a mere packet of chocolate?

“No. I said it's not the same as it used to be.”

Sean abruptly rose from his chair, surprising Coral and a few people who were present in the café.

Sean looked hurt and angry as he spoke. “Have you got another man? Is that the reason you want to break up with me?”

Goodness! Coral thought Sean was mature, but this wasn't an act of a mature man. Coral gave him a warning look, hissing at him to sit down because people were already staring at them with curiosity. Great! Sean Hubert successfully garnered people's attention with his melodrama. Aware of his surroundings, Sean sat down, his cheeks flushed.

“What's wrong with you, Sean? Why are you making such a big deal out of it?” Coral snapped, her patience running out.

“I'm making a big deal ?” he scoffed, “Coral, you are telling me that you want a break up out of the blue without giving me a proper explanation.”

Coral grumbled internally, now thinking that it would have been better to have a break up via text. At least she wouldn't have gotten a headache. “Look, Sean, I feel like this relationship is burdening me and sometimes I feel lost. I have a great time with you, but I cannot be your girlfriend anymore.” She shouldn't have accepted his proposal in the first place when she knew she didn't love him. Coral liked him, but she didn't know if she loved him or not time. When Sean proposed to her, out of pressure she said yes convincing herself that she loves him too, but later she realized it wasn't love.

If there wasn't love in a relationship, why stay?

“Please, baby don't do this. I love you so so much” Sean mewled, and she thought that he would almost cry. “I can't imagine my life without you?”

‘How come you survived your twenty-two years without me, huh?’ Coral bit back that comment and said instead, “I'm sorry, Sean but you have it.”

Coral had been his girlfriend for almost two years— twenty months to be exact— but she never saw Sean like this. Sean had created his cool persona on campus which attracted quite a lot of females to him. He was smart, sometimes funny and kind, which should be enough for an ideal boyfriend as Coral had thought, but the more time she spent with him, she concluded that they were too different. Even when it came to sex, Sean liked it soft, while Coral wanted something wild. She was even surprised she managed to stretch two years with him.

“I'll do everything you say, baby. We can fix this together, right? We are the perfect couple, we cannot break up.” The way he said those words, sounded creepy but Coral didn't pay much attention to it.

The warm smile on her face was gone. Cold features marked her face as she looked at him. “I know you are upset about this news and I get it. I guess you loved me much more than I ever did. Anyway, I came here to tell you this and I hope you will respect my decision. You deserve someone who will love you, Sean. You deserve better, much better than me and I'm sure you will find your soulmate.”

“No! It's only you and will ever be you! I have fucking planned our wedding, Coral!” Sean yelled, making two or three people turn their heads in their direction.

“I didn't tell you to plan our wedding!” Coral retorted, getting annoyed. Coral have had enough of her time here and before she lost her temper, she decided to get out of there. Coral rose from her seat and hung her Prada bag on her shoulder. “Goodbye, Sean. Be happy.”

Coral gestured to the brunette with warm brown eyes sitting at a table away from them. She has been watching them with amusement the whole time. “Let's go,” she said and the brunette got up from her seat and followed her behind. Sean stood there heartbroken while watching his love walking out of his life. He wanted to stop her and beg her not to leave him, but his body was numb.

Pulling the glass door, Coral and Chloe made their way out of the café. Once out, Chloe couldn't contain her laugh she was holding inside. “Oh my god! That was…” she couldn't find the exact word to describe her friend's breakup.

Coral sighed as they walked up to where a black Mercedes Benz was parked with a middle-aged man standing beside them. “A headache” Coral finished her sentence with a grumble. The man who was Coral's driver opened the door for her. He shut the door and went to the other side to do the same for Chloe.

“Thank you, Mr. Lawson!” Chloe thanked him with a warm smile as always and he returned it with a smile.

“But I gotta tell you, he was heartbroken for sure. That man was literally begging you not to leave me” Chloe snickered.

“To the residency, Miss?” the driver named David Lawson asked her, sitting in the driver's seat.

Coral doesn't feel like going home at all. To cure her headache, she wanted to do something to clear her mind. “Hot Xhicks Bar.”

Following her orders, he drove in the direction of the bar she frequently visited. Chloe gave her a raised brow look, “It's not even Friday.”

“I don't care. You don't want to come?”

Chloe smiled, batting her eyelashes. “How can I refuse you, my dear?” Coral rolled her eyes but smiled to see her friend's drama.

_

Pushing the door inside the bar, Coral and Chloe strolled in. Going to sit on their regular seats, Coral tossed her Prada bag on the seat beside her and let out a groan. “I really need a drink.” She thought that breaking up with Sean might hurt her as well, but she wasn't feeling the melancholic emotions she should. One might think that she never loved him. It was her fourth relationship and that too ended with her feeling no attachment. Before Sean, Coral had dated three other guys that lasted only a year. The reason for her first breakup was that she couldn't tolerate his unhygienic habits. The second one was for his lack of humor.

If a man couldn't make a woman smile or laugh, the chances of the relationship lasting had less than fifty percent chances.

The third guy was someone she met at a club. She thought that this might last longer than her other two failed relationships but she was proved wrong again. Terrence was handsome, had a stable job as a bouncer, and also was good in bed, but when it came to treating a woman with love and care, he didn't pass on that.

“Here's your drink, my girls” Veronica, her friend and also a waitress at the bar chirped, placing the tray of drinks on the rectangular glass table.

Coral mumbled thanks and gulped down the strawberry daiquiri in one go. “Easy, girl. You don't wanna call it your last day today.”

Coral ignored it and took another drink. Before Chloe could take the gin and tonic, Coral grabbed it, making her scowl. “Hey!”

“More please!”

Veronica asked in gestures to Chloe. Chloe mouthed “shitty day” and she nodded, getting a little bit of a clue that it must have something to do with her boyfriend. “Alright, I'll get you more.”

“Wait, I want the strongest drink!” Coral demanded, already feeling her head a little lighter than before.

“No way. You barely can handle this stuff” Veronica argued. Coral pouted but she knew how to make her agree. She grabbed her bag and searched for some cash she kept in her inside pocket.

Taking out five thousand dollars, she waved in front of Veronica, as if teasing her. “You don't want to upset your favorite customer, do you?” she had a wicked smile on her face.

Veronica tsked, grinding her teeth in irritation because when it came to money, she got weak. “Ugh, fine but don't go around yelling at others” she agreed, rolling her eyes.

“You aren't seriously making her drunk” Chloe gaped at her, “She can't tolerate it, Ver.”

“Shut up, Chloe. Just be a good friend” Coral stuck her tongue out and gave the money to Veronica who immediately kept them inside the cup of her bra.

Half an hour later, as Chloe had expected Coral was completely drunk. Although she didn't drink the strongest drink thankfully, she still stocked more than three tequila shots, vodka, and other items that had names harder to say. “I'll kill you if you puke on me again” Chloe grumbled, glaring at her best friend who was laughing barfly.

Coral smiled drunkenly with her cheeks flushed in the shade of pink and her eyes half opened. “You know what's funnnyyyyy?”

“What?”

“I don't feel bad for the break up” she revealed with a chuckle, holding her face with her palms. “In fact, I feel good…more free.”

“I know darling. Took you a long time to come to your senses but I am glad you broke up. There wasn't anything between the two of you, seriously.”

Coral bobbed her head, agreeing with her at this point. She was smiling but the next moment, her eyes filled with tears and her lips turned down. “I'm so pathetic! Why can't I have someone who would love me like Darcy loved Elizabeth?”

Chloe rolled her eyes to the back of her head. It wasn't the first time her friend was throwing a fit. It happened often and she was so used to it that her skin prickled whenever Coral mentioned her favorite fictional couple— Darcy and Elizabeth.

Unlike Coral, Chloe didn't have a positive point of view about Darcy or the fact that Elizabeth forgave him even though he didn't fucking respect her in the past.

“We live in modern times, Coral reef. Stop hoping that you will find Darcy here. And why do you want a man anyway? What's wrong with staying single?”

Coral sighed, turning her face to gaze at the people who danced on the dance floor with their arms up in the air. The population wasn't much today but at weekends, this place was jammed. “Because I crave love. I want someone to love me, care for me, and treasure me.”

“Are you that desperate?”