"James," he said with a smile on his face. He took her hand with a firm handshake.
"Stop smiling at me," she took her hand back and folded her arms.
They knew who the other were, this was just a form of starting over. Something they thought was never possible...until now. They were friends, old friends. Hadn't seen each other since they were fifteen-years-old. What happened between them? Well, I'm about to tell you.
7 years earlier...
"I have to walk away," she said, her eyes never leaving his.
"Don't! What more can I say to convince you?" he said, his voice almost breaking.
Taking his hands in hers, she took her last breath before saying the very last words she knew she was going to say to him, "We're so young, what we feel for each other now isn't enough for me to stay. I need to think of myself. I'm not old enough to think for the both of us. I'm speaking for myself now. I'm going."
Taking hold of her face with both his hands, he leaned in and kissed her. She kissed him back and before she knew it, he was the one having to pull away. Tears filled her eyes then, she backed away and quickly got into the taxi that was awaiting her.
That was the last time James saw Serena.
Serena left her boarding school in Australia to live with her parents again. She received word from her parents that her brother wasn't doing so well. You see, he had pneumonia. Pneumonia is a breathing condition in which there is infection of the lung. She had been back and forth to Malaysia to visit, but she always felt that it wasn't enough. After hearing this, she was determined to move back. And after breaking up with James, she did.
Now...
"How are you?" he asks.
Standing outside her office building, holding a cup of coffee in her hand and trying to block the sun from her eyes with her other hand, she tried looking at him then. Really look at him.
"I....I...." she started to stutter. Why she suddenly couldn't think straight, she had no idea.
He decided to try another approach.
"I visited your parents the other day. Monday, I think. They seem to be doing well. They told me where you were working and I couldn't believe it. Your dream of becoming a writer came true! Well, sort of that is."
"Yeah, I guess it did. You went to see my parents?" she asked a little astonished.
"It was no big deal, I just remembered how kind they were to me when we were kids, always inviting me over for meals. After hearing about David's passing, I felt like I had to. Can you believe after being childhood friends for so long, we ended up going to the same boarding school at about the same time. Well, you got the scholarship of course. My parents paid for a 'better education' for me," he said, thinking about the past with a smile on his face.
A smile didn't appear on her face though. Instead, a frown took place.
"I don't want to talk about the past," she said while thinking about the night she broke her first and last heart.
Her brother didn't live much longer after her return to Malaysia, but she never left after that. She didn't care about her studies anymore, and she definitely didn't care enough to go back to Melbourne, Australia. She stayed and took care of her parents. Her parents didn't need the help, really. They were still young, being married at an early age and having David and Serena soon after. Serena always knew that she used her parents as an excuse. She never wanted to go through the prospect of facing James again. She managed to get a good job writing for the local newspaper after finishing her journalism course in a local college. But now her biggest fear and the one person she hurt in her life was standing in front of her...
James was quick on his feet and thought of a way to approach the now delicate situation.
"Hello there," James said with a little too much enthusiasm.
Serena didn't comprehend at first but then she saw the way he was looking at her, as if to say "Just go with it"
"Hi, my name's Serena," she said with her hand stretched out."James," he said with a smile on his face. He took her hand with a firm handshake.
"Stop smiling at me," she took her hand back and folded her arms.
She couldn't help but smile back, feeling his hand in hers had triggered something in her heart she couldn't quite explain.
James used one hand and put it to his mouth, as if he were about to tell her a secret.
"If you didn't know already, we're starting over. You don't know me and I don't know you," he whispered to her and despite herself, she giggled.
"I need to get back to work. I have a very important article to write about how some boys always know the right words to say," she said, hoping he would get the hint in her sarcasm.
"Not some boys, just one," he winked and watched her as she slowly backed away.
This time he knew that she wasn't backing away from him forever, that he would have the chance to see her again because in his head, all he could think was "I missed you."
Still feeling the imprint of his hand in hers, she thought the exact same thing.
Later that night at an unnamed restaurant...
"Here's to starting over" he said with his glass in hand.
"No, here's to new beginnings with amazing people," she smiled, knowing that this was the first genuine smile in a long time.
He tried to kiss her then, but she shook her head.
"We just met remember?" she said with a grin.
He was a little flustered but he knew that this was the only downside to starting over. He smiled and drank to her toast.
Who says people can't start over?;)
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