The next day, Leon lied to Reynatra.

It was a very simple lie, truly. He had asked her to teach him a subject that he was lacking after school, in the evening. It was a rather sly move, out of suspicion, and Leon had also picked a day where Eli wouldn’t be available. He needed to talk—just between the two of them.

Reynatra wasn’t suspicious at all. She thought it was just a study session, so for the price of dessert, she agreed to his request.

And they went to a cafe nearby, and just after she asked him about the subject he has been struggling with, he quickly pushed the question off. Not that he doesn’t need the explanation for something he understand, but right now, he just redirected it. He immediately changed their conversation into the real reason why he asked her to come here.

He clenched his fist before he spoke. “Uh Reynatra, actually... I’m not here to study,” he said to her, softly so as to not spook her. She looked at him weirdly, and Leon starts to feel the sweat on the back of his neck. “I’m—I’m here... I’m here to ask you about your relationship with Eli,” he continued, he was scared shitless.

Reynatra appeared confused, blinking a few times, but she remained attentive to him. “Um, okay then?” she said, her brows began to rise. “What do you want to know?” she asked.

Leon took a deep breath and looked around. He noticed that the cafe was rather deserted this evening, and they too picked a rather isolated seat as well. The number of people that were in the place could be counted on his fingers. Perhaps he’d like it better if it was more crowded because now, he can’t help but feel the tension rising.

He lets out a weak laugh. This was a bad idea, he thought.

As he felt the blood reaching his head, thus then he began to speak.

“Reynatra... uh. Did—did Eli confess to you using a song?” he asked, carefully picking his words. The beat in his voice showed how nervous he was about asking this question. Perhaps a faint guiltiness was layered within as well—though if he truly felt guilty, he wouldn’t have asked this question in the first place.

Reynatra paused for a second. “Yes,” she answered, her hands starting to crawl to the side of her neck. “What—what about it?”

Hardly and harshly, Leon clenched his fist. He wouldn't be able to turn back the moment after he said his next words. She was gazing at him—so attentively, curious with what he had to say. And, just like when she dropped the bomb on him about how she was dating Eli, he chose to drop this information on her like a bomb as well.

“That song,” he said, taking a breath. “The one that Eli used to confess to you... Reynatra, you should know that that song—it was a song that I wrote for you,” he told her, an innocent smile crept up his lips, and in an instant, he saw how her eyes turned into a complete circle.

“What—what do you mean?” she asked, her voice fast and rushed, beginning to grow agitated.

He swallowed before answering. “That song, Reynatra... I wrote that song especially for you.”

Her mouth was agape, her hands were beginning to tremble. She stood from her seat, her hand weakly hitting on the table in front of her. “Leon, tell me. Is this supposed to be a joke?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Okay, first... you tricked me. You invited me here to teach you geography. But then, you start messing around and ask about my relationship.”

She took one deep breath, calming herself. “Is this—is this supposed to be a joke? Leon, tell me, 'cause if it is, I am not into jokes like this.”

She took her bag from the seat beside her, her body walking out of the seat, preparing to leave the cafe. “Cancel my order, I’m leaving,” she told him, and then she began to walk away. But, before she got far enough, Leon managed to take a hold of her wrist, stopping her from leaving this place.

“I’m not kidding!” he responded, his grip on her increasingly tightening. “Please, Reynatra. I’m—this is not a joke!”

“Then what do you mean by that?” she screamed out. It was by luck they haven’t caused a commotion yet. “What do you mean by saying that that song was a song that you wrote for me?”

“Exactly as I said, Rey,” he answered, his hands keeping hold of both of her hands now and aligning them with his. “I—I wrote that song for you—from me to you. That was a song I wrote for you.”

She couldn’t accept that as an answer alone. She shrugged Leon’s hands off her, forcing him to let her go, and then she turned around and was about to storm off towards the door of the cafe. But just before she left, he had to call her again, one last time.

“Rey,” he said, his desperate plea of trying to keep her by his side, trying to make her stay. “Please...”

“I’ve been writing this song for an angel I see ♪,” the song blurted out of his mouth, and he could see her body flinch and freeze on the spot. He couldn’t see her face, but he knows she was disheartened, and he began to stand and approached closer to her, and he continued to sing.

“She is someone I know and made my heart skipped a beat ♪.”

Leon stood just behind her, and Reynatra turned to face his direction. Her face clenched as she looked at him, and he knows that she knows these lyrics, this melody. This was the song that Leon wrote but didn’t sing to her.

When he grabbed her wrist again, she didn’t resist him. She didn’t try to get away, and when he walked in front of her, she simply stared at him, and they begin to look at each other. Their eyes meet each other with a very similar yet different gaze. He looked at her eyes, brown and beautiful, and they were quite possibly holding a tear.

“I’ve been singing this song for the only girl I ever see... ♪,” he said, forcing a hurtful smile down his lips, and then he proceed to continue the next verse of this wretched song he doesn’t want to sing again.

“Someone I’ve always thought to be the true love I seek... ♪.”

He puts her palm above his, and he felt the coldness of her hands on him. And then he raised his gaze to look at her—her face rotten red, a mixture of both anger and disappointment. His hand crawled to her cheek, tracing gently on her face, and for a moment there, he saw the tear that fell down her eyes, and he stopped singing his song at the last verse that she knew.

His lips trembled, his eyes widened, and he stopped saying anything. Fuck, he cursed himself, did he go too far with this charade?

“Leon?” she called out his name, her voice cracking. His hand moved to grasp hers, twining their fingers together, and she didn’t resist the way he’s been holding her. She was pitying him, he thinks.

He pulled her hand and lifted them close to his face, her palm near his lips, his breath contrasting the coldness of her skin. She loosened his grip on her hand and went to touch his face out of her own volition, caressing them gently—and at that moment, he couldn’t keep it together anymore.

Fuck, it hurts. It bloody damn hurts, and what can he do to ease it?

Nothing. He can’t do anything. He can’t ease the pain. The only thing he could do was make someone else suffer with him.

And then, the verse that he just wrote the other day slipped from his lips. The verse she hasn’t heard yet, the sad part of the song. With trembling arms and with tears in his eyes, he began to sing that last verse to her, the end of their chapter that never started.

“

But... you drove me away ♪

Leaving me far astray ♪

And now I’m all alone with a heart bound to break ♪

“

She brought his face closer to her, pressing their forehead against each other, and she began to whisper to him two words—over and over again. “I’m sorry,” she said, and a river of tears followed after. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” she sobbed.

He looked at her, not noticing the tears in his own eyes.

Truly, why is she crying? I’m the one who’s supposed to—

And then she spoke again, one last time. “I’m sorry,” she said, through shaky lips and heavy breaths, and the meaning behind that apology broke his heart again.

He pulled away and placed his hand over the palm that has been cupping his cheek. He nodded his head up to look at her in the eyes, her glistening, misty eyes. And ah, maybe she does deserve to cry.

“That’s okay ♪,” he said, a well-coated lie, “I’m used to being lonely anyway ♪.”