Half an hour has passed since Leon has been sitting silently inside the cafe. His legs were shaking under the table, his lips trembling. He was anxious at every extra second he spent waiting for Eli to finally arrive at their promised location.

Sweats were dropping on the back of his neck, his hands tightening around the cappuccino they were holding. Honestly, Leon was worried about a goddamn lot of things. What was he supposed to say when Eli arrive? How was he supposed to say those words? Should he be mad when he says it? Should he be angry? What do I do?

Right now, Leon was completely lost. He doesn’t know what to do.

And, inadvertently, amidst his fear and panic, tears began to fall from the corner of his eyes. He was lost in his thought—spacing out, eyes darting to the distance. The only thing he’s been doing for the past thirty minutes was just waiting, and yet he felt so frustrated at just doing that simple thing. Now, the problem was, he doesn’t know if he wants to keep waiting longer, or for Eli to come quicker.

Leon contemplated cancelling the meeting and running away, letting the words left unsaid for how long he could keep the truth hidden. Maybe—just maybe—if Reynatra became infuriated enough by Leon’s constant avoiding, she’ll be the one who reveals the truth to Eli.

But, action speaks louder than words. In the end, Leon didn’t leave. He stayed. He chose to stay in his very seat so he could tell his best friend about the truth that had happened a week back, something he would regret deciding soon enough.

After a few more minutes of silence and an empty cappuccino on the table, Eli finally arrived at the cafe. He was wearing his uniform messily and his hair was a total mess. He walked through the cafe’s door and immediately headed towards Leon’s table.

“Yo,” Eli called out, capturing the attention of his friend who has been staring at the ground the entire time. He threw his bag onto the table, and then he took a seat in the seat across from him.

“Hey,” Leon responded, hesitantly raising his head.

Eli stretched his arms upwards and then he groaned. “Aaaah! Sorry for being late,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief after. “Thanks for waiting for me, yeah? You—you got my chat earlier, right? God, I hate miss Gina and all of her fucking assignments,” he continued, chuckling slightly at his own words.

Leon couldn’t help but let out a weak snort as well. He got distracted for a few moments, not being able to look Eli in the eye. “Haha,” he blurted out, looking down. Not laughing at Eli’s remark, but laughing at himself for being so stupid.

Eli looked at Leon. “So,” he said, dragging the bag that was on the table in front of him down to the floor. Afterward, he folded his hands on the table, and his chest leaned forward, what Eli would do when he’s genuinely curious about a certain something. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked.

Leon snapped his head up, finally meeting Eli’s eyes. Fuck. He panicked.

He had thought that maybe they’d be able to joke around a bit before they start getting into that topic. But then again, Eli probably thinks that he had taken enough of Leon’s time from him, so he went straight to the point and did not waste any more time. But it only ended up starling Leon instead.

Every plan that Leon had in his head to articulate this subject of their meeting suddenly disappeared. He was rendered speechless. And now, Leon was stuck and confused about what would be the most proper way to begin the conversation on this uncomfortable topic.

“Uh—it’s...” Leon mumbled out, his eyes darting to the side. His face was tightening, cringing—very much unwilling to proceed with this topic. He slowly dragged his tongue out, and after swallowing once, he took a deep breath, and only then did he begin this conversation.

“Um, Eli... there’s no easy way to say this, but... I confessed to Reynatra,” he said, much like a sudden thunder on a bright evening, answering Eli’s earlier question.

It certainly wasn’t an easy sentence to convey properly, and he did leave a lot of the details out. But, after he said it, Leon saw how Eli’s face gradually turned red. His teeth bit down on his lips, and that man snapped. “Excuse me?” he said, confused and angry, his eyes glaring intensely at Leon.

Eli stood from his seat, leaning to grab Leon’s collar, and then he asked him. “What did you just say?”

Leon’s lips trembled. He lifted his hand up to catch Eli’s wrist, trying to pull his hand away from him. “I confessed to Reynatra,” he repeated his words, staring straight at Eli.

“The—the fuck you mean you confessed?” he asked, eyes widening in disbelief. “Is this—is this a fucking joke? Leon, what the hell? Is Reynatra in on this too?” Eli’s head turned right and left, looking for signs of his girlfriend, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then, he glared back at Leon, and he saw how straight and serious his friend’s eyes were.

“It’s not a joke!” Leon said, yanking Eli’s hand off him, causing it to hit on the table, knocking over the empty cup of cappuccino that Leon had finished earlier. “That song you used to confess... that—I wrote that song for her,” he continued, his fist tightening.

Although Leon didn’t plan for his words to be rude or cruel, the latter just spew out of his mouth like poison. Through gritted teeth, through clenched fists, the writer of the song spoke again, “And you stole that song from me.”

He didn’t. Eli fucking didn’t. He most certainly didn’t steal that precious song from him, and Leon knows it. He may be a bit absent-minded when he first agreed to Eli’s request, but he agreed regardless. His friend has properly borrowed his song, and he even told him what he wanted to do with it. And yet, he still blamed him.

Leon didn’t blame Eli because he was wrong. He’s too upset to notice it, but he has been blaming him because he needed someone he could blame—someone aside from himself. And so he did, and what the hell did he expect would happen?