I didn’t have an answer to that question, but all I knew was I no longer harbored hate towards them. Perhaps the first step wasn’t to accept their confession but rather be friends with them. Either way, I needed a second opinion, and I waited until Monday arrived before sending a text to Jess.

Me: Heyyyyyyy, I need to talk to you about something big, when are you free?

Jess: Hey you, I’m free during lunch later. Let’s meet up then? 

Me: Sounds good, the usual?

Jess: Of course, I can never say no to sushi.

Me: See you there!

I returned to my work, where Rob was passing me yet another case and specified that they needed it checked by the end of the day. Lunch wasn’t for another 2 hours, so I quickly dived into the case and checked if everything was okay. By the time I completed my review, it was 5 minutes before my scheduled lunch time with Jess.

“Rob, I’m heading for lunch first. Here’s the case you requested.”

“Thanks Lee, I knew I could rely on you for help. See you after lunch.”

I quickly took the elevator down to the ground floor to get to the nearby sushi restaurant, where Jess was already at the usual booth. I was a few minutes later than expected, but Jess didn’t mind as she knew how engrossed I was during work. Both Jess and I loved sushi, so we tend to eat there relatively frequently and because of that, the owners had one of the booth seats reserved for us. 

“Sorry that I’m late. I wasn’t paying attention to the time as usual when working.”

“It’s fine, I already expected that. I went ahead and ordered the usual set. That’s fine with you, right?”

“Sure, I’m already starving. Anyway, I need to tell you something huge.”

I went ahead and explained the meeting with Skye and their confession towards me. Jess may not have been in the same school as I was (we met during college), but she knew everything about my experiences with Skye in school, and was justifiably mad on my behalf. Hence, I wasn’t too surprised by her reaction at the end of my explanation, where she was looking furious, no, murderous, and tried to stab the salmon sashimi on her plate.

“Okay hold up, are you even considering giving Skye a chance to date you after all the shit they have done to you?”

“Uhhhh, I don’t know. Maybe. The thing is I already forgave them after they explained their point of view. I know I should still be pissed, but really I’m not.”

“Lee, listen to me. That person hurt you throughout these years and never said anything else to you until now. Don’t you think it’s a little too quick to forgive them for what they did?”

Jess did have a point. I was being too forgiving towards a bully who tormented most of my school life. At the same time though, I felt something was different in Skye. It was as if they grew out of that bullying phase and matured a lot throughout the years. Plus, I could tell they were being sincere by their tone and manner of speaking. 

“Yes, I know it’s quick, but you weren’t there. They seemed very sincere and really wanted to make amends to me. I just feel like they should be given a second chance.”

Jess snorted. Of course she did, she wasn’t liking Skye at all based on what I said previously about them. Then again, she knew I was a very forgiving person. 

“Well, it’s your call to forgive your bully. What about the confession? Do you actually like them?”

I honestly didn’t have an answer towards that question, but I knew I had to give Skye (and in this case, Jess) an answer, so I did what I knew best: I shrugged.

“My advice, Lee? Just say no for now, since you don’t have strong feelings towards them. It’s best to just say that you don’t have feelings and let them be hurt for a short while. As much as I hate Skye, they definitely deserve an answer with their confession.”

Again, Jess had a point. I didn’t have any strong romantic feelings towards Skye. Thanks to her, I knew my answer then and texted Skye.

Me: Skye, it’s Lee. I have an answer to your question on Saturday.

Skye immediately responded after I sent that message.

Skye: Great, are you available later tonight? We can meet up for dinner at the same café.

Me: Sure, see you tonight.

Skye: See you, Lee.

“Texting Skye so soon? I thought you needed more time to figure it out.” 

Jess interrupted my text conversation, but it was not a big deal since I did what I said to do. 

“Yeah, figured I should let them know immediately.”

Jess nodded in understanding. She knew I was the kind of person who would do something immediately once I had something in mind.

“Looks like I helped you once again. This is your treat right?”

I snorted. Both Jess and I had a verbal agreement that whoever who helped will be treated for lunch. Last time, I helped Jess in consoling her after she was dumped by her ex, who was frankly an asshole. 

“Yeah yeah, thank you for your help, Jess. I needed a second opinion and you’re the one I can trust.”

“Of course Lee, you’re my best friend too, you know. Anyway, I also wanted to tell you about my weekend date with Matt. It was a really lovely one.”

As much as I didn’t want to listen to their romantic date, Jess was the kind of person who would openly gush about anything great her boyfriend would do. I can see why though, Matt really was a decent guy, and I was happy for the both of them.

Once Jess was done with her story of her romantic weekend date, I realised the time and quickly finished my sushi. I then parted ways with Jess and returned to my work, where I was swamped with more cases to evaluate. By the time I finished my cases, it was already close to the dinner meeting with Skye.

As usual, I took the train home and as soon as I boarded the train, I saw a familiar face that I wasn’t expecting to see so soon.

“Hey Lee, fancy seeing you here again. Looks like we can both walk to our dinner meeting together. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to hold the handrail a lot tighter this time.”

I laughed. What were the chances of me seeing Skye on the train again, let alone in the same coach?