Let Me Count the Ways I Fell in Love With You

Tania blew her hands and rubbed them together in a failed attempt to keep herself warm. The cold was beginning to irritate her yet soothe her for the coming disaster. Cold wind bit into her exposed face.

“breathe, breathe, breathe” she chanted while practicing the lines she had worked so hard
for that morning.

She heard the faint footsteps of someone familiar and looked up. She shuddered as he approached her, a wide grin displaying on his handsome face.

“oh, god, give me strength” She prayed silently.

Shane walked over to Tania where she sat solemnly on a bench that faced the ocean view. Great way to start a day. He grinned as he neared her. He greeted a ‘good morning’ before giving her a quick peck on the lips. He wanted more but, that’ll do for now.

“What’s up?” He said as they sat down beside each other.
Apparently, Tania had called that morning, obviously to meet up.
“Nothing…” She mumbled and shivered in the cold.
Noticing her shivering, Shane drew her in for a hug to warm her up.
“You said nothing so, there must be something. What’s wrong?” He said lightly.
She gazed into his mesmerizing brown eyes and said, “Shane… I think we should break up.”

Uh-oh.

Shane’s eyes widened at her subtle – but hurtful, no less – request. He pulled back and searched her face to see if she was joking. Nope, she was not. Tania does not joke about this kind of things.

“No!” He protested, a bit too strongly. He saw her flinch and a look of resignation flickered through her eyes before disappearing into the abyss. It was so fast, he had doubts about ever seeing it.
“Shane, you don’t understand…”
“Of course I don’t! It was as if those 4 months of courtship did not even existed! What the hell?!” he raked his combed hair with his fingers.
“But, Shane! This just is not working out! Obviously most of us do not even agree with our relationship, much less be happy for us!”
“Our parents agreed! We agreed! Was it because of yesterday?”
“No!” She stopped, and then thought better of it. Maybe agreeing with him would be much simpler, “Yes! Yes, that’s right.”
“What? Are you serious? Unbelievable! I am not going to break up with you just because of yesterday!

Shoot, it backfired.

“But Shane…”
“No! I’m not going to break up with you! If it was for that flimsy reason that I am not going to break up with you!”
“Fine then!” She exclaimed in frustration, “Let’s give each other a break then! Besides, your exam’s next week. I don’t want to impose on your concentration. We’ll work on this after your exams,” Then, she looked into Shane’s eyes and whispered, “Work with me Shane. I need that few weeks of break…”

Hurt displayed so strikingly in his eyes and Tania would do anything to amend that but, not now. Not now.
With a resigned sigh, he looked away and muttered a ‘fine’.

“Thank you,” She said before standing up and walking away.
Not turning back would be hard but, turning back would be harder because she knew she would never be able to turn back around.
Life. Sucks.