Chapter 6 Apology Is Not Enough

A barrage of message notifications and missed call lists immediately filled the top screen of Celine's phone as soon as it was turned on.

Sure enough, all of them were from Leo, and some were labeled with Kate's name. She had no intention of reading Leo's messages. Immediately, she aimed at the chat from Kate, which only read,

[Test]

At length, she typed a message in the chat column explaining the actual incident.

At the bottom of the explanation, she ended it with a question sentence,

[Well, if you were in my position, would you break up with him? You would too, right?"] She also put an angry emoticon.

Sent. Two black ticks.

"Huff, what a relief ...," sighed Celine as she put her cell phone on the table and leaned her very sore back on the back of the wooden chair with soft foam.

It was too much if Kate defended Leo just because they were neighbors. She is a fellow woman; she should know how painful it is when the one she loves turns out to be a cheat behind her, Celine thought silently.

Glancing at her watch and realizing about fifteen minutes left, she hurriedly packed her lunch, put it back in her bag, and went to the toilet.

After she finished, she returned and found a reply to Kate's chat. She immediately read the reply message, which read,

[Leo just told me that he accidentally met his ex at the mall].

[He just chatted and talked to the girl while he was looking for whatever he wanted to buy there.]

[That's all, really.]

Celine chuckled in annoyance. Kate is insensitive. She needs to find out what the biggest problem is. She pressed the call button with emotion. She really couldn't keep quiet anymore. Everything had to be clear right now.

A few seconds after the dial tone, Kate's voice was heard on the other side,

"Yes, Celine?"

"Hear on me, Kate. You don't understand what the problem is. The problem is, he said he asked to be excused when he's with that girl because she's his first love!"

"Well, what's crazy! Does he only have a first love? I have one too. But for the sake of commitment, the past has to be buried deep down if we're brave enough to start a new relationship, right?"

"And I can't tolerate real infidelity like that. The best way is to break up."

After ranting at Kate without giving her a chance to interrupt, Celine immediately pressed the end call button.

Not long after, another call ringtone with Leo's name was on the screen. She pressed the reject button back and forth, but the guy kept calling, so she turned it off again and put the cell phone back in the bag.

"Oh Gosh, just focus on the job, Celine! Don't let that f*ck mess up the work too," Celine muttered to herself as she got ready. Many employees had entered the room. Soon, the entrance bell would ring.

* * *

"Well, that's it Celine's home." Celine heard her mother exclaim a little loudly. Her mother, dressed in a home robe with a mocca-colored headscarf, was sitting on a patio chair with a man named Leo! His army-colored button-down jeans, black short-sleeved shirt, and a hat that read Urban Keith fit his tall, skinny body with cropped hair and a few curls. Typical of Leo's usual casual appearance.

"Ah, shit." Instantly, Celine regretted rushing home earlier. She was asked to work overtime by the Section Head, but Celine asked permission to go home because her head felt a little dizzy.

When she parked her motorcycle, she realized Leo's was on the corner of the terrace near the shop. No wonder it wasn't visible from the road, Celine thought. She would have decided not to go home if she had seen the bike from a distance. Meeting that crazy guy was not what she needed right now.

"Celine, Leo has been waiting for you. How come your cell phone can't be reached? Did you try it just now?"

As usual, her chatty mother was already bombarding her with questions.

After removing her helmet and putting it on the shelf in the corner of the terrace, Celine was forced to approach Leo so her mother wouldn't get suspicious.

"Lowbat, Mom. I forgot to charge it last night," she reasonably replied to her mother while bowing to kiss her cheek.

"Owh, we're worried. Well, let's go inside first. Leo, let's go to the living room," she said with a friendly smile.

"Yes, Ma'am. It's fine here," Leo nodded politely. Then he glanced at Celine, who was still standing and was now huddled up with an uncertain expression.

"No..." Just as Leo opened his mouth, Celine threw him a piercing look. Her eyes were rounded and emitted a look of anger that was not hidden.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Celine glared mercilessly at the man in front of her. Her anger grew even more when she faced him directly. She felt like slapping Leo at that moment.

"I want to apologize, Celine. You misunderstood me," Leo finally said.

"What kind of misunderstanding? It's all clear. I don't want my guy hanging out with his ex, whether she's his first love or not. That's the point. What else is wrong?"

"Well, I did say the wrong thing that time, but...,"

"Huh? Wrong words?" Celine glared.

"No, you didn't say anything wrong. I was the one who misjudged you all this time. I thought you could appreciate the commitment of a relationship. Turns out I was dead wrong!"

"Please forgive me, Celine. I promise I won't do it again. I'm already in love with you, Honey. I can't afford for us to break up."

"Ah?"

"Didn't you say yesterday that she's a first love that's not easy to forget?"

"That means our relationship so far doesn't mean anything to you, right?" Celine scolded Leo to her heart's content.

"That's not what I mean, honey, our relationship means a lot. I'm serious about you!" Leo replied firmly.

"Serious what?! Seriously want to cheat on me? Big No Way!"

Celine unconsciously grumbled so loudly that she looked inside the house, afraid of being heard by her mother.

"I don't want us to break up, Celine. I still want to be with you," Leo pleaded.

Celine ignored Leo's pleading look. For her, loyalty in a relationship was a fixed price. There was absolutely no tolerance for that.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to go out with your ex! Now it's too late!"

"You'd better go home. I'm going to bed, dizzy!" concluded Celine without giving Leo another chance to interrupt. She immediately went to the living room door and grabbed the hinges to close it.

Leo sighed heavily and stood up from the terrace chair. Celine really couldn't be persuaded anymore. That woman is too angry about what happened yesterday, she thought frantically.

"Okay, I'm going home, honey," Leo unconsciously said goodbye as they had done before.

"And never call me honey or sweetheart again!" with that last warning, Celine closed the living room door.

It's all over, thought Celine. Separation is the right way to go when a commitment is broken. An apology is not enough to patch the gaping wounds caused by the pain of betrayal.