|| Coral ||

Thanks to Theo's text last night, I suddenly felt overwhelmed and had to tell Wyatt to get someone to bring his car to the next cable car station.

If I had skated back to the hotel in that mental state, Ara would have to switch her maid of honor because I would have five fractures and two broken bones, and even Wyatt wouldn't have been able to stabilize me.

Therefore, after getting back to my room, I did the best thing I could to solve my problems in hand—sleep.

Yep, sleeping was the solution to my problems, at least in escaping them. Anything else besides sleeping would have gotten me overthinking.

Overthinking Coral is the worst.

So I went to bed without dinner and woke up at noon by the sound of endless knocks on my door and my phone ringing.

I groaned and yanked open the door. Without even opening my eyes, I assumed it was the cleaning lady. "Can you clean my room a little later? I'm—"

"Angel, are you okay?"

My eyes jolted open at the sound of Wyatt. I removed my hair from my face and looked at him to find him staring at me in deep concern.

"What are you— what do you want?" I asked, sounding a little harsh.

"You didn't come out of your room yet, and it's already lunchtime, so I was worried—"

Even though I had ample sleep, I was still cranky because apparently sleeping didn't give a solution to what I should do when I face Wyatt without feeling like I should go bury myself. "Your point is?"

For now, I just hope I can avoid him for the rest of the day.

"My point is, we were supposed to go check out the venue and finalize the decorations, then put in the order for Ara's flower bouquet in advance," Wyatt stated, not at all fazed by my rude behavior.

Ugh, shit. There's that. So much for avoiding him.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Give me an hour to be prepared."

"Okay, gr—" I closed the door in his face.

Shaking my head, I headed into the bathroom to take a bath.

As the cold water poured over my head and chilled my body, my brain started functioning again.

There was no point overthinking this. Whether I loved him or not, whether my feelings were neutral or not, none of that mattered. It was my decision to end everything with him, and I had no intention of starting anything again—I was still firm on that.

I just had to be patient until Wyatt managed to recover my explanation text from my old phone, then I could put an end to whatever lingering feelings I may or may not have. I would get closure, so would he. Happily ever after on our own. The end.

Until then I had to be normal with him unlike I had been last night and not make things any more awkward. Yes, that's it.

"Go with the flow," I told myself with resolve under the shower.

After drying myself off, I wore a dusky pink sundress and white strapped sandals. Getting my purse and phone, I headed down to the hotel restaurant.

I sat at my usual table and ordered my food. I started scrolling through my Instagram account.

"Do you mind if I sit?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "If I say yes, would you go away?"

"No," Wyatt said cheekily and sat down across from me.

"God, they really should have a single table," I murmured.

He chuckled bitterly. "Do you hate me that much?"

"Who knows? I'm not sure." I shrugged and remembered shutting the door on his face. I wondered if he was mad about that. Still, just in case... "Hey, about earlier, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He smiled this time, not bitter anymore. "You always took some time to function after waking up."

To save me from continuing the conversation anymore, the waitress arrived. "Sir, what would you like to order?"

"Same as hers," he simply told her, and she went away.

"You don't even know what I ordered," I pointed out.

"We have the same taste in food, Angel. So no worries," he assured.

I nodded and continued scrolling through my phone. After a minute, I looked up to check what Wyatt was up to. He was just staring at the wall-sized window, looking at people with a serene smile.

"Why don't you take out your phone?" I blurted out before I was able to stop myself.

He looked back at me, a little confused. "Why would I take out my phone?"

"Dunno. To check mails or something," I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Why would I check emails when I'm having lunch with you?"

I shrugged and put my phone down. Looking away, I taunted, "Dunno. You used to do that a lot."

I could feel his shocked stare on me.

"Was I... Did I really do that?" he asked after what felt like a few minutes.

I almost scoffed at his question and looked back at him. "Yes. Didn't you realize?"

He shook his head, his eyes focused on the table. "I was not aware," he murmured, his voice thick with guilt. "I was just—"

"I don't want to hear. My bad. I shouldn't have brought that up."

Seriously, Coral, this is how you planned to go with the flow? Stupid!

Once again to save my head from exploding on how to initiate an un-awkward conversation, the waitress brought our Chicken Tetrazzini and Crab Louie.

"Let's dig in!" I said, faking excitement, and started eating. "So..." I tried to think of something while slowly chewing some of the dungeness crab. "Where's Blake?"

"I sent him to the office for some work," Wyatt replied curtly.

"Oh, I see. Your office is still in Palo Alto, right?"

He nodded and said, "That's the headquarters now."

"Right, you must have branches now. That's good. Your dream has become a reality. I'm—"

He smiled sadly. "Has it, really? I'm not sure."

I stared at his face for a moment, trying to read him, grasp the pain, but being unable to, I knew I had to upbeat the topic. "Well, if you're not happy with your money, give some to me. Money can buy happiness for people like me."

He laughed. "I'm curious. What's the first thing you would do with it?"

"Buy a good apartment, duh. I'm tired of living in a rented single bedroom apartment."

He frowned a little. "I'm sure you earn enough to rent a better apartment."

"I can. But I'm saving up to buy a good apartment. Then getting a car is on the list. Because it's a pain to carry dozens of groceries on foot and the cab fares are getting crazy high."

"What about branching out your café?"

"There's a different savings account for that, so no worries. My personal life won't affect that."

"That's a good plan. What sort of apartment do you want to get?"

I cheerfully started to talk about what kind of apartment I wanted, how I would want the interior designs and paintings, how nice it would be if it was near my cafe, and so much more.

Before I realized it, the awkward air between us had dissipated and we were having a fun conversation while eating our lunch—just like a pair of people getting to know each other for the first time.

———

"Don't you think this is better?" I asked, pointing at one of the pictures in the catalog.

Wyatt hummed. "Whatever you like. None of these suit my taste."

I glared at him briefly before sighing. "Hey, I know you wanted them to get an indoor venue, but there's a different charm about outdoor ones, okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "God knows why Ara doesn't want a grand wedding. She deserves every bit of it, you know?"

"I know. But she would rather donate the money to an orphanage and save it up for her future kids than spend it all on a one-time wedding. It's her preference, who are we to complain?"

"But isn't it every girl's dream? Even your dream is to have a grand wedding."

"Like I said, it's her preference. She just wants to marry Theo and let her close people be a part of it. She even wanted to get married in the city hall but couldn't book it."

"God knows why Theo would agree to any of it." Wyatt frowned. "But I swear when I get married I'm going to give you the royal wedding you have always wanted."

"Do whatever you wa—" I paused, realizing what he just said. I stared at him in shock, and he pursed his lips.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

"And you better not say it again," I warned, and he nodded quietly. "Let's quickly finish checking the catalog." He nodded again.

Finally, we settled on the type of decorations we thought Ara and Theo would like. Rustic with white and blue lighting. Minimal use of flowers because Ara and Theo weren't a fan of them. The stage was already perfect the way it was, just adding a little more golden glow to it would do better.

After that, we went to Ara's florist friend, Lily.

"Since Ara likes blue, what about the ones with blue roses?" Wyatt suggested.

"What about blue hydrangea instead? It's in season and smells great," I said.

"What about adding white roses to them? White is classic, after all," he said, his voice sounding a little far.

"Great." I looked at Lily and said, "Then, we would like a bouquet of white roses and blue hydrangea on the morning of 18th June. Please make sure it's delivered before nine."

"Don't worry. It will be delivered on time," Lily assured. "Anything else you would like?"

"No, not at all."

"But I think Mr. Reeves would like something," Lily said, motioning behind me with her eyes.

Just then Wyatt called out, "Hey, Angel, look. Purple irises, your favorite."

I turned around to find him with a few purple irises in his hand with a cute smile.

"Aww, your boyfriend is so cute, getting your favorite flower and all," Lily commented.

I fought my urge to sound rude and said, "He's not my boyfriend, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry for assuming. But you guys would look cute together," Lily said.

Every time. Every damn person. Same assumption. Same damn comment. The universe wasn't making it easy for me to go with the flow.

I flashed her a tight-lipped smile and went near Wyatt. "Wyatt, put that down. I don't like irises anymore," I hissed.

He arched an eyebrow. "Then, what do you like now?"

"Nothing. Let's just go. We have placed our order. Come on."

He stared at the irises with a rueful look. I rolled my eyes and bid my farewell to Lily and headed straight to his car.

Once I was inside Wyatt's car, I heaved a sigh in relief. Finally, the day was going to end. We didn't even have dance lessons today. I wouldn't have to put up with him any longer—

Wyatt finally got in the car after a few minutes and said, "Oh, it's already six. We can rest a bit after we get back to the hotel before starting our practice at seven."

"What practice?" I asked leisurely.

"Dance practice. You said you would practice with me to help me get better."

My eyes widened as I remembered the appointment I booked with him last night. Shit.

I bit back a groan as I agreed, "Right, of course."

Just why won't the universe let me get away from Wyatt?

"The seatbelt, Angel," he reminded me.

I frowned and started to fasten it when I noticed him putting something in the backseat. I glanced behind, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Why... why did you bring them?" I asked, still staring at the purple flowers.

Wyatt smiled and said, "I know you still like purple irises, so why not?"

How did he...

"No, I don't."

"Look me in the eye and say you don't."

I straightened up in my seat and said, "Just start driving."

"Whatever you say, Angel."

I glared out the window to block out any thoughts to stop my heart from beating fast because...

I still liked the purple irises.

★★★