"Claude… please…" Her head kept moving sideways, her eyes now filled with tears.  "Let me finish first." Claude didn't back out. He had already made up his mind, and nothing was going to make him stop. "After you ran into me the other day at the airport, my whole world stopped and shifted on its axis. I knew that I needed to meet you in person. That was why I came to see you at the hospital. The stupid broken phone was only an excuse." He laughed at himself in utter mockery.  "Seeing you there made me realize that I was still heads over heels in love with you. I-I mean… I knew it already, but looking at you in person made it more real. Asking you out for dinner might have been a stupid move after I promised myself that I was only going to meet you once. After all, it was your decision to go ahead with divorce and I respect it. But I got greedy…," he scoffed at how pathetic he was sounding. "I wanted more

A smile was spread across her lips as she read through the letter once again. Was it the fifth time or the sixth time she was reading through it? She couldn't tell exactly since she had lost count. But every single time her eyes would skim along the ink, her heart bloomed with love. It wasn't probably the first time Claude had done something romantic and sweet for her. But this one surely topped the list.  Ayla was never someone to get attached to things, but she surely knew how to appreciate a sincere action. Humming a low tone under her breath, she went on reading through the words one more time.  "Yours C—today, tomorrow and forever You know I love you…" She mumbled the last lines under her breath before she decided to put the note away for good now. Folding it in half, she placed it neatly in a small wooden box which held some other memories of a certain man. One in particu

"Not really!" He spoke up in his defence. "He's no detective. I assure you of that. He has some weird kind of hobbies. That's all."    "Alex!" She glared at him.    "I will buy you bubble tea. However many you want." The man gave up before their argument could go any further. But he knew what exactly to bet on. Ayla accepted the offer straightaway.    "Fine."    As if right on time, two servers came in with their meals with a third one in tow who held onto their drink.    The two began to continue making small talks in between the bites to keep up the liveliness of the table. They didn't care about the stares which were being thrown their way. Neither did they care about the ugly scowls coming their way from the surrounding tables.    "What are you doing these days?" Alex brought back the topic to her. He wanted to catch on every

"Who was that man?" Alex asked as soon as Ayla settled down in her seat. His eyes were glued to the coat hanging down her shoulders which clearly didn't belong to her. He had a good idea about who might be the owner of it.    "Huh?" She looked up at him, her brows drawn together in deep contemplation. "Didn't you greet him just now?" It was impossible for Alex not to know Claude was.    "I know who he is, obviously." The man shook his head. "What I am asking you here is about who he is to you? Or should I be asking it the other way around?"    "The other way?" Ayla could now tell where he was heading with his line of questions.    "What are you to him?" He explained. "If looks could kill, I would have been six feet under the ground. He clearly wasn't happy seeing me with you here."    Ayla hurriedly spoke up in Claude's defense. "It wasn't like that. That

"While you were away, I got married…"   Ayla dropped the news on him like a bomb. The room went silent entirely as Ayal listened to the soft thudding of Claude's heart, while waiting for Alex's response.    "You did what?" Even after a good couple of minutes, Alex failed to register the news. It shook him, all of him.    "I got married." There was no resentment or regret hidden in her words as Ayla answered the baffled man.    "When?" Alex snapped, still taking his own sweet time to understand the situation completely.    "Two years back."   "It was two years ago."    Claude and Ayla both replied to him at the same time. Looking into each other's eyes, they smiled at one another before turning their attention back to Alex.    "So…." Alex dragged it as he put two and two together. "You two