THE CONVERSATION

"Do you want coffee? Or something to eat? You must be hungry." Asked Jade as she walked into the kitchen.

His shirt was crumpled and his hair was standing. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. He looked like he had spent the night on someone's floor.

Which he actually had....

Alec followed her in, "No. Actually I just had breakfast. Your neighbour..."

"Angela has always been a kind soul. Have a cup of coffee to give me company?"

Jade had lived with Angela in the apartment next to hers for many years now and she had never seen her turn away someone who was in need.

"Okay."

They stood in silence in the kitchen while Jade made the coffee and poured it in two cups.

She handed one to Alec and took her own cup into the living room.

Once they were sitting on the sofas and sipping from their cups Alec started saying, "Jade I wanted to...."

"Wait Alec. Let me first say the things I wanted to say. Please!" Jade stopped him.

Alec nodded his head.

"Look I love you. And that became quite clear when you heard me say it in front of the whole cafe yesterday."

"You know that's what hurt the most. You could tell all those women in the cafe but you could not tell me?" Alec spoke up.

"But you... Alec... The reason I did not tell you anything is that, you were dating. Emma. You're engaged. To Emma. And you will eventually marry. Emma."

"And what about before I went to Thailand. 8 years back." He kept his cup down and looked at Jade.

Jade let her head fall into her palms, "You were so in love with your dream. Your dream of starting Wanderlust and making it big in the travel industry. I love you and your commitment to that dream was one of the main reasons I fell in love with you."

"And Matt?"

"Matt and I, Alec there's nothing between us!" Jade gave a small laugh, "He knows, he knows that I love you."

"He does?" Alec was surprised.

"Yes he does. Since the day we all met in the club." Jade said exasperated with his inability to understand anything, "I've been trying to tell you that there's nothing between us. Yes we were in a relationship. And yes he fell in love with me. And I'm not proud of that. I never wanted that to happen. Because I know that I won't be able to reciprocate those feelings. He wanted to move in with me... Eventually get married. But I... I couldn't cause I was in love with you. So we broke up. The day you saw us in Jo's was the first day after months that we had met. And he wanted... He wanted us to get back together."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because Alec I knew you were coming back... And I hoped that maybe this time I would be able to tell you how I feel. If you wouldn't have come back, maybe I would have said yes to him."

"Oh!" Alec was speechless.

So there was really nothing between the two of them. Matt and Jade were not together.

"Now answer one of my questions. Why did you propose to Emma in such a hurry? Even though you told me that you were confused and that you didn't know what to do." Jade asked.

"I... After the two of you left from the club... I was worried about you. So I came here to see if you were okay. And Matt opened the door. He was not wearing a shirt... And..." Alec stuttered.

Jade interrupted him, "And you just assumed that we lied to you'll in the club and came home because we wanted to jump into bed?"

"Yes." Alec said ashamed of himself, "And it... I was... I didn't know how to cope with how I felt about that. So I ran. I went home and proposed to Emma."

"That was a very good reaction. Obviously asking me about the truth would have been too easy for Mr Alexander Carter." She said sarcastically. "You never could stop yourself from jumping to conclusions could you?"

Alec went to press the bridge of his nose, but as soon as his fingers touched it he winced and let his hand drop.

The soreness was still there, though the bruise had almost disappeared.

"Is it still sore?" Jade asked having noticed what happened.

Alec shook his head, "It's okay."

"I'm sorry... About the punch and the slap during the engagement party. You somehow always brought out the violent side of me." Jade said with a small smile, despite all that was happening.

Alec too smiled back, "We both have done something's which we regret haven't we?"

"Yes. You more than me." She replied.

"I want to be with you Jade."

"Alec... Please." Jade said. She felt a twinge in her heart when he said it.

She knew it wouldn't take much convincing on his part for her to give in.

But she couldn't. Because she had seen how happy Emma had looked during the party.

She had hated her the first time they had met, but somehow over the days Emma had made a small spot for herself in her heart.

She couldn't do that to her. She couldn't hurt her in that way.

"Look we both have made mistakes... Can't we just....?"

Jade shook her head, "No we can't."

Alec sighed, "Will you... Can you give me another chance Jade?"

"Alec, I'm tired. And I can't do all this anymore. Can we just agree to be friends again?" Jade asked, though it hurt her tremendously to say those words.

"What about the fact that we love each other?" Alec's voice was gruffer than normal as he spoke.

"I don't know."

Alec stood up and walked to the door of the apartment, "I don't know if you can... Be just friends. You know we can't be friends. I guess this is how it ends."

Jade saw a flash of hurt in his eyes, but before she could say anything he turned around.

He opened the door and walked out.

Before the door closed behind him he just called out one thing, "Emma broke off the engagement."

Before Jade could say anything else the door closed and she was left alone in the apartment.

Was it true? Was Alec really not engaged any longer?

................