Married At First Glance: I Am Not Ugly

“Hello,” Anderson spoke.

“What’s up, Anderson?” Alex asked.

“Are you home?” He asked Alex.

“No, I ain’t home man. Jessie said she wanted to see me, so I came to the cafe close to my apartment to see her.” He informed him.

“Oh?” Anderson said, sounding surprised. “I wanted to talk to you about Jessie. She told me something the other day that I thought you should know.”

“Really?” Alex said, feeling a bit concerned. “What did she say?”

“Nothing really, I just want to tell you something but I wanna do that in person,” Anderson said.

“Okay…. You know, you can always tell me on the phone.” Alex said.

“Nah… Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you at your apartment.” He said.

“Alright. I think Marissa should be home. She went to see her brother at the hospital, but she might be home.” Alex said.

“Okay, man. I’ll see you soon I guess.”

Alex nodded on the phone and spoke.

“Sure.”

After that Alexander ended the call waiting for Jessie to show up at the cafe.

He looked out at the street.

The sun was shining brightly, and the leaves on the trees were a vivid green. He had always loved the view from this cafe, and it was one of the reasons he often came here to relax.

He took out his phone and started to check his messages, but before he could do anything, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey, Alexander.” Jessie said, as she walked up to his table.

He turned around and smiled at her. “Hi, Jessie. How are you?”

But Jessie didn’t smile back and Alexander knew that she wasn’t happy with him and the decision he made.

“What do you think huh Alex?” She asked, her tone angry.

“Were you expecting that I would say that I am happy for you and that what you did was a good thing?”

Alex sighed and looked at Jessie not uttering a single word.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“I gave you an ultimatum to either end the whole contract marriage or end our relationship. You ended our relationship without thinking about how I would feel. You’re so selfish, Alex. So selfish!” She exclaimed.

Alex still didn’t utter a word which only made Jessie more angry.

“Are you going to say something?” she asked, raising her voice. “Or are you just going to sit there in silence?”

“I don’t know what to say.” Alex said, feeling frustrated. “I never wanted to hurt you, Jessie. I just… I just thought that ending the contract marriage wasn’t the right thing to do.”

“But why?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears. “Why did you think that was the right thing to do?”

“I… I just felt like it was wrong to keep pretending that I don’t have feelings for Marissa when I clearly do.” He said.

“Then what about me, Alex? Did you ever consider the fact that my happiness matters?

Did you ever think that your decision was gonna affect me?” She asked him.

Alex sighed and then looked at her.

“Jessie, I called and told you that I wanted us to get married , but you said no that you don’t want to be held down by marriage and want to focus on work and get promoted. I wasn’t in the picture of your life and goals because if I was, you would consider us getting married.” He said, taking a sip of his tea.

Jessie’s eyes widened as she listened to Alex’s words. She hadn’t realized that her actions had been the reason that their relationship had never progressed to the next level.

“I guess I never really thought about it like that.” she said, her voice softening. “But Alex, I still care about you. I care about you a lot, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“I know,” he said, feeling a sense of relief. “I don’t want to lose you either, Jessie. I want us to be friends, no matter what.”

She scoffed.

“Friends?” She rolled her eyes.

“We can’t be friends, Alexander.”

Alexander folded his arm and looked at her.

“I’m sorry, Jessie but that’s all I can give you.” Alex said.

Jessie looked down at her hands, feeling the sting of rejection. She knew that she couldn’t force Alex to feel something he didn’t, but it still hurt to know that he didn’t want more than friendship.

“I guess I just thought…” she said, her voice trailing off. She didn’t know what to say, and she felt lost.

She reached out and put her hand on his squeezing it gently.

But Alexander removed his hands and then spoke.

“I know,” he said, his voice cold.

“You thought that maybe I would forever be yours?

Well, you thought wrong.” He said.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked him. When the waiter walked to take her order.

“What would you like to have, ma’am?” The waiter asked.

“Well… Um…. Can you come back later? We are kinda having a private discussion and we don’t want to be interrupted.

“Of course, ma’am.” the waiter said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

After the waiter left, Jessie turned back to Alex, waiting for him to continue.

“You think I didn’t notice that you and Jaime have something together.” He said.

Jessie looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

Alexander took another sip of his coffee and then placed the cup back on the table and looked at Jessie.

“After Jaime came over to my office to threaten me to give up the contract that I worked for him. He also told me that there’s something he has on you. So I did some digging and realized that you and him traveled on a business trip together.” He explained.

“That’s ridiculous!” Jessie said, her voice raising a bit in anger. “I went on a business trip with him because we work at the same company! It’s not like we went on a vacation together!”

“I’m not accusing you of anything.” Alex said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “I just want you to know that I know about it. I don’t want to make any assumptions, but I just want you to know that I’m aware of it.”