what never happened.

Ulla Shinami - Unsplash

There I was, waiting, sitting at the table we had agreed on, right next to the door. I put on the red lipstick I knew he liked a lot.

Nervously, I ordered a coffee that I sipped on, as if to make time go by faster, it was already cold by the time I was halfway done.

I didn't want to look at the clock, because I knew that would make me even more impatient, but it was inevitable. Seeing the people coming and going was a way to measure the time that was passing.

Once again, my head repeated what it always told me and that I refused to believe: he won't come... I paid for the coffee and discreetly left, without crying, the tears would have to wait until I was alone and sheltered at home.

Nicolas Lobos - Unsplash

I took a taxi without looking around... big mistake...

At the corner, another taxi was stopping for its client to get out, I didn't see, my mind was focused on keeping the desperate tears at bay.

He was getting out of that taxi, in a hurry he ran to the agreed upon site, but I wasn't there. Surely he thought the same as me... That it was also a "missed date".

After that there was no call, no apologies from either side. The reality of each one was that the other was not interested. No one had the courage to take the first step and ask what had happened.

Their eyes crossed in the office corridors, and they only muttered a "good morning", stifling the pain that made them have to be in the same place, thinking about that encounter, feeling how their pride was silently torn apart inside.

She couldn't stand that feeling, she found another job and left. There were no goodbyes, from him or from anyone. She wanted to somehow erase that time from her life, and from the minds of others, even though no one at the office knew about the failed love story.

He ended up immersed in a depression, product of his insecurities. Not even the visits to the psychiatrist managed to get him out of there. It was as if the outside world became a dangerous place to be.

He also left that job, and dedicated himself to home working, it was better not to see anyone. He couldn't bear another wound.

Both ended up regretting for the rest of their lives, what never happened because of a matter of seconds...

Alexas_Fotos - Unsplash

Foto/Photo by: Nicolas Lobos, Alexas_Fotos, Ulla Shinami (All from Unsplash)