No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

"Mr. Collins!" I greeted him with a smile, just as I would any other colleague.

Ernest didn't respond, and we passed each other by.

But as I walked away, the smile on my face soured for a moment. I got into the company car and headed to the place Shirley had mentioned.

When I got there, she hadn't arrived yet, so I sent her a message. She told me to find a seat and wait.

As I waited, I checked my phone and saw a new message from Susie.

Scrolling through, I saw it was all from her, mostly expressing guilt for almost getting me into trouble and speaking well of Ernest. I had only replied once and hadn't responded since. "Hey, could you please reply to my messages? My brother has grounded me, and I can't go out."

Seeing Susie's message, I pondered for a few seconds before replying: "Susie, I'm okay now and back at work. As for your brother and me, let's not talk about it anymore." She replied instantly: "But he really loves you, I swear."

I didn't respond, and Susie sent another message: "Ernest was making soup for you and got distracted. It spilled and burned his arm."

Thinking of the discarded soup, I still didn't reply.

"He brought the soup over and didn't sleep all night, just stood by the window smoking."

"Look, I don't know what's going on between you two, but can you please give him another chance?"

really hurts me to see you two like this. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life

but laugh, also thinking about

typed a message: "Has Mack

with a

few seconds of thought, I replied, "Susie, I've said all there is to say about

Susie said, "I'll try."

of Mack's past

know what else to say, and~~ Susie was typing again when Shidey arrived Noticing the empty table, she asked,

the waiter and

on

the

beat

with Shirley

and went s

what concerned me most.

"Should be any minute

with

juice, then joked, "You're pretty fast. I thought it would