Bible Stories: My Happy Ending Part 2

“Grace! What in the world are you doing? It’s freezing cold and…” 
Jake paused when he saw that I was crying. 
“What’s wrong?”

“You can cut the act, I know now.” 
I could tell he was about to ask another question again but I interrupted. 
“You didn’t have to lie to me Jake. If you didn't like me, all you had to do was say so, but no! You had to put on this big act!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I love you. I’ve told you that. You know that. You know I love you, Grace.” 
How could he lie straight in my face!? 
“Yeah you also mentioned something about being a Christian but I guess we can’t all tell the truth.”
“What do you mean by that?” 

He knew exactly what I meant. I wasn’t the kind of person to be mean or rude about this even if he did lie to me. I just wanted him to leave.
“You know, you’re a good guy Jake, and I’m sure there is a pretty girl out there just waiting for you. Why don’t you go find her?” 
That was the nicest way I could put it.
“I don’t have to because you’re right here.” 
“Please go now.” 
I was crying again.
“Don’t do this to me.” He begged. 
He was crying too.

“I’m only doing this to protect what I believe in. Jake, I love you and I always will. Please don’t forget what we talked about, don’t lose what faith you gained while we were together. You betrayed me and I can’t deal with that. Please leave.” 
I pleaded once again. I didn’t care what Jake did for the rest of his life. I just didn't want our breakup to affect the trust in God he had gained while we were together.

He was speechless and tears streamed down our faces. I had never seen him cry previously. He usually wasn’t an emotional guy. I stood up and walked away. I couldn’t stand to see him like that. He didn’t come after me. I guess it was a good thing but it hurt too much to look back so I stared straight ahead and walked into a whole new beginning; a world of loneliness.

- Two Years Later -

I saw him today, I didn't really know what to say but I knew the mature thing to do. 
“Hey.” I said to him, smiling.
“Hi.” He replied blandly.
“How are you? It’s been so long.” 
I realized how dumb that sounded after I said it. Of course it’s been so long. We wanted it to be this way.
“I’m uh…” 
Someone called his name. I guess that was a relief for him.
“I got to go.” 
“Okay, bye.” 
That was it and then he was gone.

I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe that we could just walk right past each other and not even acknowledge each other, or that we couldn't even look each other in the eye because we are scared that the memories of heartaches and lonesomeness will come flooding back. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know about him but for me, those memories never left. It has been two years and I’m still hurting. I’ve been on one date in the past two years and even then, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Sometimes I think it’s the stupidest thing I ever did; breaking up with him. Back then everything inside me was telling me he had to go but right now it’s as if I couldn’t tell how much longer I could go on without him. This went on for months.

“Excuse me Miss, I know that you don’t work here but do you happen to know where I can find some band-aids?” A man said with a smile. 

I hardly knew where anything is in the grocery store but I knew where the band-aids are due to my clumsiness. The guy was extremely handsome and polite. He reminded me so much of him...
“Yeah, sure. Right down that aisle.” I said as I pointed out the band-aid aisle. 
He gave me another one of those familiar smiles and went on his way. I smiled back. As soon as he grabbed the band-aids, he came back up to me. 

“I just wanted to say thank you. So um… Would you like to go out sometime you know, like on a date? Dinner and a movie?”
“A date? I don’t know uh…”
“Alex.”