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Part 1: Written by @Doppley

I've had just about enough of Anna's behavior. She had been going on random dates even when everyone who's anyone clearly knows we're in a relationship. She's refused to speak to me of late and anytime I try to initiate a conversation, she's always succeeded in putting me off.I just can't feel anything genuine anymore. Her random hook-ups and constant habit of always leaving me in the dark got me angry but not just enough.

I decided to sort things out between us. I probably might have offended her unknowingly and I wanted to nip the problem in the bud with immediate alacrity. I spoke to her over the phone and we both agreed to meet at "O jellos'", the massive restaurant which had just opened across the street at exactly 8:30pm. I had already met with the management and hired a little musical band. I just planned to apologise first even though I still wasn't sure what I had done and I wanted it as romantic as possible.

I had taken a visit to the florist's to get her some roses just before the big date. I wore a jean and the new denim jacket i got from the store a week ago. It all had to be perfect.
I got to the restaurant exactly 8:15pm trying to be a gentleman. I sat down ordered a glass of wine whilst waiting for Anna. Thirty minutes passed, still no Anna. An hour passed, I decided to wait a little longer. I glanced at the band and they gave me that look that screamed "what's wrong...Is everything okay"?. Two hours and it dawned on me she stood me up on this one.

She showed up at my place the next morning and she didn't even seem remorse. All she said was "can I talk to you". I nodded and let her in. I was so mad but I tried my best to keep a clear head. She stared at me for minutes before finally deciding to say something. She looked up at me and said.. "you know, it's all your fault". I was shocked, she couldn't even tender an apology. I couldn't take it anymore, I went over to my room and still saw the roses on my bed. I got even angrier but didn't want to say anything harsh.

I picked up my jacket and walked back out, she was still staring. I walked to the door swiftly and turned the knob and just before I stepped out her last words were. "Are you actually serious...where are you going?"

Note: Here is where Hive account@doppley's part concludes. Next half is Hive account@oivas' part.

Part 2: Written by @Oivas

Like I was going to turn and respond. She found it convenient to stand me up and then dared to tell me that it was all my fault. I've been too soft my whole life and still remember my first boss' advice.

"You need to develop some abrasiveness," he looked me straight in the eye, "some sharpness so that people don't brush with you in the wrong way; the unkind way."

I never thought that what he said was so apt. I wonder how many like Anna had taken undue advantage of my niceness. I should have been abrasive. I should have slammed the door on her face this morning. Too soft. I was just too soft to let her in and walk out myself. And then she asks - where are you going? - how dare she?

If that experience was not already eating me from the inside, there was this odd crowd gathered outside my apartment complex talking loudly. God knows who they were or what they wanted, but they all started clapping and cheering for someone out there. I had no interest in finding out who that was. And then I heard her. She apparently came running behind me.

"Sam, wait."

Like I was going to, but that cheering crowd fell silent. Was their hero gone? I didn't care to find out. But Anna was next to me in a flash.

"Sam," she must have run a good two hundred meters but hardly gasped. All her callisthenics training, I figured. Hope there could be something on similar lines for her character, "it was all your fault."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. She repeated it. I was going to slap her. Time to be abrasive, I thought. I turned to do the honours, but what I saw left me a bit embarrassed. The crowd outside my apartment was looking at us. Maybe, that's why they stopped cheering. We must have given them some free show.

"Sam, listen."

"I don't want to. You've said what you had to. Now let's not embarrass ourselves."

"There is no embarrassment. That's my family and friends."

"What? What's going on here?"

"Sam, it's your fault that you are so nice and kind. It was too good to be true."

"And so, you stood me up, had affairs with others while in a relationship with me, and now you are here with your family. What for?"

"It was all staged, Sam. I've had some bad experiences in the past, and I didn't want to have a repeat with you. I didn't know you back then, and so I had to be sure."

"You mean, you did not go out with those guys?"

"There they are," she pointed to few blokes in the crowd. Those are my friends, and that is Anthony, my brother.

I remembered those guys. But now, I was confused. What were they all doing here? "And yesterday?"

"Yesterday was genuinely my mistake," she pressed her hand against her chest, and that's what made me melt so many times before. I was not sure if I should be letting my guard down. "I mistimed everything and most of these guys couldn't make it."

"What's the point? I did not ask them to come to meet me. I wanted to meet you."

"Yes, Sam, but I wanted them to see you too."

"What? Why?" Then the unexpected happened. She knelt and got a ring out of her purse…..

And the cheering started again. Do I need to be abrasive? I wasn't sure anymore.

Where was I going? Again, I wasn't sure anymore...

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