I went to town yesterday. I didn’t want to, but I had to. Otherwise, I’d have found a way not to. Anyway, I was wearing my Nike cap and the largest hoodie I could find (my mum’s). Now, I don’t know what this means in your world, but in mine, it means stay-away-I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-you-and-if-you-insisit-I’ll-mace-you.

So I finish running my errands and decide to get my mum and brother some take out. So far, so good. I’m browsing the menu at the counter when this guy walks in next to me. He looks familiar, (I must have dated him once. He has that face). But I’m in full introvert mode, so I re-bury my nose in the menu.

Chieee! He shouts

At this point, I’m thinking, ‘please don’t be talking to me. Please.’

But since I don’t know anyone else who goes by that name, I suck in a breath and turn. Maybe, I can do this.

He looks good. I must have dated him. Then he smiles. Brightly. And for the love of me, I give up. I can’t do happy today. I clear my face of all emotion.

Chie? Are you okay? It is you, right?

See, there are two problems here. One, I don’t want to talk to anyone. If he even half-dated me, he’d know what my cap and hoodie mean.

Two, I’ve never understood why exes feel the need to be extra chatty when you bump into them on a random street. Didn’t we have enough forced, untrue conversations during the relationship? What do you have for me now? Does it go something like:

• I’m so happy to see you? – Because I’m not. You broke my heart. Or I broke yours, so one of us is lying.
• I’m seeing someone else now? – Uhh, it’s not someone else if she looks exactly like me.
• We should hang out sometime? – Probably not.

It’s all hokum. And today of all days, I’m not willing to play. Before he launces into his speech, I give him my sweetest smile and say,

No. But I’ll make sure to tell her you said hi.

Image by Stephanie Curry from Pixabay