A Piece of Your Heart

Nathan suggested that we meet up at a café during the weekend, so I managed to free my schedule and go there in the afternoon.

My heart was pounding like crazy when I neared the café. It wasn’t anything elegant, just a small, charming building with simple yet homey decor. I would come here sometimes whenever I just wanted to sit down and relax, even just for an hour. Their coffee tasted great, and it was affordable, too.

When I approached the doors, I spotted Nathan almost immediately. He was sitting next to the entrance by the window seats, his head bowed while typing something on his phone. His hair was a little messy, probably styled like that unintentionally, and he pushed up his glasses when it became askew.

He was dressed casually today, in a pair of slim-fit jeans that tapered at the ankle as well as a white t-shirt. He was also wearing an unbuttoned denim jacket over his shirt and a pair of white sneakers. He was still wearing that expensive watch around his wrist, and his silver necklace hung around his neck.

It was a simple yet trendy kind of fashion, one that made him appear more attractive than usual.

After catching sight of him, I was once again reminded of my purpose in meeting up with him here.

This was so embarrassing. I couldn’t believe that I was actually doing this…

It just felt wrong to receive money simply for being someone’s friend…

‘Ah, right. I need to call him Nathan from now on…’

Shortening someone’s name always made me feel a little uncomfortable, especially when they were someone I didn’t know that well yet.

‘You can do this,’ I tried to encourage myself.

He saw me just as I went through the doors. He waved at me with a small smile, then gestured towards the empty seat next to him. I sat down, not knowing what to say except for a simple greeting.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello,” he answered.

We fell into awkward silence after that. Funny, even he seemed embarrassed. He was the one who proposed the idea in the first place…

“So… about what I said…” Nathan finally said, lifting the slightly tense atmosphere somewhat. “Have you thought about it?”

I took a deep, silent breath before nodding. “I have. I think… we can try it out. Like you said.”

‘It’s now or never,’ I thought to myself.

Nathan seemed relieved at my answer. It made me feel a little confused. Was he really looking forward to this? He didn’t even know if I’d make a good friend…

Thinking back to my life ever since I stopped college, I couldn’t remember having a constant and vivid friendship over the past years. All my good friends had lives of their own now. Meanwhile, here I was, working my ass off to make money.

Heck, I was even here right now to earn money for being someone’s friend.

‘Ridiculous,’ I chanted in my head, over and over.

But I was already desperate at this point. As long as I had enough money for my parents’ hospital bills, which were growing every couple of months, nothing else mattered.

Not even my pride.

“All right,” Nathan said. “Well, shall we have a cup of coffee?”

That was the line that started everything from then on.

***

Since then, my routine changed. It took me a while to adjust, but in the end, I managed, thankfully.

Being Nathan’s friend was surprisingly an easy transition. The realization of this made me feel a bit embarrassed, because I seemed like I no longer knew how to make friends. Which was true in a sense, but then I thought about Madison.

When I first met Madison, she was the one who talked to me a lot. She approached me first, started chatting about random topics, and it grew from there. As time passed, I grew comfortable with her company, and I considered her as a friend. However, she was also the one who took initiative each time, making me feel guilty sometimes.

I reminded myself to take her out for lunch or dinner sometime. I should spend more time with her.

Then again, even though Madison was my friend, we only saw each other during my work at the bar. Otherwise, we never met up outside. We had each other’s phone numbers, but we rarely contacted. I was busy all the time while Madison usually slept a lot during the day.

So, needless to say, this… ‘friendship’ with Nathan was something that I had to get used to for a while.

Nathan wasn’t all that bad. He was pretty interesting, actually. Just like his elegant and scholarly looks, he seemed to know a lot of things. He was knowledgeable about several skills, and he appeared to be an avid reader of various genres.

That day at the café, we talked about how we should do this. We decided to start slow by speaking about ourselves.

“Working that many jobs seems too stressful,” Nathan had said after asking me about my career. He already knew that I was in need of money anyway, so there was no point in watering down the facts. “You should quit one of them at least. The one that makes you feel exhausted the most.”

I almost choked on my iced coffee. It tasted delicious, and Nathan was the one who insisted on paying for it, saying that he was the one who arranged for the deal and this meeting in the first place. I let him, simply because I wanted to save money.

“Are you telling me to quit my job already when this is only a trial phase at the moment?” I said in disbelief. “I’m not even sure if I can go through with this a hundred percent. For all you know, you might get bored with my company.”

“True,” Nathan said thoughtfully. Well, at least he was honest. “But still, if we ever get past this trial process and you become more comfortable with me, you have to quit at least one of your jobs. Or two of them, even. It’s wearing you down.”

Uncertainty instantly filled my heart. “That’s true, but still…”

“Even if this is just a trial phase at the moment, I want to pay you for your time nevertheless,” Nathan said softly. “I know how precious your time is to you, especially since you’re working so hard to earn money. Just the fact that you agreed to spend paid time with a stranger like me makes me feel… happy. Because to be honest, I think you’re quite the amazing person.”