Aiden's POV

Daryl deliberately emphasized the word "peach" every time he said it.

I just put the drink on the table and said, "Thank you, but you can both have it instead."

Daryl let out a disappointed "Oh," and lowered his head. "But Aiden, I'm really not contagious or anything."

Bridget frowned. She dragged me out to the balcony and warned me in a low voice, "What the hell is wrong with you? Daryl personally made that drink for you. You're going to embarrass him if you don't take it."

I met her gaze.

"I can't drink peach—"

"Why not? You've always liked peach frappes, haven't you? You're just doing this to Daryl on purpose, aren't you?"

I suddenly realized how ridiculous it all was.

I had already told her about my peach allergy the same year I met her. Even inhaling peach fuzz would cause a reaction in my airways, so consuming anything with peaches would be even more disastrous for me.

When had she begun thinking that I liked peach frappes in the first place?

When she saw that I wasn't responding to her question, she sighed heavily and said, "Are you still mad because I forgot your coffee earlier? Or is it because Daryl drank your peach frappe?

"Why are you being so sensitive lately? Daryl and I are just ordinary friends. What's the point of you being jealous of him?"

She suddenly realized that my blazer I'd hung out to dry on the balcony was missing. She thought that I had taken it in to wear it the next day to work, so she softened her tone and tugged on my wrist.

"Alright, don't be mad anymore. You're going to be promoted to a managerial position soon. And managers aren't as petty as you are right now.

"Once this busy season is over, I'll take you to Grand Sky Dining next month for a romantic dinner, alright? It'll be just the two of us."

I drew my lips in a straight line and pulled my hand out of her grasp.

She was stunned and subconsciously took a step forward.

Daryl suddenly began walking toward the door with red-rimmed eyes.

"I'm sorry, Aiden. I won't make coffee for you anymore. Please don't fight just because of me."

Then, he turned and practically ran out of the apartment.

Bridget's face turned dark at once. "Happy now?"

She grabbed her jacket and wanted to run out after Daryl, but I stopped her.

"Do you still remember when my birthday is, Bridget?"

She was already halfway out the door when she heard my question. However, she hesitated at the door and responded, "When was it again? I've been really busy lately and—"

"It was yesterday."

I hadn't wanted to go with her to her friends' gathering yesterday, but I misunderstood her, thinking that she had been planning to celebrate my birthday with her friends.

Bridget stiffened at the door, a flash of guilt appearing in her eyes. However, it only appeared for a fraction of a second. She still rushed out of the door toward the elevator when she heard it ding.

"Stay at home and wait for me! I'll go and get you a cake and make it up to you!"

The door shut after her, and everything was quiet once more.

I finally unclenched my right fist that had already turned ice-cold.

She still hadn't come home by 8:00 pm later that day. She just called me, sounding very excited on the phone.

"It was such a coincidence! Daryl just told me that he missed our high school teacher, and as it turned out, our teacher happened to be in our city on a business trip! I've already called my other friends to meet up. I won't be back for dinner anymore!"

I stared at the dinner I'd already prepared on the table. The food had already gone cold by now. Even the cream on the ice cream cake had begun melting into a weird gloop.

"But you said—"

She then hung up on me and texted me instead.

"It's just too noisy here. I'll be back after dinner. Go to bed early tonight and rest well."

My fingers froze on the phone screen. I just didn't have the strength to reply to her text anymore.

A short while later, I saw that Daryl had posted on his Instagram stories. The first one was a video of Bridget serving him some food from a buffet table.

He said, "Wow, it's been years, and I can't believe you still remember my favorite dishes."

Bridget replied, "Of course I still remember everything about you! How could I ever forget?"

I shut my eyes and felt my phone vibrating again. This time, it was an email.

"Good day, Mr. Aiden Rossario. Congratulations on your new position at our company. Kindly report to the office in two days at 8:00 am to complete your onboarding procedures. Thank you."

I got up and threw the cold dinner into the trash, including the cake I'd bought. I'd guessed that she would buy the wrong type of cake, so I had gone through the trouble to buy it myself.

But now, the cream and frosting had completely melted, and the "Happy Birthday" written on the cake had already smudged into a horrible, ugly mess.

The cake couldn't wait for her anymore.

I didn't want to wait for her anymore either.

…

It was dawn by the time Bridget finally came home.

"You're still up?" she asked. "Sorry, I forgot to buy the cake for you. But this is one that Daryl bought for you as his way of apologizing to you."

I didn't even need to turn around and look to know that it was a peach mille-feuille cake he'd bought.

"You can have it instead."

"Aiden Rosario! Are you done with your stupid tantrum? Don't you know that Daryl—"

"I'm allergic to peaches."

Aiden's POV

Bridget, standing behind me, froze at once.

"Since when?"

"Since birth."

She then raised her voice at me and spoke sharply. "Then why didn't you say so earlier? Don't you know that Daryl purposely bought this cake for you? And now you've gone and wasted his good intentions!"

I turned around and saw her holding the cake and a fork in her hands. My face was dark, and she could immediately tell that I was annoyed, so she softened her tone with me.

However, her words were still condescending toward me, and she sounded helpless as she said, "Fine, fine. We won't buy anything peach-related for you anymore next time. Are you happy now?"

She then sighed long and hard afterward, as if she were the one being charitable to me and I should be thankful to her for her compromise and know when to stop.

From the very start, she still thought that I was simply throwing a temper tantrum and that things would all blow over if she just played along with me this once.

I simply hummed and turned back around to put my documents into my bag.

She sat at the table, eating the peach cake, before suddenly looking up at me.

"Where are you going? Business trip?"

"Back to my hometown."

She nodded. "I guess you haven't gone home for a long time. It's good to go back for a visit once in a while.

"By the way, Daryl said that the yogurt candy from your hometown is really good. He's also a huge fan of the local hot sauce there. Remember to bring some back as souvenirs for him.

"And make sure you read the label on the hot sauce before bringing any back. He's allergic to nuts."

I didn't respond, and she just took my silence as a yes. She then got up and dug in her snack drawer, brought out a small pack, and handed it to me.

"Eat this on the way back. Don't starve to death."

The pack she gave me was actually a small ziplock bag. There was a pack of opened, half-eaten Oreos and half a bar of chocolate.

Daryl had come over to spend the day at our apartment a few days ago, and she'd bought him hundreds of dollars worth of snacks and chips to munch on, and this was all that was left over.

I didn't take it from her and circled around her instead, grabbing some wet wipes and stuffing them into my bag.

Bridget's tone turned icy. "Are you seriously still mad? You already got the cake. And I've already apologized to you. What more do you want from me?

"Fine. It's good that you're going home. You need a few days to cool off. Once you're back, we will have a proper talk in Grand Sky Dining. Daryl's already booked a table for us next week."

I shook my head, my back still turned toward her.

"No, thanks. I'm scared of heights."

A split second later, she grabbed me harshly by the arm and forced me to look into her eyes.

"And since when have you ever been afraid of heights? Aiden Rosario, do you even think of me as your girlfriend? Why the hell didn't you ever tell me about your peach allergy or your fear of heights?

"How could I possibly know if you never told me about them? And now, you still have the nerve to get mad at me for getting them wrong?"

I faced her anger head-on, looking into her eyes.

Back when we were still dating in college, she kept telling me that I was as easy to read as an open book. She said that she could easily tell what I was thinking, whether good or bad, with just a single look.

But now, she couldn't see anything about me either. She couldn't even remember a thing about me anymore.

The phone kept ringing on the table.

Bridget let go of me and went to answer her phone. Daryl's voice was loud and clear.

"So, how was the cake, Bridget? Is Aiden enjoying it? I bet you've both made up already, right?"

She just massaged her temples in frustration and said, "No. He said that he was allergic to peaches."

"Wait, what? I'm so sorry! I didn't know that he was allergic! You guys fought again, didn't you? It's all my fault…"

He sounded panicked as he kept apologizing on the phone over and over again. I glanced at Bridget's back and saw her inhale deeply.

"It's not your fault. He never told any of us about it, so he only has himself to blame."

Of course. It was my fault once again.

I crouched over to put on my shoes and tie up my shoelaces.

"Why are you so anxious about it? I already told you that it's not your fault. You had good intentions in the first place. Besides, even I had no idea that he was allergic to peaches. How could you have known either?"

I dragged my suitcase out. While she was still comforting Daryl on the other end of the line, I spoke up, saying, "When you took me to your friends' gathering three years ago, you were the one who told everyone that I was allergic to peaches and even warned them not to order anything with peaches in it.

"And when Francis wanted to spend his birthday bungee jumping, you were also the one who told him that I wouldn't be joining because I had a fear of heights. But I guess it now seems that Daryl remembered it more clearly than you ever did."

Bridget completely froze. Her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a single word.

I opened the door and dragged my suitcase out, wheeling it to the elevator doors.

"Bridget Ellison."

I turned to face the door, where she could still see me. She was still holding the phone in her hands, but it was so far from her ear that she couldn't hear anything that Daryl was saying.

"I'm not coming back anymore," I continued. "Let's break up."