Lelaki #17

He was such a sweetheart.
Innocent, boyish look complete with the Beatles' hairdo.
Not to forget braces that make him talk as if he has a lisp.

He worked at a waffle store.
And he always showed up at the boutique she was working at, with a few waffles in hand.
Her lunch, his treat, he said.
And then he will flash that famous impish grin of his.

"he's so cute. and he likes you!!" her friends parroted repeatedly.
"yea yea. but his best friend is much cuter" was all she replied. every single time.

while he seemed like the nice guy, the bestfriend seemed more of a bad boy to her.
and that is certainly more appealing. or so she thought.

a few months went by. she never did get anywhere near woo-ing the bestfriend.
while Mr Nice Guy on the other hand, disappeared for months on end.
All she got was a few text messages every now and then and the random phonecalls.

One day, when she has successfully pushed both the dreamy good guy and his badboy bestfriend at the back of her mind, somebody appeared in front of her during her lunch hour.

"Its ur lunch time kan? I brought you some waffles." and smiled that signature grin that she has gotten so familiar with.

It was him. Only that it wasnt him.

New spiky haircut. The braces was no longer there.
And he has gotten all buff as if he has been working out. Real hard.

And his grin didnt look too boyscout-ish any longer. Its more of a sexy cheeky smirk now.

She gulped.
She felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
She felt all those metaphorical fireworks bursting inside her.
It finally hit her.

He stayed for a little while. She observed that he was no longer him.
She noticed that he's aware of his change as well. and mighty proud of it, come to that.
She knows that he no longer thinks of her the way he used to.
At least that explains the lack of phonecalls and messages from him nowadays.

After a few minutes of catching up, he told her he had to leave.
He hugged her goodbye, planted a kiss on her cheek, and walked away.
And she simply knew that that was the last time she'll see him.
And once he walked away, he would be gone for good.

And it turned out that she was right.

She still blames herself for being superficial and pushing away what couldve been hers.