Daffodils of Destiny [Part 2]

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Talia waited outside of Asia's house with an eager heart but an even more anxious soul. After going to the flower shop, she had ran here unconditionally with the hopes that Asa would take her back. She had felt great about the idea at first, but as her steps took her nearer and nearer to her ex's house, she started to feel a lump form in her throat.

Talia took another deep breath and knocked again.

Knock, Knock, Knock. 

She looked down upon her converse sneakers and picked at her nails. A breeze swept past, and she shivered in her short sleeved blouse and capris. Somewhere from afar, the trees rustled and birds flew off into the sky. Talia, raising her fist again, prepared to meet the door once more just as the door swung open, her breath having disappeared once more.

But it wasn‘t Asia.

Some girl wearing a long men‘s shirt that went past her knees yawned and stretched before greeting Talia. "Whaddaya want?"

"I‘m - I‘m looking for Asia," Talia said, feeling a bit out of place now. "Is he here?" Talia picked at her nails once more, a pit starting to form at the bottom of her stomach.

The girl scrunched up her eyebrows at Talia before flipping her blonde hair back and saying, "Why? What for?"

"I need to speak with him," Talia said, just as a familiar looking someone came down the stairs and greeted the blonde.

"Meredith, who is it..." Asia stopped at the foot of the door, a soda in his hand and froze when he saw his ex at the door. "Oh, uh, hey Talia. What‘s up?"

Talia immediately put two and two together and turned beet red. She felt incredibly angry and betrayed as she stared back at Asia and his new girlfriend, who she now realized, through closer observation, that the men‘s shirt that she had on was the same exact shirt that she had bought for Asia for his birthday last year in April. She balled up her fist in anger. "How- how could you do this to me?" She trembled with anger, pinching her wrist to stop the tears from slipping. "How- how could you -"

Meredith clung onto Asia, sent Talia a disgusted look and said, "Who is she, babe? What does she want from you?"

Asia widened his eyes, turned to Meredith and said, "Go back inside, Meri. I‘ll be back in a sec, babe."

Asia‘s "babe" shrugged, pecked a kiss on his cheek, sent Talia a scathing "HA" look and then turned on her heel to go back into the house. Asia stepped out and shut the door behind him as Talia stepped forward, even more angry than usual."Who was that? Is she your new girlfriend?" Talia swallowed. "You moved on already?"

"And you didn‘t?" Asia shrugged. "I‘m a person too. I have feelings, I need love. We all do."

"But that was my shirt that I bought for you!"

"It‘s none of your business what I do with my things," he snapped back. "Besides, it‘s over." He took a deep breath. "What do you want, Talia?"

"And....and you called her babe," Talia‘s throat grew dry. "You don‘t say babe, that‘s not something you‘ve ever said! It‘s not you, it‘s.....who are you?"

"What do you want?" Asia said through his teeth as his eyes darted back and forth to random strangers that passed by in the background. "Tell me what you want, and then leave. You‘re making a scene."

Talia felt her face go red. "Oh, I‘m making a scene when I‘m not the one pretending to be what I‘m not, am I?" Talia bit her lip. "You might as well be in a movie right now, acting in a scene yourself!"

Asia held up his hand. "You know what? Hold on a second." Asia turned around and went back into the house, leaving Talia at his door step. Talia fumed angrily, in disbelief. How could Asia get over her so fast and end up with such a bimbo? It was preposterous....plus she was wearing the shirt that she had bought with her own birthday money from her parents last January!

At this point, Talia could not even recall what she was here for.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Asia returned with the shirt that Talia had seen the other girl wearing. He tossed it back at Talia, who caught it, a bit taken back. "Take it back, take it all back!" He said, aggrivated. "And don‘t you dare show up again at my doorstep. I won‘t answer it anymore. Forget it."

And then he slammed the door in Talia‘s face, leaving her to stare at the front of a door that she used to be welcome in. And the tears started as Talia turned and walked past the gate, the mixed scent of passion and betrayal intermixed on the shirt that both Asa and Meredith had worn.