Chapter 2 The Cheating

[JOHN, MY DEAR]

[I'll come to the festival soon]

Patricia let out a rough breath after reading the message from John, her boyfriend. They had made an appointment to meet at the festival. John should have already arrived, but now half an hour had passed.

"I don't know how long the limit is for someone to squat down and block other shoppers."

Patricia felt like drowning her face right now. She was already

After the embarrassing shoe drop incident earlier, Patricia made a second embarrassing move.

Having just arrived at one of the indoor shops at the Book Festival, Patricia embarrassed herself by squatting in front of a shelf and not realizing that there was someone waiting behind her.

"Are you still looking for your book?"

Patricia was dumbfounded that the man in front of her now was the man who bought her sandals. A.k.a., the man who watched her shoes fall off like a fool!

"Ah, gosh, I'm sorry," Patricia said and quickly stood up.

"I didn't think we'd meet here again," the man said without any expression. "How are the sandals I gave you? Do they fit your feet?"

Patricia looked down at the sandals the man in front of her had given her. Awkwardly, she smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes, they fit. I don't feel awkward in these sandals," Patricia replied.

"But you are awkward to me," the man replied, unceremoniously standing back to Patricia to look at the books on the shelf.

Patricia was confused. But soon she chose to step into the outdoor section of the bookstore. She sat on one of the benches with her back to the stranger.

She covered one side of her face, muttering hopefully so that the man would not look at her.

"Ah, I'm really unlucky today. Why-"

Patricia's speech stopped when her eyes accidentally saw a familiar figure. A few meters away from her, there was John walking with a woman.

Patricia repeatedly tried to blink her eyes and sharpen her vision, hoping that the man there was not John. However, Patricia clearly saw John's posture facing her while looking around.

The problem was, John had his arm around the waist of the woman beside him!

"John?" asked Patricia, who was both shocked and surprised.

Patricia grabbed her cell phone and dialed John's number. At that moment, she watched and waited. Not long after, the man who resembled John appeared to pick up the cell phone and take her call.

"Oh, dear. I was just about to call you..."

Patricia's body froze because the man resembling John was indeed John. Why did his girlfriend come with another woman?!

"I was going to tell you that I can't come to the book festival. I don't know why my body is hurting. So I'm going to rest at home."

Patricia gritted her teeth. She knew John was lying. The disappointment pounded in her chest and she could only flinch for a few seconds.

This was not something Patricia had expected.

Why would John lie to her to be with another woman? Even when John knew Patricia had just experienced the death of her mother.

"Ah, well," Patricia replied in a lethargic voice. "You can rest at home. We won't see each other again."

"What do you mean, Patricia? We can-"

Tut, tut, tut.

Patricia switched off the phone call unilaterally. Her gaze was still on John who looked confused at the cell phone, but then she looked at the woman beside him.

Without guilt, John then embraced the woman and invited her to walk. Meanwhile, the curious Patricia finally moved to follow John.

Patricia's steps moved very quickly after John and the strange woman there. She slipped between the crowds of festival-goers. As her steps approached John, her hand gripped the cell phone very tightly.

When she was a few steps behind John, Patricia could hear the sound of their conversation.

"Honey, I'm so happy that you complied with my request. I think my love for you is growing."

"I'm doing this because I love you more, darling," John answered her gently.

Patricia gritted her teeth after realizing John was indeed having an affair.

"Hey, asshole man!" Patricia immediately cursed while hitting John's head using her sling bag.

Suddenly John and the woman beside him were shocked. John groaned, almost wanting to curse, but he was momentarily stunned at Patricia's presence.

"Patricia? Are you crazy?!" John asked, noticing the bag in Patricia's hand.

"This is what you call wanting to rest at home, huh? You're with another woman?!" Patricia cursed while glaring at John.

John was still grimacing with an exasperated expression and stroking his own head.

"Honey, who is this woman?" asked the woman beside John.

Without taking his eyes off Patricia, John replied, "She's just a crazy woman, I don't know her, dear."

Patricia felt her heart throbbing with pain at that moment.

"What, a crazy woman? Okay, I'm a crazy woman. But what do you call a man who's with another woman when he's engaged?!" Patricia cursed at John again.

John laughed sarcastically.

"Woah, I think I made the right decision to start avoiding you, Patricia. Thankfully, I don't have to go to the trouble of finding excuses not to spend time with you anymore," John replied.

Patricia's eyebrows furrowed, both surprised and shocked that John would say that.

"What do you mean, you've been planning this for a long time?" asked a dumbfounded Patricia.

John nodded his head. "Of course. I felt I didn't need to stay with you for long. The longer it goes on, the more burdened I feel."

"Burdened?" Patricia mentioned the word, then laughed sarcastically again. "Oh my. What am I burdening you with? I'm even paying for my life-"

"Who would want to date a crazy woman like you?" John asked, cutting Patricia off.

Patricia was silent for an instant.

"You've always been moody, sad, and you've been going to the psychologist repeatedly. Being in a relationship with you is exhausting!" John snapped.

Patricia could not move. However, she still responded with a sardonic smile.

"Men are bastards!" Patricia finally snapped.

At that moment, Patricia threw her sling bag at John. Her anger was overflowing. Patricia was furious and did not stop even though John tried to parry her punches.

Until then, Patricia's hand was suddenly held from behind by someone. Patricia jerked slightly, looked back, then was surprised to see the man who gave her the sandals.

"Stop it. Don't do anything embarrassing," the man said.

Patricia furrowed her brow. "What are you doing? It's none of your business."

With no regard for Patricia, the man let go of her hand and stood beside her. The man's gaze was fixed on John.

"I don't know who you are. But cursing and insulting women in public is not the act of a gentleman," the man said.

John frowned. "Hey, I don't know who you are either. The woman next to you is the one you should be reprimanding! She hit me!"

"There's action and reaction. You started insulting her, she was just protecting herself," the man replied.

John laughed sarcastically and looked away. He looked at Patricia and the stranger with a suspicious gaze.

"Oh, you two have a special relationship?" John asked.

Patricia frowned. "Why are you accusing me?"

"Well, you're mad at me for having an affair. It turns out you had an affair first!" accused John.

"Watch your language!" Patricia pointed at John.

"This woman and I have no relationship-"

"Don't pretend you don't know each other! You guys have been in a relationship behind my back for a long time! Gosh, I didn't think I'd made the right decision to break up with that bitch-"

PLAK!

Patricia slapped John before he could finish his sentence.

"I didn't realize you had no conscience. Fine. We're going our separate ways, but I'm not a bitch! I'm not like you who's so cheap for having an affair!"

John immediately glared in surprise and anger.

Before John could say anything, Patricia walked out of his presence. Patricia didn't care about John calling her repeatedly.

She didn't even care about the strange man who was holding her back.

***

Patricia just realized that she didn't know the man's name. Either because they were too deep in conversation that they forgot to introduce themselves to each other. Patricia realized that after moving away from the indoor bookstore.

But that's how it always is at the Book Festival: there will be people she doesn't expect to come along for the ride, even if they don't always stay with her in the end. That happens in life too, doesn't it?

Patricia's footsteps had passed by several shops, food courts and coffee shops, but none of them had caught her attention. The music still echoed through the Book Festival.

All this time, Patricia was wandering around to see where to go next. Until her gaze stopped at one of the shops with a tent roof. There was a box of some kind and some books were placed there. One table, in the center, indicated the genre of the novel.

Impatient, Patricia stepped into the place that made her curious. The store was crowded inside-more precisely on the shelves, people her age or older were looking around.

Patricia stopped at a table-like box in the center, looking at the books placed neatly and sequentially on it.

She wanted to squat down but decided against it-remembering the humiliating

that was so embarrassing. As a result, she bent down slightly, reading the titles more closely.

Wait.

Norwegian Wood?!

Patricia's gaze immediately stopped on one of the books placed in the right corner position-while she was standing on the left side.

She paused for a few seconds to look at the red-bound book. As she remembered, the red-bound book was the English version, and there weren't many available anymore. Having it here made her eyes light up.

Patricia took a step toward the book, but someone from who knows where walked quickly to where she wanted to go.

What the hell?

The man immediately snatched the already tempting Norwegian Wood book.

When the book was picked up, Patricia widened her eyes because it was the last stock on the table! Her shoulders seemed to slump. Her heart sank. She just looked at the red book that was already in the man's grasp.

There was a small crackle. Patricia exhaled and looked away. But for some reason, she felt familiar with the man.

"Isn't that man the one who watched me fight earlier?" muttered Patricia.

Looking again carefully from the side, his posture and face were very similar to the man at the supermarket who bought her sandals.

Unfortunately, with so many people watching, Patricia had to keep her eyes peeled for the man who had snatched her book. She decided to go deeper into the shelves.

Just as Patricia was about to turn around and leave, someone's voice made her body stiffen.

"Wait, wait."

Patricia turned around to see who was speaking. In that instant, her eyes widened because the man holding the Norwegian Wood book was the man she had met at the supermarket earlier. Surprisingly only Patricia gave a reaction of surprise.

"You again?!" Patricia pointed in surprise.

The man moved with a calm face as if they hadn't met before. Patricia became reluctant to show a surprised reaction. When the silence between them was over, the man thrust the red-bound Norwegian Wood book in his hand at Patricia.

"Do you want this book?" The man asked with both eyebrows raised.

"What do you mean?"

"You're the woman whose shoe broke in the supermarket earlier, right? And the woman who was cheated on-"

"Don't say anything about my relationship incident!" Patricia cut in.

"Ah, well," the man replied with a brief nod. "I just wanted to give you something. Consider it my consolation that you were cheated on-"

"I told you not to say anything about my relationship!" cut in Patricia.

The man nodded as he snapped his fingers. "That's right. I just remembered. I'm sorry. But, you have to accept my gift."

The man showed Patricia the book Norwegian Wood. While Patricia looked at the book with an eager look. Her desire to own the book became fierce.

"Oh, you don't want it?"

Without waiting for Patricia's consent, especially since she showed no sign of reacting, the man held the book at his side. There was no expression whatsoever. His face looked like a loan shark.

"Alright. I'll be going."

As if feeling no guilt after breaking someone's expectations, the man turned around and waltzed out of Fira's presence.

Where she stood, Patricia watched as the man's back grew farther away. Both her shoulders relaxed. Something inside her felt cracked. This was even more painful than a broken heart-even though Patricia had never actually experienced heartbreak.

As a result, after lamenting the departure of her dream book with another owner, Patricia let out a rough breath.

"Forced to look elsewhere, or should I look for another book?" she muttered to herself.

Unwilling to dwell on her broken expectations, Patricia strode languidly towards the interior of the outdoor store. Surrounding several shelves while looking through various types of books, ranging from comics, non-fiction, fantasy books, and cooking recipes-for this book Patricia didn't know why she was interested in opening it despite her lack of cooking skills.