The smile vanished from Vina's face the moment her eyes landed on the figure sitting across from Angelo. Fero. The man she'd secretly photographed just a few hours ago was now sitting there casually, sipping coffee as if nothing had happened.
"Huh..." Vina stopped walking, causing the three friends behind her to lightly bump into her back.
Tifany, who had been walking directly behind Vina with an eager smile ever since they entered the cafe, stopped too. Her eyes moved from Fero to Angelo, then dropped to the faded T-shirt and worn-out shoes worn by the man she'd known only through her phone screen for the past five months.
"Angelo?" Her voice was barely a whisper, as if she hoped she was seeing things wrong.
"Hi, Tifany!" Angelo sprang to his feet, his face lighting up without noticing the change unfolding before him. He spread his arms, ready to hug her, but Tifany instead took half a step back.
The other two girls behind them whispered to each other. One covered her mouth with her hand, taking turns glancing at Angelo and Fero as if she were watching the worst joke of the day.
"This is... the Angelo I've been chatting with all this time?" Tifany finally spoke, her tone turning cold. "The one who's been telling me about your life overseas?"
"Yeah, this is me." Angelo laughed awkwardly, hurriedly smoothing down the wrinkled shirt that had been feeding his insecurity all this time. "Sorry if I don't look the way you expected. But let's sit down first and talk..."
"Sit down?" one of Tifany's friends, a girl wearing glasses with a designer bag slung over her shoulder, cut in with a snort. "Tif, are you sure you want to keep meeting someone like this?"
"Your stories in chat are so different from reality," Vina added, her voice dripping with sarcasm, her eyes still fixed on Fero. "And your friend who came with you looks just like that too."
Fero raised an eyebrow at the jab but didn't say a word. He simply leaned back and stirred his coffee, which was beginning to cool, letting the situation play out on its own.
Tifany didn't answer her friends right away. She glanced at Fero again, and the memory of the photo circulating that morning—a photo of a man dressed exactly like the one sitting in front of her now—made her face heat up. Not because she was embarrassed by Angelo. She was embarrassed by her own friends, who were now waiting for her decision with judgmental looks.
"I never expected this," Tifany murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "All this time, I thought you were really... well, whatever. Just not like this."
"Not like this how?" Angelo tried to smile, though the cheerfulness that had overflowed from his voice earlier was beginning to fade. "I'm not rich, Tifany. But I thought the reason we clicked all this time wasn't about that, right?"
"Your stories in chat are so different from reality," Vina added, her voice dripping with sarcasm, her eyes still fixed on Fero. "And your friend who came with you looks just like that too."
"I'm talking to Tifany," Angelo said, struggling to keep his patience as his attention returned to the girl he'd been waiting for. "Tifany, please. Let's just talk, the two of us, okay? I'll explain everything. This isn't what you think."
Tifany shook her head slowly, then more firmly. "Don't bother, Angelo. There's nothing left to explain."
"Tif..."
"I don't think we're compatible." Tifany cut him off quickly, her voice rising an octave, loud enough to make several customers at the neighboring tables turn and look. "Let's end this. I'm sorry, but I can't continue."
The words hit Angelo hard. He fell silent for a moment, as if he needed time to process how five full months of long conversations, laughter over video calls, and future plans he'd once imagined could end so easily, all because of a faded T-shirt.
"Come on, Tif." Vina tugged on her friend's arm and signaled for the other two girls to leave. They turned around without looking back, hurrying toward the cafe's entrance and leaving the scent of expensive perfume hanging briefly in the air.
Angelo stood frozen, one hand still half-raised as if he meant to chase after her. "Tifany, wait..."
"Sit down." Fero's voice cut him off, calm but firm enough to make Angelo stop where he was.
"Fero, I have to..."
"You have to sit down." Fero grabbed his cousin's arm and forced him back into his chair. "Chasing after her now will only make you look even more pathetic in front of everyone in this cafe."
Angelo collapsed limply into the chair, his face pale. "I don't understand. She was always so kind to me. Why did everything change the moment she saw what I looked like?"
"Because that's just the kind of person she is, Angelo." Fero took another sip of coffee, his voice flat, as if they were discussing the weather. "A woman who ends a relationship just because of a faded shirt and scuffed shoes isn't worthy of being your wife. Period."
"But I already love her. Five months, Fero. That's not a short time."
"Loving someone doesn't mean you have to hold on to them," Fero replied. "It's lucky this happened now, not after you told her about your family. Imagine if she found out you could actually buy five cafes like this, then came running back to you. Would you want that?"
Angelo didn't answer. He simply lowered his head, both hands clenched on the table.
"Think about it carefully," Fero continued. "If she really liked you—not the image of a successful life you seemed to have—then what you wore shouldn't matter. But she ran the moment she learned the truth."
"Yeah, I know... but it still hurts, Fero."
"That's normal. No one said you weren't allowed to be hurt." Fero patted his cousin on the shoulder, the only comfort he could offer without sounding too gentle. "But don't go chasing someone who never truly saw you."
"So what am I supposed to do now?"
"Forget it. Don't think about it anymore." Fero took out his wallet and left several bills on the table to pay for their coffee. "I know just the place for you right now."
"What place?"
"You'll find out." Fero stood and patted Angelo's shoulder once more. "Come on, my treat. Consider it consolation for getting dumped."
Angelo drew a deep breath, then got up and followed Fero out of the cafe. A few moments later, the cafe's glass door closed behind them.