Incompatible Compatibility

- 1 -

Lovina Vargas happily tossed her bag beside her tomato-patterned bean bag and rushed into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took the ice cream she had been saving all week. Normally, she watched what she eats at home. Her family values healthy living and junk foods such as ice cream were rarely allowed in the house. Lovina let out a snicker - she had the house all to herself and she could eat whatever she wanted. She went into the living room, placed the ice cream beside her bag and opened the television.

Normally, she'd be out on a day like this with her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. Lovina mentally corrected herself as she settled down and tinkered with the remote control. Not along after, her foul mood was replaced with eagerness as she browsed through the available movies and series. When she spotted the drama series she had been dying to watch, she pressed play and watched the opening credits.

Lovina kept her eyes peeled on the screen as she grabbed for the ice cream. She opened the ice cream as she watched the main characters on the screen. This was what single women do - watch and fantasize about other people's romances. Watching other people's relationship, whether fictional or real, was more entertaining. Being the main character in a relationship wasn't that of an enjoyable experience. It's not all fun and games once you've taken the actual role itself.

It's not fun.

Lovina frowned. In fact, she had one word to define her overall recent romantic experience:

Horrible.

That was the word that Lovina could describe as to how her last relationship went. Her ex-boyfriend was Antonio Carriedo, one of the popular guys in school. Their six month relationship had been stressful for both of them. They frequently broke into fights and would have misunderstandings. A week ago, she finally had enough and told him that she wanted them to go on their separate ways.

And so they did.

To begin with, it was an impossible match. She was introverted, had low self-esteem and prickly. He was extraverted, had high self-esteem and nice towards other people. He was charming, whereas she wasn't and tend to drive people away. To sum it up, he was the nice popular guy while she was the unapproachable loner.

He's not all that great, though.

Beneath the exterior of the seemingly perfect popular guy, Antonio also had his flaws. His ultimate flaw was that he was immensely slow in understanding the vibe of certain situations. Lovina grimaced as she remember that time they were out on a dinner date. They happened to run into the people who tormented her in the past. They weren't making her life miserable as of the late, but that didn't mean that Lovina wanted their company, much less see them. They probably didn't remember her, given that the bullying she experienced from them was from their childhood, but Lovina could still remember how they ridiculed and publicly humiliated her. They still invoked unpleasant memories and Lovina wanted none of that while she was trying to enjoy their date.

But stupid Antonio was apparently friends with those people and called them over.

Antonio introduced them to her and proudly told those people that she was his girlfriend. They seemed genuinely happy for both us and gave Lovina a friendly greeting. She feigned ignorance and mechanically greeted them. Throughout their conversation with those people, Lovina gave short replies and avoided joining their conversation. Antonio didn't notice her change of behavior as he kept on talking to them.

As for those people, they didn't make indications that they remembered Lovina. The fact that she was the only one who bore the weight of that one sided loathing completely ruined Lovina's mood for the remainder of their date.

Antonio's friends (aka. Lovina's former tormentors) stayed at Antonio and Lovina's table for a couple of minutes and left when their food was being served at their own table. Antonio finished his food, while Lovina just finished half of hers. Worriedly, Antonio asked if she didn't like the food that was served there and Lovina just gave him the full force of her glare.

Stupid, clueless Antonio.

Lovina dipped her spoon on the large tub of ice cream and snuggled into the comfort of her bean bag. She reminded herself to focus on the drama series instead of reminiscing of the past. After all, she didn't have time to watch any series back when she was dating.

After all, the idiot would always bring her home late whenever they dated.

Antonio was the type to get so immersed in what he was doing that he'd overdo it at some point. He would call it as being "freedom", but Lovina calls it as being single-minded. He always had done things at his own pace whenever, wherever he wanted. It was hard not to get sucked into his pace, especially when he's being cheerful about it.

Lovina's face cracked into a small smile at a sudden memory she recalled.

As they were going back home from one of their usual dates, Antonio suddenly took the wrong way home. They were on a day trip and it was about early afternoon when they were on the road going home. On that particular day, they both had to go home in order to do the rest of their school work. While searching for familiar roads to turn to, they came across a field of tomatoes. Lovina was opposed to the idea of having stopovers, but he insisted on dropping by to check the tomato field.

As much as Lovina wanted to do the very same thing, she knew that Antonio had a certain fixation on tomatoes. They both loved tomatoes, but the guy took his obsession into a whole new level. Antonio insisted on, flashing his puppy eyes to his girlfriend. It wasn't everyday that he'd ask favors like this from her. Lovina begrudgingly agreed to his request.

To Antonio's delight, the tomato field was in fact a famous tourist spot. It was a tomato farm where people frequented to pick tomatoes. The tomatoes in the area were of high quality and were grown using organic farming, thus it was sought after by many people. There were also a lot of stalls near the tomato farm that sold various tomato products.

A simple "checking" of a tomato field turned into a full blown tomato harvest extravaganza. They ended up spending the entire afternoon harvesting tomatoes and buying tomato products. Antonio did most of the shopping, while Lovina mostly followed him around the area.

Instead of arriving early evening, Lovina reached her home by ten in the evening. The experience exhausted her, leaving her with no energy to do her homework. She also got scolded by her grandfather for returning beyond her curfew. Despite that, she knew she also had fun…

Was their relationship all that horrible?

Lovina absentmindedly took a scoop of the ice cream, but nary a drop of the dairy product was scooped. To her surprise, she managed to finish the entire tub within half an hour. She also managed to finish an entire episode of the series without even focusing on it. Lovina grumbled as she placed the empty tub of ice cream on a nearby table and revisited the episode. She crossed her legs and watched the opening credits of the show. She shook her head - nothing was going to happen if she kept on thinking about her ex-boyfriend. She had to move on and re-live the joys of being single.

Besides, thinking about that idiot has already had its effect on her.

Stupid Antonio, making her so absentminded these days.

End of the Chapter

A/N: Hi guys. It's been a looooong time since I've written a fanfic. As in a looong time. I've only recently read fanfics so I'm not sure if I regressed with my storytelling skills. Once again, please bear with my amateur writing skills. With that said, reviews are always appreciated.