A flying stress ball greeted Miranda and hit her forehead when she came and arrived at the joke shop.

" Oww! What was that for?" she ailed and rubbed her forehead while drawing closer to the counter. Before she could do another step, Stevie threw another one in the air and hit the same spot on her forehead.

"Again. Oww." She said, looking at her mock-crossed. Miranda picked the stress balls on the floor and took revenge, throwing them in the air and hitting the wall behind Stevie.

"Not to be rude, but you suck." Stevie snorted and laughed at her.

"Well, not to be rude but you're too short that you didn't even need to duck to avoid the ball." Miranda grinned triumphantly while Stevie had a crumple on her face.

"Where on Earth have you been?"

"Well.. erm, you know, some.. where."

"You could have helped me! We had another delivery today! I told you last night!"

"Uh, no you didn't"

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't"

"I went to you flat, saw you in the bedroom, you in your pajamas, with an opened laptop, and I told you we'll have another delivery today. And you went, 'Yeah. Sure, sure.' You even told me that you're 'writing an email' when you're obviously watching those funny cat videos on the internet again." Stevie looked at her, making Miranda feel a bit embarrassed.

"And how are you sure that I was watching cat videos again. Hmm?" Miranda had her hands on her hips.

"Those big, fake reading glasses didn't suit you."

"It felt 'businesswoman-ish' to me."

"And you were staring at that photo of you and Gary in the wedding dress shop." Stevie said in almost a whisper, without looking at her and continued with drinking her tea. Miranda frowned, her shoulders dropped.

"It was just a coincidence." Even saying it feels like she's lying to herself. "I was just looking through the photos and that happened."

"You're not fooling me, Miranda. I've seen you looking at that photo a lot of time already."

Miranda went quiet, not uttering a single word. She tried to distract herself and ignore Stevie by arranging the bean bags on the floor. She can't deny what Stevie had said. She had spent a lot of time looking at that photo; she could even just simply picture it inside of her head and be happy.

"Hey, you do want to talk?" Stevie's voice was sweet and full of concern for her best friend.

"No. I just need some rest. I'll be upstairs of you need me. You know where I am." She made her way to her flat, eyes away from her tiny friend behind her counter who she heard made a huff of worry.

Xxxxxxxx

Miranda lay down in her bed, on a very messy bed sheets and duvet, and stared at the blank ceiling. Earlier that day, she had spent the time strolling at the park. Walking and being alone, a lot of things sprung out of her mind. Questions, past decisions- almost everything that she had done in the past 3 months were drowning her mind like an ocean.

After her stroll in the park, her feet led her to the same spot where she had prepared a picnic, not for Mike, but for Gary to tell him that she loved him. No. She still loves him. She turned to her side and buried her face to the pillow. From the corner of her eye, she saw her wedding dress in the closet. She squint her eyes just to prevent the image of that photo from coming back to her head but failed. When she opened them again, a tear rolled and touched her pillow. It's not the photo that actually bugs her, but the happiness she felt that day when Gary was at her side and smiling at her. It was something she wants to feel and be for a long time.

She left the park and decided to past by the restaurant before coming back to the joke shop.

"Hey. Ohh. Where did everybody go? It's still early." Miranda found Gary on the bar, with his lovely back facing her and was holding a screwdriver. The restaurant was unusually quiet that night for that sort of time. "What happened?"

Gary faced her and saw her already sitting at a bar stool.

"Just technical problems, that's all." He reassuringly said with a smile to Miranda.

"You just went 'alpha-male' back there. Haha." Gary stared at Miranda sharply. "Sorry. Anyway, where are the others?" She looked around and saw that Gary was alone, and no other chef and waiters were around to help him.

"I told them to call some experts to help us around. The lights go on dying all the time. I told the others to just go home and take a rest, since this might take a long while. The restaurant's close for now."

"So, you're all by yourself here?"

"For a while, yeah." Gary turned to her and brought with him his gorgeous puppy eyes. "Well, you're here now."

Miranda felt a bit smitten, blushing as she smiled to him. "Well, you know, I'm a 'Superman' myself, 'Superwoman' in this case. When someone's in trouble, I suddenly appear. 'Great power comes with great responsibility'. No, sorry that was Spiderman." She felt embarrassed for a moment but it all went away when Gary chuckled, making herself proud and happy that she managed to make him laugh.

"What are you up to? Stevie was looking for you this afternoon." He leaned both elbows on top of the counter and smiling at her.

"Been really busy, you know, 'bout the wedding. Just took a break that's all."

"Were you with Mike today?" Gary said as he knelt down to check the wirings under the counter.

"No. I was alone. He's a bit busy with 'news stuff' as he like to say it all the time." She answered, making quotes on the air. "It's fine." He heard her say. He stood up again to see her, with a frown on her face.

"Oh." He said sympathetically. "Do you like some muffins? I'll just go and get them at the kitchen, yeah?"

"Sure. Wouldn't say no.

Gary made his way with a little hope that he'll make her feel better.

"AHH! MOUSE!"

"WHAT?!" He jumped, landing on at the couch on the corner of the restaurant. Miranda laughed hysterically, turning a bit red, and looked at him on top of the couch and shaking with fear.

"Oh my God, Gary! HAHA! Oh dear…" She wiped a tear from her eye, still laughing at the gorgeous and scared Gary. "I should do that more often. You looked so funny!"

If it'll make her happy then he'll let her do it over and over again.

"What is the problem here, then?!" She asked, speaking loudly to Gary who was in the kitchen. Nothing seemed unusual on the lights to her.

"Don't actually know!." She heard him say. "Maybe some wire short-circuited."

She played with a teaspoon when suddenly there was a loud noise from the kitchen.

"Gary, are you okay back there?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. I got my muffin to accompany me. Not a euphemism by the way."

There was a blow from a fuse. Gary went panicky and his mind went blank. Miranda heard a sound of clutter and got worried for him, stood up and peaked.

"You sure? Sounds bad back there."

"Yeah, yeah. I got this." He totally had no idea where the noise came from. He looked around and then suddenly a short circuit happened and gave a loud bang.

"AHH!" Both of them screamed, in Gary's case, shrilled, when the lights went off.

"Gary, did you just.."

"Let's not talk about that. Are you okay, Miranda?" The restaurant was covered with darkness.

"Yeah. Just, you know, I can't see."

"There's a torch under the counter. You can use that."

Miranda slowly walked towards the counter, careful with her steps and holding to whatever she can. The other side of the bar was new to her. She searched from the compartments on the counter, looking for the said flashlights. When she finally found them, she stood up and walk towards the kitchen. As she made her way, she accidentally tripped and hit Gary who was already in front of her. Both of them stumbled and fell to the ground with Miranda landing on top of him. Their noses collided as Miranda finally take the fall to Gary's embrace.

"Oww." She heard him say. Miranda held herself up with a hand then looked at Gary under her. When she did, Gary's eyes met hers. Her heart starts to race and her mind went spinning.

All they did was to giggle together about each other's clumsiness.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hi." He replied.

Neither of them moved a muscle. And in that moment, Miranda realized, that whenever she tripped or hit something, Gary was always there with her, catching her with his arms and saving her from falling to the ground just like what he did right now. She never enjoyed falling off the stool; it leaves bruises on her body. But, she realized, the only fall that she's being enjoying doing all her life was falling in love with Gary.

And now, he caught her and fell in love with her, too.

Unfortunately, timing was never their area of expertise.

I'm getting married. She silently reminds herself. But her thoughts was distracted when Gary's fingers ran and lingered on her hips, and slowly, softly, skimmed up just above her bust.

Getting this so close to Miranda just made Gary's skin shiver and hot the same time. Whether it was the cold dark night of the restaurant or Miranda's heavy breathing above her, he felt the arousal and the romance around them, and from her look he can tell that she did too. Her brown eyes were more beautiful than the moonlight. He wants to hold her like this all the time.

He drew her closer to capture her lips but suddenly, Miranda propped herself and sat up. Feeling embarrassed, he followed her and leaned on the wall of the counter, sitting face to face with her.

"I wanted.." Gary started, holding Miranda's hand. "I want to kiss you, Miranda."

"I know. But I can't let you. If I do, it'll be wrong. So wrong, Gary."

"Yes. Yes it will." Gary closed the space between them and cupped Miranda's face with his hand. Slowly, he closed his eyes and leaned closer to kiss her but instead, he felt Miranda turning away from him.

"I can't. No, Gary. I just.. I can't. I'll hurt Mike and I don't want that." They stay still, cheek to cheek.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you"

"It's fine. Just.. I can't. Goodbye, Gary."

She stood up and led her way to the door. Their relationship was already over before it even started.

"You had a choice." Miranda heard him say and turned to him for the last time.

"Miranda, you had the choice. When both of us proposed you had— ''
"Gary, stop." She exclaimed with a crack on her voice. "I did have the choice. And so do you. I made my choice by moving on from you. You should, too."

Gary was flabbergasted and sad with what Miranda just said to him. A lump formed inside Gary's throat and his heart was shattering.

"Miranda, I'm really, really sorry" His voice trembled with guilt.

"Stop saying sorry. Everything's said and done. Now, if you excuse me, I've got a wedding to stress about. Goodbye. Goodbye, Gary." She said it like she's finally leaving him forever. Facing away from him, she finally let her tears drown her.

Gary was left alone, standing at the middle of his dark, sad, quiet restaurant with his heart broken into pieces.

Back in her room, Miranda didn't know what to do next. Suddenly, her phone vibrated, signaling a text.

Mike.

Miranda? Quirky, I have to tell you something.

Xxxxxxx

-Thank you so much for reading my fic and I'm sorry for taking so long to post another chapter. I hope you continue to enjoy. xx