Originally Posted by Traum
Remember this is all made up, but I'll make it sound as real as I possibly can.
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The other day I was at H-Mart in Aberdeen, lining up at the check out counter. As I was just waiting, I noticed that 2 persons in front of was a familiar face -- my ex, J, from many, many moons ago. She was having some sort of quibble with the cashier, and she was obviously looking stressed out. I didn't want to call out to her, primiarily because she was already busy & stressed, and that she was a bit of a distance away from me, with additional people / strangers inbetween us. So I just kind of kept looking discretely at the situation, but was really mostly looking at how she is now. We were together in my much younger days, when I have just finished school, but haven't really landed myself any kind of solid employement or steady income. We broke up partly because of this, and through some mutual friends, I found out a few months later that she has started dating another person with a seemingly stable financial basis. At the time, the young and naive me was really stung by the fact that J gave up on me because of my lack of financial stability, even though she had openly admitted that I was the most loving and caring bf that she has ever had up to that point.
So as I kept looking at her, I noticed how generally tired and stressed overall she seemed to be looking. There were strands of loose, stray hair sticking out; she wasn't wearing any make up; her sweat top seemed a bit unkempt, etc. Her transaction appeared to have finally finished, and she took her 2 huge bags of groceries and walked off. I didn't really know what to make of the encountered, and then reality sank in -- the line was moving, and I was supposed to walk forward.
When I've finished paying off my stuff, I walked out into the hallway area right in front of H-Mart / Sura is. It was then when I heard a couple -- a family of 4, really -- where the parents were engaged in some sort of muted but obviously heated argument. One of the kids was running around making noises and doing what a typical kid-not-listening-to-his-parents would do. Another younger little girl was more or less alternating between crying / wailing, and sobbing while holding onto a parent's hand. The father was J's bf after me, and I knew they have gotten married some time, and had popped out a kid, but I didn't know they have had a second since I've basically lost all contact with her. A quick glance gave me the impresison that the father was looking rough -- in the sense that their days have not been the easiest financially, and probably in other capacities as well. Their argument continued, with the father looking unremorseful and agitated, but J was obviously looking strained, upset, and quite stressed out at that point.
My mind blanked out and my heart just kind of ached & clenched. I didn't know what or how I should feel. I just kept walking and headed back to my car.
(to be continued...)
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