Passive Aggressive

A beautiful girl is chatting it up with her girlfriends when she notices Cordayl and an older gentleman walking towards the local snow cone shop. Her eyes are so locked onto him that she isn't even blinking as she watches him walk in after the elder.

Cordayl and Esquimo are enjoying their snow cones outside under the shop's big umbrella, minding their own business on this hot, sunny day. A part of Cordayl's snow cone falls onto the baking pavement, making him momentarily sad.

After watching the colorful ice melt for a few seconds, Cordayl looks up to see a gorgeous girl walking towards him from across the street. She's obviously focused on him, as she doesn't even seem to notice the car that has to slam on the brakes and swerve hard to avoid hitting her.

Cordayl's hands get sweatier and sweatier as the girl gets nearer, and he finds himself speechless when she is standing right in front of him. All he can do is stare at her.

Esquimo, seeing the beauty struck Cordayl forget how to use his tongue, tries to help the lad out. "Sorry young lady, it's not every day a beauty such as- DAMN!" Esquimo exclaims as he witnesses the young lady slap the ice out of Cordayl's mouth.

Cordayl is just as astonished, rapidly blinking as he tries to clear the stars out of his vision.

"You have some nerve bringing your ass back into town after just up and leaving me out of nowhere. I called and texted you, and you just ghost me like I was some hoochie. I loved you like I never loved anyone, and you do me like that? You piece of shi-" She doesn't finish the sentence as she starts to swing on Cordayl again.

Cordayl is getting slapped to death, and it doesn't help that the voice in his head comments, "She is whooping yo ass!"

After taking a few more slaps, Cordayl aggressively grabs the girl's arms. As he holds her arms in the air, the two lock eyes, and even though Cordayl's eyes are stern, they soften when they see the water in hers.

Releasing her, Cordayl watches her quickly wipe her eyes. "Look, I apologize for getting rough with you, but to be honest, I don't know who you are."

The girl's jaw drops before she resumes slapping Cordayl again. Cordayl grabs her again. "Stop hitting me."

"How you gonna try and hit me with that bullshit, Cordayl?" She yells at him.

"Young lady, it's true." Esquimo steps in. "He lost his memory after a really, really, really, really," Cordayl cuts his eyes at Esquimo, not pleased with his exaggeration. "really, bad fall," Esquimo concludes.

The girl looks at Esquimo in disbelief, but staring at Cordayl and noticing the scar showing through his dreadlocks, she can tell he is telling the truth.

Taking a step back, she looks at her hand and sucks her teeth when she notices she broke all her nails fighting Cordayl. She can't help but feel the urge to be around Cordayl again, so she comes up with an excuse to spend time with him. "Well, since you broke my heart and my nails, the least you could do is come with me to get them fixed," She states, letting Cordayl know she wasn't really asking.

"I guess that's the least I could do," Cordayl says as he follows the beautiful girl.

"I'll be here whenever you finish, lad," Esquimo says, winking at Cordayl as they pass each other.

The girl's friends see her walking away with Cordayl and a bunch of oohs startup. One of the girls decides to be messy and makes a phone call.

"What are you doing?" one girl asks her.

"What do you mean what I'm doing? She wants to be a hoe. She deserves to get caught up. Besides, this will make it easier for me to take her man." The girl says with a smirk as the person she calls answers. "Hey Champ, what you up to?"

Cordayl holds the door for the young lady as they enter the salon together. The young lady asks if her usual technician is still here, to which one of the ladies answers yes. When the nail technician comes out, the young lady holds her hands up, and the technician gasps at the ruined nails. Shaking her head, she just walks to her station as the two follow.

Cordayl is sitting next to the girl as she quietly lets the nail technician work in focused frustration. After a couple of minutes of silence, the girl ask Cordayl whats her name without even turning her head.

"Uhhhh…" Cordayl stalls as he tries his hardest to remember even the first letter of her name. She looks at him, and he starts to sweat under the pressure. "Gi… Hel…Whit…Tiff…" Cordayl strikes out over and over again.

The girl shakes her head. "It's Yan—" she yawns while repeating her name. "Na."

"Yaaaaanna," Cordayl copies her.

The young lady smiles. "No dummy, just Yanna."

"Yanna. Got it. I won't forget it again. Cordayl says, cooly smiling at her.

"Sure you won't," she says, rolling her eyes. Seeing him again after over a year of absence, she realizes her feelings for him have never left.

Yanna takes another look at Cordayl and catches him staring at her. The two break out in laughter, and she tells him to stop being weird.

"Sorry, it's just weird being here with you. I'm trying my hardest to remember you, but I can't. But I have this feeling of comfort right now, and it's so unexplainable it's driving me crazy." Cordayl admits.

"You're telling me. I tried so hard to forget about you, but one sight of you and I realized how futile that was. So you don't remember me at all?" Yanna questions.

"No, I don't," Cordayl tells her. "When was the last time we saw each other?"

"Over a year ago. You came over after a drive-by shooting, then left, saying that you needed to find some answers. A kiss later, and you were gone. It wasn't even a passionate kiss!" She scolds him.

"A drive-by?" Cordayl asks, scratching his head.

"Yup. And apparently, you were the target." Yanna looks at her nails with approval. She pays the nail technician and grabs Cordayl to continue their talk elsewhere.

As the sun begins to set, Cordayl sits next to Yanna on a park bench. The two stare at each other until Yanna breaks the silence.

"So what happened? Why don't you remember anything?" Yanna asks him.

"Apparently, I got into a fight with a kingdom and won. I don't remember why at all. I just remember this feeling. The only clear thing I remember is waking up in Esquimo's basement."

"Who?" Yanna ask.

"The old, I mean older man back at the snow cone store," Cordayl answers.

"Ohh, okay. Well, unfortunately, you're kind of infamous now. That fight with the kingdom was all the world talked about for 2 months. A kingdom that has been here for over 1000 years, gone in a day. I couldn't believe it. But to be honest, the saddest part of it was when I saw you in the sky. My heart dropped. I couldn't believe it was you. Not my Cor-" Yanna doesn't finish the sentence.

"Hearing how the world had deemed you a devil saddened me, Cordayl. I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't refuse what I saw," Yanna says, not able to look at him.

"I understand. I had the same reaction when I watched it. I couldn't believe that was me. I couldn't believe what I did. I mean really, I'm a punk. I run from fights, but I decided to fight back for some reason, and I don't know why," Cordayl explains.

The two sitting in silence again.

"What was the feeling?" Yanna ask.

"Huh?" Cordayl responds.

"You said you didn't remember anything but remembered a feeling. What was the feeling?" Yanna reminds him

Cordayl closes his eyes as he tells her. "I felt like I was drowning in a pool of ink, and there was no way out. I felt lost. I felt the fullest fear. I felt more pain than I ever had in my whole life. I felt a depression, and this deep, deep commitment, to the thought that I was alone," Cordayl says, eyes still closed as he looks up at the sky. Opening his eyes, he continues

"But then I felt like multiple hands had pulled me out of that isolation. I suddenly felt this feeling that I had convinced myself I would never feel again. It felt so good that I wanted to keep it as long as possible. A warmth so beautiful that I questioned if I had ever been warm before. As if a group of angels had hugged me. I felt loved," Cordayl says, opening his eyes to see the beautiful hue of the sun decorating the sky as it sets.

Yanna's eyes water, hearing Cordayl explain his feelings, and she hugs him. Cordayl is shocked by the sudden affection, but he naturally hugs her and enjoys the moment.

Yanna quickly pulls away, apologizing for the sudden affection. Cordayl tells her it is fine, as the two stare at each other again.

Love is in the air when suddenly someone shouts, "Yanna!"

Yanna jumps when she hears her name shouted, and her eyes grow a little bit. A muscular guy, standing a few inches taller than Cordayl, gets between Yanna and Cordayl.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he angrily shouts.

"Calm down, it's not even like that. He's an old friend, and we were just catching up," Yanna answers.

"Catching up? At this empty park with this beautiful sky and dancing flowers all around? Seems like a pretty romantic place to catch up, doesn't it?" He responds.

"Yo calm down. You acting like I am out here cheating on you or something?" Yanna rebuts.

"Are you?" He angrily asks.

"No, I'm not!" Yanna defends herself, but he ignores her and directshis energy to Cordayl.

"And who are you, old friend? How come she has never mentioned you before?" He asks Cordayl, who is starting to sweat.

"Me? I'm nobody. Just a guy who ran into an old friend," Cordayl replies, pulling on his hoodie strings as he backs up.

"Well, nobody. They should have told you that you should be careful walking around with Champ's girl because Champ is a very jealous man. And I don't like no man catching up with my girl," Champ tells him.

"Listen, chap, I was just lea-"

"Its Champ! As in 5x boxing champion. So you better skedaddle before I turn you into a punching bag, little man."

"You're right. Yanna, it was good seeing you again," Cordayl waves as he turns to walk away.

"Bitch ass," Champ says as he turns his attention back to Yanna. "Let's go. I got a workout to be at, and I would like you to be there with me," Champ tells Yanna.

Cordayl looks back to see Yanna walking away under Champ's arm but walks away to find Esquimo.