The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Sunny clenched his fists angrily.
Aaron patted his shoulder, guided him to the other end of the bar table, and gave him a bottle of mineral water.
“Chill, dude. You’ll only embarrass Xante if you rush over there now to interrupt them. You’ll gain nothing but her wrath, and not
to mention the silent treatment, by doing that,” said Aaron.
Even though Sunny knew Aaron was right, he struggled to quell his burning rage.
“Listen to me. You might be able to save a damsel in distress later. That’ll show Xante what a hero you are,” advised Aaron.
‘Save a damsel in distress? What the hell is he talking about?’ thought Sunny, not understanding what Aaron meant. However,
he decided to wait and see. Thus, he threw his head back to drink his water—in a bid to cool himself down—while glaring at
Xante.
...
The man sitting beside Xante was not that handsome. However, dressed in a suit and coupled with his gentlemanly demeanor
and an air of success, he could make a few girls’ hearts race.
“Xante, it’s sure been a while since we last saw each other. I must say, you’ve changed quite a lot,” said the man, swirling his
wine glass and fixing his gaze on Xante.
Xante smiled lightly. “Oh? How have I changed?”
The man looked her up and down. “Hmm... You’ve been even more attractive and mature. Not to mention, you have a certain air
of mystery around you now.”
Xante pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses out of habit. “I can say the same about you. You’ve become more mature and, dare I
say, more romantic as well.”
The man chuckled bitterly when he recalled his past behaviors. “I was young, stupid, and broke back then. Sorry for being a
shitty boyfriend.”
Xante looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Instead of sadness, there was actually mockery in her eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize to me; you would’ve done the same thing if given the chance to start over. We’re all adults
hardened by years of disappointment here, so you don’t have to put up an act of repentance. Doing so just makes you look like a
cringy dirtbag.”
The man’s face darkened a little, but he quickly smiled. “Okay, I won’t talk about the past anymore. In fact, let’s talk about the
present. Xante, you’re single and I’m single, so what do you say to us giving it another go?”
“No. I don’t think that’s necessary,” replied Xante lightly.
The man did not expect that he would be rejected outright, so he was understandably hurt. “Why not? Xante, my feelings for you
never changed, nor could I forget about you. Why won’t you give me another chance? I promise I’ll treat you better than last
time.”
Xante took a sip of her wine before saying, “Because I don’t like you anymore.”
Humiliation washed over the man’s face at being turned down so ruthlessly. “Is it because of that boy?” he asked with a frown.
‘Boy?’ Xante turned around quizzically and was shocked to see Sunny standing there. ‘When did he get here? And why is he
glaring at us like that?’
“I see that your taste in men has changed too. But I don’t understand why you’d fall for a kid like him,” lectured the man.
Xante turned back to look at her ex-boyfriend with a cold smile. “You have no right to judge my taste nor do I have to explain
myself to you. All you need to know now is that I’ll never fall for a man like you anymore.”
The man’s face darkened. No woman had ever spoken like that to him ever since he got to where he was then, so he was
understandably caught off-guard.