Her hands shook as she read the last lines of the note, tears welling up behind her expressive hazel/gold eyes.

I love you more than you know.

But we can't continue to go on this way. Please don't hate me for this.

She quickly tied her long black hair into a messy bun sitting on top of her head and dashed out of the bedroom, snatching the keys to her apartment as she bolted out the door.

The soft, dull light of street lamps lit her way as she sprinted to the train station, dodging and weaving her way through the evening crowd of people just getting off work dispersed from their respective office buildings. She begged her feet to not fail her as she ran to her destination, hoping that she wouldn't be too late to stop him from leaving.

She skidded to a stop when she reached a cross-walk and cursed loudly when she had to wait for the cars to pass and the light to change. She clung to the beam, waiting anxiously and praying that the traffic would cease so that she could continue. Every second wasted was a second she could be spending trying to catch up to him.

Once the light at the crosswalk turned green she took off again, bumping into several pedestrians moving the opposite way down the street. She apologized but didn't allow this to slow her down.

Her eyes widened and hope swelled within her when the train station was in sight. She ran up the stairs two at a time, clutching the letter in a free hand and hopping over the turnstiles thankful that she didn't trip in the process. However when she was there at the platform where the passengers were stepping onto the trains she had to search through an abnormally thick crowd of people getting off the trains and heading home for the evening.

She searched frantically, thankful for her above average height that allowed her to see over the heads of many of the men and women in the area. After spending what felt like a lifetime searching, she finally spotted a young man around her age who fit the description of the man she was looking for.

She called out his name, screaming at the top of her lungs – calling attention to herself in the process, earning several bizarre stares from a fair amount of people – hoping that he would hear her. However to her horror, he was heading for one of the trains with a duffel bag in hand.

With a new sense of fear, she pushed her way through and tried to reach the train he was boarding, praying that she would reach him in time.

He stepped onto the platform just as the doors began to close and she skidded to a stop. While standing there, she felt herself becoming dizzy and watched as the train quickly pulled out of the station. Then just as quickly, the train had pulled off and him along with it.

Everything seemed to stop for her in that moment when she realized that he was gone and – most likely – never coming back. Her body began to tremble then, shaking her from the inside out and her heart began to ache with a pain she'd never known before. Without realizing it tears began to steadily flow from her eyes, smearing her once immaculate makeup and dripping onto both the floor and her shoes. Lips trembling, she clutched the letter he left and her head sank in defeat.

'How could you throw me away like that?'

A girl with shoulder length, flaxen hair and crystal-like blue eyes patted the shoulder of her co-worker during their break.

"Jasmine, perhaps you should go home," she insisted, concerned for the well-being of her friend. "Tifa would completely understand."

Jasmine, the girl with long black hair tied into a neat French-braid trailing down her back with bangs partially covering her hazel colored eyes and tan skin, continued to tally up the profits at the register. "No, I'm fine Naminé. I can stay."

The girl named Naminé knew better. Her friend was definitely NOT okay. "Olette isn't working today and she's always up for covering peoples' shifts. The café is going to be here when you get back…" Naminé glanced around the cozy café the pair worked at. It wasn't very busy today (which was normal given the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon) and in her honest opinion it wouldn't kill Jasmine to go home and get some rest. "It'll give you some time to relax."

Jasmine hummed as she finished imputing the sales for the hour, ignoring her friend.

Naminé looked around quickly for the other employees and leaned close to Jasmine as to not be overheard. "You just went through a really bad break up…" Jasmine froze on the spot with her finger right above the "enter" button on the touch screen computer. "You need some time to sort through your thoughts. You're not yourself lately."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jasmine said dismissively, trying to block out all thoughts of her ex.

Just then a woman shorter than Jasmine with long, dark hair tied into a low-hanging ponytail, wine-colored eyes and clear, flawless pale skin walked by with an electronic tablet in her hands. "She's right Jasmine," the older woman agreed. "You seem kind of down lately."

The ebony-haired waitress tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes in front of her boss. "I'll be fine Tifa. It's just one bad breakup. People go through worse," she then continued to input the numbers for the hour at a rapid pace and adjusted the glasses hanging on her nose.

Tifa set the tablet down and disappeared to the kitchen. Naminé and Jasmine overheard some of the kitchen staff chatting with Tifa and a few minutes later she reappeared with a red tote bag with the Seventh Heaven logo on the front. Jasmine and Naminé stepped back as Tifa set the large and (apparently) heavy bag down on the countertop.

"Alright," Tifa began taking out small, individual boxes and set them out for the pair to see. "You have your favorite grilled chicken salad here, chicken and shrimp pasta with LIGHT alfredo sauce, two piece of chocolate peanut butter cheesecake and a slice of my special, secret lemon cake." Tifa leaned against the counter and pointed out every item in the spread. "Perfect for a night in after you've had a breakup in my honest opinion."

Jasmine's mouth began to water at the mention of the food. Tifa was an amazing chef and even though she was the owner of the Seventh Heaven café, she still pitched in with the cooks to help prepare the food. Some people were just born with natural gifts and Tifa's (aside from her obvious beauty and kindness) was gifted with the ability to cook with the best chefs anywhere in the world.

"Uh," Jasmine had to keep herself from salivating as Tifa put the many containers back in the tote, "are you sure you don't need me?"

Tifa held out the tote along with Jasmine's sweater. "Go home, sweetheart. You work too hard. Take the night off and take care of yourself."

With a heavy sigh of defeat, Jasmine took off her red apron and slipped it under the register. She kicked off her black pumps and slipped them into her messenger bag, replacing them with a pair of flip flops. Once Jasmine slipped her arms into her zip up jacket, Naminé handed her purse over while Tifa gave Jasmine the tote bag.

"I'll see you back at the apartment," Naminé said with a kind, warm smile.

Jasmine nodded, reaching for her cell phone and earphones. She'd need them for the train ride back to their shared apartment near the university campus. Music was the only way Jasmine was able to survive the train trip to and from her job.

Tifa pulled Jasmine forward and into one of her tight, motherly embraces. "Take care, sweetie. Call me if you need anything. Okay? Tell me if the food was undercooked or overcooked," she released the girl.

While Jasmine wasn't feeling up to it, she put up her best smile for Tifa and Naminé. "I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the food. See you on Tuesday!"

"See you at home!" Naminé called, waving to Jasmine as she left through the doors.

For Jasmine, especially in the past two weeks since that night, the train ride back to her apartment had been extremely painful. She used to enjoy heading to the station on the north side of the Destiny Islands and traveling to the heart of the city. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. As the train sped along the tracks, she got a perfect view of the almost impossibly clear blue ocean and the tropical island plants that surrounded the beaches. It was once a time when Jasmine could clear her head from all thoughts about university, family, work, internships, and her future in general. Now the ride was just a cruel reminder of how her boyfriend just left her without any real reason or warning.

Jasmine stood near the doors and hung onto the rail. There were plenty of seats available for her to sit, however she wanted a clear view of the ocean. Also, she wanted to avoid eye contact with other travelers. Even though she was a strong person, in the past couple of weeks she always worried if she was going to break into tears and to avoid the potential awkwardness, she isolated herself from the rest of the train's passengers.

Deciding to avoid any potential love songs, Jasmine set her cell phone up to play only classical music and songs from various anime soundtracks. It was safer. Knowing her luck, she would probably get a constant stream of sad love songs and that would not do anything to improve her mood.

Jasmine sighed heavily. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was high in the sky, there were lots of people out and about on the freeways, most likely heading to the beaches, and the ocean was calm. Even the sun seemed to blare through the windows, it's light bouncing off her naturally tanned skin. Still, she couldn't help herself as her mind continued to wander back to the note he left her.

It was never you. It was always me.

There's just so much going on that I never told you and to be honest…I probably can never fully explain myself. That's why I've been holding back on the relationship…from the very beginning.

I just need to focus on myself and I'm no good to anyone.

Jasmine's heart pained her when she remembered the next line.

I don't know. I guess I'm not through with my ex after all. I can't let her go.

She had to choke back a potential sob for that one and leaned her head against the steel rail, her bangs falling right in her eyes.

I don't want you to hate me. I just want you to understand….

Jasmine went over the note dozens of times in her head and by the time she was sure she'd recited it mentally for the hundredth time, she was at her current stop near the university.

Just as she picked up the tote bag Tifa had given her, Jasmine dropped her phone to the ground near the platform as she got off. Cursing under her breath, she had bent down to pick up her cell when another hand swooped it up instead. Originally Jasmine wanted to snap at the person for snatching up her phone – and possibly making off with it – but she froze completely when she found herself staring into the most perfect pair of aquamarine eyes attached to the most handsome and attractive man she'd ever seen in her life.

"This is a nice phone," the young man said with an equally attractive smile. He was tall and was muscular yet not overly so and lean. His hair, which almost grazed his shoulders was a striking silver color, leaving Jasmine wondering whether or not it was his natural color or if it was dyed. Every part of him seemed perfect but she was still stuck on his hypnotizing blue/green eyes. "Don't want to smash the screen."

Jasmine opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She blushed slightly and politely took her phone back, shoving it in her purse along with her earphones. "Thank you." She adjusted the strap of the tote on her arm. "Have a nice day." With that she sped off the train and didn't look back, her only focus being that she had to get back to her apartment.

Once Jasmine was back at the university apartments, she fished her purse for her keys and entered both her and Naminé's shared apartment and locked the door behind her.

The pair had known each other since freshman year of college and met as roommates. It wasn't long after that, that a friendship blossomed. Jasmine and Naminé elected to be each others' roommates for the remainder of their time at university and set up a nice apartment for the two of them.

She dropped her keys on the coffee table near the entrance and kicked off her sandals before walking into the apartment. Jasmine walked into the kitchen and set the tote bag full of Tifa's goodies on the countertop before shortly disappearing into her bedroom to change into a pair of leggings and an oversized t-shirt.

'Who was that guy?' Jasmine thought as she stepped into her purple and white themed bedroom while stripping off her work clothes.

Jasmine tossed her cell phone and purse on her neat and tidy desk before crouching down on the carpet to pull out the trunk under her equally neat and immaculate bed. Upon taking off the clasps, Jasmine lifted the lid and looked through her enormous movie collection. Once Jasmine finally decided on what to watch she slipped the DVD box into her mouth and closed the trunk, pushing it back under her bed with her foot.

She headed into the kitchen and pulled out the salad and cheesecake, deciding to save the rest of the meal for dinner when Naminé got home.

'Does he go to university? I've never seen him before,' her mind rambled as she plopped down on the sofa in front of the tv, watching the opening credits roll.

Upon remembering his face, Jasmine blushed again. 'He's so handsome…'

Jasmine immediately shook away all thoughts of the boy and huffed, digging her fork into the salad and shoving a huge amount into her mouth.

"Nope nope nope," she chanted furiously. "You need to stay away from all men." Jasmine swallowed. 'He was just some random guy you met on the train and he was nice enough to return your phone to you. Probably realized you were in a skirt and didn't want you to have to bend over…' Jasmine reasoned with herself. 'Chances of you seeing him again are practically zero to none. Besides a guy like that probably has a girlfriend – who is probably equally as gorgeous as he is.'

When the first dialogue of the movie began, Jasmine decided to bury all thoughts of him away in the back of her mind and to never revisit them again.

However when a scene of the ocean popped up on the screen, Jasmine's mind wandered back to his eyes.

"I've never seen anyone with eyes like the ocean before…" she trailed off dreamily.

Author's Note: Hey you guys! Well I know I should be updating the new chapter of "Sins and an Absolution" (and I have half of it finished…it's just very long and in dire need of editing) but I was just randomly came up with the inspiration for a new short story. By short, I mean no more than five chapters which will be a first for me.

Plus I, like my OC, am going through a really painful break up and I thought that this was a subject people could relate to. I am not pushing my situation on Jasmine as they are totally different but I figured that this might be something you guys would like. Besides lol this is keeping me somewhat sane for now. Also I figure writing is healthier than sitting on the couch eating straight cookie dough for five hours straight.

Please, tell me what you think in a review and I'll try and update asap. Like I said this story will either be five chapters or less so it won't take too long to get through. Although I promise you the next chapter will be considerably longer.

Take care!