CHAPTER THREE:THE ARGUMENT ABOUT LOVE
1295 Words
The next few days passed slowly.
Ella tried to get back to work, but her mind wasn’t calm.
Every time she sat to record a video, she remembered Jayden’s voice — calm, teasing, sure of himself.
“Maybe you should let yourself feel love, not just talk about it.”
She hated that she remembered it.
She hated that it made her smile.
By Friday, she gave up pretending she was fine. Tina noticed it first.
“Babe, what’s wrong with you?” Tina asked as she set up the lights.
“You’ve been spacing out all week.”
Ella rolled her eyes.
“Nothing. I’m just tired.”
“Tired of what? Talking about love?” Tina teased.
Ella threw a cushion at her. “Please, don’t start.”
Tina laughed. “Hmm, I know that look. Someone got into your head.”
“No one,” Ella said quickly.
“Liar. Tell me the truth. Who is he?”
Ella looked away. “No one important. Just… the camera repair guy.”
Tina gasped. “Wait, what?! That fine boy who came the other day?!”
Ella shot her a sharp look. “How did you know he was fine?”
“Girl, I have eyes,” Tina said, grinning. “You were too busy pretending not to care.”
Ella sighed, giving up. “He just said something annoying, that’s all.”
Tina leaned forward. “What did he say?”
Ella hesitated, then muttered, “He said I should stop talking about love and start feeling it.”
Tina burst into laughter. “He’s bold o! Imagine telling The Love Coach that!”
“It’s not funny,” Ella said — but she was smiling too.
“Well,” Tina said, fixing the light stand, “maybe he’s right.”
Ella frowned. “Excuse me?”
Tina shrugged. “You’ve been giving people advice for years, but when was the last time you even went on a date?”
Ella crossed her arms. “That’s not important. I don’t need to date to teach love.”
“Yeah right,” Tina said. “You can’t teach swimming if you’ve never touched water.”
Ella threw another cushion at her, but deep down, the words stung.
That night, she went home early. The studio felt too quiet, and her thoughts were too loud.
She made noodles, sat by her window, and scrolled through her messages.
Then, her phone buzzed — a new message.
Unknown number:
“Hi, this is Jayden. Just checking if the camera is still working fine.”
Ella stared at the text for a while before replying:
“Yes, it’s fine. Thanks.”
A minute later, he replied:
“Good. I just wanted to be sure. You seemed serious about your work.”
She smiled a little.
“I am. I teach people about love, remember?”
He replied almost instantly:
“Yeah. You still believe it’s something people can learn?”
She frowned.
“Of course. People just need the right advice.”
There was a pause. Then:
“And what about you? Do you follow your own advice?”
Her fingers froze. She didn’t type for a while.
“That’s personal,” she finally replied.
He sent a laughing emoji.
“So that’s a no.”
Ella sighed. She didn’t like losing arguments — especially not about love.
“You sound like someone who doesn’t believe in love at all,” she texted.
“I don’t know,” Jayden replied. “I’ve seen too many fake ones. I like things that are real. Simple. Not just words.”
She typed fast:
“Love isn’t fake. People just need to understand it better.”
“Or maybe they just need to feel it, not analyze it like a lesson,” he sent back.
That annoyed her.
But also… it made her think.
“Maybe you should come and learn something from me one day,” she wrote.
“Or maybe you should take a break from teaching and come live with it,” he replied.
She didn’t answer again. The conversation ended there.
But that night, she couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw his smile.
The Next Morning
Ella woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. It was Tina.
“Babe! We have a big problem!” Tina shouted when Ella answered.
“What happened?” Ella asked, still half-asleep.
“Our camera is acting up again. It’s blinking red.”
Ella groaned. “What? I thought it was fixed.”
“It was, but it started again when I tried to record this morning.”
Ella rubbed her forehead. “Okay, okay. I’ll call Jayden.”
She didn’t want to admit it, but her heart beat faster just saying his name.
When Jayden arrived later that day, she was already waiting at the studio.
“Back again?” he said, smiling as he walked in.
“Yeah,” she replied, pretending to be annoyed. “Maybe you didn’t fix it well the first time.”
He smirked. “Or maybe the camera just wants to see me again.”
She almost smiled but quickly looked away. “Please just fix it.”
He set to work, quiet as always. After a few minutes, he said,
“You know, I watched one of your videos last night.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yeah. The one about How to Know He Loves You.”
“Oh,” she said, suddenly shy. “What did you think?”
He looked up slowly. “Honestly?”
She nodded.
“You talk like you’ve read every book about love,” he said softly, “but you look like someone who’s scared to try it.”
Ella’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Jayden smiled lightly. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re good at what you do. But I think you’ve built a wall so high, even love can’t climb in.”
For a second, she didn’t know whether to scream or laugh.
Then she said quietly, “You don’t know anything about me.”
“You’re right,” he said. “But I can see the way your eyes change when you talk about love. You sound strong, but your eyes look sad.”
Ella froze. No one had ever noticed that before.
He turned back to the camera and said softly,
“I think people who teach about love are usually the ones who need it the most.”
The room went silent.
Ella didn’t know what to say. The words hit deep — too deep.
When he was done fixing the camera, he stood up, wiped his hands, and said,
“There. It should work now. But maybe you should stop trying to fix everything and let someone fix you for once.”
Then he walked out, leaving Ella staring after him again, her chest heavy and her mind spinning.
She didn’t cry, but something inside her shifted.
For the first time in a long while, she didn’t want to record a video about love — she wanted to feel it.
That night, as she scrolled through her old pictures, she found a quote she once wrote years ago:
“You can’t coach the heart. It learns on its own.”
She stared at it for a long time, her lips trembling slightly.
Then she whispered to herself,
“Maybe… Jayden was right.”
Outside, the rain started again.
And somewhere across town, Jayden looked up at the same sky, thinking of her.
He didn’t know why, but something about that woman made him believe in love again.
Maybe this time, both of them were finally ready to learn.
- Writer
