WHEN YOU LOVE

FIZZY LOVE

The ride home was a silent one. Lee wasn't in the mood for a chat, and for once, neither was Sana.

She loved Lee, but she detested his outbursts. Used to a diplomatic environment where one could discuss all topics without raising one's voice, Sana could not understand the noise that made Lee a drama queen.

Lee was hurt, and Sana understood, but what prevented her from comforting the man was own her self-pitying stance. Lee could say anything he wanted; he still had solid sentiments for his ex-wife, even if the feelings were spiked with resentment. Knowing that fact made Sana anxious.

Unlike Camille, Winston was in a no-restore file of her mind's archives. She wished to forget the brutal rupture that had her playing the begging Ex.

What bothered Sana even more was that she was the one who forced Lee to meet the women. She didn't want the conflict situations she saw in sitcoms where both parties of divorcees shun the other. Thus, she inflicted Lee with more trials and pushed him to make efforts as if he were the guilty one.

Why did he do it?

Why did Lee accept to go on these double dates when he lived every instant as an ordeal? The woman thought as she brushed her teeth.

He does it for you, you idiot, she concluded. Sana returned to the bedroom and found it empty.

She figured Lee sulked somewhere.

Sana got into bed. She had work the next day and couldn't stay up Yolo style.

Though tired, sleep refused to grace her. The woman turned once more to stare at the ceiling. She felt something but couldn't distinguish the dominant emotion. Frustration and anger tilted the balance of her nerves.

Who was she mad at?

And where was Lee?

Why wasn't he in bed?

Sana got up and went straight to his studio. As usual, the man transferred his focus point to his music.

He sat listening to sounds that reassured him. There it was, Petit Biscuits' Ocean that cradled the man. The track remained one of the French prodigy's best pieces though old. Of course, he didn't hear Sana enter.

Lee was a straightforward man, he hated nonsense and lies more than anything else, yet he pretended for Sana.

She posed her hand on his shoulders, and the man pulled her arm and took a huge whiff of the hollow part before kissing it as he sought to be reassured. Behind the howling man laid someone tender who found comfort in any physical interaction with his partner.

Lee wasn't mad, at least not anymore. Sana came to stand next to him, and he took off his headphones.

"I'm sorry, Lee."

"For what?" The man asked.

"We shouldn't have gone. I'm sorry for imposing this on you and me."

"Sana."

"No, Lee, listen, I know. I know you still love Camille."

The man's eyes widened, "oh no, I don't," he protested.

The woman rolled her eyes, "you do, yes you do, Lee. I didn't get it, but you'll always have a soft for her. I realized that tonight, your jealousyㅡ."

The man turned and took both her hands to reel her on his lap.

"Sana, it's not that. It's just that I put too many things on a pedestal, and now I realize Camille and I had different scales of value. I know I shouldn't be frustrated by her desire to have another child, but I can't help it," Lee said while he drew circles with his finger on Sana's thigh.