Love and destiny

23

It was already July and I had been busy with my online classes and assignments that keep on piling up. Everything seems fine but I felt that something is off with Aaron. You know how some people say that women have a powerful instinct. 

For the past few weeks, I tried to brush off unnecessary thoughts and said, 'Everything is going to be alright.' I don't know if I was just overthinking and overreacting. However, I felt like we are a bit distant to each other for the past few days ever since my birthday. I am not sure if it was because of my mood swings but I noticed that Aaron would always be busy and came home late at night. Sometimes, I would fall asleep while waiting for him and slept even without saying good night to him.

I tried to shrug it off and distract my mind by doing something else. Aaron called me yesterday night. We have not been calling each other for a few days. A part of me felt happy because I missed hearing his voice. His voice is my favourite sound. It will always be. However, our conversation seemed a bit off and not lively as usual. My heart felt heavy. He said something that really bothers my heart and I tried to shrug it off but it didn't work.

"Are you really going to move to New York once you graduated and get married to me? I mean, are you okay with living far away from your family since you are the only daughter?" he asked.

I was a bit confused as why does he asked this kind of question all of a sudden. I took a deep breath and replied, "We talked about this before, right? Yes, of course I am willing to live with you at New York. You know that it is my goal to live and work at the city center. As for my family, yes they will come live here a few years later as well since all of us came from New York. I even have lots of relatives living there."

Aaron then replied, "Yes, we really should meet up soon. Have you asked your parents if we can meet up next month?" I nodded and said, "Yes I did. I will ask them again tomorrow for confirmation." We ended our call with a good night and I love you.

I felt a little uneasy after the call. I tried to sleep but I could not do it. I tossed and turn for almost 30 minutes. I sighed heavily, feeling nervous. So, I decided to chat my best friend, Linda and told her everything that I felt. 'Linda, I feel like something is wrong. I don't know what to feel." I typed. She gave a lot of advices and asked me to calm down by having a good night sleep. I could not sleep at all on that night. Who knows that it was the day where my sleep difficulty begins?

The next day, everything seemed alright. I went out for a few hours to buy groceries with my family. I did stare by the window and occupied with my own thoughts. I told everything to my mom and she agreed to let me meet up with Aaron.

"Sure, he can come by our house and get to know each other better. I want to meet my daughter's first love." She said. I smiled and said, "Aaron is a well-mannered person and I think he can get along with our family really well." My heart felt calm and I sighed in relief.

I was so happy and excited. I even took out the dress that I bought a few months ago. I have not wear it yet because I was saving it for a special occasion and this may be it. The dress was so pretty and something that I rarely wear. It is a two piece dress and in brown colour. It does make me look cute.

I texted Aaron and told him the good news. 'Hey, my mom said yes! You can come by our house and meet my parents.' I typed. I was grinning from ear to ear, hoping everything will be fine.

He replied a few minutes later. He seemed happy as well and asked me to meet him on 8th of August. It does look like a perfect date to meet. I nodded, agreeing with his suggestion. 'See, everything will be alright, dear self.' I said to myself.

I smiled and hummed my favourite song to lighten up my mood. Later that night, Aaron and I chatted a lot, making jokes with each other. Everything seemed to be back to normal. I smiled, thinking that I just overreact a bit a few days ago. It was 8 o'clock at night and I was preparing dinner at the kitchen. I heard my phone ringing but I miss a chance to pick it up. It was from Aaron. I sent him a message, 'what's up?'

He replied, 'Can we talk? It is urgent.' I looked at the text for a few seconds. My heart felt heavy and I replied, 'umm. I'm about to eat. Wait and I will text you once I am done.' To be honest, I don't really have appetite to eat at that moment. Throughout the dinner time, I just swallowed my food quickly and excused myself. I went to my room immediately after washing my dishes and replied Aaron's chat in an instant.

'So why did you call me?' I asked. I waited for his replied patiently. A few minutes later, my phone buzzed and I quickly read his reply.

'I don't know how to explain but I don't think this is going to work out. I don't think our relationship is going to work out well. I'm sorry.'

My heart dropped as soon as my eyes landed at his text. I was speechless, not knowing what to reply him. My hands were shaking and I felt like the world stopped for a second. I typed, 'Why? Why are you saying this? Is something wrong? Did I do anything that will hurt your feeling?' Then I added, 'Please tell me that everything you've said is just a joke or a prank. It's not April's fool and we don't celebrate it.' Ping! He replied, ''No it is not your fault at all, it is my fault because I could not control this situation I am currently in right now. I have to choose what is best for me and I cannot choose you. I am sorry but I have to let you go.'

My eyes became teary, I wanted an explanation from him. 'Can you explain what is happening? Do we have to break up? So we cannot meet up anymore?'

Ping! His text stated, 'Yes, it is for the best.'

I typed, 'Can we have a last phone call?'

We had our last phone call on that night, explaining all the issues that causes him to make that decision. It was somehow understandable but a part of me did feel unfair. I wanted to work this out but at the same time I didn't want to interfere and ruin his relationship with his family.

"I am sorry. My sisters just don't want to give their blessing in our relationship. They don't believe that long distance relationship will work out. My second sister had a similar experience like this and it did not end well. That's why both my first and second sister wanted us to end our relationship." He said.

"Oh, I thought all this time your family members know about our relationship. About us? I guess all of them don't like me after all." I said, trying to hold back my tears.

"No, no. My mother and my fourth sister like you. My parents even give us their blessing."

"Then, why? Why is this happening to us?" I sobbed.

"Alice. Please stop crying. I can't bear to hear your sound of crying."

I took a deep breath and replied, 'Okay. Okay. I'll stop. You can continue."

He cleared his throat, 'That evening, I called my sister to say that your parents agreed to meet me and I wanted to say that they were wrong about you. You are serious in our relationship. However, they asked me to choose you or them. I said I cannot do that and I hung up their call. I was so confused and my mind was in chaos.'

"Umm. Wow. They really do hate me, do they? How long were you discussing this issue?"

"About a week ago. During your birthday, I told them that I will meet up with you and they asked about you in more details. I don't want to tell them that we were in long distance relationship for almost a year. But they found out and that's what happened. I had a huge argument with them. I felt bad as this was the first time I had a fight with my sisters. They were always there for me since I was a kid."

Aaron then paused and said, 'To be honest, I don't think I would be happy if my sisters didn't support our marriage in future.'