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"Michael?"
"What?"
"I'm falling asleep on you."
"I told you I'd fall asleep on the phone with you. If you're tired, go to sleep. I'ma be right behind you."
"Okay... Good night, Michael."
"Good night, Inga..."
That night had blossomed a new found friendship consisting of late night conversations. Michael and Inga talked for hours on end until she eventually dosed off to sleep and him following minutes after. There was so much he's learned about her that she was willing to tell. He didn't expect her to be so open; however, he was not complaining. He's granted her the same courtesy.
The topic of her mother's death is what really brought them closer in such a short span of time because he, too, knows exactly how it feels to be a motherless child. Or, in his case, parent-less child. Thankfully, she still had her father in her life—alive and well. Her mother passed away four years ago from breast cancer just as she was graduating high school. She transitioned the night of.
According to Inga, she fought hard to preserve her life to see her walk across the stage and then it was over; she had let go. It explained so much as to why she wore her locket on a daily basis and when she thought she'd lost it, she cried for hours. It was the sole piece of the closeness she'll ever have to her mother. Magnolia was her name and it's why Inga wore the fragrance he grew to love.
When it was his turn to talk about his parents, he held back to not get that deep about them. Having to think back to that night twelve years ago was traumatic enough. Inga, who didn't press the matter, expressed that he didn't have to tell her anything if he wasn't ready to. This is where her gift of sense came into play. She didn't have to physically be there or look into his russet otics to know that his parents were a delicate topic. Instead, she asked about other things to keep the mood light.
From that moment on, Inga was all he could think about and he knew he may have ran up his aunt's phone bill, but she didn't mind it. He deserved the happiness he radiated and she wasn't going to ruin it over something as silly as a bill. Whoever that had him smiling everyday, she prayed that she'd stick around longer than the last girl.
On this particular day, Michael had awoken from a good night's rest. It was a little passed ten a.m. After making his bed, he made his way across the hallway into the bathroom to wash up. The aroma of breakfast permeated the air as he started down the hallway but stopped in his tracks. He came in contact with Khalil's bedroom door and knocked twice before inviting himself in. He wasn't there. He closed the door and trailed further down the hallway into the kitchen to see his Aunt Vivian missing but Khalil enjoying the plate of food in front of him.
