My Soul Will Find Yours : The Fulfillment of the Promise

So Mortified Right Now

"I'm trying but it gets worse every day," I buried my face on the pillow, muffling my anguish. "I miss you and the kids so much every day, I don't know what else to do... I know you would want me to be strong but, anata... You are my strength and without you I'm wasting away..."

The song continued to play its outro as my tears refused to cease. The next song was about to play when my phone rang. I groaned, I couldn't even cry in peace! I was originally planning to ignore the call but the caller wouldn't stop and called me three more times.

"Hello!?" I said without even bothering to check who it was.

"Hi, Nat. Sorry, did I call at a bad time?" It was Charles, his apologetic voice immediately made me guilty for snapping at him.

"No, no," I wiped my nose with my blanket. "Sorry for snapping at you."

"It should be me who's apologizing. I didn't check the time," he said. "Are you alright? You don't sound so good."

"I'm f-fine," I grimaced when my voice shook.

"Are you sure?"

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Yeah. By the way, why did you call?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that my spidey senses were telling me to contact you?"

I laughed at his seriousness. "Silly!"

He laughed as well, it was a rich bass. "With all seriousness, something indeed told me that I should call you."

Here he goes again with his cryptic remarks. "What do you mean, Charles?"

"I just had a feeling that you needed someone to talk to," he replied. "Are you sure you're okay, Nat?"

I was silent for a while as I was debating whether I should tell him or not.

"You can tell me anything. You know that, right?" there was something in his voice that told me that once I did, everything will be alright.

"Charles..."

"Nat," his voice was very gentle, it broke my last ounce of control so I sobbed on the phone. "Come on, what is it..."

"It hurts, Charles... So much..."

I heard him exhale. "May I come over?"

I checked the time on my bedside clock. "But it's almost eleven and you live quite far..."

"I'm staying at my brother's place tonight because I have an urgent meeting in the south tomorrow. If you need me to come, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Am I not imposing on you?" I asked, still hesitant.

"No," he assured, taking my question for a yes. "I'll see you in a bit."

I went to the bathroom to make myself presentable as soon as the call ended. Mum was already asleep so I had to silently go down the stairs to wait for Charles...

~~~

"You look awful," Charles said with a deep frown as soon as I opened the door. "What happened?"

"Thanks," I muttered with a quick roll of my eyes and let him in.

"Sorry, but I'm just keeping it real," he stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, making things look like it was him who went on a sobfest on the phone and not me.

I gestured for him to take the seat opposite mine. We sat in stiff silence for a while as he stared at me while I pretended to be busy looking at my nails. I knew he was waiting for me to talk but now that he's here, I suddenly felt like not talking. I was wishing that he'd just pretend that our conversation never happened. I was feeling embarrassed and was secretly cringing inside!