The Wish From Heaven | ✓

chapter 22 : a bathtub date

The quarrel doesn't stop. Feeling restless, I go to my room, intending to seek July's help.

The room is empty.

I feel a momentary panic. "July?" I call, avoiding the sound of yet another object shattering much like my Mom's heart downstairs. Where is he?

"Cedar, I'm in here!" His voice comes from the bathroom. I relax. I totally forgot about the bathroom.

"What are you doing in there right now?" I ask, standing outside the bathroom door. As far as I know, he only takes a pretend bath in the morning.

"Hiding. Come on in."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

I open the door and find him sitting inside the empty bathtub, fully dressed. "What are you doing?"

"As I said, hiding. Parents quarrelling isn't my favourite music. Close the door." So I do. Then he says, "Come sit here."

"There?" I arch an eyebrow.

"Yeah." He scoots back to one corner of the tub, leaving the other empty. Hesitating, I get in.

He is sitting in a very casual manner, with his legs spread, one of his hands lying in between them while the other is resting on the edge of the tub. I cannot make myself that comfortable, so I hug my knees and rest my chin on top. This tub is way too small for two tall boys.

"Feels like a date, doesn't it?" July asks.

"A bathtub date."

"How romantic."

"Everything is romantic to you. It's not romantic. It's just bollocks."

He laughs. "Did my British fever infect you too?"

"Bad influence." I shake my head warily.

I alert my ears to try hearing the commotion downstairs. Since the door to the bathroom as well as my room are closed, I can't hear anything.

"How did Mom find out?" I ask him.

"Well, Dale's results were announced a few hours back. Your Mom was getting anxious to call him to know the results. But something was wrong with her phone, I guess. So she took your Dad's phone to talk when he was in the bathroom. She called him - Dale - and got to know the results. He became the first runner up, apparently. So your Mom scolded him for a while for not being able to be first."

I sigh. Why can't she see how awesome it is for her son to be the first runner up in the entire nation?

"And then you can guess what happened. After she hung up, she probably saw that woman's number in the call list. Before your Dad came out, she had already checked all the messages. And that's when it started. Dale got home about half an hour before you did."

My mind drifts to Dale's words. I tell July about our conversation.

"What if . . . they really get divorced?" I ask.

He leans his back against the wall and crosses his arms. He stares somewhere absent-mindedly for a while, lost in thought. I patiently wait for his reply.

"Maybe it's better to be separated than remain together forcibly," he finally says.

I hug my knees tighter. "You think that?"

He nods, distracted. "Cedar, I have . . . my parents never loved each other. But they still remained together because of several reasons. And that didn't go well. I'm speaking from experience."

"Oh . . ." It's the first time he has talked about his family. I think about the scars on his back. I want to ask more, but I resist the urge. I don't want history to repeat itself.