Hope And Faith ✓

Epilogue.

"Then we should be glad you're straight, I'm not sure Justin would be too happy," I chuckled softly and drank my cup of black coffee, no milk, a teaspoon of sugar. Perfect.

"But she's hot," she said talking about a celebrity she was looking at in the magazine with a longing look. "What I'd kill for that white skin of hers or that ginger red hair. She's so perfect," her tone made me frown and I refrained from pointing out that she was just as perfect, mostly because she'd wave me off and shrug.

"Probably," I answered her absentmindedly and kept on drinking my coffee.

Honestly, it wasn't just because I wanted to see Nadi's parents that I followed her. I was looking for well, something or someone else.

It had been four years and just like she had promised there was no communication between us. Not so much as a call a year, I would have been happy with that.

I had followed or stalked her whereabouts. It wasn't that hard with Google. Like I knew a month ago she had been in Egypt celebrating her brother's-well, Chase- marriage.

I also knew that she had dyed her hair a nice shade of strawberry blonde for it and his wife, Jenny, was gorgeous. I had even read how they had met at a strip club-a a very unusual meeting place if you ask me- and started dating a few months after before they decided to tie the knot.

Then, a week ago she was in Zimbabwe for business, looking for models to show off the new make-up product she had been working on to celebrate the black heritage. From what I knew she had been going all around Africa looking for models, having several auditions and even if I didn't stalk her weekly I would have known her from how popular her make-up brand, Hush, was growing.

It was one of the top beauty products around and if you didn't have at least one of their products you probably had never used good make-up. I knew from experience because I had gotten the perfect black lipstick from them.

I dropped my cup on the table ignoring the jingling of the doorbell as customers came in and left. I guess you could say I was just desperate to see her, it had been so long that I thought that maybe she'd call, even if it was just to tell me what colour she was dying her hair. I would have been happy with anything.

"Hope, are you okay?" Nadi asked me looking worried. "You pretty much zoned out. I know we messed up big time and we no longer have any money for tickets but we can get over this. Well, hopefully before our visa expires," I groaned and she laughed looking nervous.

If only she knew that, that, was the last thing on my mind.

"We'll figure something out. We still have a little money left, maybe not enough for tickets but I'm sure we can get it before tomorrow,"

"Wouldn't making a deadline like tomorrow just be pushing our nonexistent luck?" She mused while taking a bite of her doughnut.

The jingling of the doorbell sounded again reminding me of how busy this café was.

And how it wasn't just me and Nadi in the whole world, I usually forgot that from time to time.

"No, no, no. You can't fuck this one up, Hugo. No matter what we say Lydia is still Aiden's girlfriend, you don't have to like her," an all too familiar voice said and the faint sound of heels clicking against the tiled floor sounded, the café grew quiet.

I slowly looked back to see the cause or causes.

It was her, she wore a pretty white sundress and her sunglasses sat atop of her hair that was now dyed a pretty yet pale colour of pink. Her hair was in a high ponytail allowing me to see the three ear piercings she had on each ear. Her olive skin looked great, a bit darker than it had been before but her green eyes looked lighter and happier than before. Then the tattoos that danced around her soft olive skin caught my eye.

Beside her was a man that could have been her twin brother but I knew exactly who he was, Hugo Jennings, the only one of the four children that kept a low profile. He was dressed in an expensive-looking suit and had his blonde hair gelled neatly. He had a nice pair of green eyes that reminded me too much of Faith and his skin was just the same tone as his sister's.

They took their precious time walking away from the entrance and I couldn't hear their conversation anymore when Faith had easily walked through the queue like people hadn't been there in the first place.

"I'd like to order one iced tea and a cup of coffee, plain." She ordered her confident voice ringing in my ears.

"Wait a minute," Nadi whispered to me, I wasn't sure why she was whispering though, "isn't this that Faith Jennings chick? That owns Hush? You knew her personally, right?" Nadi questioned me as I pulled my lips into a thin line.

I had known her personally. She hadn't changed. Maybe she had personality-wise but look wise she was still the same girl that had left for New York four years ago.

The same girl I could remember driving to the airport to meet and not getting anything more than a glance when she had looked at me.

It stung like hell.

I didn't say anything and Nadi didn't push it. Once Faith had ordered I heard her laugh at something Hugo had said to her and with a drink in hand she passed one to Hugo.

I watched as she looked at me. The familiarity that crossed her features made my jaw clench. She looked almost surprised to see me and just when I thought that maybe she would walk up to me and try to make amends for four years that had been lost. She didn't.

Instead, she did something that I wasn't sure she knew how much it meant to me. She didn't ignore me.

She didn't act as if all the time we spent together was a waste.

"Hey, Hope," she mouthed to me and when Hugo noticed what she was doing he looked at me. Almost analysing me.

But I ignored him. "Hey, Faith," I mouthed back.

She stopped walking to stand in front of me and Nadi's table. I could feel Nadi freaking out when Faith shot me a full smile and looked at Nadi from the corner of her eyes, amused. And then I saw one of the tattoos on her arms.

Only dance to the Melody
When there's Hope
And Faith

The writing was small but I could read it when she realised I had she looked at her brother.

"Let's get going shall we?" She asked him with a smirk on her face.

"Um. . . yeah. . sure," he rubbed the back of his neck and Faith giggled before she left the café.

It was easy, she was living her life and I was now living mine. No matter what anyone said, we had gone through the bad, the terrible and the ugly and now it was time for us to have our fair share of happiness.

Nadi smiled. "I'm not even going to question you about that. I'm just going to gossip about it with Garrett later," I laughed at her words feeling refreshed.

All I wanted was for her to realise that our past together wasn't 'nothing'.

I knew that one day soon we would surely meet again, but now? We were living our own lives. With each other not in it, but playing a key role in it.

And I never knew that knowing that would ever make me as happy as it did.

••

Bonus chapter maybe? Lol, probably not. I want to leave the ending open so you all can think about the rest yourselves (unless I'm no longer lazy and decide against it haha).

So what do you think about this? And, well, this book?

I'm just so happy to be giving them an ending that I'm satisfied with but at the same time, I'm so upset that I wouldn't be able to write from their POV again.

But, if you guys do have any questions drop them here.

Goodbye Hope, Faith and Melody. Oh gosh, I'm so sad.

Bye guys! I hope you all liked this book! Lots of love.

~Mimi x