I just realized I never really gave a time frame to this story. I can definitely say it's not on real world time, so expect some out of place dates and holidays lol. ᒪOᐯᗴ YOᑌ ᘜᑌYᔕ ᔕO ᗰᑌᑕᕼ, ᗩᑎᗪ ᕼᗴY!!! TO Tᕼᗴ ᑎᗴᗯ ᖇᗴᗩᗪᗴᖇᔕ! Talk to me every now and then, I don't bite.
Glad to see he's back. Really hope he's doing okay tho.
_______🌻_______
3 to 4 hours and a slight headache later, my head was tressed to the gawds with an ombré black to grey box braids. Christian had occupied himself answering missed calls and emails all the while Anessa worked her magic. He said he might have to look into getting a new phone or see if his computer had picked up a virus when he got back to Korea since he had missed so many of both.
Mrs. Shona gave him a parting hug since he'd be heading back the end of the week and most likely wouldn't see us before we headed out. I will admit, I felt kind of bad, that maybe if he wasn't here with me, he wouldn't have missed out on work....
"Dayum he was fine. I don't know how goodie two shoes Ni'Kya pulled that cuz he look like the type who need that go—"
"Ahem." Mrs. Shonda clears her throat and Cheyanne found the whole shop eyeing her down, making her skin crawl.
"What?"
"You know damn well what. Now I knew you was fass and deSPITE my better judgement, hired you as a favor to ya momma, but you really out here—"
Cheyanne popped her gum, interrupting Mrs. Shonda, "You done? Because you hired me since I'm a bomb ass stylist."
"But the baggage you'd come with—be glad ya motha and I went to high school together."
"Yeah, Okay."
"I'm serious, Chey. You ain't but 22. Stop tryna grow up so fast."
"22 IS ALREADY GROWN."
Mrs. Shonda's eyes fluttered in irritation as she poked her tongue at her cheek, "Well stay your GROWN ASS away from that happy couple. They don't need you slithering in."
"Tsk, OH-Kay." Cheyanne silenced herself as her next customer came in, "Com'mon." She beaconed them with her fingers, poppin her gum, side eyeing everyone she made irises connected with.
Mᴇᴀɴᴡʜɪʟᴇ...
"Cheyanne..." Adam had been watching and listening occasionally through Christian's phone in between his calls and emails, trying to gather any kind of dirt on him that he could, "She could prove useful." He rubbed his chin, making a mental note, "hmph.. very useful."
___🌻___
Dishes clanked as I went into the panty to grab two plates for us for dinner. We had decided to eat in on our last night together before he had to head back, keep things a bit more...intimate. As we laughed and joked around, he still seemed kind of quiet, he always does when one of us had to go back, never knowing how to process his emotions.
We had marinated some steaks earlier that day and now, danced around in the kitchen as we cooked—solum, yet enjoyable as we played old 90s songs and some stuff from the early 2000s—to which I joked, claiming he lied about being korean and called him light skinned due to his selection being the EXACT same as what I grew up on.
"Hey, babe..." I said, munching on a piece of asparagus. He looked up from his plate, signaling that I had his attention, "Umm... c—can I ask you..to...do something for me?"
"What is it?" He looked at me curiously, still munching.
"Well..." my heart started racing as I tried to get the words unhinged, "My....parents..." he almost choked on his food, coughing to try and clear his throat, "Shit, are you okay?"
"Y*cough*yeah. Your parents? W—what about them?" He tried his best to regain his composure and reassure me he was fine, but I couldn't tell if the still panicked look on his flushed face said otherwise or because he almost died.
"Well....they've been askin about you. ESPECIALLY since Ona has given them a GRAND report, aaannnddddd, I think it's time for you to meet them. I mean, you don't have t—"
"No, no. I do. I've just.... kinda been waiting on you to say something." He took a sip of water, still trying to clear the remaining debris in his throat.
"Really?" He laughed at my eyes widening with glee.
"Yeah. When?"
I was a bit surprised. The smile on his face as he leaned in with interest was completely unexpected. My parents were still out of town for their trip and wouldn't be back for another week or so. They would have to have a video call since he can't come back anytime soon, "I'll let you know... but, soon." I couldn't help but grin back at him, his excitement radiating from across the table.
Although it seemed like morning came quickly—mainly due to us not falling asleep til 4 hours before we needed to head out to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport—we were up and ready to go. Honestly, we would've still been awake til the alarm went off if it was left up to him, I'm just glad we made it with a bit of time to spare.
The goodbyes were always bittersweet, him kissing my forehead before pulling me into a tight embrace...me trying to be a big girl and hold in my tears.
Our hug was interrupted by his phone going off and his brows burrowed into a frown as his eyes scanned his screen, "What's wrong?" I peered over top the phone, trying to read the words upside down.
"Umm..." He pursed his lips to the side, still frowning, "I just got asked to do a shoot..."
"Babe that's great!" I threw my hands up in excitement, "So why are you frowning?"
"Yeah, but.." he turned his screen so that I could read. It wasn't until a bit after he got back, but was also around the same time we planned to have the sit down with my parents, "I mean, that's fine. We can change it."
"No. I'll make it work. I don't want to cancel after you've already decided when to." I figured they would need time to settle in once they got home and ended up setting a day a month or so later, giving him time to get other things he needed to with working squared away as well.
"Are you sure?"
He grabbed my head in his hands and rested his forehead on mine, "I'll make it work." And planted a kiss on my lips, "I promise."
I run my fingers through the side of his hair, being hypnotized by his gaze, "Okay...." I pause a bit, feeling a slight tremor despite his stillness, "But about this plane ride, you need to calm down."
He nervously snickered off to the side, "I can't help it. You know I hate planes."
"And yet.. you travel.. SO much." I giggle at his slight timidity, grazing my thumb over his cheek.
"Doesn't make me hate them any less."
"I know, Roo."
"Roo?" He laughed, a bit surprised by the new nickname.
"Yeah, like kangaroo. Rhymes with Yu. Two O's like 'my boo' which is.." I booped him on the nose, "..you."
He made a face, contemplating if he should or shouldn't accept my corny explanation, "Can't you just call me Rome? I already have a thousand—"
"And now you have a thousand and one. Unless you just want me to call you dadd—"
"NOT in public, please..." he put his hand over my mouth, shushing me as he spoke through gritted teeth, "Fine." I gave him a snarky smiled once he removed his hand, "You are so fuckin hardheaded."
"I'll be that." Before we could say anything more, they announced his over the intercom that his flight was boarding and my eyes instantly started to water. He pulled me in for one last embrace, kissing my cheek.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
___🌻___
A whole week had gone by and I've literally have only heard three words from Christian every time I call, every time I text— EVEN WHEN I FACETIME HIM. It's the same shit.
Ian ❤️😩:
Gimme 5 minutes...
Then BOOM. Nothing....
I kept trying to chalk it up to him being busy, but then he'll have a random IG story posted later, like I wasn't waiting on him to contact me. Now I'm not just being some simp female waiting by the phone. I've been getting my commissions done, and working as per usual, and this was during our usual scheduled times...
The FUCK? Is he ghosting me? Why would he do that? Things have been going so great, and i can't help but think about when we're supposed to do the video call. I swear if he—
My phone starts going off, his name popping up across the screen.
"Hello." I couldn't help but answer flatly. I was happy he called, but still so irritated.
"...Ky." His voice was hoarse and groggy, "I'm..so sorry. I've... had a lot going on...and...have been working...none stop." He sighed. He spoke slow, as if he was trying to build the words as they sleepily pour from his mouth. I looked over at my clock to check the time.
3:37 pm.
That means it was almost 5 am where he was, and he clearly hadn't slept in God knows how long, "Christian..." my voice softened, yet a bit of irritation still remained, "Go to sleep."
"No..no. I need to talk to you....... it's been.....fuck. What day is it? It's Tues—"
"It's Sunday over there. Sunday morning, to be exact.... and a week." I tried to hide the iciness near the end of my sentence, but it wasn't working.
"Whhat? No. No no no no. It can't have been a whole week." He says, rubbing his eyes and squinting at his computer screen to check the date through blurred vision.
"Well it has, and this is the first I'm hearing from you..." I try my best not to get aggravated with him. I know he gets caught up in his work, but damn.
"Shit." I could hear him smack his head as he face palmed, "I'm sorry. I—argh. Fuck, it wasn't supposed to do that."
I could hear clicking through the receiver, "ARE YOU STILL WORKING?" I squinted my eyes as if it would help me hone in on the sounds of him typing better, sitting up from my couch.
"... yeah, I—"
"GO TA BED!" I blurted it out, mixed with concern and aggravation, but sounded like pure venom.
"Please don't yell..." he rested his head in his hands, massaging his brows.
"I'M NOT YELLING." I know well I was, but toned it down to a stern elevated pitch.
"Ky, you're still fucking yelling." He said, the irritation starting to come through.
"NO I'm NOT."
"Ky, seriously..."
"I'm being serious."
"For fucks sake, I have a headache and I just wanted t—"
"Then get off the phone... and GO tah SLEEP." I some how began to slowly pace back and forth, trying to level out.
"Ky, you're being really childish right now."
"Childish?!"
"Please don't yel—"
"I'M NOT YELLING."
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE Y—Ky, please." He paused, trying to not let his patience wear thin, "I've had a really long and stressful week, I just wanted to call and hear your voi—"
"Then you should've called sooner. You know when you said you would..." Why did you say that?...
"Don't do that..."
"Do what, Christian."
"This."
"What is this?"
"Acting stu—acting like that."
"Were you about to call me stupid?"
"Bloody hell..."
"CHRISTIAN. DID YOU JUST CALL ME STUPID?"
"NO. I was gonna say you were acting stupid, but—"
"Bye."
"What?"
"GoodBYE, Ian."
"Ky...KY, don't hang up on m—fuck!" He slammed his hand down on the counter, tossing his phone to the side as it rattled to a stop. He tried calling me back, but I instantly declined it, along with another followed by a FaceTime request, "SERIOUSLY?! I finally get through and this?!"
He had actually been calling her right after those 'Gimme 5 min' texts, but they would never go through. He post random things to see if maybe it was his connection and even try texting others too. He took his phone to get serviced along with his laptop and they told him it was probably just and update issue, or since he was out of the country and Ky's number is out if the country, it could just be having technical issues and try rebooting it every so often.
Ian❤️😩:
Baby, please...
Ky
Ky stop ignoring me
Ky💙💍:
Go to sleep and leave me alone.
Ian❤️😩:
Ky, come on
Just talk to me
Ky💙💍:
💬
He stared at his phone, waiting for a reply I wasn't going to send. I sat my phone down, just as it beeped again, "Geez I said leave me alone!"
Adam:
Coffee? ☕️