THE RED STRING OF FATE
Charlie laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling at 3 in the morning. The biggest surprise yet, happened just a few hours ago, when the woman she thought she’d never see again, stood in front of her….
“Charlie…” Elise spoke with longing
Charlie stared at the woman, seemingly speechless at her presence
Elise fondly stared at Charlie and smiled softly, “…you look beautiful”
Charlie sighed heavily as she looked down, “wow…I can’t-..just seeing you again after 7 years…after all-”
“…I know” Elise answered softly, “…I thought about you every single day ever since-”
“Ever since you broke up with me and left the week after? Yeah, that’s a surprise” Charlie said sarcastically, and regretting it afterwards
“…I’m so sorry Charlie…I still am”
“Look, can you just hand me back my mini tab and let’s just be on our way, hm?”
Elise looked at her and unwillingly returned the mini tab to Charlie. Seeing Charlie again after all these years, made Elise realized that she’s still madly in love with her and that she’ll do anything to get Charlie back but the way Charlie responded to her, made her feel discouraged to go after her
“Thank you” Charlie said “Take care” then she forcefully turned her back to Elise and walked away. Charlie knew better than to stick around and get hurt again. Yes, she’s still in love with Elise, and yes, seeing her again brought extreme happiness but along with that happiness comes the pain that almost made her lose herself. She got out of that miserable hole and promised to never fall in there again.
Elise stood silently as she watched the woman she loves walk away from her again.
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Elise sat at the balcony, staring blankly and thinking about Charlie. Catherine walked in and noticed her daughter in a blank state
“Elise…Are you alright?” she asked
Elise looked at her mother and said, “I saw her again mom, I saw Charlie again”
Catherine, although surprise, felt the longing that her daughter strongly feels at the moment. Catherine sat by her daughter and held her hand
“I still love her mom” Elise spoke “…I-I want her back…”
“I know how you feel Elise, but you can’t force Charlie to be with you if she doesn’t want to. You two have been apart for years, anything can change. Even Charlie’s feelings”
“I know mom, and because of that, I‘m even more afraid of trying to win her back”
“Give everything some time Elise, if you two are meant to be together then its gonna happen” Catherine squeezed her daughter’s hand, giving her the support she needed at the moment.
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It’s been a week since Charlie and Elise met. Elise had been trying to call Charlie and leaving her text messages, saying that she wants to talk to her but Charlie just ignored all of them. Charlie even avoided going to iCafe. She just doesn’t want to see Elise anymore but at the same time, Elise waited everyday at the café, hoping that Charlie would come in and they could have a chance to talk.
“Oh shit, I’m gonna be so late” Jessie ran around the room, trying to find her shoes
Charlie, on the other hand, just watched her from the sofa. Since Charlie is still waiting for the results of the test, she can stay at home and just relax
“What time again does Laura’s class end?” Charlie asked nonchalantly
“12!” Jessie said, rushing towards the door, “Thanks again for picking her up for me Charlie!”
“No problem!”
Jessie then hurriedly left. Earlier that day Jessie’s mother called, asking her to pick up her little sister from school as she was busy looking after their grandmother. Jessie agreed to it but the bank that she’s working in suddenly called and asked her to come as soon as possible. Since Charlie has nothing to do for the day, she offered to pick up Laura from school. Charlie is close with Jessie’s family so it’s no trouble to her
“It’s only 10 am, I still have time to watch TV” Charlie laid back on the sofa and relaxed. She’d do anything just to keep her mind off things, off her.
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Classes are over and the children are going outside one by one. Charlie arrived just in time as Laura came out. The little girl saw Charlie and happily waved at her. Laura then took her friend’s hand and made their way towards Charlie
“What up Laura?” Charlie asked goofily
Laura giggled, “Everything’s good Charlie!” she said
Charlie smiled and then noticed Laura’s friend, “hey, you’re the little girl I saw at the café”
Chari smiled brightly, hearing that the woman who complemented her coloring still remembered her, “hello! I’m Chari!”
“Hello Chari! my name is Charlie” she introduced herself to the little girl
Laura then giggled, “your names sound the same”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Charlie smiled, “okay, so ready to go home Laura?”
“Aww…can I stay for a bit and play with Chari?”
“Well, you can but Chari’s mother might already be here, so they’re also going home”
“Nuh-uh, she’s still not here” Laura then turned to her friend, “your mom is still not here right Chari?”
Chari nodded
Charlie sighed and gave a small smirk, “Okay, you two can play, but when Chari’s mom gets here, we’re going home okay?”
The two girls happily cheered as they ran towards the school’s playground, with Charlie following soon after
Charlie sat at the swings, while the two girls happily played at the slide. A few minutes later, the two girls then sat on the two other empty seats of the swings
“Still not tired?” Charlie asked Laura
“Nope” the girl answered and started swinging
Charlie chuckled at how energetic both of the girls are
“You also have a lucky bracelet don’t you Miss Charlie?” Chari spoke suddenly
Charlie giggled at the term used by the girl, “um, you can just call me Charlie and what bracelet are you talking about exactly?“
The girl smiled and pointed at the Charlie’s right wrist, “that bracelet Charlie”, she then raised her own wrist and showed her bracelet to Charlie
“See? We have the same one” the girl said happily, “my mom gave this to me, who gave you yours?”
Charlie stared at the little girl, realizing that she has the same exact bracelet, only Elise and I have this bracelet.
At the café, no wonder she looked like Elise, could she be Elise’s daughter?
“Chari!” a familiar female voice called from behind
Chari and Charlie both turned and saw Elise walking towards them
“Mommy!” Chari exclaimed and quickly ran towards her mother which was welcomed by Elise with open arms
Elise then made her way towards Charlie, “Hello Charlie”, she smiled brightly
Charlie looked at her and smiled nicely
“Aww…Chari’s mom is here, which means we have to go home” Laura said sadly as soon as she saw Elise and Chari
“That’s right little miss” Charlie said and stood, “say goodbye and let’s go”
“Um, they can play for a little while if they want to, I can wait” Elise interjected
“Really? we can?” Laura asked innocently
Elise smiled and nodded. Laura then looked at Chari then took her hand and made their way to the seesaw
Charlie sighed heavily and went to the parent’s corner, just a few feet away from the playground, Elise then followed her
Charlie sat on one of the benches and watched the two girls play, Elise sat next to her
“…so that’s her” Charlie spoke, “she looks just like you…”
“Yeah, I know….” Elise answered softly
Both became silent until Charlie asked another question, “Why is her name Chari?”
“It’s just a nickname, her real name is Charlize…” Elise continued, “I named her after us…”
Charlie sighed and became silent
Elise looked at her, “Charlie...”
“What is it that you want from me Elise?” Charlie asked blatantly, “You’ve been calling me and leaving messages for a week now!”
“I want another chance” Elise answered honestly
“Another chance for what?”
“For us to work things out and be together!” Elise continued, “I can see it in your eyes Charlie, I know you still love me, the same way I still love you so please take a chance on me and let me show you how much I still love and care for you“
“No! I took a chance on us before, remember? When we’re still best friends? I took a chance and risked our friendship, put everything on the line and how did that ended? You hurt me, so no, no way, not again.” Charlie stood and went to go get Laura
After getting the girl, Charlie left without a single word as Elise sat there, still hoping that they could still be together.
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“How can she even say that?!” Charlie shouted in her house, “How can she even ask me to take a chance when she’s the one who didn’t do that in the first place!?!”
Charlie then calmed herself down, “Damn! I need a drink!”
Leaving a note for Jessie, Charlie left the house and went to nearest bar to drink away her emotions
Elise, on the other hand, went to work right away after dropping off her daughter at their house. Although still bothered about her situation with Charlie, Elise continued working as if nothing was wrong.
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It was late afternoon when Charlie left the bar, drunk. Her mind says she needs to go home, but somehow her feet took her to the place she knew Elise would be at, the iCafe
Charlie stood outside the café, staring at the door, contemplating whether she should go in or not. After a while Charlie laughed at herself, “what am I doing here?”
She was about to walked away when the one person she’s trying to avoid but at the same time been dying to see suddenly came out of the café and called her name, “Charlie!”
Charlie turned and saw the worried look on Elise’s face
Elise walked towards Charlie but she put out her arm and motioned Elise to stop where she is
“I’m drunk!” Charlie said, “So I’ll take this opportunity to be angry at you for hurting me! and you! you are just going to stand there and listen while I scream, got it?!”
Elise looked at her with concern and nodded
“First off, how dare you! how can you ask me to take a chance on you when you were the one whose cowardly enough to not even try!! Do you know how much misery I went through after you left?!! I drank almost every day! I’ve been with every single girl I find attractive and I flunked almost every subject in freshmen year of college!! I almost loss myself, all because you were stupid enough to let me go!! and now after 7 years, you show up and act as if you breaking up with me is not a big deal!? What the fuck is that!? what the fuck do you want from me Elise!?” Charlie screamed as tears started filling her eyes
Elise hurriedly went to Charlie and embraced her tightly, “I’m sorry…I’m so very sorry…you’re right I was stupid to let you go like that, but I want us to be together again, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win you back, I’m gonna prove to you that I’m no longer that stupid, cowardly girl you met before, just please, give me just one more chance”
Charlie roughly pushed Elise away from her, “I hate this!! I hate that despite everything that happened, I was still happy when I saw you standing there at that gazebo! But no! I’m not gonna let you hurt me again! leave me alone and stay out of my life!” Charlie then ran away with her eyes still filled with tears
But Elise, not letting the woman she loves ran away from her, quickly ran after Charlie, “Charlie! Wait!”
Charlie kept on running but due to her drunken state, she didn’t noticed that she was already on the busy streets of the town and when she looked, the only thing she saw was bright headlights racing towards her and the sound of a loud horn heading towards her. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst
The sounds of the horns continued as Charlie slowly opened her eyes, she looked around and found herself at the side of the road. She’s alive! But how can this be? She was standing at the middle of the road
Charlie slowly stood and made her way through the crowds of people. There, she saw, just a few meters away from a stopped car with a broken windshield was Elise’s unconscious body, her forehead dripping with blood
“No…Elise!!” Charlie rushed towards Elise’s side and felt her pulse, it’s weak and getting weaker by the second
“Somebody! Help us! She needs to be in a hospital!” Charlie shouted frantically with panic and extreme worry
Just then a group of medics rushed to Elise side, treating her wounds and making sure that’s she’s still alive. A stretcher then came in. Elise was put in an ambulance, with Charlie looking after her. The two of them was raced to the nearest hospital
Elise was sent to accident and emergency department in the hospital to get further treatment. Charlie on the other hand was treated by the nurses as she waited to see if Elise is alright. Charlie suffered from a broken arm and severe headache while Elise needed to be confined in the hospital to have a full recovery
A few hours have passed and Charlie continued to sit outside Elise’s room, she remembered the moment before the accident. That time when she saw headlights heading her way, her life instantly flashed before her eyes. Everything she knew was important to her came rushing in. All the memories, everything, she saw it all and that’s when she realized how important Elise is to her and how much she truly loves her.
Suddenly the doctor in charge of Elise came out of the room, Charlie quickly stood and asked if she could see her.
“Go on ahead, she’s in stable condition but still unconscious, we’ll contact her family as soon as we can“
Charlie thanked the doctor and went into the room. She sat next to Elise’s bed and tightly held her hand.
“I have a massive headache Elise” Charlie spoke “but compared to what happened to you, this is nothing” she then gently intertwined her hand with Elise, “You saved me. Thank you but you need to wake up as soon as possible okay?. Chari’s going to be so worried and she’s gonna be so mad at me if she finds out I was the cause of all of this” Charlie giggled but at the same time, tears fell from her eyes, “I’m so sorry but I want you to know that I still do love you. I’ve always love you. When that accident happened and seeing you unconscious on the ground, it made me realize that I did in fact almost loss you and I don’t think I can handle losing you again Elise. So yes, I’ll give you a chance, I’ll give us a chance to be together, just open your eyes okay? Look at me and smile, like you always do, please…” Charlie tightly held Elise hand and gently placed a kiss on it
Unbeknownst to Charlie, Elise was semi-conscious, enough for her to hear Charlie’s words. It brought great happiness to Elise, hearing that Charlie willingly took her back. From that day on, she promised to never let go of Charlie…
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Months have passed and like Charlie said, she gave Elise another chance and now they’ve been dating for almost a year. Charlie passed the licensure exam and is now a certified engineer. She’s busy working in a known company in Toronto. Elise left the iCafe and started her own and it’s doing well so far. Chari has also grown close to Charlie and now calls her Mommy Cha.
Charlie and Elise also found out about the little bet Jessie and Marissa had, but since it brought them together, they forgave the two. Everything had been pretty awesome between Charlie and Elise, so Charlie decided that it’s time.
So Charlie prepared a simple date at the local park. She set up a table and chairs in the middle of the park, with scattered rose petals around it and asked Elise to meet her there.
When Elise arrived she saw the table and the rose petals, she instantly smiled brightly. Charlie stood next to the table and smiled
“What’s all this?” Elise asked, she was carrying two different sized cake boxes
“Surprise! A Picnic date, I even cooked some of your favorite dishes”
“Really? wow! That’s wonderful!”
Charlie noticed the boxes Elise was holding and asked, “What’s with the boxes?”
“Oh, I baked some cakes for you, I was about to bring it over to your place but then you called”
“Nice timing then” Charlie smiled
“Definitely” Elise answered happily
The two then sat down and started eating the food Charlie cooked
“Wow! This is delicious! You’ve gotten good at cooking!” Elise complemented, finishing up her dish
“Thanks!” Charlie said, she seemed a bit nervous all of a sudden, “It’s such a nice day out isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s bright and sunny”
“Hey Elise, can you look up at the sky?”
Elise looked at Charlie with confusion and asked, “why?”
“Just, look at how blue the sky is!”
Elise giggled and decided to look, when she saw it, she instantly smiled. Turns out, Charlie hired a skywriter to write “will you marry me?” When she turned to Charlie, Charlie was smiling and was holding a ring
Elise stared at Charlie, as she held a shiny diamond ring, and laughed
“Oh you better not be laughing at me, look at that writing in the sky, that’s pretty awesome!” Charlie said
“I know! it’s just that..” Elise then took one of the boxes she had and opened it, inside was a cake with the words written in frosting, “Will you marry me?”. Elise then took the other box and opened it, this time, it has a chocolate box, inside was a ring
“I was about to propose to you too” Elise said and laughed
Charlie laughed along, Elise smiled and took out the ring from the chocolate box, “Yes, I’ll marry you but only if you’ll marry me too” she said, presenting Charlie a golden ring
Charlie smiled and placed the ring on Elise’s finger, and Elise did the same, “Of course, I’ll marry you”
The couple looked at each other and smiled as they moved closer and kissed each other lovingly. And with that kiss, seals their future together as wife and wife.
The red string tied at the little finger finally brought the two destined lovers together and will forever connect them to each other.
SERIOUSLY, THE END =)