Katherine walked in the restaurant that she was supposed to meet Martin for lunch and looked around. She immediately was able to spot him since the restaurant was empty. She was a bit confused as that one was also a very famous restaurant, it was always hard to reserve.
Martin was sitting on the table at the far end near the big glass window, his table was the only one set. He waved when he saw her looking his way. Katherine smiled and walked towards his table and sat down.
"Why is this place empty? Is it falling out of business?" she asked him as she sat down. She looked around still confused.
"No," he laughed "It's not running out of business. If anything it's doing pretty well."
"Then why is it empty at lunch hours like this?" she asked him.
"Because I cleared it out," he answered nonchalantly.
"You did? Why??" she asked, her eyes widened. Martin smiled at her expression.
"So that if you decide to beat me up, I won't have to be embarrassed in front of customers of my own restaurant."
"Are you crazy?? You could have chosen a quiet place instead! What did you do with all the reservations people made?" Katherine asked in astonishment. While Katherine was flabbergasted, Martin found the situation amusing and he was all smily.
"Don't worry. I told my employees to call all of them and tell them they were chosen for our offer of a free barbecue on our Sea Breeze restaurant and if they would like to take the offer. Well you can imagine what their response were. So my customers are happy, I'm happy. All is well. Relax." He assured her.
"You're really crazy," She declared.
He just laughed. Katherine shook her head at his craziness, she couldn't help but smile. He used to be crazy even back then, she shouldn't be surprised.
"Would you like some champagne?" he asked her.
"Why are we having champagne?"
"To celebrate our reunion of course." He signed his hand and the waiter immediately came and poured some champagne in their glass and left.
Katherine took a sip and closed her eyes to savour it's sour sweet taste.
"It's alcohol free. One of my best. It tastes amazing, doesn't it?" he commented as he puts his glass down after taking a sip.
"Yeah it tastes amazing," she replied to him. She noticed the same waiter approaching their table, he then proceeded to quietly placing some appetizers dishes on the table. Afterwards he bowed a little and left.
"So how have you been?" he asked her.
"I have been alright," she told him "And you? I read about your wife's death five years ago, I'm so sorry about her."
"Yeah, but I'm fine now," he gave her a small smile to reassure her. "I'm surprised you remember it has been five years."
"I do remember, I saw on news that your wife and son got into an accident. I could tell you even the date. It's a crucial date for me too," Katherine smiled trying to hide the sadness that was starting to fill her eyes.
"Oh I see," he remarked. "I saw in your business card that you are a painter now. You finally became one, it was your childhood dream. I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you," she smiled back "I have always known you were going to become a good businessman, better than your father. Look at you now, you took that small company your father left to you to the big company it is now. I'm also so proud of you."
"Thank you," he told her. "So how is JR? How has he been? What is he doing now? Is he still an engineer?? I remember in your last email you told me he was accepted in a big company, right?"
"So you did saw my emails!" she felt her heart break "I was hoping you would say you never received those emails, why did you never contact me back?"
"I was so busy," he answered, avoiding any eye contact.
"Oh really!? You couldn't even spare an hour to attend my wedding?"
"I was still abroad studying back then," he told her.
"What about after that? I sent you so many emails, you never even bothered to reply at least one of them. To at least let me know you're okay. I had to find out you're well and alive through newspapers and magazines. You were my best friend," Katherine told him in a sad tone, her voice breaking as she mentioned the last part.
"I know there's nothing I would say that would make sense right now, so can you please just forgive me!! Please," he pleaded.
"Just so you know, I'm never going to forgive you for that, not until you give me a sensible explanation," Katherine angrily declared, his explanations or lack of made her angrier. It was better before when she knew nothing.
"Katherine!!" Martin sighed. Katherine could feel tears building up in her eyes, she took a big breath and released it to fight the tears back.
"Jeremy passed away 20 years ago, you would know that if you cared enough to email back," she angrily answered his earlier question.
"WHAT!!??" Martin couldn't believe his ears. The Jeremy known as JR he knew was dead!! How in the world did that happen? He could feel his chest tightening. He felt guilty for not knowing all those years.
"How did that happen? And 20 years ago??", Martin asked in shock, still trying to take everything in.
"He died in a car accident," Katherine answered, and this time she didn't fight the tears that threatened to fall.
"Oh my God!! How could something terrible like that happen!! Why did you never tell me? I would have contacted you if I knew something terrible like that happened. I didn't contact you guys because I thought you were living happily together somewhere. Why didn't you email me about that!!??" he asked in a low sad voice.
"I was all alone trying to raise a five year old kid, I had no one to depend to. How are we going to live? what are we going to eat? how am I going to support my kid? were the only thought that filled my head at the time," she somehow felt sorry for only telling him that then, but then again he is the one who left them.
"What do you mean you had no one to depend to? What about Jeremy's parents?? Didn't they support you two? Sure they were well off enough to do that."
"Jeremy's parents were against our marriage in the first place. As you know I lived with my uncle and my parents died when I was young. They didn't want an orphan child as a daughter in law, Jeremy went behind their back and marry me anyway. They were so upset about it and almost cut all ties with us, they never even attended the wedding. When Jeremy died they wanted nothing to do with me, they said I brought bad luck in their family," Katherine couldn't help it as she silently started sobbing.
Martin couldn't believe what he was hearing, a tear fell down his cheek. He felt so sad just thinking about the things she went through. She looked so cheerful, how can all this happen to a person and she could still be that cheerful!?
"I'm so sorry Katherine. I had no idea all that happened to you, I'm so so sorry," he said apologetically as he passed her the tissue.
"It's ok, I'm fine now. I'm a successful painter now. I'm not as rich as you but I'm a quiet known painter, people die to have my paints on their walls. You would have known this if you had time to look at art and fashion magazines. I guess you're truly a workaholic as the rumors says," she attempted to lighten the mood.
"Plus as long as I have-", Michael, as long as I have Michael I am fine. She was going to say that. But that wasn't the case then. Michael was no longer with her. As the thought ran through her mind she started to sob loudly. Martin was shocked by the sudden outburst and he immediately ran to her side and gave her a hug.
"It's fine Katherine. Everything is fine, you have me now. You have your son," He attempted to soothe her but with hearing his words she sobbed even louder.
"My son, they keep telling me my son is dead," she said within sobs.
"Katherine what are you talking about? You had dinner with your Son yesterday, didn't you? Cal is his name, right?" he asked her as he released her from the hug to look at her face.
"Cal?? Cal is Michael's friend, he is not really my son but he is like a son to me. He is the one I had dinner with yesterday, he asked me out in an attempt to cheer me up. My son is Michael, I don't even know if he is alive. They kept telling me he is dead but I don't want to believe it, I can't. He has to be alive for me to live."
"Katherine calm down and tell me everything slowly, what happened to him? Tell me everything in details," she passed her a glass of water "Drink this and tell me everything."
Katherine nodded and do as she was told. She told him everything.
*******************************************
~8 years ago~
"Mike come here!" Katherine called.
"Yes mom." Michael rushed in the living room a moment later.
"You boys are coming back here today, right?"
"Yeah! Why?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure. I'm heading to the gallery right now and I wanted to know so that I can come back early and make dinner."
"Just take your time. You don't have to worry about us, I can cook for us or we can order in"
"No, you three like homemade food more. I don't want you boys opting for take-outs. And I want you to have fun too and not cooking. You have been so busy with practice lately so you should rest and have fun today. I'll just come back early."
"Mom you're worrying too much, we are eighteen. We can take care of ourselves."
"But I like taking care of you guys," Katherine pouted.
Michael smiled, "Okay if you say so. I actually was hoping to eat your food tonight!"
"Then it's settled!" Katherine smiled back.
"Bye son, love you" she said before hugging her. Michael hugged her back tightly.
"Love you too mom."
"Is the car with Cal again? He is running late. Do you want me to drop you to school?"
"No thanks, he is already on his way here. He went to pick Haroon first."
"Okay," she said "Ah don't forget to take the sandwiches I made for Haroon and Cal"
"Don't worry. There's no way I will forget them. It will be the first thing they ask before they let me in the car," he chuckled.
Katherine smiled. "Okay, take care!"