Anne “Anne!” Dr. Arya called after me and then followed me. I don’t know what she was going to do when she walked up to me, but the look on my face must have stopped her. I looked around the whole living room in shock. The whole place had changed, more like redecorated. Everything was totally different than they were when I was an occupant. The walls were repainted and all the furniture changed. If you placed a picture of the house I was used to and the one I was seeing now, you’d think they were two different houses. It wasn’t only about Vincent’s health, they wanted him to completely forget I ever existed. “Anne, you can’t be in here,” said Arya. I twirled on my feet to face her, a death glare on my face. “What’s wrong with you, Dr. Arya? I thought you were on my side. What have I done to you?” I asked bitterly. She didn’t respond. She just stared guiltily at her feet. “Anne, my dad is dying,” she said, raising her face to reveal water-filled eyes. I was confused. What has
Anne I knew I needed to fight, but I was so tired. Life was casually throwing mountain-sized obstacles my way without a care. It was getting really difficult to continue holding on. I was hurting terribly. I was slowly dying. The universe must be against Vincent and I. Maybe, in our past life, we had committed a lot of heinous crimes that earned us a curse. Whatever it may be, I was exhausted from fighting it. “What the hell are you doing, Anne? I’ve been calling you non-stop. See, your phone is right beside you,” Pamela admonished, coming over to my bed and picking up my phone. “Anne, 30 missed calls! Have you gone nuts?” she scolded. I was lying down, facing the ceiling, with my eyes wide open. I didn’t bother looking her way or giving her any response. When she realized I wasn’t planning on responding, she stopped talking and looked at me. Her next words were a bit slower and calmer. “Anne? What is it?” she asked, sitting on the bed and scooting closer to me. “Anne, talk to
Andrew “Hey bro,” I greeted and hugged Vincent. “Since the locks have been changed, I couldn’t get access to the house. That’s why you see me knocking like a stranger,” I said with a smile. “I’ve got the spare upstairs. I’ll go get it for you,” he said and was about to walk off, but I stopped him. “Where is mum?” I asked, taking a step into the house. “She left right after you did yesterday,” he replied, and continued walking. I’d come here yesterday after I called Anne and found Vincent, Arya, and my mum in the living room. I was scared mum must’ve rudely sent Anne away, that was why after I welcomed my brother and talked with him for a while, I left and called Anne. I had thought she’d met my mum, but after our discussion yesterday, I found out she only met Arya when she arrived. “Uh…Before you go get the keys, I’d like you to meet someone,” I said, making him stop again. He turned and looked straight at the door. I closely watched his every expression and demeanor. This woul
Anne “Are you okay?” he asked with so much concern, making me shoot my eyes open and stare at him. Just like every other time when I couldn’t catch myself when I tripped, I always had my eyes shut while I waited for impact on the hard ground. “Uh… I’m fine,” I replied, watching his every expression. “Sorry about that,” he said with a smile, then slipped his hand away and moved past me. I just stood there for a while, rewinding the moment that had just happened. I recalled his facial expression when our hands touched. Nothing happened. There was no form of stalling or recognition. But I felt it all. I don’t know if it showed on my face, but inside me was on fire. All my receptive nerves felt every single contact his hands made on mine. Hot, electrifying waves shot from my hand to the pit of my stomach, sending the dormant butterflies up into the air. That was part of the reason I stood there. Pamela came over and placed her hand on the small of my back, urging me to move forward
Anne The next phase of our plan was to relive that time Vincent and I spent a night together on the couch. It was kinda a touchy topic because Andrew was into me at that time, but he assured me he was good. I told them what had transpired, so we made a plan to have me go over to Vincent’s. But before we did, Andrew had to pick a day Arya would be on call throughout the night. He had gotten this information from his buddy at his dad’s hospital. The day came, and I got ready to go at 6 pm. The only thing we couldn’t control was the rain, so we decided I wasn’t going to spend the night because that would be awkward. There wouldn’t be a good explanation for that. Miraculously, the rain did fall on that day, but not at the time we all desired. It happened that on my way, heaven let up, without so much as a single warning. The downpour was massive. Just the short distance from the taxi to his front door got me drenched right down to my panties. I felt our plan had flopped. The rain was
Anne Vincent shot out his hand and pulled me into the house, shutting the door right behind me. Next thing, he hurried off and within seconds, he came back with two huge towels. One he wrapped around me, the other, he placed on my hair, then began wiping my hair dry. I was dazed. I couldn’t move or speak. I just stood there, staring at his chest as he dutifully dried my hair. When I regained my mobility, I slowly raised my head to his face and stared at him. My hair and the towel that was moving around it shielded my face so he didn’t see me staring. However, something else followed. When he felt my hair was decently dried, he used the towel to remove the strands blocking my face. That was when our eyes met. Jeez! I saw it! God, I saw it! There, in his eyes, I saw Vincent. He had stopped moving now and was staring right back at me. My breath hitched while my heart bounced up and down my throat and stomach. His hand left the towel and came directly to remove the remaining stra
Anne My thoughts were reeling. I wondered what he was doing in his room. He’d probably be reading a book or… another book. That was Vincent when he was alone. He should be curious, shouldn’t he? He felt something that time at the door; I know. So, he should be curious why he felt that way, right? He may probably pace his room, thinking of why we had so much intimate tension between us. I shook my head and flung up from the couch. I needed to pass the time. It would be weird when he comes down and sees me staring into space. So, I picked a movie that would successfully distract me from the thoughts of him. I was heading for the television when I began hearing the rapid dangling of keys at the door. I paused my movement and stared at the door. Andrew wasn’t supposed to be coming. Did he change his mind? Unless it wasn’t Andrew! My heart sunk when Rebecca entered my head. She was the one that had the house redesigned, so she should have a key, right? I grabbed the lower part of t
Anne I fell asleep through the gnawing cold. I guess he got busy with his fiancée that he forgot he wanted to get a second blanket for me. The movie I was watching was hilarious and interesting, but it did little to erase the thought of those two upstairs getting it hot and sweaty to abate the cold. I’d stood up, paced around, gone to the toilet near the gym room to poo, cause mehn, the thoughts I had, didn’t sit well with my system. After hours of staying up, tossing and turning, throwing pillows and fetching them back, I finally fell asleep. Even in a deep sleep, the cold penetrated my subconscious. It put me in a dream where I was stuck in a locked refrigerator. The more I tried to push the door open, the colder it got in there. I was scared I would die. But after what felt like hours of struggling, the door opened on its own and in rushed warm air. I flipped my eyes open and grabbed the arm that wasn’t mine. The room was a bit darker now, but I could still make out his face