Chapter 69
1104words
“What’s going on?” He asks.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re awfully quiet for the past few minutes. I know that phase of yours.”
“I have no phase,” I say, almost repulsed.
“There, your extreme reaction says it all.”
I scoff and rolled my eyes. Ethan grabbed my waist and moved my body to face his.
“What is it, Anna?”
I almost giggle. “I haven’t really heard that name in so long. It feels weird when you say it.”
“Do you want me to stop calling you by your real name?”
“No, it’s fine. I have to come out to the public someday. Otherwise, someone else will do that for me.”
“Ms May,” I stare at him, not wanting to tell him what actually happened, because how could I? We just shared what we felt for each other.
“I was with Jonathan before,” I say.
“What?”
“It’s not what you think, trust me. If you see him, you’ll know what it was about.”
“I’d rather hear it from you.”
“Well, I wanted to tell him who I truly am. And I gotta say it didn’t end well.”
“I take it he never wanted to hear this.”
“He didn’t.”
I move closer to Ethan’s body, gazing deep into his eyes.
“Ethan, I’m gonna be honest with you. I thought I said that ‘I love you’ only because I was frustrated with Jonathan. I wasn’t. I mean, I was, but it didn’t matter to me as much as I thought it would. You’ve been there for me. You’ve been patient with me from the start. You’ve always respected what I did and what my decisions were.”
“Even though we’ve had our fights, our moments, you stayed. Most of all, you understood my trauma.”
“I guess what I’m saying is, that..”
Before I could finish, Ethan’s phone rang.
“I’m sorry Ms May, please hold that thought,”
He gets up and walks towards the table where he left his phone.
“Yeah?”
He was talking to someone I couldn’t realize who.
“Really? I guess we know what to do now.”
What to do now? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I stare at him in confusion and wait for him to get off the phone soon. And after a few exchanges of words, he does.
“Alright, I guess we have confirmation on the imposter.”
“What imposter?” I ask.
Ethan stays quiet. There was something unusual about his behaviour now. It felt like he was hiding something. Something which I may not be going to like.
“I’ll tell you when I get back.”
Ethan grabs his shirt and gets dressed in a split second.
“But.”
“Ms May,” He walked up to me, kissed me smoothly and smiled.
“I’ll be fine. Trust me, okay?”
I say nothing, I just nod and watch him go out of the hotel room. I drop myself back and lay on the bed, covering and rubbing my face with both my hands.
“I do trust you. I just don’t trust the world,” I say to myself. “I guess it’s finally time to meet her, Natalia.”
She was finally in a state where she could start socializing again. I never thought I’ll be meeting her again, but I guess a best friend always stays your best friend. I got ready, took my time and went to see her at the 'Home for Mentality Troubled'. What kind of name is that? Well, as long as she’s having the proper treatment, I don’t care.
I go inside and they give me this badge with ‘visitor’ written on it. I couldn’t figure out if I was the patient or someone else. This place seemed like a prison but it help each person. I go into this room, which was empty with a table and a chair. And there was Nat, sitting right in front of me.
At first, I was hesitant to go. Why wouldn’t I? Best friends don’t kill you. Nat sees me and smiled, softly.
“Don’t worry, my hands are tied. I can’t get to you.”
I give her a brief response while nodding and sat down.
“How’ve you been?”
“Good, I guess. I never thought you’ll be visiting me.”
“That makes the two of us. Are they...?”
“Helping me well here? I guess I’m sensible enough to say yes. I see now what I was doing and how I reacted. In my initial days, I tried taking my life again, but I guess.. I didn’t.”
She smiled and almost blushed.
“I met someone here.”
“You did, huh?” I say, playfully.
“Yeah, he was there for me from the start, never left my side and helped me go through all my terrible breakdowns.”
“Is he your..?”
“Oh, no. I mean, not yet. I’m not sure if we should. And personal affairs are totally forbidden here, for I don’t know what reason. Even if they told me, I may have forgotten about it.”
“That’s totally you.”
“I guess all I’m saying is, I’m okay with being friends with him. There’s absolutely nothing that you miss in life with them.”
I stare at her. She was still smiling but crying, too. I knew she was still hurting, but I could see Natalia made wonderful progress so far. She was being decent, good, and understanding, not to mention, just like the old Nat. She was less enthusiastic but I guess she’ll work on it step by step.
“I’m happy for you Nat, I really really am.”
“I’m glad. I...Uh...I’m sorry, Angelica...I...”
“Anna.” I stop her midway. “It’s..Anna.”
She took a long pause and smiled.
“You finally told them, right?”
“One of them took it well, one of them didn’t.”
“I guess I know who didn’t.”
A security guard walks in saying that our time was up.
“But it’s only been 5 minutes,” I say.
“5 minutes are equal to 5 hours here. That’s more than enough.”
I scoff and I look at Nat once again, asking her if she’s going to be okay or not.
“I will be okay, Anna. I will be.” She smiles and the female guards take her away.
After a while, I was driving here and there, trying to kill time because I really had nothing to do. Through the path, I stop at this showroom and get out of my car. I stand right in front of the dress that was hanging at the showcase.
And I immediately think to myself....
“What now?”
