Legally In Love: Part 4

Amirul Aiman had really thought that the hiking trip would be a great idea of a honeymoon for them at last. He was already about to tell his mother when one day Nur Balqis came home from work in a very bad mood. She didn't even bother cooking them dinner, so Amirul Aiman had ordered some pizzas for them both. 

"Hey, aren't you coming out for dinner?" he asked, knocking onto her bedroom door. She had locked herself in her room ever since she returned from work. There came no reply, so Amirul Aiman assumed that Nur Balqis had fallen asleep. He slowly twisted the doorknob to peer inside. As he had guessed, Nur Balqis was lying on her bed, already changed into her pyjamas and sleeping very soundly. Although she had seemed very sour a while earlier, now she looked calm as the sea. There seemed to be no trace of her moodiness.

Amirul Aiman slowly approached her bed. He wasn't sure whether to wake her up or leave her be. The problem was the pizzas he had ordered; who's going to eat them now?

As he stood there gazing towards Nur Balqis, he realized that this was the second time he ever came this close to his wife while she was asleep. The first time was during their first night, and even then he had been forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor just so that they wouldn't arouse suspicions from their parents. Up until that point, both their parents had been delusional in thinking that they were happily married together like other couples.

And that was when Amirul Aiman also realized that he was a man, and right there in front of him was a woman; his wife.

Gathering his inner strength, Amirul Aiman looked away and thought of the pizzas in the kitchen. Leaving the room felt like the most right thing to do, but it didn't either, because rightfully, she was his wife.

In the end, he left the room feeling a little agitated. 

You see, Nur Balqis had just lost a court case that day. She was supposed to send a man to prison for murdering his own wife. The motive was jealousy, it was obvious. What she didn't see coming was the man's health records that proved he was mentally ill. She had always disliked the fact that a health record or history could simply turn things around. And she loathed losing in cases that involved murder of women by men the most.

Nur Balqis awoke at about a quarter to midnight that same evening. She quickly took ablution and performed Isya' prayers before going to the kitchen to see two boxes of pizza on the dining table. Amirul Aiman was no where to be seen, probably already fast asleep in his room. She tried a slice of Hawaiian Tuna and decided that she wasn't hungry. She chucked the rest of the remaining pizzas into the fridge, wondering why ever did Amirul Aiman order so many. 

"Why are you so far from me?

In my arms is where you ought to be

How long will you make me wait?

I don't know how much more I can take..."

The song started playing faintly from somewhere in the house. Nur Balqis frowned and concluded it came from Amirul Aiman's room. It seemed he wasn't asleep after all. She crept to the door of his room just to confirm her assumptions, otherwise the house would be haunted. Luckily, she was right. However, it wasn't from a radio. It was Amirul Aiman singing to The Civil Wars' To Whom It May Concern accompanied by the mellow plucking of his guitar. 

"Slowly counting down the days

Till I finally know your name

The way your hand feels round my waist

The way you laugh

The way your kisses taste..."

His voice wasn't that good, but it suited the song that she already knew by heart. His beautiful guitar plucking was the thing that mesmerized her. Although she never admitted this to anybody, she had always admired guys with musical abilities. She stood in front of his bedroom door, attentively listening as he sang and plucked his guitar. Silently and secretly, she sang along with him in her heart. 

When the song finally ended, Nur Balqis heard the shuffling sound of a chair, followed by faint footsteps heading towards the door. She quickly ran to her room and shut the door close. All in that instance, Nur Balqis remembered of the court case she had just lost earlier that day, and the mentally ill man who murdered his wife. She also remembered the pizzas she had put into the refrigerator. A curse slipped out of her mouth for being so careless. 

To Be Continued...

Drown

You were standing there inside the water. You had your playful smile decorating your salt-washed lips as you splashed the water up my way. The waves were rolling up to you hips. You fought the gentle current and it looked as if you were slow-dancing. 

I trudged along the sandy beach as I watched you. The sun was scorching hot, but there was a gentle breeze blowing to my face. My hair blew all over my head like it was a storm. 

"Come on in." You yelled towards me with an inviting hand gesture. I shook my head with a smile and looked down towards my flattering yellow floral dress. I thought it looked prettier when I wear it to the beach than on other occasions. All the colourful flowers entwined with lime green stalks all over the yellow background. Below my feet the sands crunched soothingly. I already felt perfect up here on the beach, just watching. 

"Aw, come on. Just a dip." you said again. 

"Careful, tide's rising."

"We should go up. It's gonna get quite deep soon."

I heard all the warning, but I stayed there watching you. Your smile, the way your hand moved as the waves now rolled up to your torso, it was beautiful. 

"It's much beautiful down here. The water's warm."

You were coaxing me. I knew you were. Like the devil you were, your words managed to sink in somehow. I looked at my floral dress again. The winds now were gaining speed, but it wasn't blowing to my face anymore; it was blowing me down to you. 

Slowly, my foot started moving down, leaving traces of footprints behind to be washed by the racing waves. You held out your hands towards me, smiling even brighter. 

"It's okay. I'm here." 

"Damn the water's high."

"You shouldn't go down now, you'll drown."

I was so close to you now that I could hold your outreached hands. Half of my floral dress was already soaking wet. But you were smiling. I was smiling.

"Are you happy?" you asked, as if you didn't know. Of course I was. My eyes were shining like the sun with only the reflection of you in it. 

"Why would it matter? I'm here now." I replied looking deep into your sky blue eyes. If I knew it was this beautiful, I would have went down the first moment I saw you. 

"The tide's getting higher. You'll drown if you don't get up now!"

"Get back up here now!" 

I ignored all the warnings. They were just voices in the far distant. They weren't like the soothing sounds of the waves, now hurling up to my neck and to your chest. I shut everything away and lingered in the quietness of us. Your eyes looked down into mine, and mine into yours.

"Are you sure about this?" you asked.

My floral dress was nothing but a wet piece of yellow cloth clinging onto my body. Nothing else mattered now. There was even nothing to hesitate upon. It was already too late to turn back.

"I don't care. I'm already drowned."

Quick bite (Update!)

To those frequently returning to silent onomatopoeia (thank you!), do not be surprised. Yes I have changed my blog layout. I decided to go simple and white-washed. I left the sidebar like that because I love the sidebar that scrolls down and follows you where ever you go. Hi hi hi.

Hey if you have stories for me, do email them to me I would love to feature them in this site. Sometimes it's tiring waiting for yourself to be inspired. 

Here's my email I trust them to you please do not spam. 

lilyskydragon@gmail.com

Bye!

My Dear Little Annie

“If I could turn back time, I would choose to be with you.”

Annabelle looked into her laptop screen expressionlessly. If she was a spoilt, rich, reckless girl, she would have slammed the laptop with the wooden stool that she was sitting on. But she was not, and she had read that same message over and over again for the past 3 years.

It was the last message she ever received from the man she loved.

She had tried to move on. With her friends, she acted as if she was happily living her life like other normal single girls. At home, she was just another fragile heart-broken soul. Some days she would cry herself to sleep. Some days she just woke up crying. And she blamed all that to the stupid message that she could never manage to delete.

When she was just a young fluttering heart, she had fallen in love with Eric, a not-so-good-looking-but-kind-and-brilliant young boy. Eric was a neighbourhood boy, and their parents were pretty close at that time. They’d regularly visit each other, and that was when Annabelle met Eric.

Unfortunately, Eric only thought of her as a younger sister.

Eric soon got to further his studies at a faraway country, leaving Annabelle behind trying to finish high school. Of course she was sad, but Eric frequently sent postcards and parcels to her and her family, so she hung on. She patiently waited until the time was right for her to confess her love for him.

Four years went by and Eric finally returned; with an attractive young lady from his university in which he introduced as his fiancé.

She still remembered how angry, disappointed and heart-broken she had felt at that time. Apparently she was still a younger sister to him, and she should have already accepted that fact. She was angry because of her own foolishness. She was disappointed because she had waited.

A year after that, Eric married the pretty young lady while Annabelle was accepted into a college that was a hundred miles away from home. Although she still could not fully get over Eric, at least the distance and her studies helped distracted her mind. 

Time passed, Annabelle finally finished college and got a job as a journalist. She thought everything was going fine for her and her recovering heart until one day, she received a phone call from Eric.

“Annabelle?”

“Eric?”

“Annie, how are you? It’s been such a long time since I last heard from you.”

“Everything’s fine. I’m a journalist now. I’ve been working for about six months. How are you?”

“Good. I kinda miss you, Annie.”

“….Me too. It’s been what? Three years? Four? I lost count.” She chuckled nervously.

“Four next month. Look, why don’t we meet up some where? We both have a lot to catch up with.” He said.

“Uh, okay…only if your wife’s okay with it.”

“…Annie, I’m divorced…since six months ago.”

So they met up at a nice quiet little café in town, and that’s when Annie realized how Eric had changed a lot since she last saw him at his wedding. He was much thinner and he looked pale. It seemed that his divorce had impacted on him pretty badly, and Annabelle immediately felt a surge of sympathy for him.

They became close again since then, frequently spending time together and doing a lot of healthy activities because Annabelle wanted Eric to gain weight again. Annabelle was happy, and Eric seemed much happier than when she met him at the café.

One evening, Eric asked Annabelle out to their favourite spot on a hill overlooking the city. The view was breathtaking from up there, especially during the night when the skies are clear and thousands of stars decorate the dark blue sky. Just the two of them and the trees and the horizon far beyond, Annabelle felt calm.

“Let’s have a confession time. Each of us must tell each other one thing – one secret – that they’ve been keeping for some time. It doesn’t matter if the secret has nothing to do with the other person. Okay?” Said Eric suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence between them. Annabelle found herself feeling peacefully startled.

“Um…okay.”

At that very moment, Annabelle already knew what she was going to tell Eric. She was however nervous about what Eric was going to tell her. So she decided that she should start first, because she felt that it didn’t matter anymore. Even if Eric still thought of her as a younger sister, she was grateful enough that at least she could be with him there and then on the hill overlooking the city, watching the stars.

“I love you Eric. Since the first day I met you that many years ago when we were little, and I still love you now. When you brought back your fiancé, and even after you got married, although it was a hard time for me but I realized that I could never stop loving you. I know it might sound foolish, but I’ve tried to move on and I just can’t. There’s no way I can love another person the way I love you, even though you only think of me as your dear little sister. That’s my confession, Eric. My little secret that I’ve been keeping all this while.”

When Annabelle finished talking, a drop of tear escaped down her cheeks and onto the ground. She didn’t dare look at Eric, not wanting to see his expression as he responded to her confession, but for a whole minute there was only silence. Not a word came from him, so she looked up and looked at him.

His eyes were glassy and tears were already forming above his lower lids. When their eyes met, Eric broke into heavy, tearful, manly sobs. He reached out to her, caught hold of her shoulders and pulled her towards him, hugging her tightly. Annabelle was deeply shocked.

“Eric?” she gasped.

“Annie, I’m sick! I’m sick…I’m dying, and I don’t have much time.” He spoke in-between his sobs.

“I have brain tumour, Annie…that’s why I’m like this. I only found out two years ago…it’s already in the critical stage…my wife hated the fact that I would be leaving her, that’s why she left me first…I’m useless, Annie…I’m useless and I’m dying!”

Gradually, Annabelle’s tears started to fall as much as Eric’s. She silently held him, slowly churning the dreadful information he had just told her. All this while she had thought his pale face and his loss of weight was because of his divorce, but actually it was because he was genuinely sick. He was dying.

A month after that, Eric and his family moved to another country for his cancer treatment. Annabelle was yet again separated from the man she loved, but this time it hurt even more because she knew she might never see him again. For the next few months, they communicated through Skype and e-mail. Soon, when Eric’s health began to deteriorate, they no longer Skyped but kept on e-mailing each other.

The day Eric sent her that e-mail message which still broke her heart for the next three years, Annabelle was in a country up north for work matters.

“My dear little Annie,

You’ve been such a darling to me for the past 17 years since we’ve known each other. You were just a little girl back then, but you’ve always made me happy with your cute chubby-ness and your talkative little mouth. I didn’t have a little sister of my own, so I used to love your presence and the entertainment you brought to my parent’s household. You made me feel as if I was a child again.

Annie,

I’m sorry I neglected your true feelings for me. Perhaps I was foolish. Perhaps I was blinded by love at the time. I was young and young people often make stupid and careless mistakes. When I married Nicole (Eric’s ex-wife), I thought she was everything I ever wanted. She was my world, and I prized her too much that I felt a deep hole left inside me when she left.

When I met you again Annie, after a few agonizing years spent fighting my own failing body and trying to make my wife stay, I felt the most calm and soothing feeling I’ve ever felt. It was as if something had filled the emptiness in my heart. I feel happy again after years. Every time I’m with you, I forget all about my sickness. I forget that I’d be leaving that cheerful smile and sincere eyes and I’d never see it again. And I realized, Annie, that you’re the only girl who can make me feel that way. Not even Nicole could do it. Only you could.

Annie,

If I could turn back time, I would choose to be with you.

Yours truly beloved,

Eric.”

The very next day, Annabelle received news from Eric’s parents that he had lost in the fight. Eric had left her for good, taking away with him her deepest pure love she could ever give to a man.

Fin.

I only just realized that I write tragic love stories much better than I do happy endings. I believe it is because of the songs I listen to, but it could also be because I don't really like cliched happy endings haha. Thanks to the people who love to read my works here. I'll be continuing with Legally In Love soon :)