"It's been a long time.. where have you been?" she asked.
I looked around through the stained glass window, opposite to me and looked at the women sitting next to me in the dimly lit cafe. She had brown hair and some freckles on her face, she's about a year younger than me. She is wearing the cafe's apron. She works here.
"Ah.. I was out. I went to study." I replied, while taking a sip of my coffee. "How have you been, Monica?"
"Good." She said, "I have to get my daughter from the daycare. If you don't mind, I gotta go. I'm sorry but it was nice meeting you again." she replied while picking her handbag and grinning at me.
"Wait."
"What?"
"I'll drive you there." I replied.
I quickly emptied the cup in one gulp and picked up my coat.
"Oh.. you don't need to trouble yourself. I can go there by cab"
"No, No. I'm taking you there. What good is a friend if you can handle everything on your own?"
….
"You can go slow, you know! there's no urgency." Monica shouted.
"I'm going at the slowest speed! " I replied back.
She wrapped her arms around my neck from the back seat of my Honda bike. It's the most basic model that I bought with my first salary. I'm not exactly rolling in money, I only get to spend the money I earn, even though my mom owns multiple businesses. On the other topic, Monica trusts me enough to hug. I figured she hates me now that I haven't been in town for a long time. She's been one of my best friends from back in the day. Me, Vic, Monica were close, we used to play a lot after school. Good old times. Wish we could go back to the times when we were clueless about the future, just happy to have each other.
We arrived at the daycare. I waited outside and Monica came out with her baby daughter.
"We'll go in the cab, thanks for being here for me" said Monica and hugged me. "Drop by my place once a while."
I looked at her daughter and played with her a little while waiting for her cab to arrive.
…
I went home all by myself after making sure Monica and her daughter got in their cab safely home. I like to listen to music when doing my work. I sat down in front of my desk with notes and my Macintosh computer. I feel thirsty. I want some tea. A good tea will fix everything right up, from fatigue to just relaxing, tea is my go to beverage. I went downstairs and put the stove on while looking through the rain stained windows on the right corner. It's raining now. I can't help but think about what she said. She's still not married after all these years. I can't imagine how hard it would've been to maintain a kid and pay the bills all on your own since 17. Monica has been through a lot.
My telephone started ringing.
I went to the hallway to pick up the call. It was my mom.
"How are you doing, honey?"
"Yeah I'm doing fine, thanks for asking, ma."
"You seem upset. it's been years and you're still lingering around like you gave up your life.."
"Yeah ma, i know it alright? You don't need to say these.. I'll be fine."
"You'll get through, I know. You're my son. Take care alright? Sleep well goodnight"
"Night.."
*clunk*
I took out a cup and poured in my black tea with some sugar. I can somewhat understand how people drink tea without milk all the time but I can never get why some people think tea should be drunk without sugar.. Like that's just diabolical, that's some British man activity. I can see that the flavor needs to be intact but avoiding sugar to just have pure tea flavor, like the bitterness? Come on, you're going through a midlife crisis if you think that's fine.
I helped myself to some tea and sat down to write off some things before hitting bed.
….
….
….
I see a couple of kids playing in a hazy place. I don't know why but this place seems very familiar. I move towards them. "You lot shouldn't be playing here!" I yelled at them "it looks like we're gonna have a storm, go home." They didn't move an inch. I got closer. It's really strange. One of them turned around and looked straight in my eye and said in a muffled tone, 'You know it's your fault'.
It was my younger self, alive right in front me. The other 2 kids were playing with mud and they didn't bother to look at me.
"No.. no.. y-you're wrong.." I said while my legs gave in. I collapsed on the wet ground as the rain started pouring heavily. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!!" I shouted, crying my heart out. I looked at the other 2 kids for any sign of approval but it's like I don't exist to them. They were too busy playing.
I crawled closer to them, grabbed all of their arms and led them out of the rain to a nearby roof of a bus stand. But one of them stayed in the rain. I looked around me, there was my younger self and a little girl with me.
The other kid stood in the rain looking at the sky. I tried to reach him. I ran towards him. but he disappeared into thin air.