Loved Since Forever

Rachel - Present Day

Life sometimes takes an interesting turn, Rachel thought to herself. She definitely did not expect to see herself here, fleeing the penthouse of the Langham Hotel on 5th in New York City. That's for sure. She looked down at the disgustingly sweaty hand gripping hers as they turned the corner. There is a mob of girls, frantically squealing and chasing the pair, barreling down the hotel hallway. The man pulling her along at full speed comes to an abrupt stop and presses the down button for the elevator. He looks down at her through his black baseball cap and black face mask before quickly noticing the stairwell.

I have seen those eyes before, Rachel thought.

As the elevators open, he drags her into the stairwell and heads up the flight of stairs as the screams from the hotel hallway get muffled with the closing of the stairwell doors.

What is actually happening right now?

They run up the stairs hand in hand. Finally they reach the roof and she pulls away from his gross, grubby hands to catch her breath.

It's a good thing I'm wearing running shoes, she thinks.

"What..." breath.

"Was..." breath.

"That...?" breath.

"I'm so sorry," he said in nearly flawless English. Rachel can tell he is not from here. He has a slight accent from some Asian country. China, Japan, Korea, something. She can only see his eyes, oddly familiar and a unique chocolate brown, but he seems overwhelmed.

3 Days earlier....

Rachel spent the morning reading the last drafted manuscript before she was off to the Annual Northeastern Publishers Conference in New York City. It's such a bother to go every year. Meeting the same people, going to the same places, seeing the same literary content. Blah Blah. What a bore. Too mundane. This is her first year being invited to be a guest speaker, however, which is a small light at the end of this spiritless and dull tunnel.

She doesn't enjoy leaving her cozy 2-bedroom cottage on Lake Memphremagog. This is where she is comfortable. This is where she has made her home over the past 5 years. At 31 years old, the hardest lesson was learning how to depend on and fend for herself. 

Buying a house and settling down in Magog was, for Rachel, a life changing commitment. After dad got sick and his condition worsened, she broke her lease from the Boston apartment and moved right out to Quebec where she could be closer to her family. She knew that she was going to be there for the long run after inheriting her father's publishing company, KJ Publishing, based in inner city Quebec. Yet, she wanted to make a name for herself independently of her new found journey that she was voluntold to do. So, she made the decision to join the company as a junior editor and worked her way up through the company ranks With this, her life plan started to form. She just knew that she wanted to escape to a quiet life away from the bustle and her city job. 

She was going to find herself a nice man and live happily ever after. Isn't that what any respectable person would want? Jane Austen would say that "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." That should be relevant for single women...

Rachel tends to envision whatever story she is reading in her mind. A good story will leave nothing to the imagination. In a good story she should be able to hear the background music, feel the same feelings as the characters. Go through the same emotional rollercoaster they go through. After reading this draft thoroughly, Rachel goes on to make notes for the editing team. She thinks of the next steps the company will have to take, the bigger picture. Literally. Will this story make people fall in love? Will they want to experience the feeling through the movies? How can this story be marketed to change the lives of the world?

This novel is about a girl who has left her life in the big city to move back to her hometown after a string of misfortunes that left her on the verge of destitution. The story plot itself has been done before, yet the thing that drew Rachel to this story was that both the main characters are clearly introverted. They are awkward and don't know how to express themselves even though they are both adults. The miscommunication and eventual communication was something that she knows readers can relate to and potentially learn from. Most humans are extroverts, but most readers are introverts.

"We will see", Rachel says quietly, with a sigh.

There's a saying in creative writing about "writing about what you know". That might be why Rachel feels that she could never be a true writer. Her life is about reading, and what reader would want to read about reading? Answer: No one. But she used to write for her blog under the pseudonym Petra Gonzales. She would travel the world, once upon a time and write about her experiences. It was gaining popularity, however she stopped along with the rest of her adventure.

She doesn't get to read leisurely much anymore. It is always for work. She truly feels as if she is living a double life. If you saw her at work in her black Louboutin's, pencil skirt and blouse, you would think that she enjoyed the glamorous and sociable life she is forced to live for social media, however, her private life, outside of schmoozing with colleagues, going out for dinners with authors, or walking the carpets, she prefers the quiet where her garden, piano and books reside.

She quickly makes a note about the mundane inner monologue of one of the characters and looks around at the stillness and serenity of the office. She notices the floor to ceiling built-in-bookshelves and yard sale finds. The beautiful "gently used" armchair that she commandeered from the side of the road near McGill University brings back some wonderful memories of her shoving it into her old Honda Civic. 

At the time it was a struggle, but it ended up being well worth it. She has spent many a weekend in this chair, reading everything she could get her hands on. In a way, it inspires her to take careful consideration on things that other people might not view as "beautiful". If it wasn't for this welcoming chair that she had to struggle to fit into her car, she wouldn't have had the courage to apply for a mortgage loan for the house she is currently living in. The morning daylight hits the bookshelves at just the right angle that makes them look inviting and almost ethereal. She appreciates the musty smell of her office and she breathes it in deeply, knowing that she won't be able to feel this way for a while.

With a big sigh, she closes the manuscript submitted to the agency from the young writer based out of Toronto. She only has one more errand to do before taking the Uber to the airport. She walks down the hallway, passing old artwork and pictures of her family and friends, into the kitchen, with an empty coffee cup in hand. 

The floor squeaks a little as she passes over the barrier into the morning light. It is a cozy kitchen, big enough for a refrigerator, range, a sink, and a single breakfast table with two chairs. Basic essentials. She washes her coffee cup and puts it on the dishrack amongst her now dry soup bowl from last night and tea cup. It is now time to return her stack of books to the library. Saving the best errand for last.

She scoops up the stack of books and puts them into the reusable burlap bag, that is sporting Dankook University, grabs her keys, carry-on, roller luggage, and walks outside. Time to suffer through handshakes and lectures.