Unrequited Love

Chapter 22

         2 Years Later.....

"Yuri, wake up you're going to be late for work." I rolled over to see her walk out of the bathroom wearing a white towel around her, while her hair was still damped.

I let out a big sigh as I forced myself to sit up, "Come here"

"No, you'll want to have sex then you'll for sure be late." She said. I walked up to her, hugging her from behind as I kissed the back of her neck.

"Yuri stop" She started laughing, turning her head towards me to kiss me on the lips.

"Okay okay, fine. You're just too cute" Her brown hair fell just below her shoulders, her skin was dark caramel, and her eyes were hazel brown.

I have not heard from Ren in over two years. Izzy and her boyfriend were now married, living in a nice apartment in lower manhattan. As for me, I have been living in the same apartment in Brooklyn, now with my new girlfriend. We met at a bar, where she bartends at, about two blocks down from where we now both live.

"I'm leaving, I'll see you tonight." I kissed her on the cheek as she sat at the dining room table, "Love you."

"Love you too, have a good day at work."

I take the subway to lower Manhattan every week day in order to get to my job, it feels a bit inconvenient to me, having to travel from Brooklyn- but finding a reasonable priced apartment in New York City is a difficult task.

"Yuri, my man" Michael held out his hand for a high five as I walked to my office desk, "How has it been?"

"Not bad, how is Izzy?" I asked as I placed my brown leather briefcase down on the floor.

"She hasn't told you?" He didn't wait for my response, "We're expecting."

"Izzy's pregnant?" After I asked this, Michael went on rambling about how excited he was to have a child. It can be nice, seeing where all my friends have landed in life.

After work I went straight to band rehearsal in upper Manhattan, at our usual band studio that our bassist is the owner of.

We do not play at concerts as much as we used to and we practice only once a week.

"Izzy!" I walked into the studio, a few minutes late for our band practice, "Do you have anything to tell us?" I asked in a jokingly manner.

Izzy was our rhythm guitarist of our band, she recently just dyed her hair back to a light shade of blonde before her wedding about a year ago. Our drummer who replaced Ari was younger than the rest of us, twenty five years old, his name was Olly, with long brown hair that he always held back in a lower pony tail and was tatted from his neck down, his main occupation was a tattoo artist. Our bassist was the owner of the studio we practiced at, and also an old friend of mine who saved my ass when our original bassist left, and I from when we first formed it, in college. Her name was Sadie, she had dyed dark blue hair and also recently just got married to her girlfriend of four years.

"I swear I was going to tell you!" Izzy said while setting up her guitar.

"Tell us what?" Sadie stood right behind me, "Late again, my good friend" She said as I turned around, facing her.

"You need to move back to Manhattan." Izzy said as she stretched her arms, "Traveling from Brooklyn to lower Manhattan to Upper Manhattan back to Brooklyn is such a pain. When I invited you to live in Brooklyn with us I didn't expect you to still be there after we moved out!"

"I know a place, pretty cheap in Soho." Olly said as he sat down on a brown stool in the corner of the studio, "My friend is actually about to move out, you can move in right before. Two bedroom, one bathroom, a nice living room and kitchen, even has a small patio."

I laughed, "I would have to ask my girlfriend, but it sounds like a steal."

"How long have you two been together? Almost two years? I'm surprised." Izzy said as she stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth.

"Yeah, about two years. And why are you surprised? I'm thirty two years old, I am capable of being in a long term relationship with someone, I actually might think I will pop the question once we move to a new place. Been thinking about it for some time. I have a high paying job and a steady life now. Seems like the right time."

"Wow" Izzy said in a softer spoken voice than before, "To think, Yuri marrying someone. I really thought you would have spent the rest of your life being Ren's sex toy."

"Izzy" Sadie raised her voice.

I tried to laugh, "And I never would have thought of you as a mother."

"So he really did tell you" Izzy smiled, "I never would have either, me a mother. It still sounds crazy to me."

"You're pregnant?" Olly's eyes widened, "What about the band?"

"Yeah can you even play in a band while pregnant? And when you have the child, you'll be on maternity leave. You'll never have time"

"Change is not always a bad thing." Izzy interrupted Sadie, "It's not like I didn't think about that, I haven't told you guys because I feel bad, I don't want to leave the band permanently but yeah, I will need to take a temporary leave."

"You're right, change isn't a bad thing. I'm happy for you, don't worry about us." I was surprised by how I responded, and I guess Izzy was too.

"Yuri" Izzy hugged me, "You're getting too old."

I laughed, "Right back at you."

I got home by 1 pm that night, I saw Faye in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee as she scrolled through her phone. "You still up?" I walked up to her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

"I just got off work" Faye looked up at me from where she was sitting, "Practiced ran late?"

"Yeah" I kissed her cheek, "I have some good news. I found an apartment in Soho for us." Faye looked up at me with a surprised look on her face then she stood up.

"Are you serious?" I could not tell if she was excited or not, "But what about my job? I work in Brooklyn. I can't just quit."

"Can't you find a new job? Olly sent me the details on the apartment and it's a steal, I can afford to pay for it. You don't even have to work. You can take time settling in and take a few months off from work, and find a new job at a bar somewhere in Soho."

"Even if you can afford it, I don't want to feel like a free loader."

"You're my girlfriend! You're not a free loader." I defensively said.

"Yuri, it's late. Let's go to bed." Faye started walking away.

"Marry me." She stopped walking when I said this, Faye slowly turned towards me. "I mean, I don't have a ring yet and you don't have to answer right now." I felt my heart start to race as she stood there in the middle of the hallway staring at me.

"Yes"

"Yes?"

"Let's get married." She smiled as she walked back to me, I kissed her soft lips as we stood in the hallway hugging each other.

"Let's go to the room." I started kissing my way down her neck, "I want to have sex." I unbuttoned my shirt as we walked into the bedroom, pushing her down on the bed as the city lights shined into the room. Kissing my way down her chest as my hand made its way inside her pants.

As I held her in my arms, I thought about something I wish I had not.

'What about Ren?'