What I think about life.

The battle

Cat try to catch her breath. She has a few kilometers to go. She really wanted to stop since her 10 Kilometer checkpoint but she persevered. Instead of stopping all together, she slow down her pace when she feels she was about to die.  She didn't get enough sleep today. Yesterday was yet another an uneventful day. Not only she had to deal her work, she also has a fight with Azhar. They had a little misunderstanding when they had dinner together a few nights ago.

They went to their favorite Italian restaurant at midtown that night and things perfectly went well as usual. She wore a maxi black dress with a pair of diamanté Jimmy Choo's. Her old-Hollywood glam makeup went perfectly well with her red wine lipstick. He was shocked when he saw how stunning Cat look that night. She received a nice bouquet of pink roses. He was as handsome as ever - wearing a black shirt, black pants and a black shoes. He smells divine as usual. They chose the table facing the beautiful  view of the river at the corner of the restaurant.

They had a nice conversation whilst waiting for their meal to arrived. They had a great meal of bruschetta, caprese salad, tortellini, sautéed fish and end it with a nice Tiramisu cake each. They had a walk along the river after their dinner and help themselves with their second dessert that night, the classic chocolate gelato. There were a lot of people around spending their weekend together with their loved ones around the riverside.

They sat on an empty bench and continued eating their gelato in silence when suddenly Cat mentioned it's almost their fourth month going out together. He replied with a smile and said nothing. She brought it up again to see his reaction and he gave her the same reply. This was when things went from amazing to bad.

The downward spiral of the change in atmosphere was obvious for anyone to see. She couldn't sleep that night and had a hard time keeping herself awake at work. The piles of work awaiting her in her office made her left with no choice but drank plenty of coffee and red bull. She had sleepless nights from all the caffeine she consumed and the fight with Azhar. Mostly it was the latter.

This morning with a heavy heart and a much heavier eyelids, she had to wake up at 5 in the morning for her marathon. She had a quick cold shower to wake her up. She took care of Hope before going downstairs. She made herself a green smoothie and a cup of coffee.

The plan was for Azhar to give her a lift to the marathon venue but they didn't talk to each other since the night they had a fight. So, she asked her assistant to help her to drive to the marathon venue. Holly gladly said yes. She volunteer to support the company at the marathon. She waited for her assistant while drinking her second cup of coffee. All this coffee probably won't be good for the marathon but desperate time goes for desperate measure. Cat grab her small backpack and a bottle of water when she saw Holly's car in the driveway. Just like Cat, Holly wears the company's T-shirt and a pair of black joggers.

The sun is just rising when Holly drove her to the marathon. The beautiful gradient of color of the sky from the sunrise made the start of her day a little bit better. She feels a little bit better.

***

She finally made to the finishing line. She try to catch her breath and she can feel tears trickling down her cheeks. She try to hide her face from the crowd while trying to recover from crying. She feel different types of emotions right now and she feels overwhelmed. At least she finishes her marathon without stopping. Her mood lifts up about a micro at the thought of that but it will do. She has to face her colleague at their designated tent after this. When she feels calm enough to talk to people, she heads to their tent. Cat can hear words of congratulation as she walk towards it. She smile and thank them.

As she is talking to them, she see a familiar figure from afar. Her heart beats fast. She can feel butterflies in her stomach and probably a few other insects in there too. She cannot move her body and her face probably turns blue because she held her breath for so long. As Azhar is approaching their tent, Cat try to calm down and give herself words of affirmation. The day suddenly starts to rain.

He smile and she smile back. They talk about their fight while sitting in the tent waiting for others to come. It is one of the happiest day of her life. She is so glad that she did not give up.