Always and Forever

Chapter 28

*Jake's POV*

Next time I opened my eyes it was already morning. Looks like I fell asleep last night. I lazily got up from the couch and took cups to the kitchen. I froze for a second when I saw the cup, which I made for Ella instinctively last night, full. This reminded me of my cruel reality.

Once I finished washing the cups in the kitchen, I heard the front door open. I thought it was Daniel in the beginning but unfortunately it was Nathan.

I left the kitchen and went towards my laptop, completely ignoring Nathan. But he didn't ignore me. He came to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

- How are you son?

- How many times do I have to tell you, do not call me your son.

- We talked about this a lot of times, Jacob. I want to get my son back.

- There's no getting your son back. You've lost me a very long time ago.

- There's still a chance, Jacob.

I didn't say anything else. I just ignored his presence next to me and started looking for information about Joseph. As I expected there wasn't much about him but I still managed to find some.

It was getting harder and harder to think in that room, especially when Nathan was in the same house as me. So I got my laptop and went to the backyard. Thankfully this house had a really big garden with a lot of trees. I'm sure Ella would love this place.

I sat down under one of the trees and started working on my laptop. Hour passed like this. Suddenly I felt really sleepy. I haven't slept this much my whole life. I even hated sleep. For me it was a waste of my time, but now I even love to sleep because only then I was able to be with Ella. So I turned my laptop off, leaned on the tree and closed my eyes.

- Jake, wake up already.

I felt someone shaking my shoulders trying to wake me up, but I ignored it. I was really tired.

- Bluey wake up, please.

Wait... Bluey?

I jolted open my eyes and saw Ella smiling at me.

- Our sleeping beauty is finally awake.

Then it hit me that I was dreaming and none of this was real but I didn't care. Ella was with me. I hugged her tight and kissed her on the forehead, with tears in my eyes. Everything was so real.

- Jake... are you okay?

I nodded and hid her face in my chest, hugging her tight and not letting her pull away from my embrace, while I let my tears out. She hugged me back and didn't say anything.

I was holding her like this for a few minutes. I was scared to let go. I didn't want this dream to end. But she wasn't saying anything and I couldn't even see her smile. So I wiped my tears away and slowly let go of her. She felt it, moved her head and looked me straight in the eyes. How I missed her eyes. I couldn't help but smile while looking at her beautiful face. She saw it and smiled to herself.

- I missed you, love.

- Jake... you just saw me like 10 minutes ago, why did you miss me so much?

I almost forgot that it was a dream and she didn't know anything about it. It was only 10 minutes for her while I was suffering for weeks. But I didn't want to ruin this great dream so I played along with her.

- 10 minutes is a long time, love.
She laughed like she used to. How I wanted to stay in this dream, with her, forever.

- You can't even live without me for 10 minutes, Bluey?