❥𝑹𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

Chapter 76

Narrator

It was a cozy - or not so cozy Friday noon in Canada. Since the winter months had started to fade in, the sun didn't warm the city enough anymore. Cold spots appeared and the wind picked up.
Valerie nervously touched her necklace, not looking her friend in the eyes.
They were sitting in a park in Montréal.

No, it was not just a park.
It was the park.

It was the place where Charles asked Valerie to be his girlfriend.
And even though it laid in the past for more than years, the image of them kissing at the water fountain played in Valerie's head more than she wished it would.

But of course Juliette couldn't know that.

»You seem quiet today, everything alright?«, her friend asked with a frown of concern above her hazel eyes.

Valerie let out a long sigh, hushing by a quick eye contact.
The breeze came across her hair, making them float for a split of a second to fall gently back into place.

»It's Charles, isn't it?«

Valerie's heart made a jump as Juliette said his name out loud, higher than she wanted it to. Her gaze wandered across the park, the couples holding hands, the partners with their little children. Happy people.

»I... I miss him.«, she admitted in a whisper, her voice breaking behind it.

The oxygen seemed to have left the air when Juliette didn't respond for a long while. She looked Valerie in the eyes, giving her a look of sorrow.

»Is there any reason in particular, why now?...«
she finally asked, her gaze turning into curiosity.

Valerie scoffed loudly, putting one foot on the bench to rest her elbow on her knee.

»Must be Canada.«, she exclaimed, more or less spitefully.

Juliette looked around, scanning their surroundings and ignoring her friend's tone.

»I don't quite get it...?«

»Charles and I got together for the first time in this park.«, Valerie spit out by one. The words rolled uncontrollable over her tongue. She tried to push the scene in her head away that appeared within the process.
She looked down at her hands.

»Oh... I see.«

»But only because he tried to call me yesterday.«, Valerie mentioned quietly, staring at a point where Juliette' eyes couldn't follow her.

»And?«

»He left me a message.«

Silence.

»Come on, I don't want to press it out of you!«

»I didn't want to listen to it, but I just couldn't help myself.« Valerie scratched on the loose skin that grew around her fingers, »He almost cried into the phone, he said he missed me.«

Juliette looked at her, trying to read her face expression.

»I shouldn't, but in that moment all I wanted was to call him back, say I miss him, too.«

Juliette's eyes grew out of unexpected surprise.
»He cheated on you! Well, technically.«

»He denies it every time I mention it.«
She couldn't say why she defended him now, but it wasn't any use anyways.

»Every man who feels guilty says that!«

Sigh.
She had a point.

»What's with Raphael, Val? Didn't you say he was nice?«

A couple passed the bench and Valerie waited until they were out of earshot.

»Maybe I was not so right about it after all.«, she murmured into her knee.

»Huh?«

Valerie replayed the situation from the last evening and chewed on whether she should tell Juliette about it. She wasn't even sure herself what it meant.

With apprehension, she spilled her mind in every detail, from when they were watching a movie to the bathroom call.

»He argued with someone on the phone?«, Juliette echoed, frowning her brows.

Valerie nodded, trying to complete the story.

»And that's why you can't be with him?«, the Frenchwoman intervened with confusion written all over her face.

»That's not the point,« she took a long breath, holding her friend's attention.
»Raphael mentioned Charles, Juliette! Something about that the person he was talking to hasn't made success with him.«

The confusion wouldn't leave her face. »What does that mean?...«

»I don't know.«

Valerie hid her face behind her hands, going through her open hair within the process.

»Well, maybe you should just ask Raphael, then.«

Valerie was just about to reply, when Juliette's phone rang. She reached for it and spoke quickly, then got off the bench in a hurry.

»I gotta get to work, they need me.«

»Off you go.«, Valerie made gestures with her hands to shy her away.

»You're coming later?«

Valerie nodded and returned a soft smile before watching her friend leave.

She kept watching the people walking around the park, but eventually felt pathetic with sitting all alone on her bench.
She found a quiet place at the lake, only a few dogwalkers every now and then. Her body hit the soft grass, and she suddenly felt like a child again, playing with her brother in their garden.

As she fumbled around the straws of grass, her lungs filled with windy, fresh air that appeared to be clean and healthy. Valerie picked up some small flowers that grew within her reach and ripped the blossoms each by each.

It felt lonely. And she most likely shouldn't pollute her mind with spending any more minute in that park. Their park.

A small movement, a flashing white color attracted her attention. It was a butterfly exploring the vegetation.

It was dumb and utterly childish of her to assume, but that butterfly looked exactly like the one she saw months ago when she picked out a dress. Valerie had thought it was a good omen.

»What have you gotten me into, huh?«, she said to the butterfly, or more likely to herself.