His Heart For Collection

Chapter five

I didn't sleep a wink last night. I only thought of Drew and what he was doing. I knew he was drinking himself to numb the pain, and I knew I'm the one who caused the pain. He didn't get drunk most of the times I've seen him, but I knew he drank way too much.

So, when he stumbled into our room at four in the morning, I was surprised. His shirt had blood on it.

"What happened?" I asked, rushing to him. His eyes were dazed and he did smell of alcohol. I lifted his shirt, wanting to see any injuries. He pushed my hands away, stumbling further into the room.

He went to the bed and sat down, running his hand through his messy hair.

"What happened?" I asked once again, not getting closer to him.

"I'm fine. Just had a minor fight with some people," he said, voice raspy.

"At least let me look at your wounds," I said, trying to get closer to him.

"Leon, stop. I'm not hurt. This is not my blood," he snapped.

I ran a hand down my face, wondering how I could soften the blow I unleashed hours ago. "My love, I-"

His eyes were harsh when he said, "Don't call me that."

"Drew, are you drunk?" He glared at me, so I rephrased. "Okay, I think we've put this off for so long. Everytime when we have to talk about the issues in our marriage, you always shy away from that. So, we're going to talk about the issues we have faced."

Drew was now giving me a blank stare, and I knew what was coming next.

"We are not doing this right now. I want to sleep," he said.

Before I could say anything, he laid down on the bed with a hand covering his eyes. "Oh, happy anniversary by the way."

His nonchalance pissed me off. I really wondered how I survived living in the same space for five years with him. He was infuriating. I loved every part of him, and every part of his personality, but I was allowed to be frustrated at some of his attitude.

"I'm sorry, my love. Come here. Let's sleep," Drew said, his eyes begging me to comply.

Since I also didn't want to fight because it was our anniversary, I sighed and went to him. He scooted to the other side, then patted the empty space besides him.

I got on the bed and let him wrap his arm around me. He kissed my forehead, then whispered, "Sleep well, my beloved. Everything will be better when you wake up."

____________

When I woke up in the morning, Drew was not beside me. I rubbed my eyes, then checked the time. It was ten in the morning. Before I could wonder where Drew was, he emerged from the bathroom, already in his hiking clothes.

He came to me, kissing my forehead. "Happy anniversary, my love."

I smiled, saying, "Happy anniversary. What's the plan for today?"

I got off the bed, then walked to the bathroom.

"We will have our breakfast, then we'll drive to the hiking trail. We will camp at the end of the trail."

"At what time are we leaving?"

"In two hours. I want us to have enough time to set up camp."

When I was done preparing for the day, Drew ordered our breakfast.

I laughed when the tray had a single rose accompanying the breakfast.

I kissed him, thanking him for the breakfast.

"Let's take one bag of clothes for camping. I'll pack our clothes."

He agreed, so I grabbed both of our bags. I emptied mine, then chose the clothes I'll take. I opened Drew's bag, rolling my eyes at the shorts. "What if it gets cold?"

"You know I don't feel the cold like you do," he replied.

"Rub it in. It's fine." I grabbed one t-shirt from his bag, and one shorts. I was about to close his bag when I saw red on one of his shirt. It's the shirt he was wearing yesterday when we came here. I took it out, seeing the blood on the shirt. I held it up. "What's this?"

I saw panic in his eyes, but it was gone in a blink.

"Ran into some trouble when I went jogging in the morning."

"What?"

"It's nothing. It's not even my blood. I'm fine."

"Drew, why didn't you say anything? Are you sure you're fine?" I asked, worried.

He came to me, taking the shirt from me. "I'm fine, Leon. Let's finish up so that we can go, alright?"

I nodded, but I was still worried. Drew stuffed the shirt back into his bag and zipped it. I grabbed my bag and followed Drew out of our room.

I held Drew's hand. He was stunned, looking at our hands. I was still worried and I felt like he was not telling me the truth about the bloody shirt.

"Maybe I should get into trouble more often if it's going to get you to hold my hand," he joked.

It was not funny to me. "Don't joke like that," I scolded. He's taking this lightly. What if something had happened to him?

"I'm sorry, my love."