Ripples in the Rain

Chapter Ten

I reached home in record time. I'd never walked this fast before. I stood outside my apartment building, staring at my bedroom window. ,unable to walk inside. I didn't want my daughters to see me like this. I sat down on the the front steps, watching the cars go by, trying to calm myself down. The more I tried not to think about Oscar, the more he became the only thing I could think of. Out of sheer stupidity, I reached over to grab my iPhone and played the song Oscar wrote for me. The song had a simple melody, but the lyrics were beautiful. It was about how quickly his feelings for me grew, and how he found inspiration again because of our relationship. It was incredibly romantic. Silly me, why did I go ahead and do something stupid like this? Now my tears were flowing like a river and I couldn't stop it. I rested my head on my lap as I continued to sob. I didn't care that people were passing by and staring at me. They wanted to ask if I was okay, but they felt uncomfortable and wanted to respect my privacy. I must've been sitting there for half an hour, in the rain, before I managed to calm down. When I finally held my head up and looked in front of me, I saw Oscar, standing just a few feet in front of me, his face also streaked with tears and swollen.

"Oscar," I said, almost panicking. I didn't want him to see me like this. "What are you doing here? Did you leave your own birthday party?"

He rushed to my side and kissed my lips. I can smell tobacco on his clothes. He must've been smoking

"I don't care about the stupid party," he said.

"Oscar! Don't say that, there are people expecting you to be there."

"At this moment, the only person I care about is you," he said.

"You can't be here," I said. "I'm going inside now."

"No, don't go yet," he pleaded. "Please, there's one more thing I need to say."

"Okay," I said, listening carefully.

He took out a little jewellery box from his pocket and opened it. Inside, there was a simple golden bracelet with a few charms. "This is my Abuela's bracelet," he said. "My mum gave it to me. She wanted me to give it to someone special."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. He wanted me to have his grandmother's bracelet? "I wanted to give it to Alana when we were dating, but I kept delaying it because I wasn't sure and this bracelet is very special to me."

"I can't accept this," I said.

"You have to," Oscar said. "I want you to have it."

"But we can never see each other again," I said, "Are you sure you want me to have it?"

He placed the bracelet on my wrist and clasped it. Luckily, it fitted perfectly.

"I don't know how I'm going to live without you," he said. He's still not letting my hand go.

I kissed the top of his head and ruffled his curly locks. "You will be fine," I said. "Stefan and Alana will keep you busy. And my girls will keep me busy. We will go on as if we had never met each other."

"How can you say that?" he said, sounding disappointed.

"We have to be strong. For our children." I stood up and said, "I'm going in now. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to let you go. And you need to go back to your party."

He nodded weakly as he stood up and started walking to the street.

I unlocked the front door to my building, looked back and smiled at him. He smiled sheepishly and waved goodbye. I hid behind a corner instead of going back to my apartment. I stood behind a wall, secretly watching him walk away from me. Surprisingly, he stopped walking after he noticed that I was gone. Instead of going home, he went back to sit where we just sat together moments ago. I looked at the bracelet Oscar had just given me and admired it as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I knew I would never take it off. And even though he was still in front of me, I missed him already.