Falling In Fall (Major Editing)

Falling In Fall

E p i l o g u e

Orange lollipop trees surrounded the area, and the fresh autumn wind fanned around in silence. My gaze traced along the roof of the house as the daylight attempted to dance with my eyes. I gripped my handbag firmly, feeling keyed up, and tried to divert the tense by stroking my thumb along the leather cover.

"Ma'am," I snapped my head around to face the taxi driver who has been carrying two weighty traveling bags from the compartment. "--your... suitcases!" He heavily breathed out, same time he dropped the bags in front of me with a loud thud.

I was sure I heard a crack, though. Hope it wasn't any of the case's frame.

"Thank you, kind sir." I smiled and pulled the two bags closer to me.

The man whom I remembered named Jaspher just stood before me, strangely eying my every moves.

Creep. I cleared my throat and asked, "May I... help you?"

"You haven't paid your fare, ma'am." He reminded, as he extended his arm out.

"Oh!--" I paused to stare at him with confusion, "You waited till now?" I asked, and rummaged through my bag for my wallet before handing him a bill. "Here, keep the change."

He scanned the money in his hands, and lifted his gaze to look at me again. "But this is the exact payment."

"I know," I stopped when he furrowed his eyebrows looking at me like I was some weird alien that needed help from a stranger. "--I mean," I searched for some coins around my bag and gave it to him without counting how many I got. "Here's your change, uhh, tip, sorry."

He slowly let a nod, and genuinely smiled. "Thank you so much!"

"Thank you too." I watched as Jaspher walked towards the cab and drove away before I released a sigh and whispered, "Well, that's awkward."

Shaking my head, I turned on my heel and took a step through our porch. I reached for the key in my bag until a vehicle halted behind with screeching tires.

"Nikki!" I knitted my eyebrows and looked behind my back to see my best friend in her usual jovial demeanor, approaching me with large steps and arms wide open for a bear hug. "You're finally home!" She shrieked with delight.

"Oh my God, Hailey!" I squealed and couldn't help myself on making a leap of excitement before we connected our bodies with a tight embrace. "I've missed you so much!"

She squeezed out her emotions on me and murmured, "I'm so glad to see you, though... It's like seeing you from dead again, like Jesus."

"And so I'm holy." I laughed,

"It's cool." Hailey pulled away and placed a distance between us to ask me a question, "So, anything happened? Like, boys, preferably?" She smirked.

I playfully rolled my eyes, and let out a chuckle. "You knew I was home schooled in Germany, and I don't go out that often either. Also just to let you know, I did not consider searching for a guy there because I know I have one here." I grinned widely with the thought of seeing Chase again after one whole year and a few weeks of not feeling his presence.

"Ugh, you can always have fun and play on a different pond. He wouldn't know anyways."

"Are you kidding me?"

She shrugged, "I mean, I did feel a bit nauseous after saying it."

"Well, at least you knew how perverse the remark was."