The Periwinkle Affair

TPA 1: My Life

A YEAR and half later...

"Maine?!" She heard Luisa calling her from outside the bedroom door, specifically from her living room. She recognized her voice since she's been her constant friend and somehow companion for a few years now.

She quickly came out of her unit's step up floor bedroom and greeted her friend.

Luisa can easily get in and out of her unit and so does she in Luisa's unit. They both have copies of the keys in each of their units, in case of emergency. They both live on the same floor, top floor, across from each other.

Ever since they owned the building some months ago, they moved to the top floor, renovated the whole floor, made two big units out of it and occupied the entire place, Luisa took the whole half and the other entire half was hers.

"Hi, Doc. May I help you?" She greeted her with a sweet smile but somewhat formal. Luisa is sitting casually on the loveseat glaring at her with a contemptuous smile.

"What's with the formality." Luisa smirked. She even laughed at her friend's down-to-earth demeanor. You will never see the doctor in her.

"Just practicing." She replied laughing. Luisa shook her head.

"Practicing... whatever." Luisa shook her head because of. Aine craziness. She knew Maine was up to something. "Hey, Mike called." She added. Mike is Luisa's friend from college, who's also a fire volunteer at the firehouse Luisa is talking about.

"Yeah? What did he say?" Maine asked, still formal.

"He said, there's an opening at the firehouse." Luisa casually announced lifting her feet up in the center table.

"Really?" She excitedly replied, flopping herself next to Luisa on the loveseat. Luisa nodded.

"I am still puzzled as to why you want to be a volunteer firefighter, when in fact you already have a very busy life as an emergency room nurse. I know you are not hard up on cash, we are profiting from the rentals on this building and you are getting a good pay at the emergency care unit, so... why?" Luisa wondered. Anyone that knows Maine wonders the same thing.

Fact #1: It is so unlikely for her to be a firefighter, not because she's a female, but because she's a full time nurse.

Luisa knows for a fact that there are female firefighters now-a-days, but Maine? She sees her as fragile and delicate woman.

Fact #2: Maine is set financially. She got her trust fund from her paternal grandparents as soon as she graduated from college but passed away a few days before her graduation day in a freak car accident. So, she didn't really need the money.

Luisa knows that being a firefighter is just a volunteer job, but she also knows that Maine really wanted to be one ever since she's a young girl. Really. But why?

"It is not about the money, Lui. It's one of my dreams as a young kid, you know that. And I felt like it's time for it to be fulfilled." Luisa smiled at her reasoning. Luisa felt it will be a dangerous job for her or for anyone.

"I know." Luisa replied.

"I always wanted to be a firefighter, if not, at least a volunteer firefighter." Her eyes sparkled. Luisa haven't seen that spark in a long, long time. That made her smile, too. She's very happy for Maine and at the same time, worried.

"I know. But shouldn't women like you be out there looking for someone to love, instead of looking for a firehouse to do some fire brigade to volunteer? Maine, you are so worth loving, I hope you know that." Maine bitterly smiled at Luisa's statement.