Chocolate Emergency

Thirty-one Storms

                Thirty-one Storms

Somehow half an hour later, I find myself in a red dress, standing outside a star-studded banquet. There were people standing in small, formal groups, some were dancing in the middle.  A man was playing a sad tune on his violin, the melody hung in the air before drowning in the noise of the chatter.  

            I clung to Yuv's side as he led me through the masses of people. Dressed like the next James Bonds, he gave me a cheeky grin. "We'll find him. Don't worry,"

            "That's not what I'm worried about," I muttered as my eyes scanned the simple, lilac filled ground. There were few cream colored silk drapes tied upside down into a small canopy. All the office staff of Enlighten was here. I feared for my dear life.           

            I didn't want to bump into Mr. Hutchins, better yet into Sarah.

 What am I doing here anyways? I wasn't here at this beautiful party to ask for explanations. I just wanted to see him before he left for Nepal. Maybe this will be the last chance I have.

I recognized some of my father's colleagues by the buffet. Is he here too? Unfamiliar faces surrounded me, they blur under the yellow lights.

Yuv pointed a finger at the center of the trimmed grass ground where Devlin was dancing, in confident strides, he held a woman in a bold, gold dress by the waist. They moved through the strings of dancers. There were dark hollows under his eyes, even though he stood amongst a merry crowd, not a single ounce of cheer filled him. My arms were aching to go and breathe life into his lifeless self. I hated when he was sad. It was like dying a thousand every second.

"I'll go bring him," Yuv's eyes flickered from Devlin to me. "Stay here,"

I wanted to tell him that I wasn't here to talk to him. I just wanted to watch him, watch him become less and less the man I knew.

"There's no need," Sarah approached us, her blue eyes narrowed on my face. "You should be the one going to him, not the other way around,"

Yuv clenched and unclenched his fist. "Sarah, you know nothing so stay out of this,"

She curled her hands around my wrist, the diamond bracelet on her wrist felt cold against my skin. "What did you do to him?"

I couldn't reply. My eyes had been caught by her brother.

I could distantly hear Yuv. "... he didn't even tell her..."

Devlin's hand slackened from the woman's waist. He half-ran, half-walked towards me, quite breathlessly. It was like he was running away from death -that was the kind of desperation in his expression.  

"Alice, Alice..." his lips read.

Seconds later I was wrapped in his arms. He held me as a lifeless soul clenching to the last air of life. Everyone was watching us, even Mr. Hutchins. To my surprise, he wasn't angry. There was a misty look glazing his eyes. He smiled at me, a wavering smile.

I felt Devlin's breath fall over my neck. "Please, take me away from here. I can't take it anymore."

△▼△▼△

            I drove us far from the party, far from the prying eyes to the place where it all had begun. All the time I drove the car, he cried. Silent tears dripped down his face, flowing down his neck and staining the brown shirt he was wearing.

            I had to lift him up the stairs. There was barely any energy left inside him.  

            We sat on the floor of his apartment, two bodied molded into one. He told me everything: from his mother wanting voluntary euthanasia till the point of loving me so desperately that it physically pained him.

            I listened, not saying a word when he spoke. My desire for wanting him to confess his love seemed selfish and childish now.

            "One moment I have everything sorted out. I know what I want to do and who I want to be. Suddenly it all vanishes into thin air and life doesn't have meaning anymore,"

            Have you ever had a needle prickle your finger? In this moment, seeing him like this felt like there were thousands of needles skimming above my skin. He sat there like a broken glass figure, his eyes red, and tears frozen on his cheeks. A lost look haunted his eyes.

            "She always begged me to take her home. She didn't like the hospital. It made her sick. I always thought let me completed my MD then I'll be capable to take care of her but God!"

            He sobbed. "I didn't know she had other plans. I don't know what to do without her,"

"Yes, you do." I whispered. Devlin looked at me. "She was proud of you for chasing your dream,"

"I don't understand,"

"You should chase the dream you abandoned for your family," I wiped the tears from under his eyes. "It's time you stopped thinking about others. You need to live for yourself." I smiled, as I repeated the words he had once said to me.

            "Look at you," Slowly a smile, flickering as an open flame, began forming on his lips. "You've grown so much,"

            "What can I say?" I sighed. "You've rubbed off on me,"

He laughed, a throaty laugh. It made my cold toes warm up.

            "You will though, right?" I entangled our fingers together so our hands looked as though they were one. "Learn to live again and try reaching for your dream,"

             We stared into each other's eyes, trying not to get lost as storms whirled around us. "I will, my angel"

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Note: Only the epilogue is left. I can't believe everything is coming to end so fast. Devlin really needed Alice. He no longer can care about being 'not good enough for her'

            I don't what else to say. </3