La Mémoire de Lune

CHAPTER 18: Goodbye Evan, I Love You

Hope busied herself with work for the following few weeks. Projects, recruitments, promotions, and training; she had a mountain of work to do. She had no idea that someone out there, who was as busy as she was, had been planning something special for her for the past few weeks too.

Hope tried her best not to think of Evan but the moment she lets her guard down, her mind begins to wander towards their memories. Their time together was relatively short but, nonetheless, sweet.

Bittersweet.

One sunny Friday afternoon, as Hope was checking up on the hotel's financial records, she received a call from Evan.

She felt a surge of emotions but she ignored them. She let the phone ring a few times before she answered.

"Hi, Hope!" Evan greeted from the other side.

"Hello," Hope gave a curt answer.

"Can I use my chance today?" Evan slowly asked, wary that Hope might have changed her mind already.

Hope paused in thought. Was this a good idea? Should she really give him a chance?

She shook her head, she promised him a chance after all. She couldn't say no now... she didn't want to say no.

"I know you're doubting me Hope but I promise you won't regret this. You won't regret this."

"Okay," Hope caved in, her slight reluctance heard in her tone of voice, "okay, you can use it today."

She glanced at the paperwork on her desk, feeling a slight headache coming on at the sight of them. Her eyes were actually beginning to burn from staring at the records for too long.

Well, at least she could take a break for a moment.

"Yes!" Evan whispered to himself on the other line, his voice was filled with relief.

It was so soft, in fact, that Hope almost didn't hear it. Almost. She couldn't help the smile that tugged on her lips when she heard his response.

"Let's meet at Daffodillery again, in an hour?" Evan suggested as he looked at his watch.

Hope looked at the time and nodded her head although he couldn't see her, "Okay, sure."

"Okay, see you, Hope."

She mumbled out a hum before ending the call.

Hope couldn't help but feel anxious, she didn't know what to expect. This was Evan after all, for goodness' sake! Evan didn't do the planning when they went out before, it was always Hope.

Despite the anxiousness, Hope can't deny the fact that she felt happy about Evan taking her out. Something, however, was holding her back from being ecstatic about the thought... Perhaps it was because she could still feel a tinge of hurt when she thought of him.

Hope arrived at Daffodillery later and, before Evan spotted her, she took the time to observe him.

He looked better, fresh even. The dark eye bags underneath his eyes were gone, he no longer had a stubble. His clean-shaven face looked vibrant. His hair was slicked back and he looked like his handsome self.

By the black oxford shirt and slacks he wore, Hope could see that he came straight from work.

Evan saw Hope standing by the doorway so he raised his hand to call her attention. She went over to him and asked a question.

"So, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, besides... We're going on an adventure, Hope, don't you dare spoil it with questions!" Evan mimicked her words from their little trip to the field.