Minutes Before The Miracle

CHAPTER - 20

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Happy reading!

-x-

Thought of the chapter :-
It's not always the tears that measure the pain, sometimes it's the smile we fake.

-x-

EMMA

The ring of the doorbell makes me take a pause from chopping the vegetables for salad. Washing and drying my hands, I answer the door.

"Miss Emma Grey?" asks a baritone standing behind a large bouquet of baby pink tulips.

"Yes," I answer, my voice emanating with a tinge of surprise.

"These are for you. Can I please have your signature?" The delivery guy's face is still hidden in the heap of flowers.

I quickly sign and carry the bouquet which feels so very heavy for these feather light flowers but then again, they are placed in a carved glass vase.

Placing the bulky arrangement at the center of the dining table, I instantly bury my nose in the soft petals and delightful fragrance, without a care about the sender.

It reminds me of all the good old times with my brothers and my fiancé. Those 'catch me' and 'come-hither' motions flood back into my mind and I revisit those red letter days.

After spending aeons with memories, I pluck the card, pulling myself out of nostalgia.

' can't come for dinner due to important engagement.

          Hope you enjoy! '

I read the card and in the next moment, it lies crumbled in the trash.

Could I even hope that men of his status will ever come to an employee's home for dinner?

But yet, it hurts.

Shaking my head, I toss the salad in the dressing because there is no time to get mad or rather I don't want to let my brain bubble up in indignation for a man so worthless.

Prior to a few minutes of setting the table, Ana and Mikey finally arrive and we hug and laugh. We share the events of the days when we were apart with Mikey concentrating completely on his food and drink. They both look tanned yet carefree.

Ana gets shocked when I tell her about the day at the bar to which she drops a string of curses and Mikey's eyes widen as big as saucers at her words, but he still doesn't reduce his pace of eating, let alone take a pause.

Devouring a few scoops of mint chocochip, we sit on the couch watching TV.

Ana eventually falls asleep and wishing me a goodnight, Mikey softly carries her to bed. This sweet gesture reminds me painfully of the time when someone treated me with the exact kind of love, respect and reverence.

I retire to my bed with every piece of memory intact and then, a lone drop of tear trickles down my eye as they become droopy and embrace me into darkness. However, some scars are so deep that they can never be washed away, even after a thousand hours of sleep.

-x-

The next day is alike to the previous, except my self-allowance of three five minutes break.

It's the lunch break and I get outside the office to grab some fresh air and food. Ordering a burger with fries and a coffee, I sit at one of the corner booths of the restaurant that is just a block away from my office.

Sipping my coffee, I look out of the glass windows to witness the city in its daily chaos. People entering and exiting restaurants and work places, little kids at an ice-cream parlour with an expression of awe at the plethora of shades and flavours, a couple walking down the street, hand-in-hand, a cute little family spending time together, and an indescribable and innumerable array of activities lighting up this incredible city with life.

This city is an ocean, accepting and embracing every single one, the estranged, the cheerful, the opportunity seekers, the buzz lovers and even the heartbroken.

The title 'The center of the universe' definitely couldn't have been more apt.

-x-

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