Macabre: The portrait

In the end, is you and I

Jake left this morning. I told him yesterday that I will not be able to accompany him to his cab yesterday. I avoided that due to not being able to bear seeing him leave. He must have already settled there since now it's midday. I never got his number and neither did he have mine. It must've been for the greater good I guess.

I walked down the basement and it was back to how it was before. He cleaned the place and folded the mattress nicely. I walked over to our halfway done project, placed in the corner. I sat down next to it and dived into my thoughts. I looked around to see if I could find something, maybe a note. I couldn't decide if it was fair for Jake to leave like this, especially after all we've been through, and I felt it the most. But deep down, I understood he had to be with his family, like any other child.

I stood up and looked around. When I turned to the stairs, I couldn't believe my eyes. At least I wasn't crying yet. "Jake! you're back?" I said, filled with excitement.

"At least let me walk down the stairs first," he said, giving a little laugh. He approached me. "Yes, I have an uncle staying this side, and he agreed to let me stay with him. I collected some of my mother's pictures, wanna see?" he asked.

"I'd be glad to," I said, smiling. I couldn't hold myself. He reached into his bag and took out a couple of photos.

"I will be staying near the school with my uncle. At least now I'm sorted, right?" he said, organizing the pictures.

"Yeah, that will be nice. At least you will not be late, and I will get to see you more often and not be a stranger," I said, giving a little chuckle. He smiled and sat on the couch. He leaned towards me and showed me his mother's pictures. He was really excited that he finally saw his mother's face again after such a long time. He ran me down the timeline of his mother and shared what they told him in Sandlake.

"Look Mel, what hurts you, hurts me too. On my way to Sandlake, I kept thinking about what we've been through, and this whole thing taught me that life is too short. I wanna take this moment to let you know right now that I love you." I suddenly became speechless, and my mouth instantly became dry. He held my hand and continued, "I will forever be grateful to you until I go down my grave. Pain always rushed into my heart every time I thought about what I got you into. I don't want to experience the regret of not telling you this. I came back for you. I do not have an uncle this side. I came with burdens and hidden feelings. You relieved me from my burdens. I wish I could take out my heart and show it to you pounding when I'm next to you. If being next to you each day was a job, then I wouldn't retire. I've never opened my heart's door for anyone, but when I met you, my heart's doors opened wide open. If I have to start a new chapter without you, I would have to dig my heart a hole and fill it with the times I was with you. I do not wish to start a new chapter and forget about everything we experienced."

"Oh Jake, from being the epitome of nonchalant to being affectionate," I said, smiling and wiping the tears from my eyes. "So where will you live? Will you be living back here?"

"No, I've received a portion of my father's estate, and it was liquidated, so I will use the money to pay for a penthouse around here until next year, and my relatives volunteered to lend helping hands," he explained.

"I am speechless. I too want this, but you took the words out of my mouth. I didn't expect you to say this at all, and I thought I was the one who would express myself first," I said.

"So that's a yes? to a start of something new?" he said, blushing with the widest smile.

"Yes," I replied. He grabbed and hugged me in the tightest hug.

"Wanna go check out the new place now?" he asked. "Sure," I replied in excitement.

On our way out, we met Elaine, and I could see she was thrilled by seeing us holding hands. She joined us to view the new place.

We chose the best one that would fit the budget while leaving some money for necessities. We made the next stop at the supermarket and bought some snacks and drinks. Elaine drove us to the diamond walk park, and we set up our little picnic. We shared laughs and made some new memories. Jake became comfortable with Elaine being there, and this really warmed my heart. We laughed at the moments Jake had to cover up during dinner with my family and get into conversation with them. My two favorite people in one space. Elaine prompted us to take selfies, and that's when we shared our second kiss. Our lips locked like scarlet ribbons, tender in a way I could feel it. Elaine kept on taping us, though we pushed her away.

We met in the funniest way. Made the funniest memories. Shared the funniest moments. From strangers, we became friends, from friends we became crushes, and finally from crushes, we became couples. Though I can't say much about Elaine and Jake's relationship. Enemies to friends? Hmm...