“Can I come in?” asked Aaron.

Hebe stood there silently biting down on her lower jaw then turned away letting him come in himself. Hebe walked into the kitchen to stare at her cup of tea.

Aaron looked around the house. He knew she still lived there but he didn’t know of anything that was going on in her life anymore. They had become so distanced that even their relationship felt worse than his and Selina’s. Aaron glanced up at the chandelier as he walked under it. It had gotten more dusty and he felt as if Hebe had lost her sense of being proud about it. It felt sort of strange to be walking into the house he’d lived in with his family a year ago. There was no homey feeling and the house looked dark. He could imagine seeing the twins run around in their pajamas as he and Hebe chased them up the stairs to get into bed. How long ago that was and how his memory left him such an empty feeling.

“What are you doing here?” Hebe asked turning around and shattering his thoughts.

Hebe had lost a little weight since the divorce, but she still seemed to be healthy which made Aaron feel better at least.

“There was something I wanted to tell you,” Aaron said, “so I suddenly decided to come over.”

She felt her heart beat for him, but found herself looking at him differently. Maybe it was because of Jiro’s continuous influence on her. Now that she was looking at him, standing in front of him, Hebe saw a tired man. Even if she was feeling angry she could hear Jiro’s voice in her head as if he were there talking to her.

“Just listen to him. I know you want to yell and vent your anger at him and you clearly understand it’s not his fault so don’t let him  become the victim of that. You know what to do to make it better, don’t you?” she could hear his voice so clearly in her head.

Such small and short words that put her at ease. Soul mate? Is this how you feel toward your soul mate? When they completely change your world and you feel completely different? So different that you feel you’re not yourself anymore?

“What do you want to tell me?” Hebe asked.

Aaron paused before going on, “I know you don’t want to see me, but I felt I should tell you this because I regard you as a friend.”

What did he want to say?

“Selina’s back,” Aaron started, “I want to get her back.”

Hebe felt her heart burst and everything swirled around her. What? He wanted what? Why did he want to tell her this? Why did he regard her as a friend? Confusion, hurt, anger, and every memory she’d had with him suddenly came flying at her all at once. Hebe gulped and felt tears run through her eyes and turned around so he wouldn’t see her cry.

“Go ahead then. If that makes you happy.” Hebe heard her own voice saying reaching her hand up to clutch her shirt.

Aaron seemed to pause for a moment as if he’d noticed…or at least known she was crying.

“If it’s alright…can I still meet up with you sometime?” Aaron asked. “I don’t want us to become distanced like we never knew each other.”

Friends were important to him, Hebe suddenly recalled. He’d rather keep talking to them than lose contact even after they’d had such a bad argument his friend was ready to stop seeing him for a lifetime. And those friends of his…where were they now? Had he been feeling lonely somehow?

Hebe nodded helpless in her situation, “I’ll call you.”

With that, Aaron turned around to walk away. When she heard the door slowly close Hebe felt herself totally collapse. By telling her that he wanted to move on was one of the biggest steps to changing her life…forcing her to take a step forward and also move on herself. Hebe never realized that if Aaron had never told her that she’d still be stuck pondering over him, wavering over Jiro. Hebe found herself crying and her cup of tea…she never touched it.

|||||||||

Aaron turned around to stop and take a look at the house once he’d stepped out of it. The home he’d lived in with his family for 3 years. All the emotions that the house brought him made him want to tear up. He found it amazing that even something that was not alive could move a person to tears. His children…where were they? Had it been a part of fate that he’d lost them? Or was fate giving him a new chance to re-gather happiness after taking them?

He was sad, his children made him sad, and Hebe made him sad, but he was ready to move on. After a whole year…after all those emotional swings he had helplessly gone through…after all those tears that he’d wanted to shed…he felt he was ready to start something for himself again. He wanted to forget it, everything, for once so that even it wouldn’t appear at the back of his mind. If he got Selina back he knew he’d be happy. He had always been happy with her and if only he could make her see that again.

Aaron’s eyes moved from the tip of the roof to the door. He and Hebe used to clean the house and take the children to play on the weekends. How joyful those times had felt…He stood there reminiscing in his memories for a long time, he didn’t know how long, until he was finally able to turn away, and walk back to his car and drive back to his apartment.

He hadn’t gone to work that day. He didn’t know why, but a sudden impulse made him call himself in sick. It was something he’d rarely done. Maybe he really wanted to be alone and gather the courage to step back toward Hebe. Maybe…

||||||||

He wasn’t there when she walked into the office and after all that time it took her to convince herself just to go to work. Glancing at his desk once Selina headed to her computer and sat down.

“How was the trip, Selina?”

Selina stopped typing into her computer.

“It was ok.” Selina lied.

“I heard there was a really bad flood warning, so you two weren’t able to make it back. Where did you two stay?”

Why was she being so nosy? Selina pressed her lips together.

“We just stayed somewhere.”

Selina entered her password into the computer and logged on ready to ignore any more questions about that day…that night. When they’d all gone out for lunch Selina was the only one left in the office. She stopped typing furiously into the keyboard and looked around. How scary it felt being alone in there…it was so lonely and the room was so cold. Without much thinking she got to her feet and walked over to Aaron’s desk. It was neatly organized, folders in one pile and binders in another one. His name tag sat at the front of his desk, pens and pencils in a cup to the right, and sheets of papers in a tray to the upper left corner. No pictures of his family…even his desk gave off a lonely vibe.

“Aaron called in sick today,” Ah Ken’s voice surprised her from the doorway.

Selina felt herself jump, but remained calm looking in order not to lose herself. Ah Ken was a lot taller than her…unlike Aaron who was only a few inches taller. He looked very composed in his suit without a tie.

“Checking me out?” he joked.

Once Selina realized that she had, she quickly turned away in embarrassment.

He just smiled and held out a sandwich to her until she turned back to him, “It’s the first time you refused lunch with us, so I thought you’d be hungry. Here, take it.”

Selina slowly reached for it, “Thank you.”

Ah Ken looked at her then glanced at Aaron’s desk, “Did something happen during the trip? It’s the first time Aaron has called in sick and the first you ignored us. Care to talk with me?”

Selina remained silent then asked, “Is there somewhere else we can go to rather than talk here?”

He seemed surprised by her sudden but still managed to smile. Selina followed him up the stairs and pass some doors until they reached the rooftop. It was empty up there and it felt relaxing. Selina sat on the ground and began to unwrap her sandwich. Ah Ken sat next to her comfortably and stared out at the clear sky…not too sunny but not too cloudy either.

“I really like him as our team leader,” Ah Ken started, “a really nice guy, someone who’s really cool, and easy to get along with. Some of the girls had crushes on him, but he was married and had children at that time. It’s the kind of life where everything seems perfect, where nothing can go wrong, you know?”

Selina felt her heart tumble, but kept biting into her sandwich continuously.

“But they went missing a year ago and he went under a lot of pressure,” Ah Ken began. “I don’t know much details, but we went out for a few drinks a couple of times. You could see it in his eyes then…that he was really stressed…heplessly stressed. They divorced just a few months later.”

Selina stopped biting into her sandwich immediately and felt her heart in .

“You’re lying,” Selina said without turning to look at him.

“No, I’m not,” Ah Ken told. “It’s the truth.”

Selina couldn’t help, but turn to him, “Why are you telling me this?!”

“Because he’s never come to any of our parties we’ve held, but he especially made it to the welcome party we had for you, and you two even disappeared together that night,” Ah Ken stated, “it’s just what I see. I think it’s a man’s intuition to know when another man likes a girl. If you look closely at the way he looks at you, it tells everything. You two knew each other from before, right? Something happened between you guys, right?”

Selina turned away, an eruption of emotions blowing up inside her.

He took something out of his paper and scribbled something on it with a pen he’d had in his pocket and pushed it into the palm of her hand.

“This is his address on my business card,” Ah Ken said, “go see him if you have time and see if he’s really sick. Maybe you can tend to his wounds at the same time and call me sometime.”

With that he’d left her on the rooftop and soon enough her eyes began to shed tears. Why? Why was she crying?