The much needed ending for Chapter 13: As We Play the 'Waiting' Game.

“Tonight on….”  The sound coming from the TV can be heard at the door as Tiffany entered the apartment.

“Amber, you left the T…” Tiffany paused as she noticed no one is actually watching. All she saw was an empty couch. “V on again… Amber…” Her eyes roamed around their empty apartment as she reached for the remote. “Amber!” She shouted, turning off the TV in the process. Apparently, Amber was nowhere to be found.

She stood in the three point line, threw the ball, and missed. She rebounded it, and tried to make another shot, and missed again. She frustratingly dribbled the ball, hair dripping in sweat. She’s been playing for who knows how many hours already. She dribbled the ball again, and unfortunately missed again. She was definitely frustrated and basketball wasn’t reason behind it, not even close.

She was dribbling the ball again when she turned her attention to the shadow approaching her. She just gave a faint smile at the person walking towards her.

“You left the TV on again.” Tiffany teased as Amber sat beside her. “Yeah, sorry about that, usually Hen…” Amber stopped herself from saying his name. She felt even sadder than she was a while ago. It was quite evident on her actions.

“Henry would be the one turning off the TV when you left it on,” Tiffany finished what Amber was saying.

“You can’t even say his name now.” Tiffany commented. “Henry. Say his name, Amber. Henry. Say it. It’s that easy.”

“No, it isn’t.” Amber defended. “It isn’t.”

“Come with me. I want to show you something.” Tiffany spoke. Amber followed her to her car.

Tiffany grabbed her keys and opened the trunk of her car. Amber saw a familiar box placed at the center.

“I have found this hidden somewhere in the apartment,” Tiffany stated, “as I was looking for you. Open it.”

Amber took a deep breath and touched the cover of the box. She contemplated, yet somehow found the courage to open it. She knew what’s inside. She hid it because it contains so much of the life she wanted to temporarily escape from.

Amber needed to escape from it, badly. Since she left him, Henry sent her gifts that reminded him of her and sent it through Tiffany. He knows that of all people, Tiffany would know where Amber was. That said box was full of gifts that never been opened. Amber kept them because she knew one day she would open them in front of him and thank him for every single gift he sent her. That was the least she could do after what she did.

“Take that paper that I know you just crumpled a while ago and read it.” Tiffany instructed, pointing at it.

Amber held the paper and looked at her. “I said read it. Or better yet read it out loud to me.” Tiffany insisted. “I want to hear you say it.”

Sometimes we play the waiting game, hoping that as we wait, we will never get tired of playing it.

Tired of looking over my shoulder because all I can do for now is look at you from a far.

Listening to the clock ticking, watching it’s every move, waiting for it to waste its seconds away so I could go back.

Wasting my time waiting for a specific moment, a moment that I knew I missed to notice, a missed opportunity that could make me, feel happy again.

Sorry for making you wait for me, as I wait for me to be myself again.

I think I lost myself along the way because I only thought of you, not us, because I was too happy being with you, that I loved you too much, that I forgot about who I was.

One day, I will be me again. I promise. We will be “us” again.

For now, let us just play the waiting game, hoping in the end that we both shall win.

After reading, Amber just looked at Tiffany, didn’t know what else to say.

“Read it again.” Tiffany firmly requested. Amber sighed and read the letter again. And once more after reading the same old crumpled letter, she didn’t say a word.

Tiffany looked at Amber, and instructed her to read it again.   

“No, I won’t.” Amber finally spoke, putting the letter back inside the box.

Tiffany grabbed the letter and handed it over to Amber. “I said, read it again.”

“Let’s just go home. Please.” Amber suggested. “Read it again.” Tiffany repeated, and handing the letter back to Amber.

Amber just closed her eyes, and decided to just walk home. She was just too tired to deal with Tiffany.

Tiffany started to read the said letter to Amber. “Sometimes we play the waiting game, hoping that as we wait, we will never get tired of playing it….”

“What the heck are you doing?” Amber shouted.

“Because I wanted you to realize that the Amber who wrote this letter is the Amber that you left for him to remember. An Amber that was confused.  An Amber that felt lost because of him. Because you love him so much that you realized that forget about who you are. That you have changed so much.” Tiffany reasoned.

“You are just so unfair, Amber. And it has been…about what...two years since you left him. You even memorized the letter you gave him since you have been writing this letter over and over again.” Tiffany spoke, grabbed some papers from the box, showing them to Amber. “That is why I am doing this. To show what you have been doing to yourself and to Henry. Both of you suffered enough.”

Amber was looking at her wristwatch. “It has been 2 years, 7 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 18 hours, and 43 minutes since I left Henry.." She  spoke. "...Since I left that letter for him while he was asleep. He seemed to be asleep. I kept telling myself that he was. Sadly he wasn’t. He just pretended for my sake. He loves me that much to let me leave that morning without even saying a word.”

“And here,” Amber removed her necklace and threw it to her sister.

Upon catching it, Tiffany saw a ring and a key.

“I always have that key with if ever I decided to go back.” Amber spoke. “I will, someday. I promised him that.”

“Henry gave that ring to me. That ring made me do all of these. I was actually holding it, when I decided that I needed to go away. It reminded me of what Henry and I are, of what we have, and what we’ve been through. And I realized I must see the Amber that he sees. And I knew back then, I wasn’t that Amber. I was somebody else. That who he sees when he looks at me isn’t the Amber that he fell in love with. I knew that I couldn’t live up to the Amber that he loves so much.” Amber bowed her in defeat as tears started to fall.

“That’s the reason you left.” Tiffany finally realizing what Amber was feeling, and hugged her little sister. Amber cried even more, enveloping Tiffany in a tight embrace.  

“Did you already give him a definite answer after he gave this ring to you?” Tiffany asked, giving back Amber her necklace.

“He knows that I took the ring with me. He knows that one day he’ll finally know the answer to his question.” Amber replied.

Then Amber saw a man standing beside his car. Tiffany followed her sister’s gaze and smiled as she saw the tall white man smiling back at her.

“Think about what I said earlier. I will be leaving my car and the box here with you. You know what to do, right?” Tiffany explained.

“Don’t keep him waiting, even if you know he’ll always be waiting for you. You know what I mean.”  

Amber nodded and hugged Tiffany. “See you around, Amber.” Tiffany spoke. “I know where I could find you.” She teased.

“Go. Nickhun is waiting for you.”  Amber insisted, and looked at her sister’s boyfriend, smiling at him, as he smiled back. “I’ll be fine.”

Tiffany threw her keys to Amber. “I know you will be soon.” Tiffany confidently said as she walked towards Nickhun.

“You planned this all along that is why Nickhun arrived out of the blue, simply because I just left the TV on.” Amber remarked.

“I hate you.” Amber affectionately shouted at her sister.

“I hate you too.” Tiffany shouted back at her, laughing.  

As Amber saw them driving away, she contemplated on what she will do next.

“I guess I was being unfair to Henry.” Amber realized.  “For the fact that I know he will be waiting for me, so I let him wait for me even more.”

Amber was just too scared to go back and find out that she’s still as lost and confused as she was back then and that she needs to leave him again, and let him wait for her for another 2 years or even more than that or much worst that she can never go back. She loves Henry that much. And she’ll always love him. That is the only thing never changed, and will never ever change.

Amber walked towards the car, closed the trunk and drove back.

She went upstairs, lied on the bed, and immediately hugged Henry. She missed him so much. Henry cuddled her under the blankets, and held her hand, and he soon realized she’s wearing the ring that he gave her.

“You kept your promise.” Henry whispered to her.

“I told you I’ll be back.” Amber whispered back to him.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms that night with smiles on their faces.  

She finally found her way back. She wasn’t lost anymore.

a/n: Tu Me Manques means "I miss you" in French.  I guess, this is an approciate title for this. They both missed each other when they weren't together, when Amber was away. (Story-wise)

 Plus, Henry knows how to speak French. [Source:StringswithHenry] 

That is why I have chapters with French titles in them. 

(French language is a part of the "Henber" fandom, I guess on my case, it is. lol...) 

In one occasion before, Amber spoke in French - "Merci Beaucoup" before they performed the English Version of their songs, Chocolate Love and Chu in France. (link: Youtube, cr: uploaded by Perny88 - Jan 29, 2010).  There's another one, but I can't find the link. :(   (where is it?)

You know Amber is multi-lingual. She is great in learning different languages. Maybe she knows basic phrases from different languages she isn't fluent in. 

This is how my brain works in thinking about Henber plots. :) Little details can be sources of plot ideas. :)