Romantic Rain

She giggled at the tingle his breath had on her. “Good morning.” She replied. She turned her head, and gave him a lingering kiss. “What time is it?” She stretched with his arms still wound around her, but loosening his grip. “It’s 9:48.” She relaxed back. But then jumped off. “Oh no, it’s 9:48!”

He sat up also, resting his chin on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“You have a practice! 49 minutes ago!” She grabbed the sheet, and got out of bed. She wrapped the sheet around herself, ad ran down the stairs. She picked up her phone that she left on the coffee table. “8 missed calls!” She called out. “Crap,” muttered to herself.

Gerald sighed, and followed her after he put his blue jeans on. “Calm down, it’s the first practice of the season. No one ever shows up.”

Kim laughed, “No Ge, it’s the first season you have to show up. I can’t believe this, my boss is going to yell at me. Your boss is going to yell at you.” She put her hand on her forehead, “Ugh, I feel a headache coming on.”

Gerald put his hand on her waist and turned her around to face her. He pulled her hands away from her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll call them myself and say I had food poisoning for something, It’ll be okay, I promise.” He put his hand on each side of her face and kissed her forehead, “You’re so cute when you’re worried.” He chuckled.

Kim smiled, “I’m not worried. I’m doing my job.” He nodded. “Okay, so you get on the phone, and I’ll get in the shower.” She patted him on the back.

“You want company?” He .

“Get them on the phone, Ge!” She called back as she walked upstairs. He laughed, loving it when he . She was old-fashioned, so she got all embarrassed when he made innuendoes. He loved seeing the colour change in her cheeks, and loved it when he was the reason for it.

Kim got out of the shower, and wrapped the towel around her. She wiped the fog off the mirror and smiled at her reflection. She had an ear-to-ear grin on her face. She couldn’t believe what she did. She slept with a client, and she didn’t feel embarrassed or out of line, or like it was wrong. It was the exact opposite; it felt right. Being in his arms, have his lips on her skin. She still felt his lips on hers, on her; his touches were soft and gentle. Not only that, but she got exactly what she wanted. She got him to open up; the only expense sharing something about, but she didn’t care. It felt good to talk about her mom, no matter how hard it was. He accepted her after fearing that he wouldn’t.

Gerald took a shower in the downstairs bathroom and then prepared something in the kitchen for his new girl. He smiled as he reminisced the events of the night before. He packed everything up, and called a friend of his that lived in the area to pick up his package, and told him where he was to receive it back.

Kim got out of the washroom, and found Gerald sitting on the couch. She laughed to herself, remembering last night. “Did you call them?” She asked.

“Yup, and guess what.”

“What?” She said, sitting beside him.

He took a deep breath, “No one showed up.” She laughed. “I told you, didn’t I tell you? The first practice is like a test. If you show up, they give you a pat on the back for passing it, and tell you to leave.”

“Are you serious? You’re not just saying it to me because it’ll make me feel better?” He shook his head, and wiped a piece of wet hair behind her ear. She studied his expression. His eyes were impossibly lighter, and calmer. “So I’ve been thinking about what you told me last night.”

He chuckled, “You had time to think last night?”

Kim rolled her eyes, “Stop it,” she smiled. “And you know, we could always do it.”

“I know we can.” He kept going.

“Ge!” She hit him playfully. “I mean the community centre. We could do it. It’s a really great idea, and once we get home I think we should start planning it.” She paused. “That’s if you want to do it of course.”

He sighed. “Will it allow us to see more of each other?” He touched her neck, softly caressing it. He leaned in and kissed her softly. “You wanna go out today?”

“What do you have in mind?” She asked.

“It’s a surprise.” He got up, and let go of her hand. He took out his glasses and baseball cap, and put them on.

She stared at him weird. “Now?”

Gerald nodded, and took out another baseball cap. “I bought a girly one just for you.” It was white and light pink. He placed it on her head, fixing her growing wavy hair. “C’mon, we got to go now if we want to really enjoy the New York experience.” He walked over to the door.

Kim laughed, and stood up, taking his waiting hand. She slipped her feet into ballet flats waiting at the door, and they left. She was about to go to the elevator, but Gerald pulled her to the opposite direction. “What?”

“Let’s take the elevator today. We got to.” Gerald pressed the button, and Kim held onto him. She wasn’t scared, being alone with Gerald wasn’t bad, but the feeling she felt when the elevator stopped suddenly scared her.

She followed him into the elevator when the doors opened, and when the doors closed, he pushed her against the wall and began kissing her madly. She didn’t object. She couldn’t wait until his lips touched hers again; feeling his hands on her back, pulling her close. She heard the ding of the elevator every time it left a floor.

Apparently, Gerald was counting down because he separated from her, leaving her with a last peck on her lips, and then stood before beside her before the doors opened. Kim was standing breathless, fixing her hat, and walking out with Gerald.

The some sort of “disguise” was a good idea because no one knew it was them. Every time they left the elevator the last couple of days, there’d be cameras following them; hardly any time for privacy.

He guided her through the streets, and stopped when they passed a sign that said “Central Park.” Kim smiled, and giggled. She pulled him into the park. He chose the most perfect day, there was not a cloud in sight, and the sun was shining brightly above them. This was the perfect day. She noticed he let go of her hand, and when she turned around, she saw him jog to a guy, and took a basket from him. He gave the guy a bill, and jogged back to her.

“A picnic?” She asked him.

He took her hand, and brought her to a particular tree, and set the blanket down. He took her hand, and she stepped onto the blanket and took a seat. “How romantic.” She stated.

“What can I say, I’m a pretty romantic guy,” he took a seat in front of her. “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and Kim is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon. It is the east, and Kim is the sun,” he , taking her hand, intertwining their fingers, and kissing the back of her hand.

Kim blushed, “You’re so corny!” She said.

“Oh yeah?” He let go, and reached over to her sides, tickling her, tackling where it hurt the most, her armpits. Kim grabbed his arms, and laughed hysterically. He loved her laugh, and to hear all day would be all he need. He finally let go when she was on her back, and he was on his side facing her. He had one arm supporting his head, with the other hand on her stomach. “I love your laugh,” he said softly.

She chuckled. “You don’t have a bad one yourself” She exhaled. Kim took off her glasses, and shut her eyes, feeling the sun’s rays on her face.

Gerald took his finger, and traced a line with his finger starting at the top of her forehead, down passed her eyes, her nose, and her lips. She kissed his fingers when she felt them on her lips. Kim opened her eyes and saw a serious Gerald. He was so beautiful to her, and whatever he was doing was touching her right to her core.

Gerald stared into her violet eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” He whispered. He took off his hat, and stared back at her. Kim stopped smiling. He leaned down, and kissed her lips, tasting the strawberry gloss. “I want to know you.” He muttered.

She chuckled nervously. “What do you wanna know?”

He put his hand over her heart, feeling her heartbeat. “Everything.” He knew it ever since he spoke to her for the first time; Kim wasn’t like the rest of them. She was different, unique. The exact girl he could fall in love him. The only problem was that he already fell.

Kim stared at him with a hint of a smile on her lips. “What do you want to know?” She repeated.

“When’s your birthday?” H realized they should have done this conversation way before the events of the previous night.

“April 19. Yours?”

He chuckled. “March 7.Where were you born?”

Kim sat up and took one of his hands into hers. “I was born in China, but I moved to the Philippines when I was just a kid.” She swallowed hard, remembering a painful childhood. Kim took her fingers, and traced the lines along his hand. Kim smiled, hiding the pain.

“Do you miss home?” He asked her.

She nodded. “I miss by dad, and brothers and sisters. We were everything to each other, the most important people in each other’s lives. It was the hardest thing to leave them. But I call them almost everyday. How about you? Are you and your family close?”

He sighed, “Me and my mom are.”

“I’m sorry,” she looked down.

He shook his head. “Don’t be. It wasn’t always like that with my dad. He was the one who taught me how to play ball. We used to go out every Saturday and just play in the park. It’s what I looked forward to. And then I decided that’s what I wanted to be doing in life, play the game. And everything went downhill.” He felt safe with her, knowing she wouldn’t ridicule or judge him. He was okay with sharing his dark secrets with her; he was someone she could trust with everything. He sat up, and starting taking out the food. “You hungry?”

She laughed, “Always.” He took out little sandwiches wrapped in food wrap, and placed onto the blanket. He took out fruits in containers, and a bottle of wine with two glasses. “Did you pack all of these when I was in the shower?”

“Impressed?” He smiled, opening a container, and taking a strawberry out and feeding her.

“Extremely.” She took the strawberry into , and laughed. “Room service?” She stared at all the food.

He laughed. “Yeah, hotels are great. They’ll pack the food for you and everything.”

“All it takes is a little money, though. You don’t have to spend money on me. I’m a cheat date.”

He wiped his forehead in relief, “Thank-goodness, I thought my pay cheque would all be wasted to impress my date.” He joked. “By the way, I thought these weren’t dates, they were for business.” He teased.

She knew that was going to come back to bite her in the . “But then again, I’m not out with Gerald, I’m out with a really handsome man in a baseball cap and aviators that make him look really hot.” She leaned in for a kiss.

Gerald gave her what she wanted. “It seems like you’re coming out of your shell. No worry wrinkles, or panic attacks, just you.” He smiled, breathing in her fruity scent.

“I have faith in you.” She replied. They spent the rest the rest of the afternoon just talking about everything; from their childhood, their awkward teenage years and their adulthood. They spent the time laughing at their stories and jokes.

It was late evening, and the sun was going down. The park was still full of chatter, and children. It seemed like there was something doing on. Gerald was leaning his back against the tree with Kim in his arms. She could feel his chest move up and down with each breath he took. Their fingers were intertwined on her lap, and they were just quiet enjoying the scenery. He truly picked an amazing day for this.

This was all Gerald wanted. It wasn’t about the between the two of them. He only wanted to be close to her. Knowing each other for just a few days, he felt like he knew her for years. They were that comfortable. He never wanted to let this feeling go. But he knew that once the month was up, they’d have to pretend this never happened. He pushed that thought out of his mind because all that mattered was right here, right now. The future didn’t exist, the problems didn’t exist; all that existed was the two of them here and now. He would occasionally kiss the top of her forehead just to make sure she was really there and it wasn’t a dream. “Are you okay?”

Kim looked up at him, “I’m perfect.”

“Can’t argue with that.” He laughed. He wrapped his arms tighter around her. “I want to know what you’re thinking,” Gerald whispered in her ear.

“I’m thinking…about how good this feels; just lying here, not doing anything, not having any distractions, having nothing to worry about.” Kim never did this before. She never slept with anyone after knowing someone for just a few days, or being this close. After her mom left, she had trust issues, but Gerald made all of them disappear. She felt safe in his arms, nothing could hurt her, nothing could touch her.

The sky continued to get darker, and they never moved from the position. Kim and Gerald were staring up at the sky. There were stars everywhere; little bright dots in the sky that illuminated light. Kim’s eyes began to feel heavy. Not doing anything for such a long time caused her to grow tired.

She closed her eyes for a few minutes, which were actually for a few hours. Gerald could feel her chest rise and fall slowly, steadily, and knew she was asleep. But he didn’t want to wake her. But then she felt Gerald jolt her awake. “Hey,” he whispered softly, not scaring her. “You gotta watch this.”

Kim opened her eyes, and stared up in the sky. She heard little blasts in the air. “Wow!” Different colours exploding in the sky. “It’s so beautiful.” She mumbled.

The fireworks lasted for an hour. Kim tried her best to stay awake, forcing herself to watch the amazing show that everyone else was watching also. She couldn’t believe she was here doing this. As a child, she always dreamed of sitting in this position watching fireworks with someone special.

It was quarter after 10, and Gerald and Kim began to clean up. Gerald put the leftovers back in the basket, and Kim folded the blanket. He called a taxi on his cell phone where they were picked up. He had his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, shutting her eyes. She really wanted to stay awake, and share the entire together, from the moment they opened their eyes to the moment they shut them, but failed.

When they arrived to the hotel, and asked the cab to hold for a moment, while he ran in, and dropped the picnic basket to the front desk. When he arrived, he paid the driver, and scooped Kim up into his arms. He made himself upstairs, and opened the door. He walked upstairs, and took off her shoes, and placed her gently under the covers. Gerald bent down and stared at her gorgeous face. He wiped her hair away from her face, and saw that she was so peaceful. He smiled. “Good-night, love.” He whispered, kissing the top of her forehead, and pulling the covers over her

Kim woke up the next morning due to the bright sun shining through the open blinds in the bedroom. She had a satisfying feeling inside of her from the day before. She woke up with a huge grin on her face, just having spent the best day of her life. She stretched her arms out, feeling the tension relieved in her muscles. Kim expected to have Gerald beside her, but there was an empty spot. She turned to see, and found a piece of paper on his pillow. She took the paper in her hands and sat up in bed.

K,
Went to practice, I’ll see you later.
Love, Ge

Her smile grew impossibly bigger, and she quietly squealed to herself. She felt like she was back in high school, a love struck teenager. Gerald made her feel that way; he made her feel like she was the only one in his life; though that far from the truth. She kept the article she found out the first day there in the back of her mind. After various lectures from Gerald for calming down, she finally listened to him, and decided on living in the moment, and not worrying about the future since it’s not yet decided.

Kim got out of bed, and walked downstairs, and poured herself a mug of fresh coffee, assuming Gerald made it before he left. Their itinerary was left on the counter, and she saw that his practice was finished in an hour. She got suddenly excited to see him again, though being separated only for a few hours.

Her phone began to chime and she ran to it quickly thinking it was Gerald, but felt a tinge of disappointment when she saw it was Erich. But also excited, knowing she was able to share everything with her best friend. “Hey ‘Rich! I’m so sorry for not calling you.” Remembering her promise to call every night.

“Don’t worry, when you didn’t I figured you were busy with your y roommate.” Erich ,

She laughed embarrassed, “Erich, it’s not like that with us.”

“Are you saying you didn’t sleep with him?” Kim stayed quiet, not knowing if she should that particular part, but by staying quiet, Erich already knew the answer. “KIMMY!”

“Shhh! ‘Rich, you can’t say anything, you have to promise. I realize you and Melissa are good friends, but no one can ever find out, do you hear me! No one can ever find out.” Kim said.

Erich scoffed. “Of course I’m not going to say anything, as excited as I am for you that you were finally able to find someone, I’m not going to be the reason you lose your job. You’ll be.”

“How sympathetic you are.” Kim said sarcastically.

“Well, you know what you did, right? Kim I told you not to sleep with him, let alone the second night there.”

Kim rolled her eyes, “I know what I did, ‘Rich, but you don’t get it. The last couple of days have been amazing, and I know we’ve only known each other a short time, but I feel I’ve known forever. We talk, and share some personal things that makes us now each other on a whole different level. And he’s so sweet, and incredibly understanding. He doesn’t push, or force me into anything, he makes it so much easier.”

“And your job? Are you really going to jeopardise everything you worked so hard for, for a month of love?”

Kim sighed, “No one said anything about love,” though her heart screamed otherwise. “But we get it, this is totally inappropriate, and it’ll be finished by the end of the month. You’re the one who told me to enjoy it.”

“Yeah, I did. But Kim, are you sure you want it to be just a fling? Can you handle it? When you get back here, can you just go back to being client and agent, and suppress everything that happened?’

“I won’t have to deal with that until I get back. All I know right now is how I feel, and I like it.”

Erich already figured Kim was changing. She was no longer this conscientious girl, who has thought into everything. “Kim, I get how you feel, you think you might as well settle for a fling because it’s never going to work in the real world. I’ve been there. You know I have, but there’s something you should know. It’s never going to be just a fling. You’ll probably have whatever it is you guys are having, but at the end of the day, it’s not just you who has to live with it, Gerald will to. And if this what both of you guys want, then great; but if not, one of your hearts are going to break, and I really hope it’ll be his because I don’t want to see in that dark place ever again.”

After talking a little more about something else than her love life, Kim hung up, and went outside to sit on the char on the balcony. She knew exactly what she was talking about. Kim vividly remembered how she felt the last time her heart was broken. She fell into the dark whole where she didn’t let anyone in, especially Erich. She vowed to never let anyone else enter her heart, and the issues she had with her mother didn’t exactly help. This new care-free attitude of hers was coming back to bite her in the rear, and there was nothing she could do but to have the old Kim return.

The day before, she had everything under control; spend time with Gerald here, and go back home where they would be professional again. But talking to Erich made everything seem impossible. She needed to talk to Gerald, but was scared. She just got Gerald to open up after a few days, and having this serious conversation would probably scare him, and push him away rather than pulling him more in. Kim went to take a long bath, and expect that afterwards everything would just come to her.

She changed into a pair of denim shorts, and a white long sleeve shirt. Kim returned to the balcony, and took her seat back on the brown chair, overlooking the city. She lost track of time byt he time Gerald came back to the room.

Gerald went straight to the balcony, and kissed her on the top of her head. Kim jumped at the sudden touch, and Gerald took a seat beside her. “Hey pretty girl,” he said.

“Hi,” she returned the smile he gave her, and looked at the brown paper bag he held. “What’s that?”

He laughed nervously, “Don’t laugh, but I bought this for you.” He took out a box of chocolates.

She giggled, “Chocolates?” He looked away embarrassed. “How nice,” she tried to hold back laughter, but failed. “It’s sweet, thank you.”

“My first game’s next week and I got you tickets.” He took them out of this pocket.

“So soon?” She figured since it was their first practice it would be later, much later.

He nodded, “I have practice every day this week, so don’t be surprised if you wake up alone,” implying he’d be sleeping in the bed from now on.

She knew she was probably about to cross a line, but figured it was going to be worth it. “Does this seem a little weird to you?”

“What?”

She took a deep breath. “That this is going a little too fast? I mean we’ve known each other for what? Four days? Like do we know what we’re doing?”

He moved back, signalling he was distancing himself from her. “If you don’t want to go to the game, you don’t have to. I just expected you would since you’re my publicist.”

“I’m not talking about the game; I’m talking about the bigger picture here.” He was avoiding eye contact with her. “What are we doing?”

His body was turned away from her, and she regretted ever starting this conversation. “I thought we were having fun.” He replied.

She faced away from him also. “Fun.” She repeated. She didn’t know how hurtful those words could feel until now, though wasn’t that the same thing she told Erich. Maybe she just expected they were doing so much more than that. They slept together, they shared personal things from their lives that they probably didn’t share with anyone else; knowing that was exactly what she did by sharing the story about her mom. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She stood up and walked back inside. But he followed her and grabbed her arm.

“You kissed me.” He reminded her.

“Because you kissed me.” She responded. “This wasn’t supposed to start anything; a fight. I just wanted to know how you were feeling. Erich called me, and I told her and she just reminded me how much each of us has at stake if someone finds out.’

He ignored that, “You were the one who brought me upstairs, I didn’t force you into anything.”

“I know that.” She was becoming wary of his sudden defensiveness. “Gerald...I’m not saying I regret anything that happened, I just want to know if we’re ready to go down this road, and then pull back once we get back.” She was getting confused.

“Whatever, I told Matt I was going to have drinks with him today.” He grabbed his jacket, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Kim stared at the door confused. “What just happened?” They were enjoying their time together, and all of sudden after feeling so close to each other, she felt so far away. This was their first argument....as a couple? They’ve gained so much in such little time, and she realized that she might’ve just lost everything.

Everything felt so childish; everything that just happened. And it was all her fault. If only she kept shut, or at least waited until closer to the day they were going home. But she didn’t, and now she had three weeks left with the man she felt so strongly for, but was slipping away from her grips.

Gerald went to a bar, and met with Matt. He told Matt everything, and he laughed. “Man, that’s not cool.” Gerald said.

“I’m sorry, but you walked out. You’ve known this chick for what? A week and you walk out? I’ve known Kim for a while, ever since she started working for the Hot Zone with Mel, and she’s just really cautious. She wanted to know where you guys stand. If you guys are an actual couple or if this is just another one of your conquests.” Matt explained. “You do have a reputation of being a playboy. She’s probably scared of getting played.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it. I think I came across to strongly. But it’s not like she rejected any of it.” He muttered. “Like why was she thinking about this now? Why did she have to bring it up? Why couldn’t she just leave it alone, and enjoy what was happening?” Gerald asked. He took a drink of beer.

“Because that’s not who she is, bro. Look, think about it through her perspective: You are an athlete who’s career thrives on publicity. If someone finds out, you get your fifteen minutes of fame, and everyone knows your name as the stud who slept with his agent. But if someone finds out, she gets fired for sleeping with her client. If something goes wrong, you win and she loses. She probably asked you that because she wants to know what she’s doing. Can you honestly tell me that once you we go back home you can walk away from whatever relationship you have?” Gerald stopped talking. “I bet she’s telling herself it’s possible to walk away, but you guys shared a lot in a small amount of time, and that leaves something between the two of you. You can’t just walk away, and from the way you talk about her, and how you’re troubled about such a simple argument, you don’t want to.”

He was right, Gerald wouldn’t be able to walk away from this. But he knew he had to. Matt was right, Kim was scared. He remembered this was her father’s dream, to make something of herself, and she told him how proud he was of her. If he was going to be the reason she lost everything, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. He’s known this girl for a week, and he was already feeling something about her. He was scared of losing her, and by walking out he probably did just that.

While Gerald was out drinking, Kim wasn’t going to wait for him at the hotel. She left the hotel and went for a walk. She wished she was back home, to familiar sightings, familiar people, and familiar events. She wished she was back home where she’d get her own office, and she wished Gerald wasn’t her client. Kim came across this bridge and saw different couples holding hands, laughing, kissing, and enjoying each other’s company. The exact things she was doing yesterday with Gerald. Except they weren’t in disguises, or worried about being caught on camera, and worrying about losing the job or having everything taken away. All they were doing were enjoying each other, something that she has always wanted; someone by her side, always; and not hiding n the background.

She walked into the nearest café and took a seat by the window. She ordered a cup of coffee, and took her sweet time drinking. She couldn’t help but wander through memory lane, and think about how she got to this place in her life. She remembered when she was a young girl where she would dream with her mom about everything, the day she met the special someone, the day she go married, the say she would have her kids. Her and her mom were best friends once in her life, and then she just walked out. She walked out of their home, out of their lives and she never got to ask why.

Kim took out her shades and put them on, not caring what people were looking at, or what they thought, she needed them to hide herself from crying. She was silently crying, remembering the pain she felt when she found out. It was the fraction of the pain she felt when Gerald walked out on her, it made her remember everything, partly the reason for this memory lane trip.

She covered as she sobbed. She took a deep breath, and took a drink of her coffee. The door chimed open and when she looked, she thought she was seeing an illusion or a ghost. She figured since she was thinking about hr, it was all in her head, but when she wiped away her tears, it wasn’t her head, it was her mom. She aged a little, but had the exact same face. Her jaw dropped, and she took off her glasses, revealing moist eyes. Kim watched her mom make small talk with the cashier/owner. Her mom had the exact same smile as before. Her mom got her coffee which the man said was her regular, and walked out.

Kim took her bag and followed her mom. She was in New York all this time, and Kim never even seen her. She followed her mom down an alley, and into a little apartment. The door was shut before Kim could sneak her way in, and everything was set upside down. She arrived back to the hotel sobbing. Her mom? She didn’t need this right now.

Gerald still wasn’t there. She got into the corner, and sat in the dark while she waited. She wasn’t waiting for Gerald to return, she was waiting for herself to compose and calm down. She thought she was over the feelings of abandonment, but apparently she wasn’t. Kim stayed in the corner the entire afternoon, tissues surrounding her. Her phone rang a couple of times, but she didn’t pick up. She didn’t care who it was, all that she cared about was her mom was alive and well. It didn’t even look like she had any regrets or secrets in her thoughts. Her mom clearly moved on from the incident; how come she couldn’t.

Kim didn’t keep track of the time, all she knew was all natural sunlight was gone, and she was truly left in the dark. Kim heard the door open, and saw Gerald’s shadow. She started crying harder because for a moment, she was back when she was 7 years old, and thought it was her mom actually coming home, and everything would change.

Gerald opened the door and it was in complete darkness. He figured Kim was out or upstairs asleep, and then he heard it. He heard sobbing coming from the corner of the living room. “Kim?” he whispered.

There was no answer. He a lamp on the table, and saw her knees to her chest with her arms tightly around them. She had her head down, crying, rocking back and forth. He got to his knees, and bent down in front of her. “Kim?” He said again, trying to calm her. He put her arms on her kneed, holding her hand. He though it was about him that she was crying, but he wasn’t about to ask. He knew all she needed was silence, and time to just cry.

Gerald went beside her and wrapped his arms around her. She let him. She needed this; she needed arms around her, she needed to be comforted. He held her for a long time, holding her tight, and kissed her head. Her body stopped trembling, and figured she was finished. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left.” He said.

Kim got out of his grip, and leaned her head against the wall. “I saw my mom.” She played with the fringe on her scarf she wore. “I went into a café, and was thinking about her, I was thinking about my past, and how I got here, and then poof she was there ordering her ‘usual’ and then left. I heard her laugh, I saw her smile, I followed her to her small apartment, and she didn’t even see me or notice me. My own mom.” She covered her face with her hands, and he took her close to him. “Why now?” she mumbled.

“You want to go see her?” He didn’t know what else to say.

She groaned and got up. “She abandoned me, she didn’t call or anything! I do not want to see her, I don’t want anything to do with her!” She was upset all over again.

Gerald got up and took her into his arms, “Shhhh, calm down. You’re okay, it’s okay.” He brought her down to the couch. “You’re okay,” he repeated, smoothing her hair. “We won’t talk about it anymore.” He truly wanted to because watching her cry, feeling her body tremble, knowing she was in pain broke something inside. He felt like I was up to him to take it all away, despite the fight they just had. “I’m sorry about before.”

She sighed, “No, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Kim got more comfortable, and bent her legs underneath her. “It was stupid, and idiotic. It was my fault.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

“My walking out didn’t help. You probably felt abandoned all over again.” He whispered. “Anyways, I know why you did. It made sense once I thought it over, or was told,” he chuckled.

She checked the time, and realized she spent most of the day crying in the corner. It was 10:43. “You should go to sleep, you have practice tomorrow.” She said.

He shook his head, “I’m gonna stay with you. I’ll never walk out on you again.” He assured her.

She laughed. “I’m fine. You should go.” She got up, but Gerald stopped her by holding her hand. He stood up, and put his hands on her waist. She smiled, and put her hands around his neck.

“I am so so so so so so sorry. You know that right?”

She nodded. “You have nothing to apologize for.” She leaned in and kissed him. “See, I kissed you. I’m acknowledging it.”

“So you are.” He leaned again and kissed her lightly.

He stopped and let go of her when she began walking towards the stairs. “Aren’t you coming up?”

He looked at the couch, and then looked back at her. “I thought I should stay here.”

She walked back to him. “Look, I know I’ve been an emotional wreck all day, but I’m fine now. And to be honest, I sleep better when I’m with you.” She noticed his face begin to brighten. “And if you don’t, I might start crying again.” She said, trying to persuade him, remembering the pain on his face when he saw her crying.

He took her hand and kissed it. “I never want to be the source of your tears.” He smiled, and they walked up together. Kim slept soundly, though thinking about her mom. However, having Gerald’s arms wrapped around her tightly gave her the security she needed. And even if a relationship outside of New York was not in the cards for them, she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity of being with him now. She might as well have some of him than none, and that was something she could live with….for now.