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⊰ 32.5 ⊱ Lingering Hope
⊰ Cade ⊱
I turn off the engine, leaning back in my seat as I look out at the park stretching before me. The sun is high in the sky, the light filtering through the leaves of trees, casting dappled shadows on the grass. It’s a perfect day, the kind that makes you feel like anything is possible.
But as I sit here, my mind keeps drifting back to Elysian, to the way she looked holding Naomi in her arms last night. The sight of them together this morning, the easy way Elysian cradled my daughter, the love and tenderness in her eyes… it struck me, a profound epiphany.
Because in that moment, I realized that this is what I want. This is what I’ve always wanted. A family, a future, with her by my side.
I know we have a complicated history, that I’ve hurt her in ways I’m only just beginning to understand. But seeing her with Naomi, it was like a glimpse into the life we could have, the life I so desperately crave.
Bab terkait
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 1 ⊱ The Day the Sky Rained
Rain. I watch it fall through the window of my dorm room, leaning against the wall beside it as I kneel on my bed, my legs tucked beneath my weight. The tears that stain my cheeks feel cold against my skin, gathering at my chin and dripping onto the hand-written letter sitting on my lap. My lip trembles, a soft sob passing my lips as my eyebrows furrow, the bridge of my nose stinging.What did I do..?My gaze falls to the piece of paper, and through my hazy vision, I re-read the lines over and over again: ‘Ely, I’ve been staring at this sheet of paper for the past two hours, unsure of how to tell you what I need to say. Ely, my dearest Ely, I love you. I will always love you. From the moment I met you, I knew you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. You see, I once dreamt about you. Before we met, I had a dream about meeting you. You were standing near the waterfall of our favorite park, wearing that bitsy blue dress of yours that I love so much, and you looke
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 2 ⊱ Ocean Eyes
I groan at the soft instrumental music blasting from my phone, my restless eyes fluttering open. I spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, wondering if the man that I saw last night actually was who I think he was. I’m probably trippin’. … I am exhausted… It’s as though I can feel the bags under my eyes as I pull the teal colored bed sheets from over my body, my unoccupied hand silencing my phone. The heavy sighs that erupt from a sleepy Bubbles laying on his beige orthopedic dog bed makes me side-eye him, wondering what could possibly ale my favorite unemployed freeloader. Per usual, I go about my daily routine: feed Bubbles, make the bed, brush my teeth, shower, throw on a pair of boot-cut jeans with a nice long-sleeve blouse, and I put on my eyebrows. Okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration. I’m actually just filling them in. I lengthen my eyelashes with mascara, brush and blow-dry my shiny, waist-length, black, straight hair while I pray for a frizz-
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 3 ⊱ Heartbeats in a Glass Office
It’s as if the world has stood still and time’s been frozen. With my breath caught in my lungs and my heart thumping loudly in my ears, my eyes gloss as a 6-foot-tall, lean, muscular Cade approaches Krina and I. The familiar scent of his favorite cologne—Creed’s Royal Oud—a scent I once found comfort in, now making my stomach churn. “Good morning,” he says softly, his voice as deep as I remember, as he brings his black thermo cup up to his lips. In his navy blue suit, white button-up shirt and navy blue tie, he stands before us, looking at Krina. He nods at her as he takes a sip of what I assume is coffee before he shifts his gaze to meet my own. “Oh! She’s the new junior engineer that Jeremy hired months ago. She just moved here from Florida,” she tells him, pausing momentarily with a thoughtful look on her face. “Hey…aren’t you from Florida? Ha! Small world, I guess…” her voice trails off. Cade arches a brow at her, chuckling softly. “Well, welcome to the team, Miss…?” He do
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 4 ⊱ Painful Echoes
The hours that pass are painful. Not even the horrid HR videos that I’ve been watching for the past few hours are enough to settle my anxiety. The lunch hour couldn’t roll around fast enough, and while others in the team start trickling off at noon, I wait until Krina gets up to follow behind her. We part ways when she approaches the floor’s kitchen area and I continue to the elevator where I ride it down to the first floor and make my way to my car in the garage. Anxious to call my best friend, the phone’s already dialing as I lower myself onto the passenger seat. Closing the door, I press the speaker button, the heel of my foot incessantly tapping against the car’s floor. “Hey, girl!” Ava answers cheerfully. “What’s up? How’s your first day going?! Tell me EVERYTHING.” Under different circumstances, I would’ve been ever-so grateful for having a great friend who’s just as enthusiastic as I would’ve been otherwise. “Ava…” my voice quavers as I try not to let what I’m feeling co
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 5 ⊱ Happy Hour
After going back home to take Bubbles out for a 10-minute walk, I freshen up by taking a quick shower and changing into a more casual white long-sleeve shirt. While it is an out-of-office event, the idea of revealing my sleeve tattoo doesn’t seem like a good one.Perception is reality.I can’t give executive management the opportunity to scrutinize me the same way that Cade’s father did when I first had the wonderful pleasure of meeting him. I’m pretty sure it was the tattoos…For the first time in a long time, I wish that the drive were longer. 10 minutes to Bridges’ Bar is hardly enough time for me to mentally prepare myself for being in a room full of fairly important people, and surely enough, once I’ve parked in the bar’s parking lot, I find myself sitting in the driver’s seat with the car off and an excuse not to step foot out of it.We go in. Stay for 30 minutes and we leave. Easy.But it's really not easy. Authoritative figures make me extremely nervous, so much so that I typ
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 6 ⊱ Hot Box
The weekend couldn’t have come fast enough, and while I race through the last HR training, Mateo and Krina say their goodbyes and wish me a good weekend.These past couple of days, I’ve been staying behind, a little past 5PM so as to not be the first of the engineers on my team to leave. Today, however, it’s 10 minutes until 6PM and I’m only 5 minutes short from finishing the unskippable last video.If not for the fact that I’m aggravated by the fact that I have to finish this before being allowed to work on anything else, I need something to challenge my mind. While I know that there will come a lot of work and stress, I would much rather have to worry about that than the animosity between Cade and I.As the last 30 seconds of the video play, I stand from my seat and begin to pack up my belongings. It’s a feeling of satisfaction like no other when the intolerable voice of the woman narrating the video finally stops, and I close out of the HR screen for the last time. In one swift mot
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 7 ⊱ An Unlucky Night
From doing nothing for 6 months to 2 weeks of HR trainings and being bombarded with Layer 2 troubleshootings, it feels a lot like going back to school after taking a semester off. Actually, between the troubleshootings and being assigned documentation for three higher-level engineers, it feelsexactlylike going back to school after taking a semester off.That’s what I did, once upon a time.As much as I like to pretend otherwise, Cade breaking up with me over a letter in the mail destroyed me that way. It took so much out of me that I took a semester off and transferred to another university to finish out the last two semesters in a place that didn’t remind me of him.Fortunately, unlike then, this time, I’ve managed to hold myself together.Between the pressure of getting ready to start the IPv6 migration as soon as possible and day-to-day work, I’ve been too busy to worry about anything else. In fact, were it
Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 7.5 ⊱ Weight of Responsibility
⊰ Cade ⊱I sit at the table, sipping my beer as I wait for my date to arrive. The bustling energy of the restaurant envelops me—the clink of glasses, the hum of conversation, the occasional burst of laughter. My gaze scans the premises briefly, my gaze flickering from the semi-empty bar to the basketball game playing on the pair of TVs overhead when my attention is suddenly drawn to the door as a familiar figure walks in.Elysian.The mere sight of her is unsettling, my eyes following her as she makes her way to the bar and takes a seat. I can’t help but stare, my mind drifting, trying to recall the last time I’d seen her, before shemysteriouslyreappeared in my life.It was an argument, as usual. Truthfully, I can’t remember doing anything with herexceptarguing. She kept trying to walk away from me while I was talking, knowing full well how much I hated it when she
Bab terbaru
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 32.5 ⊱ Lingering Hope
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 32 ⊱ Confronting the Past
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 31 ⊱ Fatherly Advice
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 30 ⊱ Shattering Control
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 29 ⊱ Yearning in Pink
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 28.5 ⊱ Beyond the Glass Walls
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 28 ⊱ I Hate You, I Love You
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 27 ⊱ Release and Remorse
- Heartprints in the Void ⊰ 26 ⊱ Drowning Sorrows
