I froze when I realized that I’d said that out loud. In a moment of excitement and overwhelming happiness, the truth I tried to hide had come out on its own. Disengaging from Noah, I faced him.
“Uhmmm,” I stood up, trying to come up with something. How was I going to change the subject in this critical moment?
The trumpeting sound of an alarm woke me up with a start. Reaching out for my phone, I tapped the snooze icon and spent the next ten minutes trying to convince myself that it wasn’t too early to get up because Noah was going to pick me up in less than an hour. Ever since I checked into the country, I had not woken up that early. I never had any reason to do so. Ten minutes later, the alarm sounded again, this time more irritating than before. Considering that the volume was high, I was sure Linda and aunt Caro had woken up and were cursing the day they let me into their house. Well, mostly Linda because aunt always woke up at 5:30. This time I stopped the clock to prevent more unwanted loud sounds.
I caught Noah’s body just in time, before it could hit the asphalt. My eyes darted around, as the hooded assailant ran away. A police car which had been in the parking lot went off after him while a cop from the court house ran towards me, while talking on phone. By now, I was kneeling down because Noah’s body had felt too heavy as he became unconscious.
I knew the cops would be back. Attempted murder is a serious crime and I knew that whether they caught the shooter or not, I would be in for a number of questions. Even before his parents blamed me for everything, the issue of my almost-expired visa would be an enormous problem. Surely, anyone could sniff out that something fishy was going on. If his parents found out that I was non-American they’d milk it for all it was worth. And I would finally be done for, if I wasn’t already. Only a miracle could save me.
“Why are you here?” Mrs. Elliot glared daggers at me when I walked into the waiting room. Janet had gone off after the interrogation, saying she had a lot of work to do. I was grateful that she had cut short her work to come and help me. “Did you come to see if you had finished him off?” I sighed and took a look around the room. Carla was sitting with a woman I recognized as Noah’s sister Loraine. I had only seen her in photos but she didn’t look very different in real life. She looked very much like Noah, an older r
His eyes bore into mine in a piercing gaze. He looked as handsome as ever, giving me a sense of nostalgia. He wore a black polo shirt. We stared at each other in silence before I spoke. “It’s been long,” I stated.
I blinked. He was still standing at the door. I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. An ‘ow’ made me loosen my hold. “It still hurts,” he told me.
My mother had lost a great deal of weight, probably from worrying about me. Her short hair- four inches long was in tiny curls the way she liked it. Dad was seated next to her on the couch, wearing a blue suit.“I had to return early.” He told me. “What did you want to tell us? Is everything okay?
After two failed almost-marriages, you'd think I'd have given up on trying. I was still brimming with hope, despite everything that had gone wrong. However, when I woke up for the third wedding, I felt more apprehensive than when I did before the others. If this one turned out to be failure, I didn't think I could handle it. It would be the end of the road for me. I'd believe fate wanted me back where I belonged, the motherland although for some inexplicable reason, I felt like I belonged by Noah's side. I felt at home with him and I liked everything about him.
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