Chapter 3

   Ms Vento paused for a while, halting her sipping and placing the half-full mug down onto the coffee table in front of them with a soft clang. She cleared her throat before humming in thought at the question. She needed to be honest despite knowing that the truth will hurt the young man. If she chose her words correctly, she hoped she could ease the pain at least a little. 

   "Well," The older of the two began slowly, getting more nervous by the second and now beginning to sway from side to side in her chair. "I think Jen needs more time." She softly finished. "Her situation isn't the best right now." She quickly added, watching as Ash's face fell and he hung his head, staring at his feet as he sniffled but nodded in understanding. He missed the woman his mother used to be, but he couldn't be greedy. If she needed more time to forget about all the crap that had happened in the last decade, she deserved it more than anyone. 

   "I guess," Ash sighed out quietly, outlining the rim of the mug, in an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts. "I just wish that none of this happened." He continued, looking up at Ms Vento who was nodding in agreement with a soft smile playing on her lips. "Then I could see her smile again." Ash finished, closing his eyes as a couple of stray tears fell down his cheeks. Ms Vento scraped her seat closer to the younger and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder, rubbing his arm gently in reassurance, comforting him silently.

   By the time another twenty-something minutes passed, Ash had calmed down enough for the pair to talk about other subjects calmly. One of such subjects being Brooke, Ash's little sister. There was never much to say about the teen other than the fact that she was kind and brave enough to stay with their mother and take care of her needs as she got better. She looked almost exactly like their mother, the only difference being her hair, which was long, wavy and dark brown. Another subject the pair had covered was the woman that came in crying earlier that morning.

   "She's a weird one." Ms Vento chuckled out a little, sipping on her third cup of tea, glancing at the young man seated next to her, eating a sandwich she had prepared a few moments ago. "She came in crying and asking if there was any space but stopped once she was walking up the stairs." Ms Vento sighed out, standing up and pulling out a tin of biscuits, placing it on the coffee table and flopping herself back down onto her chair with a soft grunt. 

   Ash hummed at the information before quickly swallowing his food and speaking. "I bumped into her when I was leaving for work," Ash began, wiping his mouth a little before continuing. "I was going to apologise but she left and ignored me." He shrugged as he said the last couple of words, finishing his tea and smiling at the older woman as he stood up from his chair and stretched his arms above his head with a loud yawn. "Well, anyway. This was nice but I need to get to bed." He grinned, taking a quick glance over at the clock on the wall and almost gasping aloud at the time. He'd stayed in Ms Vento's office for over five hours just drinking tea and chatting. It was now nine. 

   "Oh yes, of course!" Ms Vento chuckled loudly, standing up as well and taking the plate and two mugs, throwing them onto one of the two counters. "Have a good night then, Hun. I have some work still left to do." She grinned happily, opening the office door for the younger man as he nodded and waved to her, making his way over to the stairwell, swinging his black bag over his shoulder as he walked. He had to make his way up to the fourth floor - something he dreaded every day after work. He never really understood why the owners of these buildings never requested elevators to be built when most of them had at least ten floors to them.

   Ash eventually got to his floor with a loud groan, digging in his pocket to get his key and hastily unlocking the front door and instantly throwing his bag onto the wooded floor, slipping his shoes off, and walking into the living room. He flopped onto the couch in exhaustion and stuffed his face into one of the pillows decorating the piece of furniture. He sighed out loud before turning his face to stare at the plant on his dark brown coffee table.

   He closed his eyes for a few seconds and hummed in satisfaction. He was quite young - aged twenty-four - but he, somehow, got exhausted doing the easiest of things or after work. More often than not, however, he would shrug the feeling off and blame it on his insomnia. He laid there, on his stomach with the side of his face shoved into a pillow and his feet hanging off the other end of the couch, for another ten minutes before the thought of the letter from his mother flashed briefly in his mind and he jumped up almost instantly. 

   He scrambled up from his seat on the couch and grabbed his black bag, unzipping it and rummaging through it until he felt paper underneath his fingertips. He pulled the envelope out and smiled slightly at the address and the handwriting. It was clear that it was his mother and not Brooke. 

   He ripped the letter open hastily and unfolded it in order to read it. He sat down on the couch and folded his legs before beginning to carefully read the letter. The letter didn't contain anything interesting. It was simply an update about his mother's and Brooke's lives, such as who Brooke usually hung out with and how well the new medication for his mother was working.

   It may not have been anything of huge importance for anyone else but, for Ash, it meant that his mother still cared about what he thought and wanted to keep him in the family loop, even though she was scared of him and was the one to ask him to move out of the family home. Ash smiled at the writing on the letter before sighing out happily, his mood brightening slightly. He stood up and stepped into his bedroom, retrieving the small black box from under his bed. He lifted the lid and placed the letter neatly on top of all the other letters he had received over the years, all with updates about both their lives. 

   Of course, it would be easier to just get a call from his mother or Brooke from time to time but, since their family home was in the middle of the countryside, there was no signal nor internet which meant that the only means of communication that was left was handwritten letters. 

   Ash pushed the, now closed, black box back under his bed and flopping down on the bed, his back hitting the soft mattress. He smiled up at the ceiling before closing his eyes and deciding to sleep and simply freshen up in the morning - have a shower and anything else that he needed to do in order to look like a decent human being. For the first time in a long time, he was calm at night. This calmness during the peaceful and quiet night, however, wouldn't last long due to his neighbours just a floor above him.