CHAPTER 6

                  Cold, breezy Monday morning, redefining Monday blues when Laura’s red car stops at Sarah’s house. Mike and Sarah were loitering around the front porch, just about to leave for work, with Sarah holding on to Mike’s arm, hopping to pull her heels on.

                  Laura slides out of her car, readily rolling her eyes. The 2 have become practically inseparable now since they are living under one roof. Inseparable, as in no space for another woman, for example, Laura, and that surely is a good source of frustration. They didn’t even notice her arrival, busy talking about one of Sarah’s weird customers, the bubbly mouth Gary.

“Hi, you two” Laura hooked their attention towards her.

“Laura!!! Haven’t you gone to work?” Sarah queries with a little surprise.

“I am, right after this. I must talk to you guys before going to work. I am thinking of arranging a trip this weekend. Are you guys free?” Laura casually began orchestrating her plan.

“But…” recalling a surprise they have been keeping, Sarah pan to Mike.

“This weekend is your birthday and we are planning something” Mike finished her sentence. Laura's eyes lit up at his words.

“Aww... you guys remembered!!! That’s so sweet. Yeah, I’m taking you guys out due to that. It's all on me. 3 days trip, Friday till Sunday morning” Laura explains with a wide grin on her face, looking forward to the trip, of course, but quite the contrary for Sarah.

“Oh, I have promised my mom, to take her to a cousin’s wedding coming Friday night” Sarah darts between Mike and Laura, while Mike falters immediately.

“Can’t you postpone it?” Mike asked with a frown, clearly upset with the whole situation.

“Mike, it’s a wedding!!! Of course, my cousin is not going to postpone it for me. You guys go ahead, I can join the next time” she ends with a decent suggestion.

“That’s so sad… I was really hoping for all of us to go together. Ok, let’s go for a fancy dinner once you are back?” a fair compensation is up for debate.

“Only if it’s on me!!!”  Laura nod in agreement.

              Apparently, they have zoned out Mike, who was just staring coldly at those 2 the whole time before dashing into his car without a word and slamming the doors shut.

“Don’t worry, he will come around it...” Sarah whispered to Laura’s ears, initiating a smile on her face before they too, departed to work.

                  The rest of the day went by with Mike shutting away Sarah. After the 15^th phone call, her calls have begun diverting.

“Did he just block me?” Sarah mumbled to herself with a scoff.

“You do not block me!!!” The following sentence came to a tad louder and stunned her client, an old lady from high society, as she widened her eyes at Sarah but she didn’t notice. Her delicate fingers were busy tapping the phone for Jessica.

“Hi Jess!!!” Sarah's cold greeting didn’t sit well with Jessica.

“Sarah, I’m in the middle of something here” she whispered back.

“Mike just blocked my number” vexed, Sarah threw the file in her hand against the car bonnet.

“He what???” Jessica shot up from her chair, ruffling the peaceful weekly meeting that is ongoing. With a remorse excuse, Jessica paced out of the room, into the corridor, probing for more information from Sarah.

“I need you to put me through Mike. Get him on the conference” complying with the out-of-place austerity in her sweet voice, Jessica made another call and it went through, even answered in a few beeps.

“Hey Jess” Mike took a sip from his large mug, letting the hot, aromatic coffee reassemble his system again.

“My foot in your Hey Jess!!!” it was Sarah, raging more than her body can contain. The sip of coffee took a diversion up into his nostril passage and some reverse flow to his lips, spattering over his laptop with a little cough.

“How dare you block her!!!” now this is a voice more meant to be stern.

“Jess, do you know what she is about to do? She is not coming with us this weekend just because she had to attend a stupid wedding” Mike explained his side while keeping a professional façade–replied by a gasp.

“You are not coming?” Jessica snapped at Sarah and Mike smiled in content that they share the same view.

“I promised my mom I will bring her, or else she has to go and stay there alone. Jess, you understand right?” the argument went on, with Jessica on Sarah’s side, well mostly.

“I am not going if she is not going” the dead beep resonating through the phone was a clear indication that Jessica is the next to be blocked.

                  Of course, they could postpone the trip to the following week but still, Sarah would be gone. The remnant of disappointment will be evident among the other friends, glooming over each other or in other words, Laura’s birthday would be ruined, thanks to Sarah.

                 It was way past dinner time and Sarah was still waiting for Mike with a bag of Mac Donald’s downstairs. She is determined to reconcile with him, despite still being on his ‘blocked list’. Even after a few call-outs, Mike didn’t respond. She climbed upstairs to his room and knocked gently

“Mike, are you awake?”

All she got was “Go away, I’m sleeping” with a pretty sober but low voice.

‘Answering a question in sleep?’  he must have developed the talking-in-sleep disorder.

                  She pursed her lips and let out an exasperated sigh. Being pretty sure he is not sleeping; she decides to barge into his room but still opened the door with thousands of hesitance. Who knows if Mike had developed the habit of walking around naked in sleep too?

“Mike….” Her soft voice was such a pleasantry to be heard in a quiet room. She caught the back of Mike leaned on his balcony, smoking a cigarette.

Sarah paced to stand beside him, leaning on the balcony as well, looking far away. An excruciating silence loomed between them, just for a while though.

“You still haven’t quit?” she was referring to the cigarettes while struggling to avoid his face but she can feel his sharp gaze, bore a hole through her side.

                  Knowing she hates cigarettes and the smell of cigarette smoke, he put out his cigarette and blow out his last puff, waving his right hand to prevent the smoke from reaching Sarah. The big red signboard with yellow ‘M’ on it seemed to be more interesting than Sarah, as he kept staring opposite the side.

                  He was surely crossed, accentuating his jaws and strong facial features with every twitch of nerve.

“Hello...is somebody there?” Sarah waved her hand in his direction but again, was ignored. She sighed out, before crab-toeing next to him and gently bumped shoulders.

“Mike…We are 26!. We can’t always stick together. It’s sort of imminent. It’s ok to be without me for a few days…” her voice was as gentle and soothing as his mother’s, yet the words are not in his favor.

“Shut up” a clipped tone gave away his anger.

“It is true!!! You will get married one day and leave me alone for a bimbo. This is just a 3-days trip. Plus, you will have the others as well, right? Jessica will be there”

Mike finally turned to look at her. Her mindful admission landed a punch in his guts.

“And I suppose you will never be married?” among all the words she said, that is the one that stuck to him? There was a pause for a few seconds. Her face obviously went blunt as Sarah looked down

“I’m not interested in marriage, you know that...” She suddenly turned serious since he touched her most despiteful topic.

“Fine…we have a tenancy agreement, sweety. If I do get married, I will bring my bimbo to stay here. You are stuck with me for an eternity. As for Jessica, well… there can be a million people around me and I will still feel lonely without this one ugly face. Can’t help it!!!” He softly pinched Sarah’s nose.

“My sweetheart…” Mike said in a low, almost inaudible voice. She smiled before pulling his arms

“Come on, let’s go eat. I have ordered extra fries for you.” She grunted to pull the heavy load tucked under her arm. He took a few consent steps with her until he heard the forthcoming plan.

“Then we can come to pack your things” and all of a sudden, his feet became heavy and Sarah had to drag him forcefully to the dining table.