A Phantom Sorry

“So much on my mind,
I think I think too much.
Read between these lines
Unspoken weight of words…”

The song Stone by Alessia Cara had just started playing in her ears. It was a beautiful yet breezy afternoon and she’d decided to take a stroll to clear her mind. She heard someone step up to her from behind and turned to see the face she had terribly evaded for the past two months. “Hey, how are you?” He asked. Not knowing what to say, “I’m fine, thanks.” She smiled and said as she resumed her walk. “Can I talk to you?” He pressed on. “I don’t know if there’s anything else to say. You’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel about me.” Dismissing him. “And what’s that?” He asked. “Nothing!” At this point, she was engaging in an internal battle with daunting tears that were confronting her eye to eye. She was winning. “I just want to be left alone.” As she turned to walk away, he grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, held her so tightly and said, “stop running.” Angrily, she tried to disentangle from his fold in vain for what seemed like forever. She gave up. She looked up to his eyes and sighed in defeat.

Without saying a word, he looked back at her and slowly, he closed the distance. She arched back as far as she could, but with nowhere to run, his lips found hers and searched them. In a moment, she yielded all her pain. What she’d yearned for, for the past two month was finally happening. But… “Let go of me!” she commanded. “Why are you doing this?” The tears finally won and streams were flowing with no banks to stop them. “Is this a game to you? Why would you ignore me for two months…then…” As if to shut her up, he placed his mouth on hers, and with his arms supporting her back, they once more found their rhythm, resolved the chords, and found the crescendo.

“I’m sorry I did that to you. I thought I was protecting you. (visibly swallowing down saliva) Now I know I was being selfish.” She kept quiet. “I miss you. It hurt me every time I pushed you away and ignored you… I thought it was for the best” “For the best?” She interrupts. “I’m sorry, I’d like us to start again if…” It was her turn to return the favour and shut him up. “Woh! Lady, we just met!” He said laughing. She clears her throat, fixes her posture. “My apology. It’s very nice to you. My name is – “Nora! Nora!” Someone was calling out to her. As she turned to look, she was back on her bed 😝. She tried to go back to sleep so she can dream on but-

How many of you believe this was a dream?

Should I extend this story?

P.P.S: As requested, here’s a follow up story ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Thank you for reading, always.