Elegi Of Rose

She hated waiting. It was never a virtue she learned to perfect but in this case she did. But it was taking so long for Roy to make a move-any move.

Waiting for her phone to ring or her door to rattle with a knock was plain agony on her part.

Ayu finally reached the acceptance phase of her grief by the end of the second week. She finally accepted that Roy would not come to her and beg her to come back. It hurt. Hell, it hurt more than that time she found out her father used her as temporary payment for some loan money. But she had to face it.

She never answered any calls from anyone, not even her mother or Rin, who seemed to sense like there was something going on because she had been sending her text messages asking if she and Roy were okay. She never replied, not intending to.

*****

By the time she finally calmed down-more like became numb-she finally decided to leave. Leave like work. Work like teaching children somewhere. Somewhere like far away. Away like no Roy.

That would be the only thing that could take her mind off him. And that would be the only thing that she could make it hard for him to reach her to serve her another set of divorce papers.

He could chase her all he wanted, but she was not staying to wait for him to hand her the papers. He'd have to go after her, she thought.

Only Tori, her manager, knew where she would be going. Her parents didn't have any idea-for all she cared, they still thought she was in that blasted house with her husband. Herland was quite busy with his work, so she did not bother sharing the news.

Ayu knew what she was doing was close to running away, but she didn't care. She had to get away to think, to be with herself in a place she felt at home. Of course it was not like being home with Roy, but it was the closest thing.

She was packing her bag late the night before she was to leave when she heard something crack from the living room. She stiffened, ready to hide behind the door of her bedroom. Her defensive instinct to be safe was in full throttle all of a sudden.

Slowly, she made her way to the door to listen. It could just be a cat, she hoped. But cats don't have footsteps like humans, right?

And that was when she heard hissing and angry whispers. What the hell, more than one intruder? How the hell could I handle that?

Part of her mind wanted the intruder to be Roy because, if that were so, she knew she would not be in danger. He would be in danger with what she could physically do to him with her nails, her feet, her teeth and even the kitchen knife. But the angry whispers told her it was not her husband.

She was in the process of thinking if she should attack or grab her phone to call the police when she heard a very distinct voice she recognized.

"What the hell, we can shout all we want here. Why are we whispering anyway? Ayu's not home. She's with Roy."

What the hell... Yeyena? Ayu couldn't believe it. How did the lady know she lived here?

"Shut up and be quiet. We can't be too careless. This was your fault," a man's voice said, not bothering to whisper.

Henry? Henry Bell? Okay, so she didn't know the guy that well but she was sure it was him. If it was in a better circumstance, she would be in the phone calling Rin to confirm the gossip.

"What? It's my fault? Who almost got killed if I didn't save him? Was it me? No, mister, it was you," Yeyena said, her voice more like an angry child.

Ayu finally made up her mind. Without hesitating, she opened her bedroom door and said, "What the hell are you two doing inside my house?"

She heard Yeyena gasp and Henry, who was sitting on a chair, his form silhouetted by the darkness of the room, his left hand grasping his right shoulder, shot to his feet in a fighting stance. Ayu was taken aback. She had never seen Henry Bell do something so... uh... she couldn't find the words, but she was sure she never-not for a second-imagined him to be looking haggard, full of sweat, wearing dirty shirt and torn pants, and his hair looked like he came from cleaning chimneys. "Ayu!" Yeyena exclaimed. She turned her eyes away from Henry and took a step back with shock when she saw the red-haired mess standing there beside the man.

"Yeyena, what the hell happened to you?"

"Let me explain-" Henry started, but Yeyena cut him off.

"We need your help now that you're here," her friend uttered, brushing her messy-with specks of ashes-hair away from her face.

She never noticed that her mouth had fallen open. She shook her head, trying to test if she was just dreaming. "What the hell is going on? Henry, are you hurt?" She peered through the darkness to see his face.

Anyone could easily point out that he was. His hand was covered with blood! Yeah, it was dark but she was pretty sure it was blood dripping down his hand.

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"No, I'm fine," he obviously lied.

"No, you're not," Yeyena snapped at him. "Look," her friend walked towards her, her torn white pants and boots and her bloody gray shirt were scandalous. "Yu, we can't explain everything. I don't even know if I understand the whole thing myself, but I-we-really need you to keep this thing to yourself. Don't tell anyone about what you saw, or what you are about to see. Please."

Ayu just stood there for a long time before she finally nodded. "If you don't tell anyone you saw me here," she negotiated.

Yeyena's curiosity took over her. "And why are you here again? I thought you are married and living with Roy?"

"It's complicated," she answered, not willing to give out that much information.

"Yeyena," Henry called out, his black eyes seriously telling the two ladies that he was hurting.

"Yes, yes, I'll get to it!" Yeyena snapped at him and looked back at Ayu. "I need hot water, clean towels, and a first aid kit."

"Uh, sure," was all Ayu had for an answer. Her mind was still adapting to the sudden events inside her home-and the look of the two people who intruded inside it-when she made her way to the bathroom to get what Yeyena asked for. "Hey, stop whining like a baby," Yeyena was saying when Ayu got back with everything. Her friend was in the process of trying to cut Henry's shirt with a scissor she probably found somewhere.

"Why do you have to cut it? Are you crazy? I don't have a spare shirt!"

"Are you the doctor here?' Yeyena asked him.

Ayu was getting startled as seconds clicked by. She never saw Henry acting like that. And she never saw Yeyena so out of poise and dirty.

"Where have you two been and why are you-oh my God, you're shot?" She asked, horrified when she finally saw Henry's shoulder.

"Yes, he is. Now, stop asking questions," Yeyena told her, taking the towels from her hand.

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"Yeah, that's the first thing that came to my mind when I found out," Yeyena said sarcastically.

"Found out what?"

"Yu, please, no questions."

"Okay, okay," she placed the basin on the nearest table and went to where the switches for the lights were. "How can you work with that wound if the lights are out?" she asked, about to raise her hand to turn on the switch. "No!" both her visitors cried in unison.

"No lights," Henry ordered.

"Yes, no lights, Yu," Yeyena agreed.

"This is really getting creepy, you know that?"

"Tell me about it," Yeyena said, rolling her eyes, going back on working with Henry's wound.

"Since you two are not so glad to talk about what's been going on, I think I'll go back to my task. Just call me when you need something."

"Thanks, Yu," Yeyena said gratefully.

"Thank you," Henry was able to utter through clenched teeth. "Means a lot," he added with a wink.

Okay, maybe he was still the Henry Bell she knew him to be after all.