Gael began heading towards the area where Trigger lost Angela. It was still rush hour in Manhattan, and the streets were packed with pedestrians, making it hard to look for her.
His n split up as he dialed her phone. "Co on. Pick up."
It felt like forever when the ringing went on, but she didn't answer. He could only hope that nothing happened to her. Gael redialed for the second ti, his heart racing at a maddening speed as he furiously searched for her left and right while fear crept up his spine.
And then the call went through.
His steps faltered as he listened to the other end of the line. Continuous sobbing and noisy chatter barked in his ear. "Angel…"
"H…Hello…" The sound of her heavy breathing caused him both relief and worry.
He sighed. "Where are you?"
Still sobbing, she took the ti to answer. "I… I don't know… I can't see."
"What do you an you can't see?" Gael drew his brows together, pushing himself forward as he continued his search. The sky was darkening fast, but there was still enough light above them.
"I…lost my lenses while wiping my eyes. I can't see anything. Everything's blurry." She sobbed so more. "I don't know where I am. I'm lost… Gael… I'm lost."
"Shhh… It's okay, baby. I'll find you."
Listening to her sobs, Gael didn't know where to look for her. He was only heading in a random direction on instinct. If only she wore the necklace he gave her, he would have already found where she was had she activated the locator. And with the way she was so upset right now, Angela wouldn't be able to ask a pedestrian; there were so many opportunists in New York.
A thud followed by an angry yell from a woman rang through the receiver, stinging his ear. "Move it, Bitch!"
"Sorry," Angela muttered in a low, shaky voice.
Shit. He had to find her soon.
"Baby… I need you to calm down for and focus, or I won't be able to find you." Angela's sobbing slowed down, and so he added, "Tell what you see above you or in front of you."
"There's so many people… And I… I can't read. It's so blurry. I'm practically blind. I think I scratched my eyes with the lens."
"Focus, baby. You can do it."
Just as he said that, a loud siren from an ambulance blared on the road, passing by him and grabbing his attention. He noticed that he could hear the sa sound growing louder through the receiver. It could only an that the ambulance was heading towards Angela.
"Hold on. I think I know where you are. Just wait for ." Anxiously waiting to cross the road to the next block, Gael gently told her, "Lean on a wall or sit on a bench near you. I'm coming to you."
"I just want to go ho…"
"We'll go ho soon. I promise."
She took a deep breath, and he could sense that she had stopped crying. "I see a yellow bus across the street. I can't read what's on it but—"
"I see it." He sped up. He was basically running at this point. Angela had run all the way to the third block from the restaurant. How she did that, he had no idea. "I see you now, baby. I'm almost there."
Angela lifted her head. She first looked to the right and then to the left before pushing herself off the wall and stared at the figure from a distance even with her blurry vision. She held her breath as she tried to make out the figure, but it only took her a second before she rushed forward. Even though she couldn't see his face from more than twenty feet away, she knew it was him.
Gael grunted as Angela plowed into his chest, his strong arms imdiately wrapping around her. "I thought you couldn't see?"
"I couldn't. But I know it's you."
He exhaled a sigh of relief, pressing a kiss on her temple. "Co on. Let's get you ho." He signaled his n to bring the car over.
And while they stood there waiting, her shoulders began to shake.
Fresh waves of tears broke out as she could no longer contain her emotions. She didn't hold back crying into his chest. It was the first ti that he had ever seen and heard Angela cry like that.
Pedestrians looked their way, but his only focus was on her, holding her up when her legs couldn't.
Gael didn't want to move. He could stand in the middle of thousands of pedestrians on the sidewalk all night if he had to.
Soon, arms circled behind her legs and back, and she was lifted off the ground, then into a vehicle.
***
Angela hadn't stopped crying since they left the sidewalk. Her voice was already hoarse, and exhaustion had clearly taken over her body, but she didn't stop.
Gael let her release it all. With her on his lap, she buried her head into the crook of his neck and clung onto him like she was afraid he would leave. Tears and snot ruined his shirt, but he didn't care. All he did was hold her in his arms, stroking her back, her head, her sides, and her limbs—the least he could do to comfort her.
If he could take away her pain, he would. Moisture gathered in his own eyes because he could feel her emotional distress through her loud and guttural crying. It was as if she had never cried before and didn't know how to stop. As if her tears from when she was seven years old had only taken a pause, and her crying now was a continuation. As if she was crying twenty years' worth of tears.
Angela grieved.
She grieved for her mother, the first person who broke her heart.
Gael hugged her tighter as though he could absorb her pain that way. He wanted to rip his heart out and lay it on her feet if that would make her stop hurting.
Laying soft kisses all over her face, he swiped her hair behind her ear and whispered, "You need to stop crying, or you'll get sick."
"I… I hate her… I hate her so much…"
He answered by squeezing her arm affectionately, pressing his cheek on her head.
"We haven't seen each other for twenty years, and she acted like she didn't do anything wrong. Reminiscing childhood stories? To top it off, she's telling to…to leave you and go ho? I can't believe it." She patted her fist onto her chest. "It hurts. It hurts, and I can't stop crying."
"Shhh… Look at ." Gael lifted her chin until her red tear-filled eyes settled on him, large drops still pouring out of them like waterfalls. He gently wiped her tears with his fingers as he spoke, "Breathe with ."
Gael inhaled and exhaled with her. After several repeats, she was able to take control of herself.
"Better?" he asked, and she nodded. "Good."
Angela closed her eyes and nuzzled against his jaw, taking a deep inhale of his scent.
"I didn't know what I was expecting…eting her tonight. She felt like a different person. It's like she's not how I rembered her."
"It's been two decades."
After a few beats, she wondered, "Do you miss your mom?"
Gael didn't expect her question. He paused to think about it. "I do. Ever since she died. I…haven't really stopped missing her. There's this…dullness in my chest. It hurt a lot in the first years. I guess it's still there, but I think I got used to it."
"I feel the sa," Angela said. "There's sothing in that I can't explain. Like there's…a void. And when I saw her a couple of days ago, that ache… It splintered again. It was like reliving a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. And now…" She sniffed. "I think it was better before…back when I hadn't seen her again."
Although their circumstances were different, Gael and Angela both lost their mothers. And the two of them shared the sa dull ache that left scars deep within them.
They remained in the sa position for a while until her breathing slowed down. Gael got to his feet, bringing Angela with him as he walked towards the bedroom. "I'll draw you a bath. Would you like that?"
She nodded against his shoulder. "Bathe with . I don't want to be alone."
"Of course." He kissed her forehead as he entered the bathroom. "I'm not leaving you, Angel."
Reviews
All reviews (0)