… even in an imperfect world.
It has been a very difficult night and the pain lingered on until the next morning. I kept myself busy and burried with work, but I couldn’t focus on the things at hand. It was five o’clock in the afternoon and I still felt paralyzed. I had to prepare for dinner with my aunt and meet her at the restaurant by six.
I took a shower. At least the hot water made me realize that I wasn’t numb yet. It felt good and refreshing. I got dressed and went on my way. The weather wasn’t helping either. Too much rain had made it impossible to look on the brighter side of things. People just can’t drive well on wet weather. While I was stuck in traffic, I was listening to music. There was only one thing in my mind. Zach.
I prayed to God. I prayed for Zach and for myself and for our future. I prayed for enlightenment, strength and courage. Everytime my chest tightened, I told myself “Don, you can make it through. You can make it.” But that didn’t help. Who was I kidding?
By six o’clock, I was parked in front of Minado in Little Ferry. I waited there for my aunt and cousins. Still, all I can think of was Zach. I looked at my cellphone and gathered all the courage that I can and dialed Zach’s number. I missed him so much and all I wanted was to at least hear his voice one last time.
There was a scratchy noise at the other end and Zach finally said ‘Hello’. It was lame for me to ask, but all I could say was ‘How are you?’. Trembling and lost for words, I waited for his response. I sensed a crack in his voice as he said ‘I miss you so much.’. We started talking… then cried.
We both apologized for the things we said the night before. We were both upset and weren’t thinking clearly. We both agreed that our love is stronger than before and we should give it our best. We should give it another chance. We will work very hard on it.
It may sound cheesy and all too dramatic, but love endures and will always prevail, even in an imperfect world. It’s the only thing that we have and it’s strong enough to hold us together.
In an imperfect and seemingly cruel world, there is always hope.