Chapter 2The Wait Never Ends

When Cillian called me, I had already boarded the train.

The ringtone snapped me out of my slumber.

“Hello?”

My voice was still a little hoarse.

After a brief silence, I heard Cillian’s familiar voice.

“Aren’t you home?”

The fog in my mind suddenly lifted.

I glanced at the screen. It was two hours past midnight.

It took that long for him to take Beau Vox home.

I felt a strange sense of relief at the thought that I did not stick around waiting for him like a fool.

“No, I’m not home. I’m on a train heading back home.”

“A train? Which home are you talking about?”

Halfway through his sentence, he seemed to have realized that the home I was referring to was my hometown down south, where I was born and raised. Home was not our cold, frigid villa.

“Why the sudden trip? Didn’t we talk about this last time?”

Cillian’s deep voice was laced with confusion.

The “last time” he was referring to was a month ago when my mother called to ask if I could head home with Cillian to celebrate my birthday with them this year. She asked because she and my father had not gotten the chance to celebrate my birthday in a long time.

Fearing that she was putting me in a difficult position by making the request, she mindfully added that she understood if Cillian was busy with work and could not find time. She further clarified that she was only asking.

Still, the sadness in her voice was unmistakable.

I had to hold back tears when I asked Cillian if he would make time to head home with me.

In response, he rubbed his temples and said with a weary look in his eyes, “Margaret, you should know how swamped I have been with work lately. How about I take you back to visit your parents after this period has passed?”

I did not insist when I saw the dark circles under his eyes.

Shortly after that, I stumbled into a post Beau made online.

[Thanks to a certain someone for taking time out of their busy schedule to take me hiking! I was in a bad mood, but now I feel revived!]

It was the caption to a picture of her standing on the mountaintop with a radiant smile on her face.

In the lower right corner of the picture, I caught a glimpse of a wrist.

Having spent four years together, I recognized that it was Cillian's hand instantly.

That was how I realized how much he was willing to take time out of his work if Beau needed him. He gladly took two days off work to take her hiking.

Meanwhile, I had to wait for him endlessly.

I stared outside the window, where I could make out faint shapes of the peaks of mountains in the darkness.

When I spoke, my voice was faint, “I’m homesick.”

I longed for the home where I could always find two figures waiting at the door for me regardless of what time I returned.

After a prolonged moment of silence, Cillian spoke again, this time, with a hint of lament in his voice, “Are you upset because I came home late today?

“I was held up by a friend for longer than I expected. I thought you would understand.”

After another pause, he added, “I got you a birthday present. I didn't forget it was your birthday. Don’t…”

“Cillian Newberry.”

I cut him short and called him by his full name for the first time.

I did not bother to state that I knew who this so-called “friend” was. All I did was announce calmly, “Let’s get divorced.”