Nebulous || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter twelve

one last time

Josephine stared into her reflection sitting at her vanity while straightening the last section of her hair. She had applied soft glam make up remotely for special occasions out of working those 24 hour shifts. Walking through the doors of her home solely defined in removing the fire uniform off and any occurrences of her job that day out the door. The purpose meant for some normalcy. However, Josephine had to continue to internalized those raw feelings by playing the happy half of an engaged couple.

As today commenced the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of her beloved grandparents, Matthew and Alicia Santiago.

For some reason this week fueled anxiety under Josephine's skin days prior to this event. Perhaps, enduring the wrath of her nosy relatives about her life, or crossing paths with her mother who she hasn't immersed a conversation that didn't reflect upon wedding plans. Or, acknowledging this would be the last straw until dropping the ball about ending the engagement- crossing out all the plans of a wedding supposedly to happen within the next month and a half.

She sauntered into the walk-in closet to reach for a navy blue one shoulder bodycon dress on the rack and a pair of black ankle strapped heels. The dress fitted the figure of her body as her hands slid down the dress. When she turned to zip herself from the back, it seemed like a tug of war to grasp onto the zipper.

"Need a hand?" Bryan voiced in the doorway. He stood in his suit as he observed Josephine's routinely struggle when it comes to back zipper dresses and refusing any assistance.

After a huff escape from her lips, her hands flailed up and move her brown locks to the side for Bryan to step in. "I never know why you wait until ten or twenty minutes to ask for help." He teased to make small talk.

Josephine pursed her lips when feeling his presence so close from behind and the vibrations of his chuckles. "It's not like I never succeeded to do this part."

"And when you don't, you get frustrated when there's a helping hand not too far away." He retorted as he zipped up the dress with ease. "See? I doubt you can do that on your own within five seconds."

She snorted and rolled her eyes at his remark before faltering. In these usual situations, his lips would end up pressing softly onto her bare shoulder and up her neck.

Except this time was different and would unlikely end up feeling his lips peppered onto her skin. Josephine spun around to immediately lock eyes with him. They stood with a small gap between them.

Neither said a word as the silence breezed over them in their walk-in closet. Even staring in those brown orbs that betrayed her and this commitment- a part of her still loved him. Which is why she intended to avoid eye contact because she'll want to fall in his arms. Maybe, try to work it out instead of throwing it all away.