It May Rain

Chapter Twenty Six

He's got such a big smile on his face that I could cry big fat tears of relief. I was so scared of what his reaction might be to me turning up like this. Would he still be angry and hurt, and would he be willing to even hear me out.

But he just looks...happy?

"Yes, it's really me," I smile, a tight knot forming in my throat because I'm close to welling up with joy.

"What are you— I mean why are you— How did you—" he stammers erratically as he runs his wide eyes over me, then looks down at his hands.

He drops the shopping bag he's holding onto the floor and lunges at me, wrapping me tight in his arms and lifting me ever so slightly off the ground, causing me to bend my knees and for my feet to float mid-air. As we embrace, silent tears of happiness seep into his shoulder because just a few minutes ago I was wondering if I'd ever get to experience being this close to him again. His arms are wrapped around me so tightly that I'm struggling to breathe, but I don't mind at all.

Who needs oxygen when you have love like this.

He puts me back down on the ground and holds me at arms length. "I'm so glad you're here," he gushes with watery eyes.

"I'm glad I'm here too," I smile, my voice overflowing with emotion. And then a fresh tear escapes from my eye, which he quickly wipes away with his thumb.

"Don't cry, Maeby. Aren't you happy to see me?" he jokes.

I can't help but laugh. "What do you think?" And then I pull him into another tight embrace, because I'm not ready to let go of him just yet. Time stands still as we embrace in complete silence. No words needed to express how much this moment means to both of us.

He eventually pulls away and inspects me up and down, eyes filled with excitement and mouth gaping as he tries to form words. Knowing him, he must have a thousand questions going through his mind right now, trying to work out how I came to be here.

"Why are you here? How did you know I was here? How did you get this address? And how did you get here? How was your journey?"

I smile to myself and attempt to put him out of his misery.

"There was an office announcement that you weren't going to be at work because your dad was recovering from an accident, so I went to see your mum for this address because I wanted to send some get well soon flowers, but I actually wanted the address so I could come and see you. I tried to message you, but when you didn't answer me I thought you were too angry to talk to me, and I knew I had to at least try to come and fix things between us. I love you so much, Hugo, and I couldn't bear to be apart from you, especially after how we left things. I've never done anything as spontaneous as this in my life, I've always ran away from my problems, but this time I knew I needed to see you no matter what. So I came to find you, just as you came to find me all those months ago in the park."

"Oh, Maeby, I can't believe you came all this way for me," he whispers as he gently kisses my forehead. "And how did you physically get here, in this house, right now? Did you break in?"

"Well, they have these things called maps that you can use for navigation, and these things called doors you can walk through," I smirk. "No, I'm kidding - your sister let me in, she recognised me from when I went to your mum's house a few weeks ago."

He bows his head and laughs under his breath. "Hey now, I'm the only one who's allowed to be sarcastic in this relationship."

My heart instantly lights up.

"You still...Do you still want me, even after what I did? Because I'm so so sorry for hurting you like that Hugo, it was a drunken mistake and I hate myself for it. I've never cheated on anyone in my life, and I won't ever do anything like that again. Please say you still trust me?"

He holds my face in both of his hands, and strokes my cheeks with his thumbs. "Every time you caught me in a lie, you forgave me and you eventually learned to trust me. So just like you did with me, I believe you Mae, and I trust you. I get why you did it, because I lied to you again and you were annoyed with me, and Konrad is...well he's Konrad. He flirts with anyone in a skirt."

"Have you spoken to him since...you know." The thought of causing a rift between these two fills me with dread, their families would hate me forever. But if it means being with Hugo, I can live with it.

"Not really. We barely talked the night I got the call about my dad. He came with us to the airport and I haven't spoken to him since. He's just bought a house in London so he'll be around a lot more from now on. But it's ok, we'll be ok. It wouldn't be the first time he's tried to make a pass at my girlfriend," he shrugs.

"What do you mean? Has he tried to kiss one of your exes before too?" A wave of fire courses through me at the thought of Konrad purposefully breaking his little brother's heart. What kind of a brother is he? Even though I really shouldn't be fighting the corner for one of Hugo's exes, if Konrad were to walk into the room right now I would punch him.

"No, not exactly...I'll tell you the story another time. Right now, let's focus on us," he smiles. "The last time we saw each other we didn't...We've got a lot of making up to do, Maeby baby. And I've missed you so much, I don't want to waste another second talking about Konrad."

"So, you're not mad at me anymore? Even though I kissed...him." I can't bring myself to say his name out loud.

"I could never stay mad at you," he smiles simply. There's no hint of bitterness in his voice at all.

"But I thought you were ignoring me because you were angry with me. I've been messaging you every day, and I even tried to call you to tell you I was coming. I thought you'd blocked me out of your life, and that you didn't want anything to do with me anymore," I frown, the irony not lost on me because just a few months ago I was in his position.

"Oh no, no, Maeby, I wasn't ignoring you. I mean, maybe I was putting you on hold those first few days. My head was all over the place because I was hurt, I was confused, I was travelling and I was worried because of my dad's accident, and I just didn't have the headspace to deal with anything else and I...I..."

He takes his hands away from my face, and uses one to play with his hair as he searches for his words.

"Ever since the doctors said my dad would pull through and I could stop worrying about him so much, I've been desperate to call you all week too, but you see my phone broke, so I couldn't. I dropped it down a hospital toilet like an absolute idiot. It was submerged for a whole minute in...bodily fluids. Ever since then I've been trying to get it to work. I've been soaking it in rice every night, and then I ran out of rice, so I was going to use oats but then-"

I launch myself at his lips and wrap my arms around the back of his neck, because none of that matters anymore. All that matters is that he forgives me. He kisses me back and it feels like he's breathing a new lease of life into me.

He immediately melts into me and our hands find each other's bodies. We have our hands on each other's hips and in that moment I realise I want him more than anything else in the world. No, I need him.

I've waited a long time to kiss this man's lips. I've missed the way his lips sit so perfectly in mine, the shape of his cheekbones as I stroke his face, the bang of his glasses on my nose if I tilt my face too much, the almost non-existent baby stubble he has on his upper lip that he refuses to shave.

And most of all, I miss the way it feels to have someone I love in my arms.