The Right One

Thirty nine

It was a good thing that Raymond had known Hope long enough to know that she was stubborn and set in her ways. He'd probably have driven himself off the edge worrying over and trying to figure her out otherwise. Although he couldn't promise that wouldn't end up happening at the rate things were going. They currently had a passive-aggressive situation ongoing, but at least he knew better than to be too worried about it. He had to give it to her though, the girl was very stubborn.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?"

Raymond's attention returned to his friend who was already staring inquisitively at him. When Efe had showed up in his office unannounced as seemed to be his signature, bearing news that they were having a 'guys' night', he'd been too exhausted to do anything else but agree, explaining why Efe was comfortably making his way through his stash of junks after hogging both his sofa and tv. Raymond on the other hand had settled on the floor with a drink, too engrossed in his thoughts to pay much attention to his friend.

"Nothing much," he dismissed, uninterested in getting into any kind of details.

"Really? Cause you've been unusually quiet, even for you," Efe probed then continued when Raymond only shrugged, "How's Hope these days?"

Trust Efe to accurately link his sour mood to Hope. "She's good."

"Weird, man. What's up with your tone?"

"What about it?"

"You tell me. You usually look like a lovestruck idiot whenever anyone as much as mentions Hope, but now you're being the exact opposite. Your terrible attempt at being nonchalant is a dead giveaway," his friend stated with the confidence of one who knew he was right.

"You're the idiot," Raymond retorted for lack of a better response.

"Weak," Efe retorted. "So what's it?"

"Hope is fine, Efe," Raymond replied exasperatedly, rubbing his face tiredly.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Efe insisted. "It's either you say exactly what's got you in a sour mood or you start smiling like the lovestruck idiot I know you to be."

Why did one have friends again? "Alright. Truth is we sort of had a fight so we haven't really spoken in the last few days."

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

Raymond wasn't sure what to make of the honest shock on his friend's face. "Does it look like I'm joking? And why do you look so surprised?"

"Because you've been acting like nothing would ever go wrong between you two. What did you do?"

It was Raymond's turn to look surprised, and offended. "What exactly makes you think I did something?"

"It'd makes more sense that way, I guess.  I don't know. Didn't you?"

"No," Raymond replied pointedly, glaring at his friend. "As a matter of fact, I'm the one who was offended."

Efe scoffed. "You say that like it's something to be happy about. What happened?"

"After everything that's happened, I'd suggested that she visits Philip even if for the last time so she could get proper closure cause it was so obvious she needed one."

"Uh-oh. I assume she didn't take it well?"

"At first, yes, she wasn't open to the idea, but that wasn't even the issue. She told me she'd think about it and the next thing I know, she'd already gone to see him without informing me or anyone else. She went to see a man that'd previously kidnapped her all by herself, without letting anyone know. Who does that?"