You're Always In My Heart

Chapter 25

“Hey,” Kath nudged at Quen—who was busy with the registrar at the café.

        He looked up at her and nodded before going back to the registrar. Kath felt the slight coldness. This was her first time seeing him again after 2 weeks. He was either busy at the café or delivering packages and goods for the café. She comes to the café every day but he was always not around when she’s there. And whenever she goes to his house to visit Gracie, he’s not there either. Manang Fe told her that Quen has been really busy these days especially that he was partnering up with another businessman for a new project. He has never mentioned it to her but she knew he could have if only they were seeing each other as often as before. She even thought that Quen was just making excuses to avoid her but just brushed it off later on. It was healthy for her, she thought. Maybe she needed to be away from him for a while so she could forget all her feelings for him. He silently thanked Quen for at least being distant from her even though she’s not so sure what he was feeling. But she can’t help but miss him. She missed his ear-reaching gum-shining smile. She missed his eyebrows which wiggle in an almost uncomfortable way for her. She missed his dark chocolate eyes—which turn light brown against the sun. She missed his jokes and loud high-pitched laughter. She missed his sweetness towards her. She missed his touch and warmth. She just missed everything about him.

        But DJ was always there with her. He somehow filled in that missing space for her. He was loving. He was sweet, too. She never felt alone because of him. He accompanied her to the café and to the resort. He also helped in taking care of Baby Gracie with her. He was being a husband that he is. And that’s just how everything was supposed-to-be—back to square one. But she never dared to ask him to live with her. He never dared to do so, too. It was probably because they were giving each other some time. Enough time to get back together completely where feelings have been properly placed into where it should be. Mostly, it was for her.  She knew she loved DJ but she thought ‘knowing’ was not enough. And then, there’s Quen. She has to tell DJ about Quen somehow. She has to give him the letters she wrote before.

        She didn’t notice that she has been staring at the cash registrar for too long that the man behind it was already gone. She scanned the café and found him outside—at the parking lot pulling out packages from his car. She slowly walked towards him. Tim, who was helping him stack the packages on one side, greeted her. She greeted back but Quen still didn’t seem to notice her reappearance—or just bluntly ignored it.

“Quen?” she tried to get his attention.

He glanced at her and squinted his eyes against the sunlight.

“Ca-Can we talk?”

        It was 9 in the morning and the sun was shining radiantly but here he was. He was as gloomy as if the sun never shines. She tried asking herself whether or not Quen was starting to hate her. She was fine with the distance but coldness and ignorance—probably not.

        He dusted off his hands after pulling out the last package. He told Tim to carry the packages inside the office before glancing back at her. Not a single smile, she thought.

Kath cleared her throat, “So—“

He raised his brow as he brought his hands to his waist.

“Baby Gracie’s birthday is in a week. Have you thought of something already ‘cause you know I—“

“Yeah. I already arranged it. I’ll just send you an invitation,” he didn’t wait for her to finish.

Kath’s forehead creased, “ What?”

“What?”

She huffed exasperatedly, “Weren’t we supposed to plan it together?”

He stared at her for a moment as if trying to solve a puzzle. He sighed and brought his arms to his chest, “Well, I know you were busy so I thought maybe I would—“

“You thought?” she snorted. His newfound insensitivity somehow vexed her.

“What is wrong with you?” his brows furrowed.

        Kath bit her lip and shook her head in embarrassment. She was being irrationally mad about petty things. But she did feel hurt—being left out with all the planning for Gracie’s birthday. She was like her daughter already so she felt that it was one of her responsibilities.

“I’m sorry. I just—I just thought. Well, I’m sorry,” she held her temple.

Quen’s face relaxed as he wiped his face with his hand.

“It’s okay. I understand that you care about Baby Gracie and all but don’t worry I got this. Just be there. Be there—that’s all.”

Kath stared at him for a while and nodded. She could feel that they were slowly slipping away from each other. Wasn’t this what she wanted? Looking at his cold eyes made her feel—lonely.

“I have to go first,” he said as he sauntered towards the café.

        She stood there—not moving an inch. Staring at the ground where Quen stood a few seconds ago. She felt like she doesn’t want to get used to these kind of conversations with Quen. Cold and restricted conversations. He’s probably trying to stop himself from saying something just like her. Something like—‘I miss you’. That would sound really stupid if she ever blurted it out, albeit she’s been thinking about saying it the whole time they were talking.  Because in all honesty, she’s been missing him.

        The following days were the same. They would see each other but would never really engage into real conversations aside from the business. Quen would sometimes catch Kath’s eyes and would have the great urge to talk to her but then gulps it down and looks away. DJ was there. Wherever Kath was, DJ was there. She wanted him to. It was one of the reasons why Quen would never want to talk to Kath again. Because he was there. He was taking her away from him again. And he hated it but he was just letting him because he had to.

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A/N:

Tadaaaaa double update teehee.

I know yer all happily sleeping by now that's why I updated at this hour to surprise you. hahahaha

anyways,i really appreciate your votes and comments. and mygaaad i never thought i'd reach 10k reads. it's super overwhelming. Thank you so much!

Don't worry, revelations are drawing nearer. I know you've all been itching to know the gist of this story but just hang in there caus we'll get there when we get there. :)

Thank you! *sends air kisses to everyone*