N Has Fallen

XXXIV - Mizpah

XXXIV - Mizpah

Mizpah
/miz-pa/
noun
the deep emotional bond between people, especially those separated by distance or death

🍁

It was dusk. The dark sky was limned by blue and purple hues that signifies the inevitable rise of the sun. The only people who are up at this hour are those who sleeps at daylight. But he was up. Reading her book. Putting her words into his heart with every line that he read and every page that he flipped. He didn't like books. He didn't like reading them. He would always be too bored when reading but as he read her book, he couldn't help but question about the things he hated before. How could he even not like reading? Now, with her, reading her poems, her letters and her words that's meant for him, he never felt so thankful for being able to understand words.

"And when he looks at me,
his eyes turned into crescents and I can see true happiness there,
I can see me."

He was up all night reading. When she allowed him to read her book, he didn't even blink as soon as he was in the first page.

"As we lay down and he pulls me close,
I can feel his heartbeat, can feel it beating against mine.
Beating with the same pace as mine like it wanted to come out and dance and sing and fly,
I had never felt this before.
I had never felt being someone's reason to smile every morning when he wakes up,
I had never felt being someone's reason to smile and live.
And as we both lay on his bed, on a cold winter night,
I realized being everything to someone is like being someone's favorite cup of coffee,
Bitter once but always the sweetest when given a chance."

"Noah?" A soft voice called. He took off his reading glasses and placed the book on his bedside table.

"Hey baby." He lie down and scooted closer until they were face to face. "How's your sleep?"

"Dreamless." She smiled, that pretty heartbreaking smile he would never get enough of. "You didn't sleep." She stated and didn't ask.

"I couldn't. I wanted to read." She looked at the bedside table and noticed that he bookmarked half of the book.

"How was it so far?" She asked him, biting her lip, nervous. Maybe he didn't like it. Maybe it was too cheesy.

"I loved reading every single word of it. I'm halfway through it." He cupped her cheek and rubbed soothing circles on her soft skin she can't help but close her eyes. "Thank you." She opened her eyes, looking at him confused.

"For what?"

"For giving me a chance. For waking up with me like this. For choosing me. For loving me."

She didn't know what to say. "Noah..."

He pulled her close, hugging her and kissing her forehead. "I have something to tell you." He paused. He'd been debating with his self if he should tell her about the call he'd received last night.

"What is it?" She asked when he didn't continue, her voice muffled by his shirt.

He went silent. She raised her head to look at him and kissed his jaw. "Noah?"

"Via's brother..."

"Nathan?" Now she was curious. Noah didn't like talking about Nathan and now he's bringing him up. She couldn't help but feel curious.

"Yeah. He actually called me last night." She moved a bit and listened closer.

"What about him?" Did something happen? Is he okay? She hoped he was. She haven't seen him for the past days. After he confessed, she couldn't look at him the way she did before. How in all those years he managed to keep something for so long. But she was sure even if he told her about what he feels for her before, she wouldn't think of him as something else other than a friend and a brother. Nathan was her first friend, the one friend who never betrayed her and she wouldn't ever forget what they had. She hoped they could still be friends despite the things that happened.