He's late for Valentine's day.
She sighed. It happened almost every year. And every year she had hope Conan would spend the day with her. She understood why he was late, but she also missed him so deeply. She never told him, of course. It was his job. But she lost the count of how many times a dinner or any time of them together was ruined by a call from work. 'It's Jeff, it's Sona...' he would say, and excuse himself to take the call. Sometimes it lasted more than ten minutes. She would sigh and smile at him, always telling him there was no problem, even when he had to leave to take care of work related stuff.
But yes, there was a problem. He wasn't emotionally present for months now. He had new projects, Team Coco had new podcasts and TV shows coming up, he was busy. Way too busy, busier than when he had a standard late night talk show format. And she sighed and she took it all in. Sometimes he would wake up so early she wouldn't be up to say good day at work. Sometimes he would only come to sleep way after she was in bed. It was his dream job, she couldn't simply say 'hey, I need time with you too', because his love for comedy was older than this relationship.
She thought about it looking at the table she had set in the dining room. She thought he would be absolutely tired by the time he got home, so she decided to cook the food herself. It wouldn't be as delicious she feared, but she was sure he was hungry and he needed to rest. She looked at the lit candles and realized how tired she was as well. She watched the candles as they slowly melted away and thought that maybe a nap wouldn't be that bad. So she walked back to bed. She had a black dress on, she had makeup on, she was wearing heels, and she hated heels. Why...? All this effort and he didn't show up. She left like crying, but she didn't want to upset him.
Conan was still miles away from home, with a flat tire. He knew she was waiting for him and the timing couldn't be worse. He thought about calling her, but for what? To give her the same excuse? 'I'll be home in half an hour, I swear.' He sighed. Worse than that, is being recognized everywhere he went. And it did happen while he waited for his tires to be fixed. He put up a face and took selfies with everyone. His mind was at home, and he was anxious to come back. He thanked everybody very kindly and drove his way home. God, he wished this was easier.
He ran through the front door, passing the living room to their bedroom. The door was open. He entered and he saw her, all dressed up, like a princess. She was asleep on her side of the bed. He couldn't help but smile. Her shoes were by the side of her bed. The room smelled amazing, her perfume was still in the air. He came right next to her, brushing her hair aside with his hand, and kissed her forehead. She frowned a bit, as if bothered by being disturbed and continued sleeping. He observed her for a few seconds. That scene made him feel guilty. He took his shoes off, and went to the dining room silently. The food was still there. He looked around. A nice looking turkey, rice, beans, mashed potatoes, and she had a glass of wine. The wine glass was there, the plates were set. The food was cold, so he went to the kitchen to use the microwave oven.
'Good God, look at all this work', he thought. He didn't want to wake her up, so he ate alone. Her food was absolutely delicious, even though she hated it herself. He was thinking about how she planned this behind his back and he never thought he would have food waiting for him at home, since they always go out to dinner. He knew she hated cooking for the most part and being in the kitchen was more of an obligation when she needed to, even if her food was amazing. She didn't like to do it. But she did it for him. He put his two hands over his face and grunted. He felt disappointed with himself. It was hard to imagine how disappointed she must felt too.
She was never a complainer. She didn't complain about a single thing. It was unnerving to him. He knew that sometimes she wanted to explode, but she never opened herself to him, because as she said, she didn't want him to worry. Some could see it as a quality, but he didn't want her to suffer in silence. He had to ask her in the morning. He carefully put everything in the refrigerator, and came back to the bedroom. She was still in the same position. The lights were off, and the moonlight came through the window, illuminating her beautiful body. He looked back at her heels. She hated them. He told her not to wear them if they made her uncomfortable but she still did it... for this special occasion he couldn't appreciate. He took the rest of his clothes off, as silently as possible and went to shower.
