Blurry Nights

Chapter 11: Ring?

"In my dreams” Olivia replied with a serious tone. She thought for a while with  a furrowed brow before adding, “I always see you in my dreams but when I woke up your face will disappear, why?”

Nelson let out the breath that he doesn’t know that he has been holding when he heard these words from Olivia. ‘Now things would be much easier’ he thought and smiled before replying, “I’m just a man in your dreams so you don’t have to remember my face, okay?”

“Okay,” She nodded and then focused back on her phone.

“Waiting for a call?” Nelson asked curiously.

“Yes, but he doesn’t want to pick or return my calls” She replied with her gaze still fixed on her phone as she frowned slightly.

“Who?” He persisted, with a hint of jealousy that he wasn’t even aware of evident in his voice. “Your boyfriend?” Of course he knows the answer to this question but just couldn’t resist the urge to hear it from her.

“No, My best friend and only family” Olivia replied with a cute pout on her lips.

“Oh!” Nelson responded while shaking his head slightly. “Did he run away?”

“How did you manage to know?” Olivia asked with a wide eyes as she raised her head and glanced at the young man sitting opposite her, ‘He seems to be smart’ she thought. It’s been two days already since Peter ran away from her apartment and hasn’t been picking or returning her calls. As a quite being that doesn’t know how to make friends, Olivia always feels lonely but still finds it difficult to relate with people. Peter always fills these gaps for her but now that he was missing, it was difficult to endure and became worried to extent that she found herself in a bar. Clearly, having more people to interact with surely pays, okay? At least, you won’t find yourself in a bar and burying yourself inside a beer bottle. But, this very handsome man that she was seeing right now makes things much more easier, just that when dawn comes, his face becomes blurry as always.

“I want to remember your face in the morning, can’t I?” She demanded.

“Well, It depends on you” Nelson replied even though he knew very well that she has a light brain and won’t be able to recall any of their discussion by daylight, he went ahead to add, “If you really want to remember me.....?

“Yeah” Olivia responded with her ear propped up and her gaze at Nelson serious as if trying to engrave a useful information to her empty skull. Even the manner at which she brought her face forward with her two palms balancing on her cheeks while her elbows rested on the table made Nelson to swallow hard before saying what she never expected to hear.

“Cough..I have forgotten what to say, let me order for a drink for myself, then I will remember”

“Ohhhhhhh!!!!!” Olivia shouted disappointedly with a loud voice making the people around to flash them a weird look. Nelson winced a little before using his right hand to cover her mouth using his left index finger to press on his own lips, giving her a ‘Ssssh’ sign which made her to stop immediately with her eyelashes blinking continuously as though to question ‘why’.  This childish behavior from Olivia made her to look so cute and adorable and Nelson couldn’t help but to laugh while giving her cheek a light pinch and she blushed. Olivia joined the laughter as soon as the hand covering her mouth got retracted and so the two laughed crazily ignoring the weary gazes from on lookers.

“So tell me” Olivia demanded after the waiter brought the drink that Nelson requested to their table. Olivia knew that she wasn’t dreaming at all and that the person conversing with her wasn’t from her dreams. But, one thing was for sure; it wasn’t in her power to meet this person as he, only chooses to appear while she was drunk. Well, you could assume that she was aware that she would meet this person anytime she was drunk and he doesn’t show up unless she was drunk and so she couldn’t even monitor him since her light brain can’t even grasp the face when morning comes, she could only resign in defeat. “How can I remember you?”

Nelson blinked for seconds in confusion, ‘how come she haven’t dropped that topic’ he thought before answering in the best he could. “If you want to remember me, you just have to try harder and concentrate on the reason why you want to___it might be easier than you thought”

“Oh” Olivia replied while nodding her head continuously until Nelson raised his hand to stop the head from suffering more from the hands of the owner that definitely wasn’t feeling any impact from her actions at all. ‘Maybe, the answer was too much for her to handle’, he thought but thinking about the answer that he gave made him to be curious and so, he asked, “Why exactly do you want to see me?”

“Because you are the second closest person to me after Peter” Olivia replied honestly. And this answer hurt him slightly because apparently his secretary was one hell of a lonely fellow.

“Do you want me to help and look for him?” Nelson asked without thinking twice but the answer from Olivia saddened him.

“NO, I don’t need it because at the end of the day you will also disappear” It was as if he doesn’t exist in reality at all but in fantasy world which pained him to the bone and unknowing to him, he wanted to become part of her reality than fantasy.

“You look happy but you aren’t happy, why?” Olivia asked suddenly successively changing the topic but surprising her Boss at the same time. It was as if she was sober which looking at her closely, she wasn’t and this also calmed the agitating Boss.

Nelson stared at her secretary for a while before using his tongue to moisturize his lips out of nervousness. Anytime he wanted to tell anything serious to Olivia, he will always feel this way because everything between them was like gambling; she might remember or might not but he always ended up taking the risk. The happiness and relief he felt from talking to her about his life was beyond his imaginations.

“Olivia, my ex-girlfriend that I told you about some months ago came to my office today to disclose a very important information to me”

“Oh! Is she getting married to another Man?”  She asked immediately leaving Nelson speechless with her question as he never saw that coming.

Instead of answering the question, he pulled out the ring he was staring at earlier in his office with eager eyes which made Olivia to clap her hands furiously causing the ring to slip from his hand and fell into god knows where. The two found themselves on the floor instantly like kids looking for the lost ring, something in the young secretary’s heart wanted to give up and abandon the ring for whomever wanted to pick it for whatever purpose since the original owner didn’t want it but another thought told her to look for it because the ring might be costly since the man that purchased it looked expensive himself. And funny enough, she was the first to find the ring after crawling under the table of the people sitting next to their table equally lifting their legs up fiercely which crept them out. She handed the ring back to Nelson before persuading for the answer to her question, “She never accepted the ring or you never presented it to her?” She asked curiously.

“I had the opportunity to present it to her but she broke up with me the same day I purchased it” He answered truthfully.

She never deserved it from the beginning was the answer from Olivia before she stood up and staggered towards the exit making Nelson to stand up and followed behind her without uttering any words. No doubt, with the way Allison treated him like a fool, she never really cared or valued him at all, made him to believe the drunken lady’s voice.

As always by the time she walked out of the bar, her taxi driver was already waiting for her outside which never ceases to amaze Nelson; It was as if they always had an appointment any day she wanted to go and drink in that bar because she was always wasted at the end of the day perhaps to ensured her security. What a clever lady! Nelson, thought inwardly unconsciously applauding her sense of security.