Seventy -nine- The man she missed...

With haste, Chloe resigned from the Agency to Conner’s dismay. She moved out of her hardly used house and while she dragged her properties out of the small bungalow, she was lucky to have met her landlady who offered another empty place.

The old lady was trying to enrich her pockets, yes. But she did Chloe a solid. The property was located far away from the city and a little bit farther from popular towns.

When she asked her landlady why she had a building in the far corner of the country, she confessed that she used to live there with her husband when he was going though his adventure phrase.

Chloe smiled when the landlady fed her stories about her late husband and on the other hand, she felt grateful for the adventures her husband decided to have. Thanks to it, she was far away from civilization.

There was more distance between her and the streets that held terrible memories of her past. And, importantly, she was finally far away from the NAG brothers who she still felt guilty towards.

Taking a deep sigh as she watched the unexpected rain make patterns on her window, Chloe assured herself that she was not making a mistake.

Deciding to put aside her quest was not something she should regret, she told herself again as she has been doing ever since she moved into the lovely cottage.

As she stared out to see if the flowers that were planted by her welcoming neighbours were not being destroyed by the heavy rain, Chloe’s eyes captured the muddiness of the ground and she instantly remembered her brother.

Her search for her brother lead her into Agency, then, to the NAG brothers lives. Being a human mad with emotions because her brother’s declared body suddenly disappeared from the place of treatment after a sudden attack on the building, she didn’t hesitate when a certain assured her that her questions would be answered if she decides to work as a spy.

Chloe realized eventually that the Agency didn’t have an answer at all. They just used her eagerness to do anything for her brother while it lasted. And it worked well for them. Their plan didn’t flop.

But their plan ruined her life. Precious time was wasted, she fell in love and lost the love within few seconds. She finally had friends and she lost them too.

The only thing she gained was money. An amount that was enough to take care of her needs for two years or more was all she got from working for the Agency.

She had to give up her rigorous search for her probably alive brother, so yes, the Agency’s plan ruined her life.

Exhaling hard once more, Chloe got up from the high stool she was seated on and walked to the center of the room where a large couch was positioned, with a small table in front of it and her favourite bean bag.

Reaching for the flask of hot tea on the table she relaxed onto the couch and opened the flask to resume her daily routine.

Her routine was nothing much. Aside from sleeping and waking up, she did a lot of exercises, some cooking, a little bit of gardening, drinking tea and sometimes coffee. At times, especially during weekends, she would take a scroll to the busy part of the town where friendly smiles were always thrown her way despite the fact that she was yet to familarize herself with the people of the town.

The people she had ever talked to were the man that worked at the store and the woman who delivered the welcome flowers.

So, she did not do much of talking either.

As she took a long sip from the heated cup, she listened to the tranquilizing music the rain made.

And, she did that for some more minutes, her head still not doing what the man at the store advised it to do when he first saw her.

“Let go of your troubles child,” he said that day with his shrill voice. “Stop making yourself suffer.”

Chloe wondered why she suddenly recalled the man’s statement, perhaps it was the lovely scent of the rare tea. As that lovely scent sneaked into her nostrils some more, Chloe tried to decipher his sentence.

How would she let go of her troubles when that was all her life was based upon?

From runaway parents to living in a society that belittled her, to losing her loved one in a mysterious manner, her life was indeed filled with troubles and surely, she was already used to it, it wouldn’t surprise her if things turn crazier for her.

Scoffing into the air, she sipped her tea some more, and decided to disregard the man’s statement and told herself that she was fine the way she was.

‘But are you really fine?’ a small voice inside her asked and Chloe frowned.

Of course she was fine. Why would she not be?

What was she lacking?

She has a house to live in, she eats healthy, she even has a phone with which she plays games. Why wouldn’t she be fine?

As she shook her head at the thoughts going on in her head, her faulty answering machine beeped and the voice that reached her ears gripped her so hard, she lost every sense of reasoning.

‘Chloe…’ Her rate of breathing distorted for some seconds. ‘I have been looking for you. Call me, we have to talk.’

The machine beeped again and nothing but rain sounds filled the room again.

Seconds later, with her heart feeling funny, Chloe fell on her knees and she finally realized that she was not fine.

Tears filling her eyes, her hands clasped over her quivering lips, Chloe’s body shook as her true feeling finally showed. She really wasn’t okay.

She missed him so much, her heart squeezed so hard at the mere thought of his name. She missed him so much, all she could do was cry about it.

Her loud crying filled the room as her feelings erupted the more. As seconds passed, she didn’t just cry because she blew her relationship with Nathaniel, she bawled her eyes out because she was never going to meet her brother, the one person that cared for her in a way she didn’t deserve.

Her blurred eyes scanned the room and she wondered what she was doing with her life. What did she really aim from moving to a place where there are hardly any opportunities for her.

Gosh, she was a big mess.

While her tears fell, the downpour outside reduced, so her ears picked the sound of a vehicle struggling to move. She could tell thanks to the violent stirring of the mud by the tires.

Chloe was going to ignore the drama going on in front of her house but she needed something to keep her from thinking about her sorry life.

So, she approached her door. As she opened it, a tall figure was already stationed in front of her house, his knuckles about to land on the door’s surface.

“Sorry can I-” Chloe was still trying to blink away her tears. “This is good. I found you. Finally.”

That voice…

Her eyes widened and they darted away from the shoes.

Smiling blue eyes connecting with hers, Chloe felt her knees go weak but before she could drop onto the ground, he firmly reached for her.

And thanks to his hold, she realized that she was not dreaming.

The man she missed so much was the man in front of her.