A couple of days passed since our date debacle. It was also the same amount of time since Philip and I shared a word.

He didn't make an appearance in his office all this while and needless to say, any attempt to call or text him also turned out to be futile. After sending a few abusive voice messages and a few more wrapped in concern, I may have filled his inbox too.

I wouldn't say all my options to contact Philip was exhausted. I still had Sasha and John but the urgency to dial them up and narrate about our little fight suddenly seemed childish. It was Philip who decided to go off the contact map. How was calling his brother going to serve the purpose?

"Ready?" Linda called out from her bedroom while I stretched my body and acted too tired for an evening stroll. "Come on, get up."

I was too tired of watching my phone like a hawk and crying like it was my fault, pushing Philip off the grid.

"You still haven't changed?" Coiling her arms on her sides, Linda stared at me with a look that could send anyone packing to a hospital.

"I don't feel like doing anything. You go."

"Listen," she fell onto our quicksand couch and brushed off my fringes, falling over my eyes. "You're thinking too much about this because he was your first serious boyfriend. But he is, sorry to say this, being a jerk right now."

"He isn't. You should have seen the hurt that I saw when that waiter-"

"I'm not saying about the time at the restaurant where he felt being wronged. I'm talking about the time when he asked you for time and then up and left." Linda grabbed me up from my sink into her monstrous couch which seemed to devourer me. "Philip is justified in acting hurt for all things regarding his vision but he still has no right to hurt you in turn. That's where he is acting-"

"Jerk, I get it." Somehow my innate sense to protect him, even from Linda's verbal confrontation rose. She was right. But what she didn't understand was the part that men like Philip and John, who go to war fronts came back metamorphosed.

They changed from their true selves and become someone quite different. Their attitude and attributes weren't molded by day to day struggles at work but by the struggles of survival itself. If men like them threw a hissy fit, it wasn't for attention. It would only be for genuine reasons, things they needed to have control over.

"So how about this." Linda clapped her hands near my ears, trying to get my attention. "We take a quick walk and then I'll leave and get groceries and you can come back."

"If that's the plan, then why take me out? I can walk in here itself."

Linda may be very patient at work but the strings of her patience ran thin when I talked back. She plucked me up from the couch like a lifeless doll before shoving me outside. She locked the door and rattled the keys.

"You can now walk with me or sit here till I return."

Imagine the slump I had been swimming in for I looked at the marble lobby for minutes, contemplating if it was indeed a good idea to sit and wait for her to return.

"Fine," I tossed my hands up in surrender. There was no winning with her today.

"You'll love it," she cheered me up, rattling my slump shoulders on our way down. "It's gonna be fun."

The walk outside was refreshing but I wouldn't admit it to her. Linda would gloat and do her happy dance, all to rub it in my face. I was content, knowing that if tomorrow I felt like my life suddenly had no purpose, I can jog and set my mind straight.

"You know what my dad did?" Linda pocked me with her elbow. My eyebrows were hooked up in attention. "He wants me to come live with him, at his mansion. Says if I don't then he'll stop paying my student debt."

"Again with the debt?" I growled out as if it wasn't her father but mine, who was threatening. "What's with that man and threats? Can't he let you live your life?"

Linda didn't answer. She could only tilt her towards my side. "I told him, I'll think about it."

"Linda, no." I pulled her to the nearest bench and sat, ready to deliver my sermon. "He always knows how to use threats to grab your attention. You told me, he needs you for publicity. Now you're simply giving him that."

"But I-"

"But nothing," I squeezed her bunched fists and rattled her arm. "You have to think only about yourself this time. Don't think about your father. If he was absent all this while, then he cannot suddenly decide to make an appearance, throw some money and think its okay to extort from his daughter."

Her head fell back when I said the word extort. Her serious pale face burst into a share of soft pink when she looked back. "It's not extortion."

"It is, look it up," I said it with such confidence that even a lawyer would have to check the penal codes for it. "Now, how about you leave and let me make a run around the block before returning."

She waved at me, tossing the keys while I sprinted my way around. Over time, I have heard a lot of people telling me the goodness of a run. I was the buffoon, never paying heed to it. The endorphins pumped inside me, it made me cover a whole lot of track area before I decided it was too much for my lungs to take in a day.

I walked into the elevator with the people present in the lobby watching me as if I had inhaled smoke from a chimney release and now wheezing for air. Not that I was obese in any way, I did carry an unhealthy lifestyle with no exercise at all.

Riding up, my lungs burned on the inside and sweat streamed down my body in a marathon to reach my limbs first. As soon as the doors chimed open, my gaze fell at the entity standing near my door and my legs turned to jelly.

"Daisy," Philip enquired, hearing me crumble on the floor. "Is that you?"

"Yup, it's me." I walked - oh who was I kidding. I dragged myself to the door and somehow managed to walk inside before falling into the hold of the first piece of furniture my eyes landed on.

"Are you okay?" Philip moved in, closing the door.

"You. Perfectly fine," I heaved for air. My mouth dried up and no amount of gulping could induce my taste buds to reactivate saliva.

"Then why are you panting?" he asked.

It might have been the frustration of feeling no air in my chest coupled with the fact, Philip was standing near me with a relaxed tone and a carefree attitude, that my words emerged intonated.

"Because I was having sex inside the elevator. Happy now?"

He let out a tight smile before feeling the area around and moving to the kitchen. Respite flowed when the sound from the fridge opening and shutting, emerged. With a cold bottle of water displayed near me, Philip managed to earn a mild 'thank you' before I gulped the contents in its entirety.

Only when I finished, did life irrigated back inside me. With that came the whirlpool of questions, hiding behind the mask of calm.

"Where have you been, you stupid ignorant fool?"

I tossed the chair back and marched onto Philip's side, who scrambled back in steps. "What happened? I told you, I needed time. And then I was called for something-"

"You were called for what, you monstrous pig. What could have made you not attend my calls and have the courtesy of telling me, you were leaving me in a pit of darkness without telling me what my mistake was."

"Oh, darling." Philip lent his hand out, gently stroking both my sides before cupping my face inside his palms. "You did nothing wrong. I was truly the idiot who made the mistake."

Wiping away my tears that were always ready to resurface like a backup singer in case something happened to the main one, Philip kissed my forehead and remained glued in the position.

"I can't believe how selfish I was to you," he stated without breaking his lip's hold from my skin. "I tossed my phone after you left and it broke. I had a meeting with my previous employer and it was a one day-long journey. I had Luke with me so even he couldn't deliver the message to you, darling." After pulling my body into the warmth of his, I rubbed his stubbled jaw over my forehead. "I'm so sorry, my darling. Please forgive your jerk boyfriend."

His words were genuine. I could feel it wasn't his intention to hurt me. We both fought at the wrong time. The 'no contact' only made it seem more terrible. Only now, in his hold, did I feel waves of calmness.

"What did your ex-employer want from you?" I straightened my back and pulled him towards the balcony view of our apartment.

Philip rubbed his palms over his face and into the back of his neck. "I came here to talk about that, darling. They want me back."

My hydrated mouth suddenly felt dry. Hoarse voice carrying prickly words emerged. "But isn't your ex-employer-"

"The defense, yes. They want me back. There's a position opened in the intelligence bureau."

"But..." I didn't know how to state it without hurting Phil's sentiments about his impairment.

"I know what you're thinking. It's not active duty. It's more like predicting threats before they occur and..."

"And what?" Ignoring the thumping on my ribcage and the siren alert that ran in my ears, I held onto the glass borders of the balcony and leaned forward.

Was Philip leaving me?

"And they have some perks for me. Especially for me..."

"What perks? Money? A bigger house? A promotion?" My eyes teared up and I knelt before him.

It was now when I realized, Philip's inability to see was a boon for me. I didn't have to hold onto the notion that he shouldn't see me crumble. He couldn't see what I underwent while proudly announcing the news of his departure.

"Darling, I-"

"Don't," I tossed away his approach and crawled back.

If this was our Roseville departure all over again, then I wanted to be prepared. Philip didn't get to decide if he wanted to leave or stay without informing me about it. He took up the job like I had no say in it. Like telling me about it never crossed his mind.

"Please leave." I stood up from my ground embrace and walked over to the door. "You can leave when you want but don't expect me to wait around." I pulled open the door and waited for him to leave. The creaking hinges confirmed my intentions.

He stood his ground, rooted in place and gazing at the area around me. I bit into my lips, trying hard to hold the tsunami of tears that were ready to break out.

I wasn't opposed to Philip going back to his previous job. It was the part that he took it up without a word to me, giving me a tipoff about our long distance.

Then it hit me.

Maybe Philip didn't want to have a long-distance after all.

All that love and forever was when we were both at the same place. This was a different time and place we were talking about. It was now when the picture fully emerged before me. He had come to place a time bomb on us, starting the clock. When he would leave, things between us would burn and turn to ashes.

"When are you going?" I asked, lowering my head to avoid seeing his droopy face.

He remained silent. Ignoring my words, he walked out but didn't cross the threshold. "I hope you'll understand it's something I have to do.."

"When are you leaving?" I shouted, awaiting his reply.

"A month. I have to attend a training and then I'll leave."

One month. We had one month to ourselves before we part ways.

~

The ticking clock is on...

What do you think would happen next? Will Philip do something drastic before leaving 

or 

would he leave, breaking Daisy's heart once more?

Let me know in the comments. 

Also, I hope you all vote and share, if you like my writing <3