P E R I P E T E I A
noun [per-uh-pi-tahy-uh]

A sudden turn of events or an unexpected reversal, especially in a literary work.

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Bill cleared up his study table, placing all the books on the shelves behind the table. He drank the last sip of coffee in his mug then walked over to the large windows at the other end of the room. He pulled the curtains back then took a deep breath as he stared outside, gazing upon the lush, green lawn.

He walked back to his table and took a seat. He lifted up the laptop screen and rubbed his hands together. As the screen loaded, his eyes drifted to the book placed on his table near the edge. It was a heavy read when it comes to the page count as well as the material. 'The Attic Room', a thriller novel with compelling characters and an even more compelling story, was his recent brainchild.

Bill considered it to be a reasonably well-written piece of literature... You always shook your head at his modesty. No, he had faith in his work but, tomorrow afternoon was going to be the official, public book release for his novel. There would be critics, reporters, fans and other extremely important and acknowledged people amongst the crowd at the release conference and signing. Bill couldn't get more intimidated than he already was.

And he had been stressing about it ever since the release date was finalised.

His phone started to ring, vibrating on the tabletop, causing him to be pulled back to life from his thoughts.

He took in a deep breath then picked up the phone and answered the call.

"Guess who just has pretzels for the first time?" A melodious voice asked quirkily at the other end.

Bill smiled softly, "Hi honey, how are you? And how was the pretzel?" He loved hearing your voice, especially these days.

"The pretzel was great actually! A little less salt than I would have hoped though but... great otherwise!" You responded and chuckled, "So, I've been doing good but what about you sweetheart?"

"I'm... I'm f-fine," Bill rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"Oh? What's the matter? I know you're wearing your sad face right now. I can tell," You said with a grin and you heard Bill chuckle.

"I just miss you a lot [y/n], that's all," He answered flatly and you clicked your tongue multiple times playfully.

"No, you... You're nervous about the conference huh?" You asked with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, "You're concerned about how people will receive it."

Bill huffed and scrunched up his nose. "How do you do that?" He grumbled and you laughed.

"I've known you for seven years, Bill. I know you well, baby," You said proudly then stared at the ground, smiling widely.

"Of course you do," He commented with a smile, "What time is your flight tonight, by the way? I've been so preoccupied, I can't remember?" Bill started to search his emails for your plane tickets. You were currently on a business trip abroad, touring around Europe. You've been gone for two and a half weeks for various product shows and meetings, and Bill has missed you for every second.

You sighed, "Honey I-"

"What's wrong?" Bill asked with confusion. You told him that your flight got delayed because of the bad weather. You wouldn't be able to make it home by tonight and the only, soonest flight the airline gave you was for tomorrow night... which will be more than after the conference.

Bill started to feel his nerves swarm inside his veins once more. He shut his laptop then slowly got up from his seat. He cleared his throat then ran a hand through his hair as he advanced to the window seat.

"Now Bill please don't panic-"

"Y-You were supposed to be b-b-back here. You were s-s-s-" He shut his eyes tightly, trying his best to get the words out of his mouth.

You took a deep breath, "Baby relax, concentrate on my voice, okay?"

You hated when Bill's stutter would come back. He had tried an awful lot to fix it, and he did it successfully. He had amazing progress and you were so proud of him but, every-so-often whenever he's nervous or stressed, his stutter comes out of hiding.

"Y-You don't understand, th-this is my job [y/n] a-a-a..." He clenched the phone in his hand with all his might, while you stayed silent. You were miles away from him and you felt helpless.

He stopped talking abruptly resting his head against the window, his fist against the glass in defeat. "I-I-I miss y-you... I-" He decided to stop talking. He couldn't handle the load of it on his brain right now.

"Bill, sweetie, relax," You said as calmly as possible, "Follow my breathing okay?" You demonstrated the breathing exercise of his speech therapist.

"Now, just focus your mind on my voice alright?" You continued, "Everything will be fine! You'll have friends and family at the conference, hundreds of fans of your works and you'll finally be releasing this novel that you've been so excited for. Honey? You're an amazing writer whose... well, I can argue with SOME of your endings but..."

You laughed lightly and he smiled.

"Baby, I wish I could come back home, of course, I do, but I'm not in charge of the weather. You'll have to talk to the man upstairs about it," You said, to cheer up his mood.

"But y-you won't be there with me, [y/n]," He mumbled and you sighed with pity.

"I know, Bill, I know... I really wanted to but there's a silver lining in everything right?" You commented and he continued to stare at the wooden floor.

A moment of silence passed and you cleared your throat.

"Will you be okay, my love?" You asked and he nodded his head, even though at the back of his mind he was quite aware that you wouldn't be able to see that, "Alright. Well, I'm going to argue with a few more of the airport personnel then head back to this hotel they have accommodated the other, stranded flight passengers to." You rolled your eyes and groaned.

He laughed then pursed his lips together, "Bye honey, I love you."

"I love you too, William," You gave him a kiss through the phone, "I'll talk to you tomorrow before I take off."

Bill said a final goodbye then ended the call. He wrapped his hand around his phone then sat on the window seat. He rested his head back on the window seat then sighed with a hint of relief. Deep down he knows that he'll be able to the conference tomorrow. He knows that you'll be with him in spirit.