Alison returned home feeling downcast, every inch of her being longed for answers that she couldn't find. Patience wasn't an option, but it seemed to be forced upon her at this point because she had left with no other choice but to wait until something miraculous happened.
Her mind conceived numerous thoughts, perhaps if she went to sleep, she'd wake up from this nightmare. Speaking of nightmares, she wondered if the accident was truly a dream, but that couldn't be true.
She recalled having this conversation with him long ago, about how they must visit an old friend who just moved into the state. She recalled telling him to roll up the window because of the awful smell coming from outside.
And most drastically, she recalled the screeching sound of the brakes while Alex drove head-on into an industrial truck about five times the size of their cars.
Tears flooded her eyes as these memories came flooding back; she would have preferred being reborn without them, because living like this felt like an everlasting punishment.
"Isn't it better that I am reborn to fix something wrong that I did in the past, but I didn't do anything that I wanted to fix."
Alison wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. She scrolled through her phone, hoping to find a picture of him online, but somehow, he seemed absent from all social media platforms. It wasn't shocking, though, because Alex only started to take pictures seriously after they met, and that was because she forced him to.
"Hello! Al, are you in there?"
Alison was startled by the sudden knock on the door, she stole a glance at the clock hung on the wall.
"6 pm." She muttered, sighing in frustration.
"Al!" Came Dylan's voice a second time, but Alison still didn't respond. She stood up from the sofa, adjusted her dress and walked up to the door.
"Hey!" Dylan waved with a smile as soon as she opened the door,
"I got you fries from Karen?" He announced, holding up the paper bag in his hand for her to see.
Alison looked him in the eyes and then looked away. Without words, she walked back into the house, leaving the door open for him to come in.
"Babe, can you just tell me what is wrong?" Dylan pleaded, he used his leg to close the door, before placing the bags on the centre table in the living room.
"You've been this moody all day and I know it's not because of last night, tell me."
While speaking, Dylan closed the distance between them, hugging Alison from behind just before she could fall back into the couch.
With a swift move, he turned her to face him, and that was when he realised how reddened her eyes were.
"Jesus Christ! Al, you've been crying?" He exclaimed, then slowly helped her to settle into the couch. He sat next to her, making sure that she was resting in his arms.
"Did... did you lose someone?"
"No," Alison simply replied.
"What is then?" He asked again, gently stroking her hair. His touch made her skin crawl, but this time Alison didn't move away. She allowed him to hold her, without thinking that he'd ever love her truly.
"I... I just want to eat the fries," she mumbled, and without wasting a second, Dylan stood up, brought the bag to her, then dashed into the kitchen and returned with a flat plate and two glass cups.
"Let me help you with that," he offered, and poured out some of the fries into her plate, and then handed her the ketchup which had been packed in small plastic containers.
"Here you go."
"Thanks," Alison almost whispered. She was hungry, starving the whole day while in search of her future husband was not a good combination, especially when mixed with constant crying and emotional breakdown.
For a few minutes Alison ate in silence, while Dylan simply watched, stroking her shoulder at intervals, each one was accompanied by a long sigh.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat,
"You don't have to tell me what's wrong if you don't want to... but uhm... I just want to let you know that I'm here for you no matter what, huh, I love you."
'Lair,' Alison kept these thoughts to herself, but rolled back her eyes in disdain.
"You know," he continued,
"If you need a few days off I can get that signed for you until you get better."
"Or," Alison paused and turned to face him,
"You can help me find someone... I am looking for someone, but they wouldn't let me meet him."
"Who is he?"
Alison scanned her brain looking for what to say next, she wasn't always prepared to answer these questions, and it was annoying.
"Uhm... he uhm," she stuttered, and to buy herself some time to think, she filled her mouth with fries dipped in ketchup.
"Did... this person do something to you?" Dylan asked her, his tone laced with curiosity. She's been moody all day, and now all she wanted was to find someone, but it just didn't connect.
Alison shook her head,
"No, but he owes me...
"He?" Dylan pointed out, raising a brow.
"He's old enough to be my father, Alex... sorry I meant Dylan." Alison quickly answered, she could never forget how jealous Dylan was, but still had the guts to cheat.
Dylan shrugged,
"If you say so. What's his name, I could ask Aaron to track him down for you...
"No no," Alison cut him off,
"You don't have to track him, he's not a criminal, I just want to be able to meet him that's all. His name is Norman, and he founded the Norman Groups, but it's a really small company for now."
Dylan's eyes widened,
"Oh, I know Mr Norman!" He exclaimed,
"Not sure if we have spoken in a while, it's not like we are friends, but I remember he wanted to partner with our company. I was with our CEO when he made that request... sadly, our CEO declined, he feels the Norman Family business would fail."
"Hmm, bad idea," Alison whispered. She was tempted to intervene, knowing that it might save the company from potentially crashing, but no one would believe her anyway.
"What does he owe you, money?"
"That's not something I can tell you, Ale... Dylan, but yeah, something like that."
Still curious, Dylan nodded,
"I'll see what I can do for you."
A forced smile crept uponAlison'sn face, and even though she didn't want to, she placeda kiss on his cheek and said,
"Thank you so much... I still have one more request though."
"What?"
"Can I get a day off tomorrow, and uhm... maybe the day after?"