Chapter 7: Seven Days
Elaine checked in at a local hotel and the following day she hired a rental and a driver to help her find Nathan’s place. For one whole day they roamed around the city looking for his place, she led the driver to the specific places and turn that she could remember them taking. By the evening she went back to the bus station, she didn’t bother go step out of the car as Martha shook her head. She went back to her hotel room frustrated.
The next day Elaine decided to try one more time so they went around again the whole city this time taking the routes they did not take yesterday. Still no luck, among all the places they went to she could not remember any of them. A trip to the bus station proved that their whole day effort was again fruitless.
On the third day she wanted to give up but something inside told her to try one more time. After two hours of searching Elaine burst into joy as she saw the old house where Nathan tricked her. She knew it was close by and she remembered clearly all the turns from there on. Excited she was as they grew nearer towards Nathan’s house. After a few minutes there it was, she quickly got out of the car and ran towards the house. Her happiness turned into grief as she saw a placard stuck on the door. “For Sale: Contact Owner” was written on the placard and Nathan’s number was written at the bottom. She tried calling his phone but it wasn’t turned on.
Elaine was so frustrated and she got back inside the car and started to cry. “Madam are you okay?” the driver asked. “Yes. Please take me back to the hotel” she said and continued sobbing. As they reached the hotel the driver looked at Elaine, “Madam don’t give up I know you will find him. Can you give me his name so I can ask around just in case?” the driver offered. Elaine smiled at him, “His name is Nathan Garcia. Thank you very much” she said and got out of the car.
The fourth morning came and Elaine was out of ideas anymore. She spent all night praying that she could find him. She did not discount the possibility that he might be gone forever. Elaine got up from bed but she felt so weak, she has skipped several meals already. She wanted to go out and find him but her body would not allow her to.
She called up room service and ordered some food to replenish her energy. The food that she ate did not do much for she still was weak. She tried calling up his mobile phone several times but still it was off. As evening approached another day was wasted and tears started to gather once again in her eyes. She goes out into the room balcony and looks at the sky and calls out his name.
The seventh day arrived and Elaine checked out of the hotel. She headed to the bus station and purchased her ticket back home. Her scheduled bus has not arrived yet so she had to wait along with the other passengers. Elaine decided to go to bid Martha goodbye as she waited for her ride home to arrive.
“Good day madam! Are you going home already?” Martha asked her. Elaine sat beside Martha and sighed, “I really don’t know, I have no more ideas where to find him. I have been looking for six days, I found his house but he was not there anymore” she said. “Well madam today is the seventh day, you might be lucky if you try looking for him today” Martha suggested.
Elaine sat back and just stared at the pavement. “I already have a ticket but my bus has not arrived” she told the old woman. “Maybe that is a sign for you to keep searching. Maybe fate tells you to try one more time” Martha said. Elaine smiled at her and put her hands on her face. “If it were that easy, if only he turned his phone on so I can call him up. Where in the world could he be right now?” Elaine softly uttered.
A bus was arriving and Martha looked at Elaine who had her head bowed down. “Madam what number is your bus?” she asked. “107 I think” she said lifelessly. “Well it just arrived, I guess you will be going now” the old lady told her. Elaine did not respond and maintained her position.
The bus docked right in front of them and passengers inside were already standing. As the passengers went out the bus door Martha saw someone familiar. The old woman’s eye filled with tears of joy as she waived to the man. Nathan nodded at her and smiled, Martha quickly pointed at the woman beside her and he looked. Nathan was surprised to see Elaine whose head was still bowed down.
He signaled Martha to keep silent as he went around and stood at Elaine’s back. Martha could not stop giggling but she kept calm and acted normal. “Madam your bus is waiting for you” the old lady said. Elaine slowly looked at the bus and felt lifeless, she stood up and dragged her bag but someone was holding it back. “Will you let go of my bag!!!” she shouted and turned around. “Let go I said or…” and she stopped as she recognized the man who was holding on to her bag.
“Or what?” Nathan asked her and Elaine let go of her bag and jumped towards him. She wrapped her arms around him so tight and all he could do was do the same. Elaine started crying again and said “Where the hell did you go I have been looking for you?”
“That’s funny I went to look for you and they told me that you resigned from work” he told her and they both stared at each other’s eyes smiling. “You went to look for me?” she asked him. Nathan wiped the tears in her eyes and said “Yes I did, I even went to your apartment and they said you left” he replied. Elaine leaned her head on his chest as they kept hugging each other as people where starting to look at them.
“And there is something else that I found out” he suddenly said. Elaine looked at him and asked “what did you find out?”
“Well I found out that I can do this already”
Nathan kissed Elaine on the lips.
