Perfect Timing
2023: The Meet
Chris knew he had to walk away, but something kept him from turning his back on her. It has been ten years since he and Annabelle decided that it would be best if they severed all ties. He was crushed when it happened, but knew it was for the best. A part of him held onto his feelings for her, but this was not the way it was supposed to happen. He was never supposed to physically see her again after leaving varsity. And yet there she stood before him.. She hadn't aged at all.
"So you're married now, huh?" Belle inquired as she leaned forward to give him a hug. She still smelled the same, he thought. His eyes closed as he savored the moment.
"Yes," Chris replied. "Happiest three years of my life. You still smell the same."
Bella chuckled and squeezed him tighter. It suddenly dawned on him what he just revealed to her and quickly drew back, masking his reaction with a fake cough.
"I really enjoyed your performance in last year's rendition of Cats," Belle said. "I wanted to come back stage and say hi, but that ogre you keep around pulled out pepper spray and I did the sensible thing..."
"Which wasn't kneeing him in the groin, I imagine?" Chris said.
"I'm not that person any longer, Chris." Belle frowned. "People change."
Chris took off his gloves and pulled back his left sleeve to reveal a prosthetic arm and hand. "That, my love, I know first hand," he said to Bella, who had shrieked, taken aback, and withdrawn backwards.
"You probably didn't notice it when I was on Stage because of the costume," Chris said.
"W-what happened?" Belle replied.
2019: Kazakhstan
It happened shortly after the 2016 nuclear war. Kazakh president Nursaltan Nazarbayev, heeding the call from citizens fleeing to Kazakhstan from war-torn Russia, demanded that President Vladimir Putin relinquish the cities Omsk as well as Novosibirsk and all the cities along the M52 until the Russio-Mangolian border. Putin refused and an all-out, full-scale war soon erupted between the two nations. Working for RT at that point in time, Chris was sent in to report on the conflict. One night, while he was travelling with a militia sector from Barnaul, Chris and his company were attacked by Russian troops in the middle of the night. A rather serious battle soon ensued, and Chris was soon caught between the two warring sides. While fleeing, he was caught by a Russian commando who shot him three times. The first bullet went right through his left shoulder, one went through his elbow and the last nested in his left lung. Someone must have noticed that he was wearing a media tag, and must have carried him to hospital. He doesn't remember how he got there; only the gut-wrenching feeling of waking up in a Russian hospital.
2023: continues
Belle threw her arms around Chris's neck and kissed him. After what seemed to be a lifetime, he finally broke from the embrace and took another step back.
"I should never have left you, Chris," Belle started. "I never stopped loving you and I wish I had been there to tell you not to go."
"You weren't there," Chris replied. "I waited for you. I really waited. I understood why you had to leave, but I never accepted it. I wanted to be there for you - but you couldn't let me. I had to move on with my life."
Belle opened her mouth to reply, but was cut short by a female yelling Chris's name from inside a the shop behind him.
"Some things never change," Bella snorted as a tall, dark woman with flowing jet black hair walked out of the confectionery laden with three boxes stacked in front of her. Chris jumped to help her carry, but she nodded him off sternly.
"You write and cook, I carry and do all the sweating. That was the arrangement," the woman said. "Who's your friend?"
"Erm, Bella my wife Nina; Nina my friend Bella," Chris said.
"Just a friend?" Nina asked, smiling knowingly.
"I ... she kissed ME!" Chris blurted out.
"I don't blame her," Nina said. "Aloha, Bella. It's truly a pleasure meeting you at long last. I heard my hubby here was totally hot for you back in varsity." Belle blushed, her cheeks turning plum red.
"Okay, I can't take you anywhere, Neens," Chris said, unlocking the car parked next to him. "Belle, we should have coffee sometime?"
"Yes. Yes, coffee would be nice," Belle said. "Yes, I quite like coffee. Hence, that is where I was going now. To get ... coffee. Yes. Yes, just call..." They exchanged numbers and Belle walked away at an uncharacteristically brisk pace. Chris stared fixedly until she disappeared from sight. He then turned to Nina, shoved his prosthetic hand in her face and said, "wanna smell my fingers?" Laughing, Nina pulled the arm of and swung it at Chris's head, who caught it with both hands inches away from his nose.
"Thanks for your help today, dude." Chris said. "Think she bought it?"
"Hook, line and sink, mate!" Nina replied. "I had my doubts about the arm thing, but I must say it worked quite well."
Chris opened the top box and helped himself to a doughnut.
2022: Curtain Call
Chris was extremely nervous tonight. While having a smoke outside, he thought he saw his ex girlfriend Annabelle walking into the theater. While on stage, he saw her clearly for the first time in nearly ten years, and faltered. Best thing about theater, he mused after the show, is that nobody really notices if someone messes up. This was his first role in a piece since varsity. He had spent the past eight years working as a journalist, mainly freelancing. The war had recently ended and the whole world was at peace for the time being. The prospect of being a petty desk reporter after all he had seen had very little appeal to him: so he decided to return to the stage and live out the rest of his life as a full-time actor. Seeing Belle was the best thing that had happened to him since meeting Ki-Yon Li in North Korea three years earlier. He gave up on ever loving again after Ki-Yon Li and her father were executed for treason after they found out that she had been working with a foreign journalist. But things were different now. He knew why she came, and he still felt the same way. And so he spent a year planning how he would throw himself back in her life. She never contacted him after the performance, so he took matters into his own hands. He and his best friend Nina came up with a plan to make Belle make the first move. It took a year to work it out in its entirety, but he was certain that it would work.
And it did.
Chris knew he had to walk away, but something kept him from turning his back on her. It has been ten years since he and Annabelle decided that it would be best if they severed all ties. He was crushed when it happened, but knew it was for the best. A part of him held onto his feelings for her, but this was not the way it was supposed to happen. He was never supposed to physically see her again after leaving varsity. And yet there she stood before him.. She hadn't aged at all.
"So you're married now, huh?" Belle inquired as she leaned forward to give him a hug. She still smelled the same, he thought. His eyes closed as he savored the moment.
"Yes," Chris replied. "Happiest three years of my life. You still smell the same."
Bella chuckled and squeezed him tighter. It suddenly dawned on him what he just revealed to her and quickly drew back, masking his reaction with a fake cough.
"I really enjoyed your performance in last year's rendition of Cats," Belle said. "I wanted to come back stage and say hi, but that ogre you keep around pulled out pepper spray and I did the sensible thing..."
"Which wasn't kneeing him in the groin, I imagine?" Chris said.
"I'm not that person any longer, Chris." Belle frowned. "People change."
Chris took off his gloves and pulled back his left sleeve to reveal a prosthetic arm and hand. "That, my love, I know first hand," he said to Bella, who had shrieked, taken aback, and withdrawn backwards.
"You probably didn't notice it when I was on Stage because of the costume," Chris said.
"W-what happened?" Belle replied.
2019: Kazakhstan
It happened shortly after the 2016 nuclear war. Kazakh president Nursaltan Nazarbayev, heeding the call from citizens fleeing to Kazakhstan from war-torn Russia, demanded that President Vladimir Putin relinquish the cities Omsk as well as Novosibirsk and all the cities along the M52 until the Russio-Mangolian border. Putin refused and an all-out, full-scale war soon erupted between the two nations. Working for RT at that point in time, Chris was sent in to report on the conflict. One night, while he was travelling with a militia sector from Barnaul, Chris and his company were attacked by Russian troops in the middle of the night. A rather serious battle soon ensued, and Chris was soon caught between the two warring sides. While fleeing, he was caught by a Russian commando who shot him three times. The first bullet went right through his left shoulder, one went through his elbow and the last nested in his left lung. Someone must have noticed that he was wearing a media tag, and must have carried him to hospital. He doesn't remember how he got there; only the gut-wrenching feeling of waking up in a Russian hospital.
2023: continues
Belle threw her arms around Chris's neck and kissed him. After what seemed to be a lifetime, he finally broke from the embrace and took another step back.
"I should never have left you, Chris," Belle started. "I never stopped loving you and I wish I had been there to tell you not to go."
"You weren't there," Chris replied. "I waited for you. I really waited. I understood why you had to leave, but I never accepted it. I wanted to be there for you - but you couldn't let me. I had to move on with my life."
Belle opened her mouth to reply, but was cut short by a female yelling Chris's name from inside a the shop behind him.
"Some things never change," Bella snorted as a tall, dark woman with flowing jet black hair walked out of the confectionery laden with three boxes stacked in front of her. Chris jumped to help her carry, but she nodded him off sternly.
"You write and cook, I carry and do all the sweating. That was the arrangement," the woman said. "Who's your friend?"
"Erm, Bella my wife Nina; Nina my friend Bella," Chris said.
"Just a friend?" Nina asked, smiling knowingly.
"I ... she kissed ME!" Chris blurted out.
"I don't blame her," Nina said. "Aloha, Bella. It's truly a pleasure meeting you at long last. I heard my hubby here was totally hot for you back in varsity." Belle blushed, her cheeks turning plum red.
"Okay, I can't take you anywhere, Neens," Chris said, unlocking the car parked next to him. "Belle, we should have coffee sometime?"
"Yes. Yes, coffee would be nice," Belle said. "Yes, I quite like coffee. Hence, that is where I was going now. To get ... coffee. Yes. Yes, just call..." They exchanged numbers and Belle walked away at an uncharacteristically brisk pace. Chris stared fixedly until she disappeared from sight. He then turned to Nina, shoved his prosthetic hand in her face and said, "wanna smell my fingers?" Laughing, Nina pulled the arm of and swung it at Chris's head, who caught it with both hands inches away from his nose.
"Thanks for your help today, dude." Chris said. "Think she bought it?"
"Hook, line and sink, mate!" Nina replied. "I had my doubts about the arm thing, but I must say it worked quite well."
Chris opened the top box and helped himself to a doughnut.
2022: Curtain Call
Chris was extremely nervous tonight. While having a smoke outside, he thought he saw his ex girlfriend Annabelle walking into the theater. While on stage, he saw her clearly for the first time in nearly ten years, and faltered. Best thing about theater, he mused after the show, is that nobody really notices if someone messes up. This was his first role in a piece since varsity. He had spent the past eight years working as a journalist, mainly freelancing. The war had recently ended and the whole world was at peace for the time being. The prospect of being a petty desk reporter after all he had seen had very little appeal to him: so he decided to return to the stage and live out the rest of his life as a full-time actor. Seeing Belle was the best thing that had happened to him since meeting Ki-Yon Li in North Korea three years earlier. He gave up on ever loving again after Ki-Yon Li and her father were executed for treason after they found out that she had been working with a foreign journalist. But things were different now. He knew why she came, and he still felt the same way. And so he spent a year planning how he would throw himself back in her life. She never contacted him after the performance, so he took matters into his own hands. He and his best friend Nina came up with a plan to make Belle make the first move. It took a year to work it out in its entirety, but he was certain that it would work.
And it did.
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