Post by HerWhisperIsTheLucifer on Mar 15, 2017 0:04:15 GMT -5
Eddie turned his head to look out of his car window, watching the rain pour down to the ground. The light on Center Street was always the longest in all of Chinatown, and he had become almost fearful of the ominous red glow it possessed during the rainy Spring months.
Eddie Wang was an entrepreneur, running his own Chinese restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. He prided himself on serving the locals authentic Xi’an food, a type of Chinese cuisine that is very hard to find outside of China itself. Eddie had help running the restaurant with his lovely, kind wife and his two wonderful children. Those who knew the Wang family often described them as “perfect.” They were always happy and smiling, and they never had to worry much about their finances due to the restaurant’s increasing popularity. They were picture perfect proof that the American dream was still alive.
Eddie began to tap his finger on the steering wheel, slowly becoming paranoid from the silence that surrounded him. He looked into the rearview mirror, checking the back seats. He half expected his wife to be there, watching him with her sharp, brown eyes. He let out a sigh of relief once he saw that they were empty.
The infamous Center Street light then turned green, and Eddie lightly put his foot to the gas to continue on his way. He passed many Chinese faces as he drove, some of which he recognized as friends, frequent customers, or both. Eddie didn’t have to drive much longer before he reached his destination. Parking his car in the visitor spot, he pulled on his hood and quickly made his way up the staircase that led to Celia’s apartment. He shook the rain water off of him and rang the doorbell.
Celia Long was twenty years younger than Eddie and shared the same hometown with him, which was Beijing. She had attended arts school for a year before deciding that it wasn’t for her and dropping out. She now lived off of the money her parents were sending her from China, who were under the impression that she was still going to school. She was a rather tall young woman with a slender figure and almost no chest to speak of, though Eddie didn’t mind this. Her hair was long and jet black, cut neatly and kept as straight as an arrow, and her eyes were such a dark brown, they could have been black. As she opened the door, Eddie could see that she was dressed in a long, loose white skirt and a nice black blouse.
“Come in.” She said with her rich voice. She stepped aside and allowed Eddie to walk past her, closing the door behind him.
The two had met at a bar in Chinatown, where Eddie had been relaxing after a long day of running the restaurant and Celia had been unwinding after a long day of eating up her parents’ money. Her hair was shorter then, and his face was less aged. What was supposed to be a simple night out with a few friends turned into a two year long affair, which was still going today.
“Here,” Celia said, handing him a cup of coffee, “Black, just the way you like it.”
He moved his gaze from the rain splattered window down to the cup and nodded, taking it from her hands and looking back at the window without taking a sip. Celia watched him for a few more moments before speaking again.
“You didn’t show up last night.”
“My daughter had a game. I couldn’t miss this one.”
“You could have texted me.”
“No, I couldn’t have. Peiyi would’ve seen.”
“I waited for you all night, you know. You made me eat a dinner that was meant for two and had gone cold all by myself.”
He went silent again as he took a drink of his coffee. It tasted strange this evening.
Celia let out a quiet sigh before going to sit on her couch. Eddie decided to join her a few minutes later, leaving his coffee on the kitchen counter.
“Looks like it’s raining pretty bad.”
“Yeah.” Eddie nodded, listening to the rain pound onto the roof.
“I like the way the rain looks and feels. Makes me finally feel calm and at peace with myself.”
Eddie let out an amused chuckle before looking at her. “Right, because you live such a tiring life. Sitting on your ass all day must be pretty stressful, huh?”
“Believe it or not, it is tiring.” Celia took a cigarette from her pocket and lit it, pausing for a moment to wait for Eddie’s usual lecture about the dangers of smoking inside. He said nothing, so she continued on. “What you do is physically tiring. It’s the kind of work that makes you go home and sleep like a rock at night. What I do is emotionally tiring and it makes you want to sit in a corner while you bawl your eyes out. You experience the hustle and bustle that the day has to offer and I don’t, yet we both end up exhausted. Makes you wonder if it’s all even worth it, huh? When I look at the rain outside of my window and the gloomy looking world that it falls to, I feel a bit better because it’s not just me. When it rains, the world is lonely right along with me.”
Eddie scoffed, looking towards her once again. “How can you be lonely? There is no reason to be when you have me.”
“I can’t explain it. Yes you help, but loneliness is a feeling that’s constantly there. You make it better when you’re physically here, but our texts and phone calls don’t do much. I feel empty on the inside most of the time, Eddie, not that you really care or want to hear this right now.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to hear this right now. I didn’t come here to have mushy conversations about our feelings.”
Celia chuckled at this and exhaled before putting her half-smoked cigarette out. “Then what did you come here for?”
“What I always come for, and what you always invite me for.”
Celia’s lips curled up into a sly grin, and the night ended like it always did: Celia’s clothes strewn all over the floor with her naked figure sleeping in the bed, Eddie sneaking back out to his car.
Eddie opened the front door to his home, hanging his keys up and removing his shoes. It was late, which was why he was surprised to be greeted by his wife. “Hi, Eddie. Where have you been?”
“Oh, just out getting beers with the guys.”
“You’ve been going out with them almost every week…”
“Yeah, well you know how they are. They love their alcohol.”
“Eddie… I know.”
“What?”
“I called John to tell you not to be too late tonight. I tried calling you first, but you left your phone here by mistake. John told me he hadn’t seen you in months.”
Eddie went pale as he looked at his wife. There were those sharp eyes he had feared on his way to Celia’s.
“So I snooped around in your phone. I thought that I was crazy for questioning your loyalty, but I wasn’t. It’s Celia Long.”
He took a small step forward and stared at his wife in horror, not able to look away. “Peiyi…”
She looked down and shook her head, her voice trembling as she spoke. “Goodnight, Eddie.”
She wasted no time in going up the stairs and into the bedroom, leaving Eddie alone to stare at the space where his wife once was.
A week had now passed. Eddie and Peiyi hadn’t said a single word to each other, despite them still living under the same roof. Today was the first day of May, and the nice weather outside made the world look absolutely stunning. Eddie had spent the lovely day with Celia, watching movies with her and cooking for her. Like the bright world outside of Celia’s window, the two were full of smiles.
Eddie left around 10:00 PM to go home to his children and the wife that no longer existed in his mind. Tonight, the Center Street light wasn’t so long.
Eddie walked into the house with a smile on his face and his head held high. It had been one of the best days he and Celia ever had. The two were able to laugh freely and act like a true couple, which he knew was what she always wanted.
He heard the television in the living room, though he could tell that the kids were asleep in their rooms. After absentmindedly looking around in the kitchen for a snack and finding nothing, he wandered into the living room. Peiyi was seated on the couch with her back towards him, watching the news. “Hi, Eddie. Where have you been for so long?”
“Out with the guys.” He said out of habit, causing a harsh chuckle to escape from Peiyi’s lips. She turned around and looked at him. Her dark brown hair was usually up in a tight, neat bun, but was now cascading down her shoulders in pretty waves. Eddie was taken aback by how beautiful she appeared, almost looking young again. However, he could see that she had spent the day, and perhaps the week, crying. She was tired emotionally, and only now did Eddie see the toll that his selfish actions had put on his wife.
Peiyi controlled herself and didn’t cry. Instead, she looked him in the eyes, finally allowing her pain to shine through. “Eddie, you don’t have to lie to me anymore.”
Eddie quickly looked away. He couldn’t bear the look in her eyes anymore.
Eddie found himself sitting at the Center Street light, tapping on his steering wheel as the bright sun shone down on him. Today, he didn’t mind that the light was taking its usual time. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing Celia. He wasn’t looking forward to hearing her voice, drinking her coffee, or eating the meals that she prepared for him. He wasn’t looking forward to smelling the cigarettes on her breath.
The bright red of the light turned to a vivid green and he sighed, continuing to drive. As he made his way to Celia’s, the sunshine disappeared and the rain began.
Eddie took a deep breath as he rang the doorbell and stood on her doormat awkwardly. As he heard her light footsteps approach the door quietly, he looked around him desperately. He took in every detail of the doorway and sealed them into his mind. He didn’t want his eyes to forget this place.
Celia answered a few moments later, stepping aside for him. “Come on in.”
Eddie did so, sighing to himself inaudibly. As he stepped inside of the apartment, he took a deep breath. It was the scent of a thousand cigarettes with an undertone of vanilla. He had never realized how much he truly hated the smell. “Hey, Celia. How are you?”
“Oh fine, I suppose. I made you some coffee.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want any.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Just not in the mood for it.”
“That’s not like you.”
“Honestly Celia, your coffee tastes like shit.”
She blinked, trying to act like that hadn’t bothered her. She lit a cigarette and walked over to the window. “I see.”
Neither of them said anything. Celia took long drags on her cigarette and Eddie watched the rain, like he always did. After two years, it had finally come to this. He supposed that it probably would have anyways.
“Celia, we can’t do this anymore.”
She kept her eyes on the dripping window, one arm crossed over her chest and the other holding the cigarette to her mouth. She nodded and exhaled her smoke like the Chinese dragon she was.
“I’m sorry,” Eddie continued, “I can’t be with you and I certainly can’t be with my wife, not after what I have done. She’s divorcing me anyway. You both deserve so much better than me.”
“I understand.” She pressed her forehead against the glass, looking down at the ground with the cigarette still in her mouth. “At least I’ll always have the rain to keep me company.”
Eddie Wang was an entrepreneur, running his own Chinese restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. He prided himself on serving the locals authentic Xi’an food, a type of Chinese cuisine that is very hard to find outside of China itself. Eddie had help running the restaurant with his lovely, kind wife and his two wonderful children. Those who knew the Wang family often described them as “perfect.” They were always happy and smiling, and they never had to worry much about their finances due to the restaurant’s increasing popularity. They were picture perfect proof that the American dream was still alive.
Eddie began to tap his finger on the steering wheel, slowly becoming paranoid from the silence that surrounded him. He looked into the rearview mirror, checking the back seats. He half expected his wife to be there, watching him with her sharp, brown eyes. He let out a sigh of relief once he saw that they were empty.
The infamous Center Street light then turned green, and Eddie lightly put his foot to the gas to continue on his way. He passed many Chinese faces as he drove, some of which he recognized as friends, frequent customers, or both. Eddie didn’t have to drive much longer before he reached his destination. Parking his car in the visitor spot, he pulled on his hood and quickly made his way up the staircase that led to Celia’s apartment. He shook the rain water off of him and rang the doorbell.
Celia Long was twenty years younger than Eddie and shared the same hometown with him, which was Beijing. She had attended arts school for a year before deciding that it wasn’t for her and dropping out. She now lived off of the money her parents were sending her from China, who were under the impression that she was still going to school. She was a rather tall young woman with a slender figure and almost no chest to speak of, though Eddie didn’t mind this. Her hair was long and jet black, cut neatly and kept as straight as an arrow, and her eyes were such a dark brown, they could have been black. As she opened the door, Eddie could see that she was dressed in a long, loose white skirt and a nice black blouse.
“Come in.” She said with her rich voice. She stepped aside and allowed Eddie to walk past her, closing the door behind him.
The two had met at a bar in Chinatown, where Eddie had been relaxing after a long day of running the restaurant and Celia had been unwinding after a long day of eating up her parents’ money. Her hair was shorter then, and his face was less aged. What was supposed to be a simple night out with a few friends turned into a two year long affair, which was still going today.
“Here,” Celia said, handing him a cup of coffee, “Black, just the way you like it.”
He moved his gaze from the rain splattered window down to the cup and nodded, taking it from her hands and looking back at the window without taking a sip. Celia watched him for a few more moments before speaking again.
“You didn’t show up last night.”
“My daughter had a game. I couldn’t miss this one.”
“You could have texted me.”
“No, I couldn’t have. Peiyi would’ve seen.”
“I waited for you all night, you know. You made me eat a dinner that was meant for two and had gone cold all by myself.”
He went silent again as he took a drink of his coffee. It tasted strange this evening.
Celia let out a quiet sigh before going to sit on her couch. Eddie decided to join her a few minutes later, leaving his coffee on the kitchen counter.
“Looks like it’s raining pretty bad.”
“Yeah.” Eddie nodded, listening to the rain pound onto the roof.
“I like the way the rain looks and feels. Makes me finally feel calm and at peace with myself.”
Eddie let out an amused chuckle before looking at her. “Right, because you live such a tiring life. Sitting on your ass all day must be pretty stressful, huh?”
“Believe it or not, it is tiring.” Celia took a cigarette from her pocket and lit it, pausing for a moment to wait for Eddie’s usual lecture about the dangers of smoking inside. He said nothing, so she continued on. “What you do is physically tiring. It’s the kind of work that makes you go home and sleep like a rock at night. What I do is emotionally tiring and it makes you want to sit in a corner while you bawl your eyes out. You experience the hustle and bustle that the day has to offer and I don’t, yet we both end up exhausted. Makes you wonder if it’s all even worth it, huh? When I look at the rain outside of my window and the gloomy looking world that it falls to, I feel a bit better because it’s not just me. When it rains, the world is lonely right along with me.”
Eddie scoffed, looking towards her once again. “How can you be lonely? There is no reason to be when you have me.”
“I can’t explain it. Yes you help, but loneliness is a feeling that’s constantly there. You make it better when you’re physically here, but our texts and phone calls don’t do much. I feel empty on the inside most of the time, Eddie, not that you really care or want to hear this right now.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to hear this right now. I didn’t come here to have mushy conversations about our feelings.”
Celia chuckled at this and exhaled before putting her half-smoked cigarette out. “Then what did you come here for?”
“What I always come for, and what you always invite me for.”
Celia’s lips curled up into a sly grin, and the night ended like it always did: Celia’s clothes strewn all over the floor with her naked figure sleeping in the bed, Eddie sneaking back out to his car.
Eddie opened the front door to his home, hanging his keys up and removing his shoes. It was late, which was why he was surprised to be greeted by his wife. “Hi, Eddie. Where have you been?”
“Oh, just out getting beers with the guys.”
“You’ve been going out with them almost every week…”
“Yeah, well you know how they are. They love their alcohol.”
“Eddie… I know.”
“What?”
“I called John to tell you not to be too late tonight. I tried calling you first, but you left your phone here by mistake. John told me he hadn’t seen you in months.”
Eddie went pale as he looked at his wife. There were those sharp eyes he had feared on his way to Celia’s.
“So I snooped around in your phone. I thought that I was crazy for questioning your loyalty, but I wasn’t. It’s Celia Long.”
He took a small step forward and stared at his wife in horror, not able to look away. “Peiyi…”
She looked down and shook her head, her voice trembling as she spoke. “Goodnight, Eddie.”
She wasted no time in going up the stairs and into the bedroom, leaving Eddie alone to stare at the space where his wife once was.
A week had now passed. Eddie and Peiyi hadn’t said a single word to each other, despite them still living under the same roof. Today was the first day of May, and the nice weather outside made the world look absolutely stunning. Eddie had spent the lovely day with Celia, watching movies with her and cooking for her. Like the bright world outside of Celia’s window, the two were full of smiles.
Eddie left around 10:00 PM to go home to his children and the wife that no longer existed in his mind. Tonight, the Center Street light wasn’t so long.
Eddie walked into the house with a smile on his face and his head held high. It had been one of the best days he and Celia ever had. The two were able to laugh freely and act like a true couple, which he knew was what she always wanted.
He heard the television in the living room, though he could tell that the kids were asleep in their rooms. After absentmindedly looking around in the kitchen for a snack and finding nothing, he wandered into the living room. Peiyi was seated on the couch with her back towards him, watching the news. “Hi, Eddie. Where have you been for so long?”
“Out with the guys.” He said out of habit, causing a harsh chuckle to escape from Peiyi’s lips. She turned around and looked at him. Her dark brown hair was usually up in a tight, neat bun, but was now cascading down her shoulders in pretty waves. Eddie was taken aback by how beautiful she appeared, almost looking young again. However, he could see that she had spent the day, and perhaps the week, crying. She was tired emotionally, and only now did Eddie see the toll that his selfish actions had put on his wife.
Peiyi controlled herself and didn’t cry. Instead, she looked him in the eyes, finally allowing her pain to shine through. “Eddie, you don’t have to lie to me anymore.”
Eddie quickly looked away. He couldn’t bear the look in her eyes anymore.
Eddie found himself sitting at the Center Street light, tapping on his steering wheel as the bright sun shone down on him. Today, he didn’t mind that the light was taking its usual time. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing Celia. He wasn’t looking forward to hearing her voice, drinking her coffee, or eating the meals that she prepared for him. He wasn’t looking forward to smelling the cigarettes on her breath.
The bright red of the light turned to a vivid green and he sighed, continuing to drive. As he made his way to Celia’s, the sunshine disappeared and the rain began.
Eddie took a deep breath as he rang the doorbell and stood on her doormat awkwardly. As he heard her light footsteps approach the door quietly, he looked around him desperately. He took in every detail of the doorway and sealed them into his mind. He didn’t want his eyes to forget this place.
Celia answered a few moments later, stepping aside for him. “Come on in.”
Eddie did so, sighing to himself inaudibly. As he stepped inside of the apartment, he took a deep breath. It was the scent of a thousand cigarettes with an undertone of vanilla. He had never realized how much he truly hated the smell. “Hey, Celia. How are you?”
“Oh fine, I suppose. I made you some coffee.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want any.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Just not in the mood for it.”
“That’s not like you.”
“Honestly Celia, your coffee tastes like shit.”
She blinked, trying to act like that hadn’t bothered her. She lit a cigarette and walked over to the window. “I see.”
Neither of them said anything. Celia took long drags on her cigarette and Eddie watched the rain, like he always did. After two years, it had finally come to this. He supposed that it probably would have anyways.
“Celia, we can’t do this anymore.”
She kept her eyes on the dripping window, one arm crossed over her chest and the other holding the cigarette to her mouth. She nodded and exhaled her smoke like the Chinese dragon she was.
“I’m sorry,” Eddie continued, “I can’t be with you and I certainly can’t be with my wife, not after what I have done. She’s divorcing me anyway. You both deserve so much better than me.”
“I understand.” She pressed her forehead against the glass, looking down at the ground with the cigarette still in her mouth. “At least I’ll always have the rain to keep me company.”
