The Miracle of You

“So why did you invite me here today?” Camille’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “I have a feeling you want to tell me something. Something important.”

She said the last part hesitantly, as if she had been thinking about it for a while.

Michael looked at her, noting the uncertainty in her expression. It couldn’t be clearer that she was nervous about being here. He felt bad about making her take such risks, but if what Grady had gathered was true, he needed her to tell him the truth as soon as possible. He wouldn’t force her, of course, but he really wanted to help her.

He hadn’t been able to help her in fourteen years. This was his only chance. Since their reunion, he had never seen a real smile on her face, one that showed her true happiness. Even when she smiled, it barely reached her eyes. Her eyes used to be so vivid and passionate, and she was so caring and fussy about other people.

But the woman sitting before him now was so different that it made his heart ache. Her stiff, nervous posture, the way her lips stretched into a thin line, the ever-present hint of melancholy in her eyes, and the dull tone of her voice as she spoke. It was as if she was resigned to her fate.

“I’m here to talk to you,” he said quietly. He decided not to get right to the point for now, as that might scare her away or make her even more distant. “Even though we finally met after all these years, I feel like there’s this wall between us. But first… how have you been?”

She gave him a wry smile. “You could’ve just asked that through a text message. There was no need to have me come here all this way.”

He sighed. “Hailey…”

“Noah,” she said softly, but firmly. “I’m not that person anymore. Please stop calling me that from now on.”

“I…”

“Even if it’s unintentional, I’d rather not hear anyone call me by that name again. Please,” she said quietly. “You don’t even know the whole story. The reason it hurts me to hear that name again.”

The whole story? Michael’s curiosity was piqued. So she was hinting that something significant had indeed happened in the past.

But was she comfortable enough to tell him?

“I won’t ask if you don’t want to talk about it,” he assured her. It wouldn’t do to force her. He had to take things slowly for now.

She smiled, though it was a bit strained. “Thank you.”

The awkward silence returned. Michael sighed. He couldn’t let this drag on any longer.

“Do you remember what I told you back at that party?” he asked. “When I asked you to trust me?”

She nodded.

“Did you… consider it?”

“I…” She shook her head. “I can’t decide yet, Noah. I’m sorry.”

His face fell at her answer. He knew it would take time and that he couldn’t force her, but to hear her say that she was hesitant to trust him made his heart ache with a dull pain.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

Then again, what did he expect? They had been separated for fourteen years. Unlike him, she might consider him a stranger, or rather an acquaintance from the shadows of her past.

He had prepared himself for all possibilities, and yet the subtle rejection was like an arrow straight to his heart.

“…I see” was all he could say.

The silence that followed was so loud it was deafening. The sound of rain began to patter from outside, a light shower that would either stop soon or get worse.

“I can’t blame you,” Michael told her quietly. “You might be having a hard time trusting me. After all, who’s to say that I might really be the same boy like I was back in high school, right?”

She looked at him guiltily. “Noah…”

“But have you ever thought about it this way?” he continued on softly. “That I might feel the same towards you? Yet my trust and my feelings for you have not wavered after all these years. They’re still as strong as they were when we were young, Hailey.”

Camille visibly froze, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Did he just…?

“Noah…” she croaked out. “You…”

“You must have known, didn’t you?” he said quietly. “I know that I was really obvious in the past. I tried my best to hide it. I really did. But sometimes it would overflow, and I couldn’t help but express it to you in so many ways.”

‘Like waiting for you every day on the rooftop.’

‘Protecting you from those idiotic, malicious students and their vile words.’

‘Cooking for you every day even though we have a personal chef. Even though I had to wake up early in the morning each time.’

‘Listening to all your rants, your troubles, and even your pieces of advice.’

‘Letting you tutor me and set me straight during my rebellious days even though I hated studying. Even though I hated it whenever someone told me what to do.’

‘Letting you slowly creep into my heart and stay there for years, making me love you all the more each day.’

Michael had so many things he wanted to say.

These were all the pent-up feelings he had been hiding for a long time. He had longed to say these words to her one day, but he couldn’t for fear that they would overwhelm her and scare her away.

He wanted to take it slow, but sometimes it was too much.

He wanted to know if she felt the same way.

“It’s okay if you don’t trust me completely yet. But I will continue to show you how much I care. How much I love you,” Michael said sincerely, looking directly into her eyes. “Trust takes time and a lot of work, I know. So I’ll keep reaching out to you. I’ll keep trying. I want to keep meeting you, talking to you, even just being in the same room together like this. You don’t have to do anything. I can even be the only one talking. That’s okay. If you come to trust me that way, I’ll do anything.

Camille’s lips parted and she looked so surprised that he was almost afraid she would jump out of her seat and run for the door at any moment. Her cheeks and ears were flushed, a contrast to her pale skin and dyed blonde hair. She looked like she was desperately trying to think of something to say, but her mind kept coming up with nothing.

It was fascinating to see her like that. It wasn’t every day that he saw her so flustered.

It made him want to go up to her, reach out, touch her cheek and caress it. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and wrap her in his warmth.

He would do anything to see a genuine, beautiful smile on her face again.

But what else could he do? This was the only way he could keep her. If he didn’t make an effort, she might just slip away from his fingers like water.

No. He couldn’t bear to lose her again. Fourteen years was enough.

Even though he had just poured his heart out to her, finally admitting his feelings to her, Michael felt strangely calm. His heart was racing and he felt like a little boy in love again. Just being with her like this… it was so fulfilling.

She could never imagine how much his heart swelled whenever she was around. She could wear the worst clothes in the world, or look like she just got out of a fight with a cat, and he would still think she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

“Noah…” Camille said softly. She kept on chanting his name, and she looked like she was about to cry. “Noah…”

“I’m here,” Michael reassured her, wanting so much to go there and offer her his hand to hold. But he couldn’t. “I’ll listen.”

She stared at him as though she couldn’t believe that he was real.

He smiled. “I promise that you’ll never be alone, ever again.”