October 30th, 2019

"Um ..."

She was waiting for him to answer.

"It's actually, um ..."

Kate placed her hand under her chin, giving him her full attention. "Yeah?"

"About you know ..." He was sweating. His eyes darted to Lily who was busy with her phone, rapping to whoever was on the other side. He needed her or his flask of wine or his best friend who always got him out of these situations.

He really wished Jay was here.

"Nith?" His eyes meet her blue ones once more. The bits of gold that swirled on those ocean-blue orbs were visible from their proximity. "Everything ok?"

Nith nodded, picking up his cup of coffee. His hands were clammy and his nerves were out of control. He took a huge gulp in an attempt to calm his firing nerves. In his nervousness, he had forgotten that this was the new cup the server had just brought.

The scorching drink burned as it slid its way down his throat. His mouth was on fire. Nith coughed - the back of his throat burning - almost spitting out the bit that was still inside his mouth. But seeing Kate in front of him, he panicked, gulping it down instead. The blistering heat of the coffee caused him to cough again which made the coffee flow down the wrong pipe.

This was not what he had in his mind.

"You ok?" Kate asked, her hand already on his back, patting.

He nodded, tears pooling around his eyes. His throat was burning. But … but a tiny part of him was relieved that he won't have to answer her question anymore.

"Want some water?" She tucked her hair behind her ear, her expression somber. "Who drinks coffee like that? Are you an idiot?" Kate passed him the water bottle, her hand rubbing circles on his back. Her celestial nose scrunched as she said the next word with a huff, "Seriously." 

Nith wanted to laugh through the pain. Some habits were truly hard to let go of.

"You got to messing with me!"

They both turned toward the voice.

It was Lily, standing in front of the table with her hand over her mouth, her azure eyes as wide as a saucer. A look of cognizance and surprise adorned her expression as if she had finally deciphered something that was right in front of her.

"Wh-what hap-happened?" Nith asked. His throat throbbed, stinging as he tried to talk.

"You ..." Lily pointed her finger at them. "It's her?" Her voice sounded breathless.

"Wh-at?"

Lily shook her head instead of answering Nith's question. Her hands fumbled as she started to gather up her things: the laptop, the power bank, and the notepads.

"I have to go." The words left her mouth faster than her hands could put everything back inside her bag. She shook her head once more. "Kate," she smiled as she said it. "It was an honor to meet you. I loved you as Cat-Woman. From the very first film. And I know the last movie will be the best." Kate nodded in response, bewildered at her behavior. With the last piece of note stuffed inside her bag, Lily straightened, glancing at Nith and then back at the blonde. "I will be looking forward to meeting you again."

"Same."

"Yeah." She forced a smile, eyes back at Nith. "I will see you at the hotel, Nith." And then she was gone, almost running out of the cafe door.

A moment passed as the remaining two stared in her direction. Both had their brows knitted together, confused at what just had happened.

"Is she always -"

"No … never," Nith replied.

"Okay ..." Kate nodded, dazed. "Why did she run like that?"

"I -" he gulped, "I honestly don't know." Nith shrugged, opening the bottle of water in his hand. His throat still hurt but Lily’s obscured way of exiting had taken his mind away from it, making the pain dull somewhat. Lily was the most level-headed one among the three. Her running away like that made no sense. "It's usually Jay who does stuff like that."

"Jay?Jay Asher?" Kate's attention was back on him, a smile playing on her lips. "You guys are still together?"

It was an old joke. From back when Nith wasn't the successful author Nithan Sage but a scrawny kid who needed Jay and Kate around him if he didn't want to get bullied.

Nith rolled his eyes, taking a sip of water.

Kate in response busted out laughing.

A smile tugged at his lips as he watched her laugh. "Jay married you know?" He changed the subject, hand going through his hair.

"What?" She took the bait almost immediately. Kate lowered her voice. "Jay married? Who married him? How? Why?" she added.

It was Nith's turn to laugh. His throat burned as he did … though he didn't care. With a dip of his head, he leaned at the table. "They were in love. They married a few years back. Even has a 23-month-old."

"No way!" Kate slammed her hand on the table. "Jay has a kid?"

"You wanna see?"

"Yes!" She scooted her chair closer to his as Nith grabbed his satchel from the side. Her perfume wafted through the air. It was subtle, a hint of lavender whiffed through his nostril. His hands paused inside the bag as the memories of them playing outside the Aurum back garden filled with wild lavender fragrancing in the night’s air washed over him. Without even realizing he breathed in, taken aback by the fact that Kate still loved lavender.

"I always thought you would be the first to get married between the three of us."

Nith didn't reply to that. He brought out the phone, and went straight to his photo album; glad that he kept his secret folder with Kate's photos locked. He clicked on the picture that he had taken a few days before.

"She is so cute!" Kate scooted closer, her fingers brushing his as she touched the phone to see the photo better. Nith held his breath, trying to concentrate on the photo. It was a picture of Joy eating pizza. Her sand blonde hair was in tiny twin tails and her mouth was covered in sauce, dripping to her Patric bib. "She looks like Jay."

Nith nodded. "She is. Jay calls her, mini-me." He swiped to the next photo. Happy came into view, sleeping lazily in her corner.

"Is that Happy?"

"Yeah."

"Ohmy … Nith!" Kate took the phone from him, zooming the photo to the max. "She had grown so much. How old is she now?"

"10 this year."

She looked at the picture again, sighing Kate leaned back on the chair. "I missed so much stuff." She motioned between them. "I missed this. Us. Talking."

Nith gave her a small smile before looking up at the sky. He knew what she meant. He missed this, too.

Silence stretched as they both watched the world. 

The sun was almost down and the lights outside were turning on one by one. The sky turned into saffron, a shade that resembled her hair. He peered at her; the way she was leaning on the chair, eyes closed, red lips parted, made her look even younger.

And when she opened her eyes and glanced at him with those deep blue eyes, it felt … it felt as if he was back in the past. 16 years old once more, at the same crossroad musing over the same question, in the same place with the same person.

What would happen if he told her how he felt?

What would happen if he just leaned in and kissed her?

Would she say yes?

Would she kiss him back?

And just as how he was back then, even now, he was terrified of what might be her answer.

He looked away, stirring his coffee.

"How have you been?"

Even without looking, he could feel her smiling his way.

Kate shrugged, taking a bite of her cake. "Good. Work is good. Life's … good."

"You don't make it sound that good."

She leaned onto the table, her elbow supporting her as she talked, "It's just … the same thing you know. Wake up, go to set, and repeat. For years that's all I have been doing. It gets boring sometimes."

"Why don't you take a break?"

"I will. I am actually planning to take a year off after 2021. Clearing my schedule for it. No new projects after these two." Kate took another bite. "So tell me, what are you doing?"

"Same. Writing, book tours, signing. Same stuff."

"Good, good." Another pause. She sliced her cake into tiny pieces and then mashed them together. An old habit of hers whenever she had a lot on her mind. He watched her from the corner of his eyes as she squashed the raspberry with her fork, mincing it. "I'm actually angry at you, you know," her voice was nothing but a whisper. Her eyes were focused on the plate as she talked. 

Nith nodded. He knew. He had gotten her countless messages, the letters she sent to his home. Letters he stored inside of a box instead of replying. He was being a coward, and Nith knew it. 

"It has been years and you have never tried to contact me. Not even once. You just let me go away."

"College." It was a lame excuse.

"Hmm." She didn’t buy it but didn’t fight either. Kate sat straight. The golden light over their table made her look even more regal, full of determination. She extended her hand. "Give me your phone." Nith didn’t question it as he placed it on her palm. "I am saving my number here. You will text me tonight or tomorrow … whenever you can. If you don't then," - her eyes glanced at him - "this will be the end. Last time I sent them. It's your turn now." Nith smiled despite himself. Kate dialed her own number before handing him the phone back. "I mean it Nith. If you don’t -"

"This time I'll."

November 2nd, 2019

"Maybe Someday author Nithan Sage told reporters at the book signing event held at the National Library that fans will finally get a new romance novel to fall in love with. And it might come our way sooner than we expected. The Author mentioned that he had briefly met his lost muse, the very muse that inspired him to write the bestseller," Jay read the article out loud in a flat voice. His target for the day wasn't Nith - the obvious choice - but Lily as his eyes glared daggers at the brunette from the laptop's screen. "How can you let him say that?"

"How was I supposed to stop him? Jump on the stage and drag him away? That question wasn't on my list. That answer wasn't on my list. Heck," Lily yelled, "Rina wasn't on the list!"

"I don't tag along once and this happens," Jay tsked through the video.

"Yeah, it is your fault. I thought Lizzy was inspired by some random girl from your hometown, but she is Kate Aurum! The Kate Aurum? How could you guys not tell me that?" Lily slumped back in her chair, defeated. "I acted like a fool in front of her," she mumbled to herself.

Jay almost went inside the screen. "Nith you told her?"

"I didn't."

"How did Lily-"

"I saw her." She shook her head. "Kate will figure it out the moment she reads that book."

"You met Kate?" Jay yelled, trying to sit up from his bed, but the cast on his right leg made it a struggle. "Did she know? Did you tell her?"

"No."

"You have to tell her." It was Lily talking. "Nith, it's better you tell her before she finds out from somewhere else."

Jay nodded in agreement. "Even though I don't wanna say it, Lily's right. You have to tell her, dude."

"I will. I have this planned."

"And what is this plan of yours?"

"I am going to tell her everything. Just -just not now. We just met again and I don't want to ruin it." He looked at both his friends, pleading almost. "She wants to go on a break after 2021. The movie will be out by then. I will take her to the premiere. And tell her there."

It was crap for an idea, even Nith knew that. And by looking at Lily and Jay’s faces, they knew it too.