“Fair enough.” Just like me, he played with a crumb on his plate. My barely touched sandwich looking more unappetizing by the second as my stomach played a new rock song. “Go see him then, sweetheart.” He pushed his car keys toward me.
With a quick kiss to his cheek, I grabbed my hoodie hanging over my stool, slipped it on and headed for the garage. My spirits were racing behind me to catch up, unsure of the reception I was likely to receive.
Thirty minutes later, I had to slow down on the turning lane leading into Saint’s apartment. Traffic congestion left me and other drivers, judging by the occasional heads popping out of the windows of stationary cars in front of me, flustered. My finger tapping an uneven beat against the wheel, I couldn’t stop my knees from bouncing in impatience. I wanted to see Saint. After dad’s divulgence, I was desperate to see Saint. The sudden wail of an emergency vehicle as it flew past me on the opposite lane had me twisting in my seat to stare at its flashing lights for a minute before traffic began moving again.
Five minutes later, I stood in Saint’s building reception and about to press the elevator button when the security guard behind the desk called me. “Miss Singh?”
“Yes.”
“Mr Sinclair asked that I give this to you if you came around.” He held out a white envelope.
Dread that he might not want to see me, spearheaded my need to breathe and the tears came unbidden. I gripped the letter tightly before swallowing down the clump of fear and opened the envelope. I drew out the single sheet of folded cream paper. Immediately Saint’s scent wafted up my nose and I smiled through the tears. Unfolding the letter, I stared at the words penned in his beautiful cursive.
My beautiful Snow,
Sometimes you meet someone, and you never know they’re your destiny until you’re standing on the precipice of hell, and they pull you back with three simple words,
Do not leave me
I didn’t know what they it meant until I met you.
If there was anything I could do, it would be everything for you. I would kiss away all your sorrows, I would slay all your demons, I would carry all your burdens and I would brighten all your darkness.
Seeing you smile when you wake in the morning, laugh when I kiss your toes, groan when I say do your homework, snore when you sleep, sigh when you bite into a chocolate cake or cry when you watch a movie, that’s what I live for, and it’s what I’ll happily die for, just to see it one more time.
You don’t complete me, baby, you end me and it’s all I need.
Stay with me
Your Saint
As the words registered, I could only focus on one line.
Do not leave me.
The words in my dream. Were they a forewarning to me always meeting Saint in the most bizarre manner? Was he my destiny? Clenching my fists, I bit into the knuckle of my thumb, willing the answers to come. The dreams only began after I met Saint on the school tour. How coincidental that he would mention them in this letter. I’d never told anyone but Grace about it.
Excited and anxious, I turned to the security guard. “Is Mr Sinclair in?”
He paled. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” I asked, frowning.
“Miss Singh, I’m so sorry but I thought you knew that Mr Sinclair had a heart attack—”
“What?” I screamed—the emergency vehicle. “Please...please,” I stuttered between the tears streaming down my cheeks. “That emergency vehicle just before I arrived, was that—” I trailed off as he nodded, his expression solemn.
“I’m sorry.”
“Which hospital,” I choked.
The second he gave me the name, I raced down to the basement parking.
