Chapter 76 - Lets Break Up (1/2)

All of us have survived at least one storm in life. But that storm still lives within us in one way or another. Some have the memory of a stormy night and some have the memory of a stormy heart, others had live through a storm of heart in a stormy night.

Unbeknownst to Xiu, there was another person being haunted by those streaks of lightning. Because he had also broken in a stormy night. With a cup of coffee in hand, Darren was sitting on the edge of his bed looking outside the glass windows with a blank look.

The inky darkness seemingly was sinking in his bones. The silver hues in the sky looked like molten silver, swirling and radiating ripples. The explosion of thunder came in great waves of discordant and demented sounds. The sound was intensified with the howling wind but the person inside the room was lost in his own world.

*Flashback*

”Did you reach safely?” A worried voice could be heard on the phone.

Darren leaned his head against the windowpane and looked outside at the subtly electric atmosphere. The grey clouds in the sky gave him a surreal feeling.

”Mama, are you angry that I left you alone in the hospital?” He asked, feeling guilty, ashamed and yet helpless.

”Absolutely not. Regi, you have spent enough time with me. As you said, now, she needs you to stand beside her.” His face immediately lit up as he heard her words.

”I know she needs me and I'm willing to stand by her through this hostile time as she did for me,” he answered with a tender look on his face.

”Are you still going to tell me that you don't love her?” He could feel the playfulness in her voice.

”Mama, I told you I only care about her. This is not love,” he claimed in response to her teasing. 'At least, she doesn't think so.' He kept his thoughts to himself.

”Sir, we are here,” his driver announced from the front seat and Darren looked out at the 'Sky Castle' Apartment building.

”I'll call you later,” he hung up the call and alighted down from the car with a smile on his face.

Standing under the apartment building, he c.o.c.ked his head up and frowned slightly. Not because the rain had started falling but because the beautiful concrete and glass building was lit up except for that one apartment where his eyes were stuck. It wasn't that late at night, was she sleeping early? He wondered to himself.

His expressions shifted when he noticed something falling from that same balcony in that dark rainy night. Within minutes, he heard a crash as a body laid on top of a car not far from him. The sound of glass shattering, the sound of car alarms blaring and screams of people along with the lightning that jagged through the sky ripping the dark night like a paper... All seemed too distant to him.

The broken shards had cut his arm but he stood there motionless finding it hard to breathe. He couldn't decide whether he was supposed to breathe in or breathe out. Even breathing seemed like a tiring job. The crowd of people pushed him and jolted him awake.

The rain was still falling mercilessly. He took one step at a time to move forward and felt like each step was akin to a rock that was weighing down on his heart. And then he saw something that shook the earth from under his feet along with the sky over his head.