The restaurant reverberated with the sound of clattering plates and the faint echo of mumbled conversations. The glimmering aesthetic bulbs gave radiance to the atmosphere.
Across the table, sat Susan, her fingers rotating round the rim of the coffee cup in front of her.
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"So you're saying it's the end?" David who sat on the other end asked, his gaze fixed on Susan who struggled not to maintain an eye contact.
"I'm really confused. Maybe I have to take a break for now then Later, have a rethink." She said, fiddling the engagement ring he had given her few months back.
"I don't know if we can tread down this path anymore."
"Tread down this path? few days after our engagement, I lost my job and not my love for you." His voice cracked. He fought within not to overexpress emotions as his pride slowly crept in. "Nothing is forever, I'll find a way out of this and everything would be back to normal." He tried convincing her.
"It's not because you lost your Job." She replied softly, trying not to hurt him further. "We no longer talk like we used to."
"But I still called almost every day even after the misfortune had befallen me."
"I know, but it wasn't like the first time we met."
The surprise on David's face grew wild he was bewildered, his jaws dropped open, and his eyes with a dead stare into space. He couldn't believe his ears and wished it was just a dream.
"We no longer even attend church together." She added.
"I was depressed, I didn't have the strength to attend." His voice cracked, yet again.
"You know what?" She then slid the ring off her finger while turning her face to the side window. David's chest raced faster than ever. Pain, anger, and regret ,flooding his mind all at the same time.
"I'll keep praying for you Dave." She said as she stood up ready to take her leave.
"Bye." She walked away looking to the floor.
David watched her steps as she exited the exquisite restaurant he had managed to book with the little money he got from his side hustles. He held the ring, Fiddling it before slipping it into his pocket.
Days passed by and he was left with a void, an incompleteness that consumed him from the inside. He sought the strength to eat, but couldn't. His phone buzzed relentlessly but he had no strength left to pick. Life was meaningless to him, and the one person who meant the world to him deserted him at his most needed moment.
A certain evening, he sat by the window side watching the thundering rain smack against the glass. He looked up to the sky, observing the lightning.
"God, what have I done to deserve this." He muttered.
The continuous hum from the television and the sound of raindrops hitting against the windows were the only replies he got.
He got up, walked into the storm with his raincoat hovering over his head, and his hands in his side pocket. He got into the church where he and Susan used to attend. He walked in as his footsteps echoed in the empty space.
"Are you lost son?" A voice called from behind.
He gasped, turning backwards.
"Don't be afraid Mr," It was the priest. He held a cross in his palms and wore a smile that exuded warmth. For days David hadn't seen such smile as he was a shadow of the man he once was since his predicament.
"I... I... I came to."
"It's okay, just have a seat," he gestured to him, taking a few steps closer as his long priesthood cloak swept the floor. "Life comes to us in different ways, ways that may seem absurd to us." He said, sitting beside David. His face had wrinkles as old age had taken its toll on him, and his voice sounded like that of a wise man.
"It's just a phase, a test perhaps."
David laughed out bitterly "A test you say?" He sounded like a scorn but deep down it was the weight of world speaking through him.
"Well, I remember the story of a man, Job, he lost everything—his wife, children, and wealth—but at the end, he recovered everything in double folds." The priest chuckled, while David stared intently at him—it was as though hw old man knew the exact reason he came.
"Is that all?" He retorted with discontent in his voice.
"For now, yes!" The priest said with an assuring calmness.
"If a story is all you have to tell me then how does it solve my problems."
"It doesn't solve your problems, but it gives you the will to thrive." He cleared his throat standing to his feet. "The only story worse than Job is that of death." He echoed as he walked towards the alter.
The next morning David woke up to the rising sun. He stretched his body as he slept off on the bench of the cathedral. He looked around, but the priest was gone. He walked back to his apartment.
In his way home, he reminisced on the old man's words. They weren't enough to solve his problems, true. But then it was enough strength to his soul, just enough to put a smile on his once expressionless face as he looked to the heavens and felt this glimpse of hope once again.