The Love of a Firefighter Part 2/3 - Unexpectedly

In the afternoon, children were laughing and playing sprinklers in the yard, their father hasn't come home from work. Mother went to the nearest supermarket to buy groceries needed for their father's business dinner at home, but the main menu was charred in the oven and it caused a big fire in the kitchen. Inevitably, that afternoon filled with screaming and crying of the children who later on noticed it.



Hopefully, the family would learn from this, not to leave cooking unattended because oil and fat could ignite in anytime unexpectedly. This case was just one of many cases. It's started from carelessness, and in a day, you may lose everything you own and love.

Tragic thing happened to my dear friend when she was nine years old. She got trapped in a burning car at the gas station, she's gone, and it all began from carelessness.

Enough for the sad part. It's better we do prevention before the actual hazard occured. The department could not do anything to prevent you from doing careless mistakes like this. We could only raise fire safety awareness among the citizen by socializing it to the community, schools, and offices. The responsibility to prevent it is in your hand, and the main thing is that you have to be careful.

While accidents were happening in almost every corner of the town, everything was going so well between Lila and me. We were planning to have the wedding in November. Lila was so excited to arrange it. Both of us wanted to make  our wedding memorable, beautiful as it could be, for the moment that would  happen once in our lifetime. It would be one of the happiest days in our lives.

While I wanted everything to be perfect and dashing, Lila wanted everything to look simple with flowers around the aisle... mostly red because she loves the color of red. I loved her idea,  and we agreed to have the wedding outside, in an open area, where the guests would enjoy the scenery. We planned everything from the food to the wedding gown, and from wedding cake to the guest lists.

Then, it came to my awareness that I did not have enough money for all those beautiful things. I  refused to tell Lila about it.  I intended to find the money, no matter what.

So, I worked very hard at work.

***

"Dave!" I heard Aimee's voice calling out my name. I was in The Red Rendezvous to watch the final World Cup together with Terry.

"Alone?" She asked, taking a sit beside me and then calling the bartender for a drink.
" With a friend." I answered without turning my head, sipping a cup of  coffee and then looked at my watch, grumbling. Terry was surely taking a lot of time to go to the restroom.

In the club, there were only few people here. Most of them have come home because they have waited for too long for the Live Show to start. Aimee and I sat in silence,  side by side in front of the juice bar, not trying to open any conversation between us. We were getting immersed by the beat of the music played by a DJ.

"Wanna go to the dance floor?" She asked, rising from her chair, ready to go to the dance floor.
"You first." I  continued to drink the last sip of my coffee.
"Come on...! Hear the rhythm? It's calling you." She nodded her head, shaking it like a woman in drunk, grabbing my left arm, pulling it, so I would follow her to the dance floor.
"Aimee, If you wanna dance, just dance. I'm still waiting for my friend, here." To tell the truth, I was waiting for Lila. She said that she would be late here, and it would not be good if she saw me with another woman.

I heard Aimee was taking a deep breath.  " I can't believe it. You're totally different now."
"Why is that?"
"First, you never refused when a girl asked you to dance."
"True, but I can say no whenever I like, right?" I answered her, but something in her statement tickled my mind. "Am I really that different now?"
"Truly! You're drop dead serious, Dave... so rigid. I miss the old Dave." She smiled.
I felt she's flirting with me.
"I'm still the same, Aimee,  but sometimes great things happen to you and your life will not be the same. You're not the same person anymore."
"It's true but ... Oh my plumbbob, I can't believe it!" Aimee squealed. "Is that..." She pointed to my ring finger.
"Yeah, it's an engagement ring."I announced it proudly.

"It.. can't...! Wait! Did you knock up on someone?"
"No, of course not! Why am I being married has to do with it?"
"Because it's you, Dave."

***
I looked at my watch, Terry hasn't got back from the restroom (what was he doing there anyway?) and Lila was very... very late.

"So..."Amy spoke after drinking her juice. "Since you're going to lose your freedom, why don't we celebrate it tonight?  C'mon! Let's dance. It would be for the last time, I don't know if your fiancée is a jealous type or not, but for old time sake... let's dance!"
 
Since she insisted so much, I agreed.

But Lila arrived, and upon noticing her, I quickly stepped back from the dance floor.


"I see you were dancing with your friend there. Why stopping?" Lila asked me on our way out.
"I was... tired."  I was  glad she didn't feel jealous about it.

Before we stepped out of the club, I remembered  about Terry and wondered why he hasn't come back from the restroom, so I called him.
"Terry, where are you, bro?" I asked him, covering my left ear from the loud noise inside the club.
"At home, where else?"
 "Home?" I couldn't believe it. "I waited for you here. You said you needed to go the toilet, but you never came back. We were supposed to watch the World Cup Together."
"We did? Sorry bro, but the club owner told me that the TV broke down, so I went home. I forgot to tell ya about it."
"You forgot?" The phone almost slip off my fingers.
"What's wrong?" Lila asked. "He did it again, huh?"She chuckled.
"Yeah. It's no use talking about it. Let's go home."
"Go home? Where?"

"To my place, of course, and it will  be yours in a couple of months."
"Dave, we are not married yet, and you are already telling me that it is our house."
"Yeah,  I cannot wait for it,  Babe.  It feels so damn long. Let's - let's just go home." I was almost out of breath as I kissed her so passionately.
"Be patient, my love..."



It has been one month from our engagement day, two months again to November. Still, I  haven't got enough savings for the wedding day and to pay the bills. I have to keep on trying.

I was standing in the front yard, drying my  clothes when my cell phone suddenly rang. It's from Eva. We kept calling each other after our last meeting at the Laundry.


Many things we liked to discuss. I asked her  advices about wedding arrangement, and she shared some of her problems, mostly about work. She seemed terribly confused and depressed. Some rumors spread out saying that her relationship with her husband was getting sour after she caught him with another woman. She hadn't  told me about it. She only told me how tired she was with everything at home and work.

"Sorry, if I told you  about this. It's just...  you are a nice person to talk to." She said.
"It's okay, Eva. You can talk to me at any time."

----
Two months later.. my cell phone beep. It's a text message from Aimee.
"Dave, come to my place? It's your last chance. Don't worry! I won't tell your fiancée about it. Consider it as your bachelor party. Aimee"
 I put the cell phone down, cooked my dinner again, and then went back to the cell phone and typed:
"Aimee, don't bother .. I'm not going to come."

***


Finally, my wedding day came. I wore my best suit, going to the place where Lila and I would be bind in holy matrimony.


Everything was perfect: the venue, food, wedding cake, flowers, but the most important thing was missing: the bride.


My lovely Lila didn't come to our wedding day.

Theme Song : "Need You Now" By Lady Antebellum.