Imperfect Desires

Wishes often don't come true when you're consumed by fears or tears. But miracles always begin with wishes. However eventually, there comes a time in our life when we finally accept the fact that not all wishes are meant to come true.

Xiu was one of those people who accepted that fact as well. Life is said to be meaningless without wishes and that's why she looked for a purpose instead. Having a purpose in life sounded rather realistic than wishes and miracles.

Tossing around to find a comfortable position to soothe her pain, she finally gave up on sleeping and came to the laundry room. It was the only thing she could think of to distract her mind from her life's weirdest experience. Suddenly, her mind had a memory that wasn't hers and yet it was hers, in a weird and some crazy way. And the more it sounded crazy, it was crazier to accept it for her. She wouldn't be normal if she was able to accept this bizarre thing.

She threw in her bedsheet in the washing machine and pressed the button. 

"What's up, my little ketchup packet?" came Nora's voice from behind startling her.

When the new nickname registered in her mind, Xiu glared at her, "Ketchup packet? Seriously?"

"What's wrong with that?" asked Nora as if her words didn't sound slightly offending to the person who was on her periods. "Oh, come on, it's funny."

"If you say so," replied Xiu half-heartedly and continued, "Did I wake you up?"

"Yes, but it's okay," said Nora while yawning. "By the way, why are you doing the laundry at 3 in the morning?"

"I felt like doing it," was Xiu's response with an annoyed face. 

Nora shook her head and said, "As always, your mood swings are on a whole different level. Just to be sure, are you in the late-night super mad-grumpy phase right now?" Seeing how amused Nora was, Xiu was irked. It was true that she had different phases throughout the day on her periods. For instance, the morning was a grumpy phase, then it was followed by sad mid-day. Following that would come lazy afternoon and night was meant to be a crying phase. Late nights were just mad.

Since it could be called late-night and early morning at this time, Nora assumed her to be in the mad-grumpy phase.

"Can you stop talking? I already feel like someone is punching my uterus," said Xiu while rubbing her stomach.

"And you're here doing laundry? You should be staying away from water, idiot!" Nora reprimanded her and dragged her out of the laundry room. Making her sit on the sofa, she covered her legs with a blanket and said, "Don't move, let me bring that instant soup thingy for you."

"I'd prefer instant noodles instead," said Xiu while pulling the blanket up and leaning back in a comfortable position.

Nora eyed her for a while before grumbling, "Fine!" Xiu smiled to herself and turned on the tv for distraction. The silence was making her mind racing with thoughts of all sorts. 

Xiu was about to change the channel when Nora's loud voice almost made her jump, "Xiu!"

"What?" Xiu looked at her in irritation.

"See, your boyfriend left his wallet here," Nora waved the leather wallet and when Xiu didn't give any reaction, she came to her side and said, "Idiot, look what I found in it."

"You're sneaking through his stuff now?" Xiu widened her eyes at Nora who didn't look guilty at all.

"Hold your thoughts right there. I'm not such a person. The wallet was on the floor and it was opened when I found it. It's not my fault at all," Nora explained her side of the story and sat beside Xiu while shaking her and went on, "Anyway, focus here." She opened the wallet before her and showed her the photo.

In the photo, she could recognize Darren but there was another person she couldn't recognize. Blue eyes and dark blonde hair were the highlights of the woman along with her aesthetically pleasing features which seemed more pleasing because of her smile. She had a high ponytail and was wearing a white t-shirt with blue jeans. Darren was hugging her from behind in the photo with the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

"Why are we looking at this?" asked Xiu while looking at Nora inquisitively.

"Oho! Can't you see? This is important," emphasized Nora unnecessarily on her point.

"How is it important?" asked Xiu playing dumb.

"Xiu, men don't just keep any one's photo in their wallets," said Nora as if it was a huge deal.

"Men usually keep their family's photo in their wallets," was Xiu's offhanded response. 

"Or their first love's," Nora jutted in making Xiu's face scrunch up unpleasantly. "Let's be honest here, this woman looks really beautiful and the way Darren is so happy, I'm telling you she's important in his life."

Xiu thought about her words but as soon as the doubts tried to creep inside her mind, she shook them away and denied by saying, "She could be someone from his family. Don't jump to conclusions on your own."

"Don't defend him. He only has his mother in his family and if you're telling me that this woman is his mother then I'm definitely gonna jump off some building," Nora was adamant on her theory and her conviction was making Xiu's belief to waver.

"My noodles?" reminded Xiu to Nora as a form of distraction and it worked.

"Oh, crap! I forgot about that," Nora threw the wallet at Xiu and ran off in the direction of the kitchen.

Behind her, Xiu looked at the photo intently and felt a bit jealous seeing how Darren never smiled like that around her. His smile had a different charm to it. A carefree feeling as if he was most comfortable at that time. Not only that, the way his hands were around the woman's shoulders, it showed how protective he was about her as well. Feeling a bit upset over that, she closed the wallet but almost dropped the wallet down with shock written all over her face.

It was a customized leather wallet and it had two words carved at a corner. The familiarity of those two words left Xiu's whole body trembling.