Episode 22: Treasured memories

Lea got back to her flat after lunch with John feeling completely drained. Her eyes still visibly puffy from the outburst in the restaurant but instead of feeling better about her decision to go to Hanoi to surprise Bill she felt sad and more alone than ever.

As she reflected on her time with Bill she now realized that during their time together she had taken so much for granted and that she had wasted so much time with petty, and what now seems like inconsequential and trivial things.  

Like when he would just walk in on her when she was in the bathroom having a pee, and how mad she would get at him. For him growing up in a large family with only one bathroom he didn’t seem to think twice before just barging in.  At first this was endearing, but she told him firmly that a lady needed her privacy and that he couldn’t come in while she was in there by herself, but still continued to do amid Lea’s most frustrated outbursts.  He would just seem to laugh it off and say sorry each time, but never seem to remember and do it over and over, much to her chagrin.

Or the way his jaw would crack and crunch when he ate, the result of a dislocated jaw from his rugby days at University. To Lea his chewing felt like water torture with the constant sounds emanating from his mouth when he ate…   I would get so angry she thought to herself, and for what?

Now these irritants were precious and treasured memories.  

She had made up her mind to go and that was all there was to it.  After all, it was her pettiness and pride that had pushed Bill away in the first place; even when he had tried in vain to reach her before he left for his posting in Hanoi.  By ignoring him she had hoped that he would have come to his senses, realize that he loved her and abandon the silly idea of going half way around the world to a country that was just getting back on its feet after years of war with the West.  

Now she had decided to make things right, tell him how she really felt about him and that she would quit her job and stay with him in Hanoi, anything as long as they were together.  

After all she loved him and that’s all that mattered…