Chapter III - Gaining a Friend

Weekends flew by at a speed and Monday had started to awaken. The day was known as a busy day and for Chelsea, she absolutely agrees. Her daughter had another theater practice and Chelsea promised herself that as much as possible, she will attend watching Rebecca's performance even she was been busy.

Now, she was seating inside the theater multitasking watching her daughter perform, and writing her novel. Chelsea was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the man in her left looming over her. She gasped when she felt a contact to her shoulder, a large hand gripping and lightly shaking her.

"Mrs. Col-," the man said, stopping his sentence as he remembered something a knowledge in their last meeting. "Chelsea, sorry to bother," he continued with a timid smile.

"Oh, no worries," Chelsea said a little surprised that Michael was talking to her. She moved her head to the stage confusingly, 'Is it done?' then she saw the children busy with a paper in their hands. She faced Michael with a questioning expression. "What can I help you with?" she asked, not being rude for late replying due to the observation she did.

"May I stay here for a while?" Michael said, avoiding the gaze of the other and gesturing to the seat that his mother had taken when the last meeting had happened. "While the children practice their lines," with this he bravely looked down at her eyes.

"Sure... I mean, sure! Take a seat," Chelsea said, immediately looked away when their eyes got contact with each other. She was confused at his unexpected visit and thought that it was a little bit weird for her. "Where was your mother by the way? I noticed that she wasn't here," Chelsea said, obviously, changing the awkwardness that surrounds them.

"She was busy with her grandchildren," he simply said, facing sideways in her vision.

"Your children?" she said, guessing that it was his children. 'I mean, he looked strict enough for being a father who scolded his children not to do a certain thing,' she mentally thought, unconsciously judging the man present in front of her.

"Oh god no..." he said cringing at the thought of him having a kid and then he laughed loudly to her. "It was my sister's," he continued, informing her that the children were not his and calmed down in laughing.

"Oh! Sorry for assuming," she said embarrassed about her earlier statement and got pinkish cheeks when he laughed and commented about it.

"It's fine, others always questioned me about it too, so no surprise there," both chuckle at his statement.

"You planned not to have a kid?" she asked him with a mix of understanding and confused face. She fixed her position to get comfortable, forgetting her works, and focusing on communicating with the man in front of her.

"I would love to but with the right person," he said answering truthfully and instantly to Chelsea, not seeing a reason not to answer the question of a woman who's curious about him.

"Ohhhh... Oh!" Chelsea exclaimed seemingly thought of a realization behind his words. "You haven't met a woman or... man, if you are into that thing, I mean I'm not against it, Ughhhh, you know what I mean!" she said, rumbling her words, not getting the right words she wanted to say while the man laughed at her explanation.

"I know," he said, still chuckling about her early utterance. "I love women, very much so, but haven't found her yet," Michael said looking seriously about it.

"I still can't believe it yet, I mean, you're hand-..." Chelsea said, shocked by her intended word, and paused for a while to think about her words, earning confusion to her companion and awkwardness on the air. She was going to say handsome, rating his looks but thought better of it. "...ful with the things that surround you, an- and a great listener that comforts the people who are communicating with you," Chelsea smoothly continued and moved her right hand towards her head to wipe the sweat that was forming on there. She sighed feeling relieved washed over her body after she said her last sentence.

"That may be true, but I believe that patience with determination should be the man's motto and women love kindness and most of all understanding their emotions and actions," he said, passion burning in his irises, apparently observing the action of others and have a deep understanding towards it like a paint finding its story. "Obviously, I haven't met a woman that deserves my determination and patience," he said frowning after he said those things.

Chelsea didn't know what to respond to that so she only nodded and hummed saying that she gets what he said to her and silently telling him that she was grateful for sharing his ideology and hinted at some of his personal life.

"Pardon me for intruding, but I believe I haven't seen your husband yet," Michael asked nervously but appearing calm to her, desperate to change the topic thinking that it might help the flow of their conversation continue, he really loves talking to her and can't explain what is the reason behind it.

"About that..." Chelsea said with a heavy tone carrying in those words, she looked down for a moment to gather her emotion, then, looked back at Michael with an obvious intense feeling sticking in her eyes. "Well, I'm a single mother," with this, Michael frowned. "My husband is still missing for 7 years, an- and... I didn't know if he's still alive," she griefly said, emotions corrupted her, and can't help but slip one or two drops of tears in her eyes. Even it had been many years, she can't help but retrieved the memories that hunted her every time she remembers him. She knew that this was unhealthy and knew that moving on is the best way to get rid of her suffering.

"I'm so so sorry... I didn't know," Michael said, displaying panicked eyes looking at her, while she just smiled brokenly at him. He didn't expect his question to suddenly turn their situation upside down. Chelsea began to wipe her tears and eyes, sighed, and looked back at him with composed stature.

"It's okay, I understand," she smiled lightly saying it. "And besides... I have the ability to refuse to give the answer but instead, I told you the truth, I feel that I can trust you," she said with a genuine smile plastered on her face. "And also, I consider you my fan since you read my books," she said cheekily, getting the atmosphere light and leaving Michael to laughed.

"Yeah, I'm actually a fan," he confessed, looking down that made Chelsea laugh more. "But seriously, I will earn that trust," Michael said looking intently at her. "From now on, friends? I know a bit silly," Michael offered and raised his right hand to Chelsea to shake and she laugh when he said the word 'silly'.

"Friends," Chelsea said firmly as her grip on Michael's hand.

"It seems that the children are finished," Michael commented on the increasing noise from the center of the stage. "I better continue to work, thank you for your company," he said smiling toward her.

"Thank you also, I quite enjoy it despite my emotional outburst," Chelsea said faintly smiling but not facing him.

"It's fine to release those emotions and if you want to just cry and not talk, I can help you. It's better to get that heavy feeling than store it inside," he offered and give some commentary about emotions, he smiled and she smiled back, thankful for the advice. "I better go, see you soon," he finally said and started marching towards the stage where the children were located.

Chelsea decided to continue her writing after Michael's visit and chat. She again lost in imagining the world of her book, exploring and interpreting her original character, and used creative writing to make them alive. A familiar voice was heard, interrupting Chelsea in her work.

"Mommy!" Rebecca said while she walked briskly towards her mother.

"Yes, hon?" Chelsea replied looking at her daughter with a smile, when Rebecca was in front of her, she patted the girl's head.

"We're done now," her daughter said still with full energy.

"Did you learned something today?" Chelsea asked Rebecca for her to reflect on her day.

"Mr. Severn talks about improvisation of lines, he said that some actors forgot the lines they were supposed to say in the performance. He gave us a little time to memorize so many lines, then after we fail to memorize them, he told us about improvisation. I think that's all?" her daughter said honestly and began to look up and rubbed her head, thinking of the things she learned today.

"Did you had fun learning this?" she asked her daughter again, ensuring that she enjoyed the activities she had participated in.

"Yes! Mr. Severn is really cool! He shared some stories of his experience when he gone through acting," Rebecca exclaimed, happy about the information she shared.

"That's really good of him," Chelsea commented while her daughter agreed by nodding her head. "Now, you ready to go home?" she asked Rebecca.

"Can we say goodbye to Mr. Severn before we leave?" her daughter suggested to Chelsea.

"Of course, why not," she said smiling at Rebecca and her daughter smiled back at her. They got up and Chelsea collected the items that she carried earlier to write. They spotted the man they were looking for and went to say goodbye to him.

Michael turned around and was surprised to see Chelsea.

"Hey, Michael, we're going to leave now and Reb just wants to say bye," Chelsea said looking at her daughter. "Honey, say bye to Michael," she whispered towards Rebecca.

"Bye, Mr. Severn!" Rebecca finally said and they started to turn around to leave but Michael wanted to tell something.

"Chelsea?" Michael asked hesitantly, not knowing if his next question will be accepted or not. He just hoped that she will.

"Yes?" she replied back to the man who questioned her.

"You see, I was feeling rather guilty earlier when we talk about a sensitive topic to you," he said starting his sentence, not looking directly at Chelsea while Rebecca was busy daydreaming and ignoring the adult's talk. "So, I was thinking to treat you and your daughter to the fast food place that we went to last time with my mother," Michael nervously said, not knowing if she agreed or not to his foolish invitation, at least he thinks it's stupid.

"You don't have to," Chelsea answered not fully saying that she agreed or not. She looked at him with appreciation on her face. "But thank you, Michael," she continued. "And you know, I already said it's fine, I understand," she said looking at him.

"I insist!" he exclaimed, telling her that he really felt bad about it.

Chelsea waited for a minute to think about it. "Fine, if you will feel great about it," Chelsea agreed and Michael nodded about her statement. "Did you hear that honey?" she asked Rebecca who just came to her senses when she got called by her mother. "Mr. Severn treated us to eat pizza and ice cream again!" Chelsea exclaimed to her daughter to show that it was exciting news.

"Thank you, Mr. Severn!" Rebecca said to the man with twinkling eyes, telling him that she appreciated his kind action towards her mother and herself.

"You're very welcome," he smiled towards the girl. "You can call me Michael when not in a class," he said, giving her permission to call him by his first name.

"Okay, Michael," the girl tested pronouncing his name.

"So, let's go?" he asked them and they nodded their head. Michael noticed that they were the only ones who are in the theater. They began to walk outside and he suddenly stooped. "Wait for a while," he said turning his back on them and he turned off the switch getting all the power sources of the theater shut down, and then locked the theater door. He came back with the girls who were waiting patiently and then begun to go to their destination.

When they arrived, Michael and Chelsea do the talking while Rebecca looks like she was having a date with ice cream, looks like Tom's influence really got in her. The two adults mostly talk about each other's careers which they both enjoy. As the day moves forward, the simple things they were talking about earlier were now on a deeper level. They share their own values opinion and a bit of memory that they want and are willing to share for amusement.

They didn't notice the darkening sky above them but later on, Chelsea saw her daughter rubbing her eyes and yawning, telling her that she was ready to sleep for today. They both decided that it was time for them to go home, they said their goodbyes and thanks to each other for giving mutual understanding and opinions on different topics they discussed.

Today marks a new friendship between Michael and Chelsea. It will be written in the next chapter for Chelsea and a new role of acting for Michael, it will be their friendship journey that will support and carry each other. New hope for the writer and a new experience for the actor.

The fast-food place became a regular thing for the three of them, sometimes four if Michael's mother was there to join. They chat about the latest news, their day, and sometimes educational stuff so that Rebecca can understand the things she didn't get and have an idea of communicating with them.

Sometimes when they were chatting, arguments happen, particularly in the silliest things. It was actually funny for Rebecca, she enjoyed watching them argue even if some topics she can't understand, but she was really entertained by them.

One thing Chelsea learned from Michael is that he made a lot of not-so-funny jokes, that made her laughed, which was weird. On a specific day, Chelsea was drinking lemon juice then Michael accidentally blurted out a comment that looks like his normal joke.

"Why did you call it a lemon juice on the counter, not lemonade?" he genuinely asked Chelsea who was drinking her lemon juice.

Chelsea stopped drinking and spilled the liquid substances in her mouth to Michael, and burst her laughter. "Don't ever do that, Michael," she said still laughing and Rebecca who's giggling beside her mother.

"I should be the one saying that phrase!" Michael exclaimed, drenched in the lemon juice or rather lemonade with a bit of saliva of the woman who poured it on him. "Ughrr!" he grunted and got up to went to the restroom of the place.

"Mommy, do you think he's mad?" Rebecca asked still giggling at the picture of Michael getting drenched full of lemonade.

"Nahhh, he's alright," she said with a chuckle between the words, facing her daughter.