Pack your stuff and memories

Rachel woke up early the following day. She was supposed to pack her entire apartment by the end of the day since the movers were going to arrive by then. The reason for the packing might be obvious. Since she is now a married woman, she gets to live in with her new husband. Although the whole marriage thing was fake, Isaac and Rachel knew that if they weren’t living together people might suspect their marriage. As per their agreement, Rachel would move in with Isaac in his house. Rachel was against moving in at first, however Isaac explained that his parents would never believe that he wouldn't live with his wife and their plan will be busted.

There were some fights as to where they would live when they first discussed their agreement. Rachel of course was having doubts about moving in with Isaac. Who wouldn’t be? If this was a complete stranger, Rachel would never agree to live with someone she just met. Even though Rachel and Isaac were not complete strangers with each other, there is still some uncertainty with one another other. After all, they didn’t know each other that much. Yes they went to the same college and knew some mutual friends but other than that, they might as well be strangers.

In the end however, Rachel agreed to move in with Isaac. One of the reasons is the state of her current apartment. It was a small one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a living room. The place wasn’t completely terrible but if asked, she would honestly want something better. Also Isaac was rich, Rachel was not entirely sure how rich, but he is, and of course he wouldn’t want to live in such a small place. Isaac also has his own house with more than one bedroom so they can sleep in their own rooms and have their own personal space.

Since she agreed with moving in with Isaac, Rachel now has to pack her entire apartment. It wasn’t that much of a big deal for Rachel, she's got nothing to do after all since she became unemployed. It will be just like cleaning her apartment, and if she going to be completely honest, her apartment was long overdue for a major clean up.

There were many times that Rachel planned to clean her apartment thoroughly. However, whenever she does, something always comes up that she doesn’t end up cleaning. Sometimes it work stuff and sometimes it’s just her procrastination kicking in that prevents her from following through with the task. Who would blame her? She used to have a 9 to 5 job that drained the heck out of her.

Rachel started her packing with her clothes. She emptied her closet and one by one folded her clothes into luggage. As she does so, she tries on some clothes she doesn’t always wears and looks at herself in the mirror. Turns out she has a lot of clothes she hasn’t worn in a very long time hidden at the back of her closet. Many of it were already out of style but who cares, clothing styles usually comes around any ways.

While in the middle of changing into some of her old clothes, Rachel hears the doorbell ring. She wasn’t really expecting anyone and the mover were supposed to arrive by the end of the day. Once she got changed, Rachel approached the door and looked through the hole to see who’s outside. It was Isaac.

She frowned at the sight. She didn’t really know why he was there. She gave him her address, but that was so he could send the movers there. Also they were supposed to meet in the evening when she will officially move in with him.

Rachel slowly opened the door with her body blocking the way, “Uh hi?”

“Hi,” Isaac greeted her flatly.

”What are you doing here?” Rachel asked him.

”I asked if you already started packing but you didn’t respond so I decided to check in on you.”

“Okay?” Rachel’s response seemed more like a question than an actual response.

”I figured you might still be asleep since the last time we agreed to meet, you were asleep when I called you.”

”Okay that was one time! And I was a little hangover then.” Rachel defended.

“Regardless, you need to finish packing since the movers said they’ll arrive later today.” Isaac informs her.

”Yeah I know.” Rachel replies.

Isaac eyes Rachel from head to toe, “What are you wearing?”

Rachel looks down at herself as well, completely forgetting that she was trying some of her old clothes before opening the door. She was wearing a pleated skirt over brightly colored patterned pajamas and a cartoon shirt under a black tube top with some spaghetti straps. She was also wearing a small feathered hat and a pastel colored knitted scarf around her neck. Once she realized how ridiculous she looks, Rachel can’t help but feel her cheeks burn.

Isaac stifles a laugh, “Since I’m already here, do you need help packing?”

He is met with a glare from a slightly red cheeked Rachel. She eventually opens the door fully and lets Isaac in. “Fine.”

Once Isaac enters the apartment, he immediately notices the mess. He looks around the room and there were some clutter everywhere. “How do you live like this?”

Rachel frowned at his reaction. It wasn’t that messy in her opinion after all. Some of it were normal mess and the others were the mess she created as she started packing. Rachel just waved her hand at Isaac to disregard his statement. “It’s not that messy.”

”What do you mean? There’s clutter everywhere. There’s some clothes scattered on the living room. This place is a mess.” Isaac exclaims.

”Ugh, you sound like my mom.” Rachel replied then headed back to the bedroom to arrange her clothes once again. Isaac frowns at her statement but follows her through the room nonetheless.

“If you must know, the extra clutter is from packing. It’s not normally this messy.” Rachel adds. She's lying. As much as Rachel would like Isaac to believe, her apartment was most of the time as messy as this. It's not like the mess didn't bother her, it does sometimes, but the place is still functional so she figures she can live with a little mess.

Before Isaac can get to her room, Rachel stops him, "Where do you think you're off to?"

"I'm gonna help you pack," Isaac says with a matter of fact tone complete with a gesture from his hands.

"This one's off limits." Rachel tells him before closing the door in his face.

Isaac was left at the door dumbfounded. He didn't force himself into the room of course and just left Rachel at her own device. He stayed at the living room where he started packing some stuff into boxes. He wasn't sure if all of the things there were to be packed or if some would be thrown away. Isaac thought of asking Rachel but he figured she would just ignore him. In the end he just organized the items as best he can in boxes and labelled them individually.

While Isaac was doing some progress in packing the living room, Rachel on the other hand keeps getting distracted with the stuff she found in her bedroom. Rachel would never admit it but she forgot the exact date when she thoroughly cleaned her room. Whenever she does clean, it was always just light and would normally just pick up the messes she sees. This time however was different, since she need to literally have to clean and go through every corner of her room.

It was almost noon and the two was still busy with the packing. Isaac was almost done with the living room. He had already arranged the boxes and labelled them according to the contents inside. All of the small stuff and decorations in the living room are already in boxes while some bigger furniture are already ready to be moved. Rachel on the other hand was not even done with packing half of her room. She's already done with the clothes, thank goodness. She's now packing all the other things she has in her room.

Since it was almost noon, Isaac decided to take a break. He went over to Rachel's room and knocked on the door, "Rachel I'm gonna cook some stuff from your fridge, is that okay?"

Rachel, who was startled by the knocking and did not entirely process the question, answered, "Yeah."

With her consent, Isaac started to look through her kitchen for something to cook. He first went to the fridge. Once he opened it, his eyes immediately scanned the food kept inside, ignoring those he deemed not worthy of culinary value. In the end he did not find anything he could cook except for some carrots and a pack of bacon. He decided to look more through the kitchen. He opened some shelves and found some boxes of different cereals.

"What are you doing?" Rachel, who heard the noise in the kitchen, asked as she found Isaac in the kitchen.

Isaac heard Rachel's voice behind him. He immediately turned around and replied. "Looking for something to cook."

"Unfortunately, it turns out you have nothing of culinary value." Isaac added gesturing at the opened shelves and the refrigerator. "All you have are carrots, bacon and some cereal."

"Then cook those!" Rachel exclaims as she approached the kitchen. Once she's in the kitchen, she pushes Isaac out of the way and goes to the refrigerator. She sees the mentioned food along with some other food she deems with culinary value. She closes the fridge again and turns to Isaac, "Also, how dare you try to insult my bacon and carrots."

"Wha-" Isaac couldn't even finish his word. He raises his hands in retreat and brings out his phone and dials a number, "You know what never mind, I'm gonna order us some food."

Rachel just rolls her eyes at him as Isaac talks to someone on his phone. A few minutes later the doorbell rings and Isaac went to open the door. He returns back to the kitchen with a bag in hand. Isaac sits across Rachel and opens the bag. He hands her some food and they both eat quietly.

After they finished eating, Rachel cleaned the table and washed some dishes that they used. While Rachel was washing the dishes, Isaac takes a peak at her bedroom door, curious about her progress. He was shocked to see of how little progress Rachel made in packing.

Not knowing that Rachel was already done with the dishes, Isaac got shoved out of the way when she went inside the room, "Hey! I told you this one's off limits."

"How come you're not even halfway done? You've been there all morning." Isaac exclaims.

Rachel didn't know how to respond. The process of clean up has always taken up her time whenever she does so. Cleaning wasn't just cleaning for her. Cleaning for Rachel, especially major ones where she literally have to go through her stuff, is like a little trip down memory lane. Whenever she cleans, it's like she's going through her memories. Every clutter every stuff she keeps away, all those things have their own story. She didn't know how to explain this to Isaac though, not without him judging her. In the end, Rachel just slams the door once again in Isaac's face but not before he stops it with his hand.

"You need to finish packing before the movers arrive later."

"Yeah I know!" Rachel pushes harder on the door until it finally closes. Once she did, she leans on the door for a moments and takes a deep breath. She takes a few more breaths before she starts packing her stuff again.

She was sentimental and she knew it. That's why she kept most of her stuff even though some of it are no longer useful and functional. Going through all those things again, especially the ones she finds while packing, brings back all kinds of memories to her. Many of those memories are happy, and there are also some are not so happy. However all of those memories are a part of her and she cherishes each and every one of them.

During the process of clearing up her room, Rachel also realized why she keeps taking her time packing. Going through all her stuff and memories in her room made her realize that she doesn't want to leave the place. After all, she's lived here for almost five years already since she graduated. This was her first apartment and it meant so much for her.

Leaving this place and moving in with Isaac is a big change, and Rachel doesn't really take those kinds of changes lightly. But she made a commitment, she made a deal, and Rachel knew in her damn self that she was gonna go through the deal and keep her end of the line. She's married now and she needs to build a life, even if it was just pretend.

Before the day ended, Rachel finally finished packing her room. She just labelled the last box and put it with the others inside the room. It was hard and it took some time but she finished. She stood up from the floor and looked around her soon to be old apartment. She had a great time in this place, built a life and independence, but there always comes a time that she has to leave the place. This was it. She smiled sadly at the room, with some tears threatening to falls from her eyes.

"Hey Rachel, the movers are here, are you done?" Isaac knocks on her bedroom door.

Rachel wipes her eyes even though there were no tears in them. She take a deep breath before answering, "Yeah." She goes to the door and opens it up to let the men in and carry her stuff to their trucks. She joins Isaac who was standing in the living room, watching the movers do their job.

"You okay?" Isaac asked, recognizing a sudden change of demeanor in Rachel.

"Yeah," Rachel replies in a soft voice, looking through at her apartment for what seems like the last time. "I'll be fine."