Chapter 25

Halle could hear her heart beat, waiting for Juniper to pick the call. Or will she just not take the call? Calling her after a year? She never liked to hear about them or mum. All she cared about was herself. After dad died, she lived in her own world. Never called them for anything. Halle didn't even know Juniper had a daughter until someone close to Juniper mentioned it by accident.

It was tiring waiting for her to pick the call.

Click.

"Hello."

Not the voice she was expecting to hear. She involuntarily let out a sigh of relief. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until then.

"Hello, Elric." greeted Halle. "It's H—"

"Halle, how are you?"

"I'm fine." Halle was surprised to hear her name. "How are you?"

"I'm good." he replied. "We're all good."

"Great . . ."

Should she tell him?

"She went grocery shopping," continued Elric. "I think she forgot and left her phone at home."

"Oh okay, no problem. I'll call another time."

"It's been a long time since we've spoken." Elric continued before she could politely cut the call.

"Yeah, it has." agreed Halle.

*What else is there to say . . . ?*

"How's Aunt Cassie?"

"She's holding on." said Halle. "I think she'll be okay for a while until things get too serious."

"What do you mean?"

*Snap! Did she not tell him at all?*

"She wasn't well for a while."

"What happened?" asked Elric. "Juniper didn't say anything."

Halle couldn't take it anymore. "We haven't spoken for over a year. So maybe she doesn't know."

"What?" Elric asked, shocked.

"I don't understand." said Halle. "What did she tell you?"

"That you guys are all fine! And you two talk once a week."

Halle smiled. "Okay. Can you act like you didn't hear this from me?" she said. "I don't want to ruin things for her."

"But—"

"It's okay. I called to know if she would want to help mum. I'm running a café now, you know that right?"

"Yes."

"I've been saving as much as I can but it is not enough. So I wanted to put aside my anger and humiliation and talk to her for mum."

"Oh." His voice became quiet.

"It's okay. No need to think it over. She didn't want to call us family anyway. Mum asked me to call, so I did. If she's not home yet, don't tell her I called. It'll ruin her mood."

The line on the other side was quiet.

"Okay then. Take care, Elric. Bye."

"Wait."

*Now what?*

"Yes?"

"Can you save my number?"

"Uh . . ."

"I'll call you later about this."

"Okay . . ." Halle noted his number and went back to work.

"What did she say?"

"I didn't speak to her."

"What?" Pace gaped at her.

"I did call her, Elric took the call saying she forgot and left her phone at home. Said he'll call me later about this."

"What?"

"Sorry, it came out the wrong way." Halle paused. "She'd been telling him that she is in contact with me and mum and mum's fine. I told him that I called her because of my financial problems and he said she never spoke about it. So he said he'll call later."

"Okay . . ." said Pace. "Let's hope he can help you."

"Yui!"

"You're early." Shizuka checked the time. "Way early."

"Yep." said Halle. "Where's Yui?"

"In her room."

Halle went to Yui's room and knocked. "Hey Yui, look what I got you!"

"Aunt Halle!" Yui opened the door excited.

Halle handed her the cupcakes she made. "Remember you said you loved these?"

"Honey rose cupcakes!"

"Right you are!" said Halle. "Have one."

Yui opened the box and took a bite out of the cupcake. "Yum!"

"Isn't it?"

Halle went inside and sat on her bed. "Bought any present for dad?"

"Of course!" Yui exclaimed. "I bought him a tie. Mom taught me to embroider so I embroidered my name on his tie."

"Awesome, Yui!"

Yui put down the box and searched for the tie in the closet. "Look!" she brought it to Halle.

The blue tie had white embroidery at the tip of the tie. It will completely hide inside a suit. But the embroidery was a work of art. "Sweet pea, it looks gorgeous. Your mom is quite good at it and you're getting good at it too!"

"Really?" Yui asked with big sparkly eyes.

"It looks very pretty," said Halle. "Your dad's gonna love it."

Yui's eyes sparkled in recognition for her work. "Thanks Aunt Halle."

"C'mere." Halle pulled her into a hug. "It is too gorgeous I can't take my eyes off of it."

Yui pulled away. "You wanna play?"

"Sure, what do you have in mind?"