BODY LANGUAGE

      Faith, Charlie and Nora laughed out loud as they watched the video Charlie had made of himself and Douglas. They had drunk to a stupor that night trying to prove who was the man of the house. Faith watched her brother and laughed until her countenance gradually changed. 

        "I miss him," she sighed. 

         "I know," Charlie said and took the phone from her.   "Why don't you go talk to him again?" 

        Faith shrugged.  "I don't know, is that alright?" 

       "Does he want to see her? Is he ready to talk now? I don't want anything to hurt my baby girl," Nora said and drank from her coke. 

     Faith looked at Charlie for confirmation that she should go. Charlie shrugged, he wasn't sure about it. 

        "Just talking with instincts," he said grabbed his coke and drank.  "Douglas is unpredictable." 

        "Then I would advise Faith waits. Faith is so happy in this particular period right?" Nora asked and nudged Faith. 

       To avoid the answer, Faith grabbed her coke and sipped from the straw, but Nora won't give up. 

       "Faith?" Nora called. Faith looked at Nora still sipping her drink.  "Am I right?" Faith nodded obediently.  Nora leaned closer.  "I will tell you what, when you finally start talking with Doug or Josh, whichever one his name is, you can torment him with this video." 

      Faith burst into laughter.   "That's a great idea," she said between fits of laughter. 

      Charlie jumped to defence for Douglas.  "Hey! That's my boyfriend, you guys!"

        "Your boyfriend, her brother. Wait! I am the one left out here," Nora said. 

       They looked at her in confusion.  "How?" they asked in unison. 

        "You are going to become in-laws, finally bonded like brothers and sisters." 

       "Did you just realize that?" Charlie asked with a smug on his face. 

        "We are still sisters forever, Nora," Faith assured. 

      Nora made a face and Charlie smirked. 

      "I feel like I am winning already," he said.  "If our Faith here finally gets to reconcile with her brother, which is inevitable, we would become siblings in-laws. Is that even a word?" 

     Nora sighed.  "Oh, I'm so jealous." She leaned on the table, facing Charlie.   "Faith will still choose me." 

     Before they could make her choose, Faith jumped in.  "Guys, do we need to talk about this every time we meet?" 

       "Yes!" Charlie and Nora chorused. 

       "You both are my favourite." 

        "Who is your favourite favourite?" Nora asked. 

    Faith looked at Charlie who held up his phone and she looked back at Nora. 

        "What's your answer baby girl?" Charlie asked. 

        "Well, my answer is." Faith stood up.  "I'm out of here. Ethan would soon arrive to take me to my doctor." 

        "What?!" Nora and Charlie chorused again. 

       "What? My doctor kind of picked interest in him and asked him to always bring me." 

      Charlie stood up.  "I will see you off." 

      "Yeah, yeah, perform your brother-in-law duties. She still knows who is her number one," Nora said and stood up and hugged Faith.  "Take care, baby girl, and remember that I love you." She hugged Faith. 

      "I love you too," Faith said. 

      "Oh, my God! How could I forget?!" Nora exclaimed. 

    Charlie and Faith stopped and looked at her.  "What's that?" Faith asked. 

        "Danny would like us to have dinner together. Me, you, him and Ethan. You know like a double date." Nora eyed Charlie. 

       "Oh, wow, that would be great." 

       "Am I missing some details here?" Charlie asked and squinted his eyes at both women.  "Ethan...Where does he fit in the puzzle?" He looked sharply at Faith.   "What exactly are you guys?" 

       "Bonnie and Clyde," Faith said and squinted her eyes at him. 

       Nora chuckled and give them a little push.  "I think Bonnie is waiting for Clyde outside the hospital now." 

       Charlie hung his hand over Faith's shoulders and they left the hospital canteen and headed towards the entrance. Nora waved at them and they hopped away together. 

       They stood by the sidewalk waiting for Ethan to pull up. Charlie pressed Faith to him. 

       "So, tell me what's up with you and Ethan?" 

   Faith shrugged.  "Nothing really serious, just a date." 

       Charlie gave her a suspicious look. When Faith gave him a what-is-it-look, he hugged her.  "I wish you happiness." 

     Faith circled her arms around him.  "You know what I think? I think that one day, we will all be happy and go on a picnic together, all of us." 

       "I hope that day would come soon." 

     Across the road, someone sat in a car, with dark windows and took several pictures of them.  

     Ethan pulled up a few seconds later and shook hands with Charlie. The person from the car took some more pictures of both Ethan, Faith and Charlie. 

       Once Ethan and Faith were in the car, Ethan gave her a mug of creamy coffee.  

       "Drink," he said. 

      Faith took it and drank.  "Mhm, this tastes great." 

     Ethan smiled.  "Guess where I got it from?" 

      "Tastes familiar." Faith paused.  "Wait! Don't tell me you went to that monastery to get this coffee?" 

       Ethan chuckled.  "That's not a monastery, it's a restaurant and guest house." 

        "Whatever,  seems more like a monastery to me. But, their coffee is so good. I will have to admit." 

      "I saw that guy at the counter, he recognised me and asked about you." 

       "Really?" 

       "Are you really close to this Charlie?" Ethan asked after a while.

       "Yes." Faith looked out of the window. 

       "You are sure he is gay, like real gay? He is not bisexual?" 

       Faith looked at him.  "Don't tell me you are jealous." 

       "I just want to be sure he doesn't have an ulterior motive." 

        "Charlie is honourable. That's my brother's boyfriend. He is cool, I don't think he has an ulterior motive." 

        "How would you know?" 

        "His body language would tell me." 

        "Oh," Ethan said, looked at her and looked back on the road.  "I never knew you understood body language." 

          "What do you mean?" Faith drank from the mug. 

         "My body has been speaking for a long time now." 

        "I know, but I just ignored it." 

         "You wound me. How can you ignore me like that?" 

       "Because I don't want to hurt you, my darling. Now, drive." 

       "Yes, ma'am," Ethan said and stepped on the accelerator. 

       The doctor was glad to see them. She asked them to seat down.  Ethan held Faith's hands again. When she looked at him, he said,  "I will hold you so that you will not be scared." Faith smiled at him. 

       The doctor looked from one to the other.  "Shall we?" 

       Faith nodded.  "I am ready." She was ready to answer any question to the best of her knowledge. She wanted to know that thing that was making her sad, that thing she couldn't place her hands on. The doctor took out her pad and flipped a few pages. 

      "Does your stomach still hurt?" 

      "Sometimes, but not as much as it hurt before." 

      "That's good." 

      "Uhm... Adriana. I don't know but I feel there is something I am missing about my life, it's like a detail I need to know, is it normal for someone to feel this way?" Faith asked. 

     Adriana looked at her and tried to conceal her surprise. Was Faith going to open up?  "How long have you been feeling this way?" 

      "I don't know, for quite a long time now. Maybe since I was a child. Sometimes I cry about it, but I don't know exactly what I'm crying about." 

       "Do you have dreams too?" 

       "I guess, but I don't remember most of them." 

       "Alright. How do you feel about losing your dad?" 

Faith rolled her eyes.  "There we go again. Does it always have to come down to what I feel about my dad? I told you, I don't feel anything, relief maybe... I mean what else should I feel?" When the doctor didn't say anything and just stared at her, she said, "Tell me, doctor, how can I feel anything for a monster?" 

      That's a piece of new information, Dr Adriana thought. She huffed and recoiled in her seat.  "Now, Faith, for the hundredth time, what was your mom like? Describe her." 

       "I don't know." 

        "Try." 

        "Don't worry, it's just a stupid thing, a meaningless feeling." 

        "No, it isn't. Was your mom a loving mother? Was she mean? What memories did you have of her?" 

    Faith's hands began to quiver, but Ethan held her tight.  "I have told you... I don't know, she was just a mother, like every other mother." 

       "How is every other mother?" 

       "They cook and respect their husbands..." 

  That made Ethan smile and shake his head. The doctor smiled a small smile. 

       "Do you think you left anything unsaid before she left?" 

        "Holy Shit! Adriana, why do you have to analyse me to death? This all started as stress but you are turning it into some deep-seated secret locked away in my psyche." 

       "Faith, you know what? You are a harder nut to crack but I will crack you. I won't give up on you. You can roll your eyes all you want at me but I won't give up on you. You don't want to tell me anything about yourself but you need my help and I am willing to help you."

      For a moment, there was dead silence in the room, and then Faith started to snicker, she looked at Ethan and looked back at the doctor and her snicker turned into laughter and Dr Adriana joined her.