A New Journey

"Hello!" Elena greeted, her tone normal and calm compared to her outburst in the morning.

"Finally," Mark breathed. It felt like forever since he heard from her. "Elena, what happened?" he asked. He didn't want to assume that she purposely ignored his call. He wanted to give her the chance to explain.

Elena's heavy sigh was let into the phone. "I'm sorry for not calling back. I was busy at my mum's convenience store while having to keep an eye on a handful toddler. Also, the store wasn't the best place to talk."

Mark nodded in understanding but then remembering that she couldn't see him, he replied with a soft 'okay' while rising to his feet with his face drenched in sweat.

Despite the fact that it was late, he had to exercise to keep his sanity. He had been worried over Elena's outburst, then when he had tried reaching her, she wasn't picking up his calls. He almost thought that something went wrong at her end.