His son was a mixture of the two of them; his complexion was darker than Elijah’s but lighter than his own mother. His hair was wavy unlike Elijah’s but have the same hair color with a brown undertone to it.

“Lisa,” Elijah did the same and said her name, overwhelmed by the freedom it has on him. Ex-wife was a title he was accustomed to, giving him the detachment, he needed towards their previous relationship.

But now she’s here, months later. No longer the voice that calls him from time to time nor a body of messages he reads from their occasional texts. Elijah can’t decipher the reason she has on showing up out of the blue but he can’t back down from the confrontation.

“I-um, Matteo’s shoes aren’t shiny enough but it’s my fault for sleeping late and waking up later than my alarm clock,” Elijah tells her and opens the door for the backseat. He wanted to look away, refraining himself from glancing to her side and tense each time she moves close. But he couldn’t withdraw such reaction, the temptation overpowers his restraint and as he was finished putting his son in his own booster seat.

She was only a few inches close.

“Eli,” his ex-wife calls out to him, “how are you?”

It was a simple question. Elijah doesn’t need a paragraph to state his well-being and he couldn’t. Not when the word he can only express about himself is fine. And that’s what he answered, “Fine – just okay, really.”

“I see,” she replies back and gazes to their little boy in his booster seat. Matteo smiles back, showing off the dimple on his cheek.

“Hi mama!” Matteo greeted Lisa and waves at her. Lisa waves back, walking towards his direction and offers a kiss on Matteo’s cheek. “Mama loves my baby so, so much!” She exclaimed and loudly sniffs his cheek to which Matteo giggled at the gesture. “And smells like strawberry too.”

Elijah watches them. Listening to the giggles Matteo have always done more in the presence of his ex-wife. Lisa let the minutes passed by so easily along with the air conditioning from the vehicle. The breeze made him shiver, causing his goosebumps to rise whenever as it hits him. He crossed his arms on his chest, inserting his hands on his pits and immerse at the little warmth he had to fight against the air.

He shivers again and felt drawn to the attention he receives from the front. He gazes and that was all it took, really. The smile on his face pulls down while losing the glint in his eyes. Elijah widens his eyes at the sight of his ex-wife’s soulmate looking at him.

 Elijah finally notices the shine from his ex-wife’s string, floating around in the air as the other end reaches to the driver’s seat – tied on the left pinky of the man who took his love from him. The color of fate was brighter than Elijah’s whose red string was in a lighter shade of red, its shine dim from the distance between him and his soulmate.

Distance has its place in the supposed power system of the string. While the recipients can see their own string, it’s invincible to everyone else. The only way to show off the string was for the soulmates to be in close proximity to each other. It has been stated that the string would shine its brightest at the first meeting between soulmates. Although, such claims have yet to be proven.

“Adam, good morning,” Elijah calls out to his ex-wife’s soulmate and shows off a polite smile. He presented another pleasantry, “I’m sorry if Lisa is taking her time smothering her son. I’m sure you have something planned for today, yeah?”

“It’s fine,” Adam replied and shrugs. “I’m just glad she starts off with a happy tune than her usual anger at the morning rush hour.”

Elijah was unsure if he’d laugh at the statement. Adam did present it as a joke and even chuckled at the end. However, the rush hours he had spent with his ex-wife were at the subway station, trying to not get squeeze in by other passengers and usually huddled close at the edge of their compartment. The smell was diversely horrible and breakfast were always forgotten in exchange for a hopeful wish for a seat.

Cars were simply a luxury and if they did discuss having one, they’d consider buying from a second-hand shop. He wonders if Adam was thinking the same thing. Probably not.

Adam cleared his throat and Elijah drifts his attention away to his family once more. Lisa had let go of Matteo and stood straight, ironing out the wrinkles in her uniform with her hands and checks her watch.  “Looks like you still got time to relax, Eli,” she tells him, “Why don’t you head back home and take an early nap. I felt guilty for not notifying earlier and likely made a compromise with your schedule.”

She tried to place her hands on his shoulders but he hurriedly dodges the contact. He watches at the conflict in her expression. Shock was an understatement to the reaction he sees on her face, if he could decide what it was, he’d choose the word hurt.

He licked his lip and bend his head down. “I-I actually planned to go to my shop earlier a-and set up a few things before my employees arrives.”

Elijah looks at her from the corner of his eye, noticing her lips thinned at the explanation. She inhaled then exhaled, placing her right hand inside the pocket of her shirt. The string, unfortunately, could barely be hidden with the attempt.

“I see,” Lisa responded and looks back to Matteo then back to Elijah. “Well… we better get going now,” she added and slowly walked to the door of the back passenger seat. She holds the handle of the door and Elijah watched his son realize that it was time for good byes.

“Bye papa,” Matteo bid his farewell with a frown on his face and Elijah waves at the sight of the closing door until he could only see his own reflection from it. “Good bye, Matteo.” It was too late for him to say but he still attempts to pour his sadness out.

“Adam still has to drive for two hours for a meeting,” Lisa tells him while opening the door to the front passenger seat and closed it shut once she’s inside. The window, however, has yet to roll up. “I hope we have more time to talk, Eli… I really missed you, you know.” His ex-wife sounded hopeful, a tint of desperation from his perspective too.

In a way, he longed for her. But he gulps down the emotion and was overwhelmed by the sudden frustrations of his yearning. Elijah bit his tongue to refrain from entertaining her regret.

“If I have time, Lisa,” Elijah said to her, only. A smile wasn’t enough to hide his annoyance more so to her relief expression. He’ll give in, eventually, he always does when it concerns to her. The imbalance of the dynamics, from past to the present, have never wavered and Elijah wonders if there will be a time, he could say the word no.

But for now, silence was all he gives to her with their farewell and as he turns his back to the vehicle. He could never forget the hand reaching out to him, letting her string float at his direction.

Only a few can escape the string. Elijah was hoping he’d be part of the statistics.