Chapter 5: Chapter 5
—
After what she saw, Lorelai is like a ghost as she arrived at her house. She’s been crying in the taxi, feeling tired, overwhelmed, sad, and hurt. She mindlessly opened the door, sobbing. She is not even aware of the presence of Maxwell right by the kitchen.
It's so dark inside the house, the only light it has is the lamp beside the sofa. Lorelai is sitting on the sofa while sobbing. At first, Maxwell is hesitant to approach her, but he did anyways. He offered Lorelai his handkerchief, which Lorelai accepted. Maxwell sat beside her.
“It still hurt, I feel like something’s wrong with me. Am I that easy to throw” she said between her sobbing, she knows that bottling up her emotion won’t help which is why she choose to talk to the man she barely knows but greatly bothered her in past 2 days.
Maxwell stayed quiet, listening. Lorelai lifted her head, Maxwell felt a hint of pain as he see her eyes filled with tears.
“In the end, everyone will leave me behind. Like I don’t matter.” she blows her nose, and starts to calm down, she puts her head on Maxwell’s shoulder and fell asleep.
Lorelai
When I wake up, without even looking at the mirror I can feel my eyes are very puffy. Probably because I cried so hard last night. I noticed a note on the center table, it must be Maxwell’s handwriting.
‘I hope you are feeling better today.’
That note made me smile, he stayed beside me last night. Until I calm down, I wasn’t really expecting that but I am so thankful for that.
I quickly prepare for work today though I still feel not in the mood to go to work or to walk outside the house. When I arrived at the office, I started my computer and check my to-do list today.
Surprisingly, my shift is smooth sailing nothing unusual happened. I did not see Maxwell today, which is good. When I came home he is not there too. Two weeks go by that I rarely see Maxwell anymore, even at the house.
My phone rang, and I answered it immediately after I saw that it is my Aunt. Just like usual, she must be calling because she needs something, money perhaps.
—
On the line:
“Hello, Aunt Eden?” Lorelai answered.
“Lorelai, it's your grandma, she is– ill. The doctor needs she needs heart surgery, we need money for her operation. “ hearing that made Lorelai anxious, her grandmother is the one who raised her when his dad died. Because of that, she feels like she has a responsibility to pay back her grandmother’s kindness.
“How is she?” she said while biting her nails.
“She needs an operation as soon as possible Lorelai, give us $30,000, we don’t have enough money left here. We also have a lot of loans.”
“What! I don’t have enough money, Ally can share some of her money, right? We can pay that $30,000 if we share. As far as I know, I still have more or less $10,000 here.”
“How dare you ask our child to contribute to that! You are the one she raised and you should be the only one carrying that burden. You decide, if you don’t give the money within this week you could hope for the worse.” Eden said angrily.
Lorelai can’t help but feel angry at her Aunt, for God’s sake, she cannot believe that her aunt just refused to help her own mother. But she remembered that Eden is always like that, hungry and selfish for money.
“But aunt, I don’t have–” she did not have a chance to finish her sentence because Eden already ended the call.
Lorelai sat down, she don’t know what to do. She needs to pay for half of the house, but she also needs to pay for her grandmother’s operation. She knows that she needs to let go of the house, her dream house.
Lorelai goes to my bedroom, frustrated. Then she sees Maxwell’s polo the one that she spat her coffee on. It's clean and folded nicely. She did not have a chance to give this to him, since they are both not even seeing each other.
That is when Lorelai realized that she could ask Maxwell to pay for half of the house so that she could have money for her grandmother’s surgery.
Maxwell is downstairs when Lorelai arrived from doing her errands. He is busy reading when she arrived. The sound of the door did not even disturb him.
“Hi, Maxwell” Lorelai greeted softly, Maxwell just nod. It's been a while since they saw each other even at work. Lorelai found this a great opportunity to bring up her plan. Though it hurts her to let go of this house she doesn’t have any choice since her grandma’s life is at stake here.
“Oh! I have something to give to you, wait here.” Lorelai said as she put the last food she bought in the fridge.
Maxwell can hear the opening and the closing of Lorelai’s room, deciding to close the book he’s reading.
“Here you go. It’s already clean. Sorry again hehe.” she said shyly. Maxwell grabbed the shirt and observed it.
“Good thing it did not stain, thanks.” He said and go back to reading.
“Um, about what happened two weeks ago, the night I cried. I haven’t thanked you for that. Thank you for listening, it is a great deal fo-”
“You can treat me to a coffee today, after that, we’re even.” he said staring blankly at Lorelai.
Lorelai paused a little, before flashing a smile to Maxwell. Indeed this is great timing for her, she could speak privately to Maxwell.
“Sure! Where do you want to go?” Lorelai exclaimed.
“I’ll take care of it, I’ll drive us to my favorite coffee shop.” Maxwell said as he close the book, and walks outside.
When they arrive, Lorelai seems sick and pale which Maxwell noticed. When the waiter gave the menu, Lorelai stand up.
“Excuse me, where’s the restroom?” Lorelai asked the waiter, he gave the direction then Lorelai excused herself to Maxwell.
Maxwell is wondering what happened to her and begins to feel worried. When she came back she still looks pale. When Lorelai is about to take her seat she almost fell, and Maxwell immediately catches her.
“Do you want to go home, Lory? You don’t look okay.” he said worriedly while holding Lorelai, making sure she is sitting properly.
“No, I’m okay! Just a little headache but I’m fine” she said weakly.
When their order arrive, they started sipping their coffee silently, Lorelai broke the silence.
“Sooo, are you rather planning on paying the half payment of the house? Just like our deal. Being the CEO of a company, you must be overflowing with money. But why aren’t you paying me?” she said, finally feeling the weight off her shoulder.
Maxwell shrugged, “Well you seemed to like that house so to answer your question. No, I’m not planning on paying the other half, I’m just waiting for your payment, you see.” he said as he sipped the coffee.
Lorelai looked perplexed, she furrowed her eyebrows. It seems so good to be true that he does not want any competition in terms of the ownership of the house. If the situation is not like this, Lorelai must be jumping because of joy, but instead, she feels disappointed.
“So don’t worry about your house, I’ll be out when you finally pay me,” he said emotionless, looking at Lorelai as she sip her coffee cautiously.
“But– Maxwell. You can buy the house, it is fine by me, I just need the payment within this week.” Lorelai insisted.
“Why are suddenly giving up that house? It's not very like you.” Maxwell raised his eyebrows, how could Lorelai give up the house that she dreamed of? Just a second ago she could kill Maxwell so she could own the house alone.
Lorelai sighed, she knows Maxwell will not stop unless she give him an explanation.
“I need money for my Grandma’s surgery, so I needed to give up the house,” Lorelai said, sadness can be seen on her face.
“Well, if that’s what you want, then okay.” Maxwell said.
Lorelai's eyes shined, she feels relieved that money won’t be a problem anymore and her grandma can have her surgery.
Lorelai
When we finish eating, we left. Maxwell is focusing on the road, he seems tense when he is driving.
“You know we can play some music, you know.” I said as I reach into the stereo. He quickly grabs my arm, it hurts. “DON’T” he screamed. I began to feel afraid, I start shaking. He soften when he looked at my terrified face. He pulled over.
He put his head on the steering wheel, he begins breathing loudly.
“I-I am sorry it's just—” he paused, “I ah, got in a c-car accident when I was 6 years old, my Mom is with me, she– she–” he is shaking, now I understand. “Shh, it's okay now. I’m so sorry.” I go near to him and hugged him.
He seems so little while I am hugging him, he feels fragile. For the first time, I saw him being fragile, for that moment he is not the arrogant, confident Maxwell I met.
We are in that position when I feel a pang in my head, suddenly I feel nauseous. Before I know I fainted.
—
When Lorelai opened her eyes, she woke up in an unfamiliar room. As she look beside her, she saw Maxwell. When he felt her move, he came near.
“You fainted, 30 minutes ago. So I brought you here.” Maxwell said softly.
“Thank you, Maxwell” Lorelai gave Maxwell an assuring smile.
The door swings open and the doctor arrived, she is smiling as she comes closer to Lorelai.
“Congratulations, you’re pregnant Ms. Harris.” the doctor announced leaving both of them baffled by the news.
After the doctor left, both of them is still speechless. Lorelai is frustrated, everything is not yet stable for her to have a child, but her problem now is saying that to the father of the child. The man beside her, Maxwell.
She doesn’t have any choice but to bring that up. Before she could say something Maxwell interrupted her thoughts.
“By any chance, is that baby mine?” Maxwell said slowly, careful with the words he chose.
Lorelai just nods and she starts crying.
“You don’t have to be responsible for this you know– I am not forcing you to-”
“Marry me.” Maxwell said, cutting off Lorelai.