Love Letters to Write Before I Die

“Who are you? Are you the Haley who wrote me all those letters that’s been mind-fucking me for months now?”

He wished he had the guts to say that to Haley who was patiently awaiting his answer. He wanted to say it, he wanted to get it over with. But when his lips parted, his voice ready to deliver the words that may or may not blow a flying kick to their friendship, he just couldn’t do it. He wasn’t the type of guy who wanted to take anything that wasn’t 100% guaranteed.

“Nathan?” She called out softly.

He gripped the cold chains of the swings. The Haley who wrote him all those letters had a good point and that annoying point had been poking his mind repeatedly. At this point, he didn’t even know why he was still arguing with the girl. He had never met anyone like her, in terms of persistence and optimism. He really wanted to be the one who was right but clearly that wasn’t going to happen soon.

“Do you know who my parents are?” He finally asked, a wary smile appearing on his face.

“Sure,” Haley said with a stiff smile.

Nathan laughed, a lock of hair falling over his eyes. He told about them once to Haley and ever since then, they had been avoiding the topic of their parents ever since.

“They sound intimidating,” Haley continued on, giving a small shudder. “Your mother’s a lawyer and your dad’s an accountant.”

Robert Scott, his father, had it easy for him. Nathan’s grandparents were loaded, so they easily paid his tuition fee even if he was slacking off at times. Once he graduated, his dad got accepted into a high-end firm in town, working his way up to partnership before opening up his own accounting consultancy business. With the kind of connections that his grandparents and his dad had, it wasn’t surprising to see him succeed with ease.

His mother, on the other hand had it rough. Growing up with 7 siblings, 5 of which happened to be boys in a broken home made her into the independent, tough woman that his dad fell in love with. She went to the same university as he did. She was on scholarship and took up corporate law. His dad once told Nathan that if Sophia wasn’t sleeping or eating, she was studying.

They sounded like a really sweet and happy couple too. Nathan had an unsettling feeling brewing in his stomach whenever he thought that maybe because of he was born, their love for each other withered away. His mom even considered to quit her job because of all the strain of work and how she always complained that she hated it. But they were numbers people. They liked numbers and statistics and facts. It made them feel motivated.

As oppose to Haley, who loathed numbers and didn’t believe in “percentage and statistics gibberish”, which to Nathan, was amusing.

“My dad is hosting this party of some sort for his employees at Marriott. Their families are invited too. To…bond or whatever,” Nathan said, as if the idea of family fun seemed slightly preposterous to him.

“Way to be in the party mood, Nathan,” Haley said, rolling her eyes.

“What?” He said. “I want to go to the party. It might be really fun.”

Haley touched her eyes, as if to check they were not out of their sockets at Nathan’s sudden statement. Nathan and fun? Really?

“So what’s the question?” Haley said.

“I want you to come with me, if that’s…you know, alright with you?”

Nathan and fun? Really?

“What?” He said, getting a little bit irritated at Haley’s glowing smile.

“I’ll need to ask my parents first but heck, of course I will!”

Little did Nathan know that Haley was joyful because she felt that somehow, the letters she wrote to him worked.