Butterflies

"Elijah! I told you to wash the dishes and fold the basket of laundry," Rose sighed, looking at Elijah, who was still in bed, snoring away. She smacked Elijah's back, forcing him to wake up.

"What in the world!" Elijah groaned in pain. He looked up at Rose with his eyes half open in frustration.

"Before I left for work, I asked for you to wash the dishes from last night and fold the small basket of laundry. Look at the house, it's still a mess after I came back from work. It's been six hours! What have you been doing?" Rose blasted those words like bullets but Elijah didn't seem to care, not even a bit.

In silence, Elijah went to the bathroom, ready to wash. Rose sat down and tried to calm down. She just couldn't lift herself up again at the thought of having to clean the whole house. She was so disappointed at her husband. She felt like she was living with a high schooler rather than a 25 year old husband.

Rose changed into sweatpants and tied her hair into a bun. She put her apron on and got ready to wash the dishes. As she was almost done, she saw Elijah dragging out the vacuum.

Waking up at 7 am, going to work and working non-stop  for six hours, dealing with all sorts of people at the bank, coming home to do all the housework, and feeding her husband everyday. It was too much. This was her 6th year with him. And today was the day she decided that she was done with him.

*************

Their house was quiet and felt as if no one lived there. That night, Elijah went out, apparently to eat dinner with his friends. Rose just smiled and told him to go have fun.

30 minutes later, he came back, running.

"Rose! It's an emergency! They closed all the restaurants right now. It's a virus called Coronavirus. Remember the news about a deadly virus last month?" Elijah was so panicked.

"What? What do you mean?" Rose was so confused.

"Do we have any masks? We have to go to the store right now. Most stores are out of water, food, and even hand soaps," Elijah was in such a hurry. Rose has never seen him moving this fast.

"Yes, I think we have a box of medical masks in our living room. Let's go to Target," Rose grabbed the box of masks and put her jacket on.

They drove to Target, only to find a huge line of people. They drove to Costco, Walmart, and at least 5 more stores, only to see lines of people.

Now both Elijah and Rose felt panicked. They never had moments like this in their lives.

"Let's hope things are restocked tomorrow morning. We'll go first thing tomorrow," Elijah reassured them. Rose just smiled and nodded.

The next day, Elijah woke up at 6 am, getting ready to go to work. Before he went to his work place, he went to Walmart, hoping to buy water and any available food. Unfortunately, when he went in, the store manager told him water wasn't getting restocked until next week and all aisles of food were gone. Just gone.

He nervously laughed, hoping it was nothing too big of a deal.

A few days later, Rose called from home.

"Elijah, what should I do? The bank is closed. They told me to not come to work until they tell me again," she was almost crying as she told him about how her boss at the bank notified her about how the bank is closed due to the virus.

"What? No way! Just stay home Rose. Just stay home. I'm at the store but there's nothing," Elijah told her his situation.

Right after he hung up with Rose, his boss called him.

"Hey, Elijah, the restaurant was forced to close right now. There's no need to come to work today. I'm sorry," he couldn't believe what his boss had just said.

************

Elijah drove home, panicked. He explained to Rose what had happened and Rose just hugged him tightly, both depending on each other. Then they spent a day planning out their month.

"Let's wake up at 8 and workout!" All worries were gone from Rose.

They laughed and talked as they planned their future days.

Rose realized how much she missed laughing with Elijah. Everyday was filled with yelling at each other and crying in the bathroom but she felt like she was breathing again.

Elijah and Rose spent about two hours, laughing and talking out their schedule. After that, they looked at old photo albums of them when they were dating.

Both Elijah and Rose's mind filled with memories. They wanted to go back to those times. Don't be enjoying these times too much. Don't get too close to him again. Rose made a promise to herself.

It was time for dinner very soon and Elijah challenged her to a dinner challenge. He wanted to do a competition where they made food for each other and rated each other's food. Rose accepted and it ended very well.

"Hahaha look at this half of the steak not even cooked!" Rose laughed at Elijah's clumsiness, which reminded her of the time he gave her a bundle of roses but held them upside down or the time he forgot to rip the price tag of the bag he bought her.

"Hahaha Rose! You really tried to trick me with this side of the bread?" Elijah held up his bread which one side was burnt black and one side was perfectly golden. It was just like the time she first cooked for him.

They had so much fun that they didn't realize the time passing by. They forgot about this deadly virus. They forgot all their flaws. They forgot all the fights they had.

COVID-19 continued on longer than they imagined. Fortunately, supplies were back at the store and both of them received money from the government to help with their living.

Everyday, they both learned something new about each other. Elijah was there for Rose when she was having a breakdown and Rose was there for Elijah when he was having a bad day. They realized the importance of having a partner. Especially because they both had no parents. They knew what it was like to be alone and they felt hungry for love at one point in their lives. But now, they had each other.

For the next three months, they stayed home and spent each day just by focusing on each other.

********

November 17th

It was their 7th year anniversary of marriage. It was exciting to finally have a special day. Rose decided to cook Elijah's favorite pasta and went to the store. She picked out the best ingredients and the freshest looking roses. Elijah had always surprised her but today, he wasn't feeling too well. It was her day to surprise him.

She came home to find all lights were off except for a path of rose petals and candles.

"Happy 7th anniversary Rose!" Elijah said as he handed her a giant bouquet of white roses, her favorite. He had a table set up of all of her favorite food and desserts.

"Oh my gosh," Rose dropped the groceries and Elijah walked over and handed her the bundle of roses and a pack of her favorite Ferro Rocher chocolates. She felt tears coming and managed to hold them back. Elijah smiled at her and kissed her.

Rose bent down and got her roses and handed them to Elijah.

"Aww, this is so cute. I didn't even expect it!" It made Rose's day just to see his cute smile.

And at that moment, she realized. She had butterflies flying all over in her stomach, making her stomach tingle in excitement and nervousness. She realized she hadn't felt like this for months since he proposed to her on the beach when she was 19.

She forgot all about the divorce. She only felt the butterflies awaiting her for the night.