Instantly, Ely and Andy returned to the once bustling setting, their ears pouring in with endless talking, and booming voices from others around.
To their surprise, it looked as if the two were merely deep sleeping to others as their heads rose from the counter. Ely looked in the direction of where a family was gathered together to avoid Andy's stare.
The family ate happily while chattering with each other. Periodically one would laugh so hard that another would smile just as hard along with them. Usually, people who saw the same scene would smile at it and go on with their day—Andy watched intently. He was lost in thought.
It wasn't surprising to think that he was recollecting what he and Andy had watched moments earlier.
His glass was nearly empty now, the bartender didn't care to come over and refill it again because Ely had been drinking for hours on end that morning, he wouldn't have noticed the difference if it was water substituted for booze in his cup.
Andy slumped back into his chair, his Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned all the way now as his gaze observed Ely.
'What else was inside Ely's mind?'
It brought him back to the fact that people will never learn the whole story about someone, or the experiences they went through that made them, them.
Not even people with [Divinities] that help them look for the truth in the lie, could give them that answer.
Something people have to learn the hard way.
One can't pry into another. Their [Divinity] can only find out so much—unless it was an 'unwanted' one. Then that was another story.
Andy's [Divinity], Argus was not unwanted, Argus helped open the senses of another through his worshippers. Whilst placing the two together. Where they'd watch a memory that comes to mind of the one being pried when placed in such a place.
Alone in the dark with one another, in Ely's case that was a stranger. At that moment the deepest memory that had cut itself into his mind like open wounds had come up to the surface.
Andy assumed Ely thought of the time Wei blabbered to her son about her love story with Liu since it was something Ely wanted to keep to himself. To push it further into the depths of himself—the parts he desperately tried to forget and hide. Nakedly trying to cover it with only his body.
It made him feel worthless that someone could see right through him.
The younger him must've held it too hard and got tired, that Ely could only hold it down with little strength as he reached his older years.
It's harder to suppress emotions with unwanted memories when you've been at it for a long time.
Ely was the first to break it as he got up, and went to leave with a surly expression scowling on his face, "Now you know a bit more about me," Andy understood to not hold Ely back to stay because drunk or not, a slap was to be foreseen in his future if he did so.
And that was the end of their short encounter.
Because of it, Ely became anxious if others could do the same thing Andy did, reading his mind like an open book. Or the more alarming option, if he had made it up.
The same way he did with the things he imagined when he was younger.
Wei would have taken her son to doctors numerous times because of his 'big imagination.' She wished that it was due to the reason her son had gotten lucky and gotten a [Divinity]. It would've explained his weird behavior at such a young age.
While on set Ely would point at things he saw in reflective objects, and describe how the background was different. How it wasn't his own considering how the eyes and hair were covered, "It's not me!"
He'd say it lively so the majority didn't take his words at face value. Instead, they'd awkwardly agreed to him in ignorance, gossiping in snickering whispers when he wasn't nearby.
Whenever Wei heard rumors about her child because of it, it would send her off the rails. Screaming at anyone and everyone—threatening to take her son off from acting if she heard another falsity. Openly cussing out the woman Ely pointed out while having her son hugged to her legs.
Despite how harebrained it seemed, it worked. No one mustered a word about him or spoke about Ely ill-mannerly while on set.
Ely understood that it was his mother showing him to be more open without fear of judgment. Her over-protective way of making sure her son lived without limitations.
Nevertheless, it didn't stop Ely from second-guessing the meaning behind the eyes that watched him as he spoke, and it didn't keep him from being more quiet after the shooting was done.
He became a man of few words.
That same man stood in the center of his kitchen. Around him were the smashed pieces of his destroyed mug. Instead of destroying himself, Ely retained the habit of breaking the things around him.
Things he would need to replace later on, helped him get through amplified thoughts. There was no one else in his apartment to stop him from it or lecture him, hence the more it continued. There'd be times when he wouldn't need a reason to get going. The anger that was pre-built did the trick for him.
If it wasn't the plates, the mugs, or the abnormally large stuffed animal Wei gave him after a trip to the carnival when he was still learning to walk.
One, in particular, came from a midnight trip to the beach. He'd visit on his own on random nights as he landed submerged himself and let the water fill his throat and lungs.
Ely never cursed while in the act, he didn't cry, it was more of a silent battle as if he was running for a long time. Running for that long starts to deteriorate your legs, leaving you breathless. Helpless like a bird that's lost its wing.
There was no purpose left.
'Marriage! What the hell was I thinking? I wouldn't even marry the richest of women like I'd give a damn about having kids."
Ely looked down at the mess he made, its pieces making a circle around his feet, spreading around everywhere else.
The reason he was reminded of Andy is because of the look he wore as Ely stepped away like Andy believed he was in that memory with him living the same moment as him.
As if he pitied him.
Ely muttered under his breath as he hovered over the sink projecting how he felt from his stomach out his mouth, "That son of a bitch," his voice grating from the projectile vomit.
He slowly stepped to the bathroom, sitting merely by the toilet. Ely's bathroom was the most 'homey' looking part of his apartment since one of his mother's friends remolded it.
She stressed how this was the part of your day where you were distressed besides sleeping. Using this to then offer her services to make it better for a pretty penny. Wei hopped onto the idea, of hiring her upon hearing her words.
However, her friend understood that if she did a poor job Wei would've had her head since it was a project for her son.
In turn, Ely's bathroom was one of her best works. She hired a professional photographer to capture it. Subsequently, she advertised it in a variety of places, boosting her business and credibility.
His bathroom floor tiles were a pleasant shade of light green, his walls a similar shade—the wallpaper a simple design.
His mirror was bordered by a wood-like carving of bears, and the decorations were realistic fake plants with a waterproof mat that complimented the look nicely.
A different place met you once you stepped out of that bathroom.
Weirdly enough Ely found most of his time either in the bathroom or sinking into his mattress tucked in by a comforter that wrapped around him like one of his mother's hugs.
As Ely stayed hidden away in his bathroom he thought for awhile before returning to the original thought of how his married life would look like. He could picture it happening, moment after another.
After the wedding, she'd get close to him, then after months she'd start being heavily comfortable in his presence then she'd get noisy. She would wonder why he was 'distant' and how he should've been the person she knew best.
It pissed him off.
Ely wanted to keep a fragment of his solitude till the very end. At that moment, Ely could hear his ringtone beckoning him out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.
The caller ID was in bold white colors to him. His face dropped to the same level as a mother seeing one of her disappointments coming back home to stay for the holidays.