Eli woke at the first crack of light, he turned over, surprised to see the side Elara lay empty.
"You are up early." Elara's voice sounded from the wardrobe corner making him sit upright.
"So are you."
A light chuckle escaped Elara's lips as she came to sit beside Eli. "There's an important conference meeting to be held today at the company, Grandma wants me there, and I thought I would make breakfast before I leave– what about you, it's Sunday, I am certain you don't have anything important planned, or did you miss me too much, that you just had to wake up."
"Actually, I do have something important to do today, I wasn't able to finish my work at the construction site yesterday, and the manager asked us to be present today, so I have to go, I can't deny missing you though." Eli responded, as he placed a light kiss on Elara's nose and forehead, getting up immediately to stretch his bones, so he didn't notice the subtle movement of Elara wiping the spot his lips had touched with her hands, as she stood up from where she sat.
"Why don't you just stay at home and let me provide for the family, instead of you continuing with the menial jobs that do not really do much for the house." Elara asked sadly, as she stretched her hand to rest it on Eli's shoulders.
"Are you ashamed of the job I do?"
"No, Eli,-- that's not why I asked, I am simply just bothered about you, how it could be affecting you, how you are constantly stressing yourself Eli, and I how I keep fearing that you might suffer some serious injury, how I might meant to survive if something of that sort happened to you Eli?" Elara's voice broke as the last sentence escaped her lips, as if she was about to cry, she turned her hair sideways, hiding her face between her hair, as a mocking smile passed her lips.
"I would be fine Elara, you don't have to worry so much about me, I would make sure to always return home without any bruise or scar, if not for anything but to make sure your heart is at peace. Eli spoke, his every word dripping with love as he lifted Elara's face to look at him, by this time Elara had wiped the smile off her face, tears pooling at the side of her eyes, rolling down as she came face to face with him.
Eli lifted his hands to wipe the tear from her face, as she sniffed.
"Sorry, I got too emotional, I shouldn't have. I need to prepare." Elara dropped her hands to her side as she rushed out of the room, carrying her towel with her.
Eli sighed, moving to his wardroom as he picked the cloth he would wear for the day, he didn't have much clothes so it didn't take time for him to sort it out, he sighed noticing it's rumbled state, he flung the clothes across his shoulder, closing the door behind him as he made his way slowly to the ironing table, the weight of making Elara cry, resting on his shoulders like a pack of bricks, grateful that Selva was still asleep or she wouldn't have let him use the iron.
Elara came out of the bathroom same time Eli was done ironing, and was heading back to their room, due to its overly rumbled state, he had spent more time than he had expected trying to straighten out the cloth, she avoided his gaze and made her way into their room
Eli stood outside their room, contemplating going in, but changed his mind, heading to the bathroom instead to have a quick shower, he really didn't know what to say to Elara and he knew he was going to spend time which he didn't have appeasing her, he could only hope the water would calm his and wash away the weight of being a burden to his wife from his shoulders.
Elara had gone by the time he was done in the bathroom, leaving a note behind, he breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that he did not have to face her, he was going to speak with her in the night, hopefully she would be more calm.
He picked up the note, reading the content, a happy smile passing across his face, folding it, he tucked it into the pocket of his shirt so it could be close to his heart all day.
Eli didn't have any construction job he was going to or any job at all, his destination was his old home, which he planned on cleaning, making it more safe for the documents he had left there.
Cleaning the place took him more time than he had expected, by the time he was done, the sun was starting to change from it's bright golden presence in the sky to a calmer shade of orange.
He stood at his door admiring what he had achieved, happy that it was conducive enough for him anytime he felt like taking a break from his in-laws and wondered why he hadn't thought about it before. His grumbling stomach brought him out of his thoughts as he realized he hadn't eaten anything since morning and had forgotten to have breakfast.
He headed to the nearest pancake van, which was more than a ten minute walk, due to where his house was situated, plus the rumours of that place being torn down any moment, had made the only surviving shop which had been close enough move.
Eli held the mouthwatering blueberry pancakes in his hands, wondering when the last time he had a pancake had been, Elara didn't like pancakes, neither did Selva so he wasn't allowed to make them at home, and he had been saving all his money for Elara's birthday gift that he couldn't get one for himself.
The walk back to his house was shorter as he was in a haste to put the pancakes in his rumbling stomach, he let himself into his house, plopping down on his worn out bed which lay on the floor, he took a pancake from his paper bag, savouring the taste and listened to his stomach sing contentedly before picking his phone to place a call to Aurelius global headquarters, with the number he had managed to get from the internet after much search.
Just when he was about to place his phone down in frustration, after trying the number more than twice with the sad thought of it being a fake number, the call finally connected.
"Hello, this is Eli Aurelius, I am calling from…." Eli said hurriedly into the receiver, choosing instead to use the surname he believed was his real surname and calling out the location of where he was currently, hoping that they would agree to meet, and he wasn't ready to explain anything to his wife yet.
"Hello." Eli said again, when the person on the other side of the call remained quiet.
Just like before he didn't get a response as the line went dead, Eli looked at his phone in shock as he tried dialling the number again immediately, but the number which he had just answered him and which he had spoken to, had suddenly ceased to exist.
A frustrated groan escaped his lips as he flung his phone to his bed, throwing his head back in anger and almost squashing his remaining pancakes.
He had come this far, and now he was at a dead end, without knowing what his next step would be, he had thought of going to the headquarters himself and demand to be heard, but he was scared he was going to walk directly into the lions den without benign fully prepared, besides the money he was going to need to on transport from his where he lived or his wife's house was a lot, and unfortunately, he didn't have it at the moment, he didn't want to borrow, and it was going to take him at least two days before he is able to gather that much, but a feeling in his heart told him, he didn't have much time.
He finished his last batch of pancakes, deciding to take a little nap, hoping to have a clearer mind on what his next plan would be when he awoke.