"I see. Is that what you wanted to talk about?" Harvey asked as if he had expected this all along.
"Hayden told me that time is running out. In less than a month, if she doesn’t wake up..." I said before my words trailed off as my eyes travelled to the figure sleeping peacefully on her bed.
"I’ll let her go. Her body probably won’t last much longer either..." Harvey said passively.
He’ll let her go as in. He’ll pull the plug and let her...
"It’s ok, Malissa..." Harvey said before he smiled a soft and gentle smile at me.
In that moment, I had no idea why I was the one being comforted when it was Harvey who was about to lose his fiancée...forever.
"If only she would wake up..." I mumbled very softly to myself.
I quickly noticed that that doesn’t solve our immediate problem. The timeline doesn’t line up. The deal expires in around a month while I had to give the boss my answer in 6 days. What should I do? Suddenly it seemed like everyone was just figuring out a way to buy more time.
"What are you so worried about, Malissa?" Harvey asked and I could feel his concerned eyes on me.
I was worried about so many things that I didn’t even know where to start.
"Did you and Amelia ever talk about having kids?" I asked as I looked straight at Harvey.
"Kids? Of course. Amelia wanted kids while I was sort of neutral about it. I knew that sooner or later we would end up having children," Harvey replied casually.
"Did it ever bother Amelia that, you know, her children will have to join the gang?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind.
Harvey did not seem surprised by my questions or what I was suggesting at all. He just smiled at me and I felt that he understood me or at least he was trying to.
"I’m not sure to be honest..." I replied defeatedly.
"I think I know that he’s thinking," Harvey said confidently.
"Really? Can you tell me? What is he thinking?" I asked as his words caught my full attention.
"Of course...not..." Harvey replied before he continued laughing at me.
I had a feeling that he was just teasing me. Even if he really knew what Hayden was thinking, he wouldn’t tell me that easily. It didn’t disappoint me at all. One of the lessons that I’ve learnt from dealing with Hayden is that there are no short cuts. If I wanted to know more about him or understand him more, I had to put in the hard work.
"What about you, Harvey? What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Sadly, I’m not so sure. It’s like we’re all just waiting for the other person to decide so that we can make our decision. Hayden, you, and me, we’re all just waiting for the other person to decide," Harvey pointed out and I had to admit that he was quite correct.
"Then, who do you think should decide first?" I asked him the question that I also asked myself.
"You..." he replied without a second thought.
"Me?" I asked in disbelief as I pointed a finger at my own face.
"Yes, you. Malissa, you should decide first," Harvey stated resolutely.
"Why?" I asked, more in shock than in curiosity.
"Don’t they always say ladies first?" Harvey replied teasingly.
--To be continued...