Status: ACTIVE NOW

Astrid waited.

Two minutes. Status: ACTIVE NOW

Four minutes. Status: ACTIVE NOW

Ten minutes. Status: ACTIVE NOW

Thirty minutes. Status: Active one minute ago.

One hour. Status: Active thirty minutes ago.

Astrid: ?

She waited. Status: Active thirty-two minutes ago.

Astrid gave in and pushed the videocall button. Unavailable.

And so it went on. For more than a year, this had been going on. And every time, she goes crazy whenever he does this. Astrid, the ever timid, ever loyal, ever... stupid.

The night before, he promised he would call. But like most mornings that she had so bravely endured, she waited. And then again, he failed.

She can’t even tell why she keeps letting this happen to her. She can’t pinpoint exactly where she went wrong that the universe has pushed her to become the masochist that she had become and is slowly evolving into lately. Astrid looked at the opened Skype app on her laptop. She wondered if she should even keep holding on. This was something so small. Promises he has given her time and time again. Yet, he fails to deliver.

When she confronted him before, all he said was it was her fault. The narcissist in him would often tell her that she has the patience of a rodent. If only she would wait. But what is really the point? When you might be waiting for someone who might possibly be giving his attention to someone else.

Yes, she has trust issues, but guess where her trust issues came from? It was the fact that he promised, then broke it. He says he’s not on dating sites, yet she keeps finding him on there and when confronted about it, he lies. “Oh, that’s just a poser, babe.” “Oh, I got hacked, babe.”

And then she had to swallow those lies. She had to tell herself it was nothing. But what does it actually say about her? She had begun to doubt her sanity. She had begun to question her own confidence.

She had begun to lose herself.

And then at the back of her mind, she knew she chose “Mr. Right Now” over “Mr. Right”. Jeremy, her ex-boyfriend, whom she now realizes was her Once in a Lifetime Love, was right about it. Jeremy begged for her to wait it out and he’ll fix things. He’ll find a way to get to her. But she was tempted to taste the unripe apple that was hanging in front of her and neglected the golden apple that was at the top of the tree. She chose the one that was the easiest to reach even when she knew that the unripe apple would hurt her palate.

Two hours. Status: ONLINE

Baby: Why couldn’t you just wait? So impatient all the time.

Astrid: I did. I called in case you just fell asleep.

Baby: I was doing something.

Astrid: Like what?

Baby: Why would I answer you?

Astrid: Okay. I’m sorry.

Baby: Ok. Bye.

And still, Astrid waited.