'For Peace'

"Visit us again, Mamu, Papu," Eliza smiled while her head was leaning over the elderlies' car; they were seated at the backseat. 

"We will, darling. You should visit us too," Jalil's grandmother said as she gently caressed Eliza's hand.

"Of course, Mamu. Do you want next week? I'll cook!" Eliza said, which made the old lady's eyes sparkle with excitement.

"That's so sweet, Eliza. Alright. Visit us next week, okay?" The old lady responded, then their driver slowly drove away. 

Eliza took a deep sigh, her smile still visible in her face.

"Now I'm not sure whether I'm their grandchild or you are."

Eliza turned her head to look at Jalil when he spoke. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, and his gaze was still on the road. 

"They're more excited to see you than me," Jalil said, looking into Eliza's eyes. They were staring into each other's eyes until Jalil broke it first and went inside their house.

"Are you sulking?" Eliza asked as she followed him. 

"No." Jalil immediately sat on the sofa when he reached the living room. Eliza stood beside him while staring into his serious face.

"Your eyes said otherwise," Eliza stated, which made him look at her with that unreadable gaze. He had a neutral facial expression, but it gave Eliza a sudden chill.

"My eyes? What? You can read my thoughts through my eyes now?" Jalil said in his usual deep voice. He was calm and serious, but his aura was too strong for Eliza to calm down.

Eliza cleared her throat and looked away. "Why are you so serious? I'm just asking. Ah. What do you want for dinner? I'll cook!"

"Anything is fine," Jalil replied, then he rested his head on the backrest of the sofa.

Eliza hastily walked towards the kitchen and opened their double-door fridge. Her brows knitted while counting all the ingredients left inside. "Uh, I think we need to go grocery shopping."

Jalil glanced in the direction of her voice, then he rested his head on the sofa again. "We will go tomorrow."

Eliza peeked from the kitchen to look at Jalil. "You're going?"

"Of course. I don't trust you," Jalil replied, which made Eliza's eyes roll.

"I thought you had a meeting tomorrow," Eliza said, picking up the ingredients she needed from the fridge. She was planning to cook a beef steak since there were still enough marinated meats left. 

"Yes. But, it won't take long. I'll be done around 2:00 pm. I'll pick you up then," Jalil let out a long sigh as he checked his e-mail. There were more than 50 unread messages in his inbox. 

A moment later, Jalil found himself checking Emily's phone number on his contact list. His chest suddenly tightened as the anger started to build within him after he opened their message box and read the last text message he sent to her.

He wouldn't deny that he was still longing for answers. He wanted to ask Emily a bunch of questions. Yes, he was still waiting for her, but it wasn't because of love but for his peace.

"Do you want the steak spicy or not?"

Eliza got Jalil's attention after she loudly asked him from the kitchen. Jalil let out a faint sigh, closed his phone, and then stood up to go to the kitchen.

He looked at Eliza, who was chopping the meat into small pieces, and then he answered, "Spicy."