• Published 30th Mar 2020
  • 905 Views, 25 Comments

The Other Side of Someday - FoolAmongTheStars



The universe must hate her, Starlight thinks, because there's no way that her ex-husband is here, holding her hand and stopping her from falling.

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Just For Tonight

Neither of them spoke since they left the university grounds, and it honestly unnerved her. Five minutes into the ride, all Starlight wanted to do was to get out of the car, but her ankle was throbbing, and she didn’t want to go home all drenched and sloppy. She knew that if anything, she should’ve been grateful that Sunburst happened to come across her on his way home. But the problem was, he's the very person she didn’t want to see or even be stuck in the same room with for a fraction of a second; he's her ex-husband after all (emphasis on ex). This only made things more confusing and awkward between them, on her side mostly.

The heavy and tense atmosphere inside the vehicle was a stark contrast to the lively streets outside. Despite the unwelcome shower, people were still coming in and out of bars and dance clubs, and food stalls were swamped with customers. The lights from the small establishments were blaring, and Starlight squinted as she entertained herself with watching the merriment from the passenger seat. She silently prayed for this ride to be over and done as soon as possible.

"How's your ankle?"

Sunburst's baritone snapped her from her daydreaming. She looked down at her left foot and spotted a slight swelling. It was probably an ugly shade of purple by now.

"Bad," she murmured as she tried to lift it only to wince immediately.

Sunburst didn’t miss her hiss and his head abruptly turned to her; concern written on his face. "We should take a look at that when we reach the house." He stated with finality, which startled her a bit.

Starlight rolled her eyes. "I'll take care of it once I reach the house. You don't need to do anything else."

His eyes were on the road again. He huffed. "You can't even stand for two seconds, besides I'm planning on staying up late anyway, so helping you for a while won't matter much."

'Don't you get it? I don't want you around me!' is what she wanted to scream, but she kept quiet instead and shrugged her shoulders. Well, knowing Sunburst, once he tells you something with surety, he'll follow through with it. It's both poison and cure.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She said after a few beats of silence and crossed her arms over her chest with a frown. Okay, she'll let him have his way, just for tonight.


Twenty-five minutes later, Sunburst's car suddenly stopped in the middle of a quiet and empty street. The rain hadn't stopped, and it didn’t seem like it would anytime soon. Starlight tried to hide her frustrated groan as he repeatedly turned the ignition in the hopes of starting the car again.

"It seems like your battery's dead," she said and pointed at the icon blinking on the dashboard.

He looked at where she's pointing and sighed in defeat. "I knew I should've had it changed last weekend."

She tried not to chuckle. It seemed like Sunburst still put some errands to the last minute. It used to be a topic of their fights, too.

"The house is only five minutes away anyway. I guess I could hobble my way home." Starlight started to claim her things when she felt his hand stopping her. She shoot him a puzzled look.

"You stay here, I have an idea," came his ambitious reply. Classic Sunburst.

"What are you doing?"

He doesn't answer. He simply opened the door and stepped out into the rain. A few moments later she felt the car moving slowly across the street. Starlight was shocked to her bones and then remembered the light muscles on his arms when they ran into each other in front of the church, he certainly didn’t have them when they were married. But he surely didn’t intend on pushing the car all the way to the house? He wasn’t strong enough for that; besides, they were nearing the beginning of an incline.

She rolled the window down (which she immediately regretted once she got her face full of water) and stuck her head out the opening to look at him. “Hey!” she yelled a couple of times to be heard over the storm and get his attention. “Stop, we’re reaching a slope!”

Her ex kept pushing and grinned at her. “That’s the plan!”

The car began to descend and Starlight yelped, looking in front of her with wide eyes as the car gained speed. The driver’s door opened and closed abruptly, Sunburst depressed the clutch and put the car into second gear, but doesn’t start the engine, he simply stared at the speedometer until it reached five miles per hour and then he let go of the clutch. The engine sputtered for a bit before starting properly, just as the slope evened out again.

He grinned at her baffled expression before turning his eyes to the road. “You’ll catch a cold if you don’t close the window.”

She should’ve been mad, she should’ve yelled at him for pulling a stunt like that or at least punch him in the arm, but Starlight was just tired. Even after two years apart, she’s still used to his antics, however weird or funny they were. Besides, he had a point; the last thing she needed was to get a cold on top of her busted ankle. She rolled the window up and sat back into the nearly soaked seat, hoping this would be over soon, so she could take a warm shower and change into comfy clothes before her righteous anger made her strangle him.


The five-minute distance took double to reach the gate. Sunburst's probably tired from all the pushing and putting up with the deluge, she thought. Starlight decided to honor his chivalry (even though he nearly gave her a heart attack) and let him inside the house. The car was parked in the garage—like it used to—and remained there until the spare battery was delivered to her doorstep. Sunburst's inside the bathroom (it used to be their bathroom) at the moment, so Starlight used this time to cook dinner for them. Fortunately for him, she still had some of his clothes in her closet (the ones she secretly stole from him, because she liked the way it hugged her form).

"Just like the old times," she whispered to herself as she rummaged for ingredients inside the fridge. It's not even a question of misogyny: Starlight is a decent cook, and Sunburst's only good at making tea and coffee. The first time he tried to feed her with his cooking (because she was too tired to function), she vowed never to overwork herself in the name of edible and tasty food.

She briefly wondered if she should cook his favorite dish tonight, but for some strange reason, she felt it was wrong. 'He's not your husband anymore,' she berated herself. Starlight convinced herself that cooking him dinner is already a reward in itself. She didn’t need to pamper him more than necessary.

Starlight decided to cook the curry. It fitted the rainy weather after all.


She came back to the kitchen after a nice, warm shower, and saw Sunburst washing the dishes, which happened to be his favorite household chore—weird man—she recalled. She placed her damp towel on one of the chairs' backrests and ambled to the sink, drying the dishes without his prompting. He paused to look at her but continued to wash the pan a few seconds later. Starlight allowed herself a small smile, just because it had been two years since they fell into this kind of routine after dinner. Sometimes Luster even joined them and was in charge of placing the dirty dishes on the sink so that Sunburst could wash them.

The heartbreak in her chest was at it again, and if she weren’t so self-aware, she'd probably thought she was having acid reflux or something.

"The delivery boy called; he said the battery will have to wait 'til tomorrow because of the rain."

Starlight took this as her cue to stop losing herself in nostalgia.

"It's okay. You can stay the night."

Sunburst nodded solemnly. "I'll sleep on the couch."

She silently agreed, and once again silence visited them like an old friend.

"Let's take a look at your ankle after this, 'kay?" He mumbled as he scratched the dried curry off the pan.

Well, she's humored him thus far, why stop now? "Sure."


She gave her bandaged ankle a once-over and smiled at how expertly done it was. His first aid lessons paid off; it seemed. The bandage wasn’t tight enough to aggravate the swelling, and it was loose enough that she could rotate her foot perfectly. Sunburst lightly patted her injured foot before he carefully set it down on the coffee table.

The quiet atmosphere between them was no longer tense or gloomy. It even appeared like they'd gotten used to each other's presence, despite their circumstances. It was almost as if they're still living together, still going to work together, still going home together, still sleeping together, and the only one missing in this almost homey picture was their daughter. It was all very dreamy, and it was making her feel lightheaded just thinking about it.

But then she remembered that she was the one who insisted on this kind of setup. She shouldn't be acting in that matter.

"Is it too constricting?" he asked her, eyes fixed on her bandaged foot.

Starlight shook her head. "It's fine. Thanks."

Sunburst looked like he wanted to say something, but he yawned as soon as he opened his mouth. She snickered.

"Someone’s way past their bedtime, it seems." She teased as she slowly lifted herself from the couch, and winced a little when she removed her foot from the table. "I'll go fetch some pillows and a blanket so you can rest."

But he blocked her way and kneeled on one knee, his back facing her. "I'll just bring you upstairs and get them myself."

Starlight was honestly surprised with his sudden kindness, (as if he's forgotten that she was the one who gave up on them), but decided to stop being stubborn for once and let herself be taken care of by Sunburst. 'Just for tonight,' she told herself for the hundred-time. She gingerly climbed on his back and his hands grasp her thighs as he lifted her with ease.

Starlight willed everything in herself to not lean too much into his warmth that she missed greatly.


He placed her on the large bed in her room before he opened the linen closet to retrieve a blanket and some throw pillows for tonight. Starlight adjusted herself on the bed carefully to keep her strained ankle from being aggravated.

"You know…" Starlight began, then paused and shook her head. "Never mind."

Sunburst only looked at her blankly, blanket and throw pillows in his arms. A small smile crossed his lips. "Good night, Starlight."

She returned the gesture. "Good night, Sunburst."

He left the room, but not without turning the lights off and closing the door. When she's sure that he wasn’t standing by the door, Starlight rolled over to her side and patted the empty side of the bed. She sighed heavily and tried not to cry (because if she started, it would be hard to stop).

"Idiot." She mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes and tried her best to sleep.