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She hangs up again.
It's the 7th time she calls him, silence, and then hangs up the call. Arnold never understand why she would do this, but never he felt bothered by it. He even remember hearing her breath. Just her breath. Making his heart flutter.
There is one thing he wished from her.
Hearing her soft voice, calling his name.
He really wanted that. Badly.
He mostly blame Helga because of her sudden silence phone call routine.
Ever since Arnold moved to another town to focus on his art project, alone in his apartment, he really didn't have many friends. He started to feel homesick. But one day changed when Helga calls him randomly.
It's like a daily routine for him now. He wakes up, take a bath, eat, working on his project, and wait. Wait for the call to come.
First time she called, he panicked and not knowing what to say. Neither did she so it wasn't a long call. Second time, Arnold was more nervous than scared, and confused. But ended up frustrated when she ended the call. Then the third call came, he heard her breathing. He felt something snapped in him, he felt, comfort, like home. Past life flashes before his eyes, every moment of him and her.
He doesn't realize he's been closing his eyes like he's in the verge of asleep until the call stopped. And the next few calls are the same as before.
At midnight, Arnold is on his bed. Staring at the ceiling, thinking about a certain blondie. As he felt tired and closes his eyes, his phone rings. His eyes shot up and feels awake like never before. He reach for the phone, as he was expected, he felt serotonin running through his body.
Arnold accept the call and move his phone closer to his ear, no, he grabs his headset on his desk beside his bed and decided to listen everything through it. Max volume.
He lay down, hearing the silence in the call. He wonder what she could be doing right now. Laying on the bed like him? Sitting on her chair? Many imagination through his head.
This time, Arnold wants to do something different, something that he always wanted to do.
"Helga...?" He spoke for the first time into the call.
He thought there would be nothing but hearing her breathing or worse she ended the call. To his surprise, he hears a quiet gasp. 3 years without hearing any voice from her. She let out a gasp. Arnold could call it a win but it's not enough. Calming his fluttering heart, he continues.
"Helga..." No answer. He tries again.
"Helga, Helga, Helga, Helga...." He repeated her name softly like a mantra. His eyes watering as he did so. He gripped on his blanket, shutting his eyes tight. Begging for some sort an answer. If not, he'll go insane.
Her breathing deepen and then shortly after he heard a small voice.
"Arnold.."
Then the call ended.
Leaving Arnold hearing silence for a good minute.
Arnold''s eyes slowly open, tears rolling down. He felt himself smiling, grinning even. His heart pounds so hard he thought he might die. "Oh Helga.." he cooed, kissing the phone as if he's kissing Helga herself. Still smilling, he took off his headset and let his head fall back to the pillow, closing his eyes once more.
"I missed you..."