It had been almost 5 years since Cyndi had moved back to New York to start college at NYU. And over time, she eventually got over the devastation of her and Remy's break-up. And though he promised to get out of his marriage with Bella as soon as possible, he wasn't moving fast enough for Cyndi's liking. It seemed that he had gotten comfortable in his current situation and wasn't fighting to be with her like he had promised in the beginning. It broke her heart. She thought he had really loved her. Still, she kept in contact with him...she needed him in her life any way she could have him even if he was with another woman. She would have to move on.
Little did Cyndi know that the threat of death still loomed over Remy like a black cloud he couldn't seem to shake. The Boudreaux family was still very much resistant to Remy and trusted the man about as far as they could throw him, especially Bella's brother Julien who opposed the marriage from the very beginning. Though the union did bring the Thieves and Assassin's Guilds together...the bond was forever tested, forever challenged.
Things wouldn't remain peaceful for long.
XXXXX
Manhattan, New York...
"Can someone give me a reason Hysterectomy might be recommended to a woman who has recently given birth?" Professor Hanover asked the class. Cyndi lit up and her hand rose promptly.
"Yes, Miss Giordano?" He replied with a delighted smile. His students had been so inattentive this week, mostly due to the nice weather and their desire to get outside. It was nice to see that someone was still paying attention.
"Postpartum obstetrical hemorrhage." Cyndi said confidently, raising her voice so she could be heard from the back of the lecture hall.
"Correct. And what is a cause of this hemorrhaging?" Professor Hanover asked.
"Uterine fibroma?" Cyndi replied unsure.
"You're on a roll, Miss Giordano. I'll let you skip your assignment tonight if you can tell me alternative treatments for these tumors." He replied as her fellow classmates turned to see her answer the question.
"NSAID's and sometimes myomectomy. But, sometimes the problem is so mild that treatment isn't required." Cyndi replied. A few of her friends smiled and Professor Hanover grinned.
"Someone's been doing their reading." He smiled as he continued on with his lecture and outlined notes on the large dry-erase board at the front of the room.
"Good job, Girl." Becky whispered to her as she playfully nudged Cyndi's elbow and the two friends smiled at one another. Becky was Cyndi's room mate and best friend at NYU. Sure, Remy was still Cyndi's friend...but it had been 5 years. She needed someone to confide in while she was away from him and she and Becky had clicked from the moment they met. And though Remy and Cyndi called, emailed and wrote each other every chance they got, Becky and Cyndi had become two peas in a pod.
Once class let out, Cyndi gathered all of her notebooks and her textbook and shoved them into her backpack.
"Are you going back to the dorm?" Becky asked hopefully.
"Yea, I need a shower so bad. This room is too freakin' hot to be in here for 2 hours." Cyndi smirked at her friend.
"Can you grab me the purple notebook on my bed and meet me in the cafeteria at 3? I'll buy you lunch..." Becky begged in a whiney tone and tugged at Cyndi's t-shirt.
"Oh alright. We can fill out our internship forms, too while we're at it." Cyndi said as she swatted her friends hand away.
"Yay!" Becky grinned.
"I can't believe we're going to be Doctors in June. It doesn't seem like much time has passed." Cyndi reflected thoughtfully.
"Yea, well, you know this ain't over, Girl." Becky smirked, motioning to the lecture hall and the college in general. Though they were to be completing their graduate work, they would still need to complete a year of medical internship at Bellevue Hospital before they could go into general practice and become Board Certified. And depending on what either Cyndi or Becky wanted to do in the future, they might even be required to finish 4 years of residency at Bellevue as well. It looked to be a long road for the two friends.
"Don't remind me." Cyndi sighed. It all seemed like so much work and sometimes Cyndi felt she couldn't do it...but she always kept her ultimate goal in mind. She would be what most people only dreamt of becoming. Being a doctor was all she ever wanted to be and she would see this through. She was in it for the long haul no matter what life dealt her in the meantime.
"Oh, did I ruin your enthusiasm? I'm sorry." Becky replied sadly when she saw Cyndi's smile fade away.
"Eh, just thinking too much again." Cyndi chuckled, shaking off her temporary mood swing.
"Alright, well, go shower and meet me at 3. Don't forget the book." Becky pleaded as she started to leave the room, Cyndi following not far behind.
"I won't." Cyndi smiled as they entered the hall and they went their separate ways.
As she walked along, she heard her cell phone ringing in her back pack so she dug through the mass collection of notebooks and other various supplies for the phone, knowing it was Remy. He always called her at 12pm. It was like clockwork.
"Hello?" She said, not bothering to look at the caller ID screen to see who it was.
"Bonjour, Chere. Whatchya doin'?" Remy asked.
"Just got out of class." She replied easily as she closed her back pack and continued walking back to her dorm. They exchanged the usual pleasantries until Remy decided to get down to business.
"I was jus' wonderin' if I could come up dere fo' a visit...I miss ya." Remy said. Cyndi mulled over his suggestion. Ever since she had gone off to school, Remy had managed to sneak away a handful of times to see her...but things weren't the same. Whenever he'd come there or she'd come home, things were inevitably different. Neither could deny it.
He hadn't been up for a couple months and her usual summer break would have her busy with the start of her internship...maybe this would be a good time for him to come up. But getting Remy up there was harder than meeting with the President, it seemed. It was nearly impossible. Bella never let him leave her sight unless she was otherwise preoccupied for fear of Remy leaving her for good or cheating on her, which he got away with regardless.
"What about Bella?" Cyndi asked, exaggerating his wifes name and rolling her eyes.
"Well, Remy wanted ta wait till he get dere ta tell ya..." Remy began slowly.
Oh Christ, what now? Was the bitch pregnant now too?
"...Remy's a free man." He replied triumphantly.
"You are? Since when?" She asked as she stopped dead in her tracks to listen to him.
"Well, Remy found a loop hole. We never signed a marriage license...so technically we were never married. Buuuuuuuuut, dat stuff don' mean much ta de Guild anyway. Remy jus' decided he needed ta be a homme an' put his foot down." He explained.
"An'...Remy's kinda banished from New Orleans fo awhile now...he don' have nowhere ta go." He replied.
"So, you figured you'd crash in my dorm?" She chuckled.
Silence.
"You there, Cajun?" Cyndi asked.
"Oui...C-chere, I though' dat you'd be happier bout dis? Ya don' sound de way Remy imagined ya would." He said gently.
She was happy but 5 years apart had given her the time to get over him in a way and this was all too bittersweet for her now. They rarely saw one another and things had changed drastically for her. She wasn't the same girl anymore and she felt that Remy still carried a torch for her believing she was still that teenaged girl who was still so in love with him.
"No, this is awesome. You can finally move on..." Cyndi began but Remy cut her off.
"We can." He corrected as he remembered the engagement ring he had given her before she went off to school and envisioned them living happily ever after.
"Remy, things are different now and you know it. Stop playing dumb." She sighed. She heard him sigh on the other end and waited a good minute before he spoke again.
"I know t'ings have changed, Chere. But, don' ya wan' ta see wha' could happen now? Don' ya still care bout me?" He asked softly.
"You know I still care...I just care differently than I used to. What do you expect after 5 years?" She asked as she started walking again and approached her building, letting herself in once she got to the large double doors.
"Ya know Remy still loves ya, Chere. How can ya say dat ya don'?" He said in a soft tone.
"Remy...just come up here. We'll talk more about it when you get here. Just let me know when you get into town and I'll leave the key under the mat, alright?" She sighed.
"Alright." He said. He sounded sad and in turn, it made her sad as well. As much as she fought it, she still cared for him...but she had convinced herself otherwise to keep herself in check, to keep her head right. She had to in order to have done what she had done while she was away. She was becoming a doctor. She tried to make herself believe that nothing mattered more and ultimately, she started to believe it.
"I'll talk to you later, ok? I gotta go." She replied gently as she let herself into her dorm and threw her back pack down by the door.
"Bye." He sighed before hanging up. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. How would it feel to have Remy around her again? And not just for a visit, but 24/7? This couldn't have happened at a worse time for her. She was graduating in 2 weeks and starting her internship at Bellevue the week after. She wondered how she would cope with it all.
