The round hat on Victoria's head tipped out of place while she was in the process of tucking the open strands of her hair behind her ears. She put the hat in place and adjusted her sunglasses that would nicely protect her from the mighty sun today. Nevertheless, she had taken a coat to put on in the evening.
Although beautiful autumn cools it all off after sunset, the days are relatively warm, especially for a few beginning days of the season. The weather this year was as unhinged as the twists and turns of Victoria's life.
She sighed at the pleasant feeling of her light, cotton beach dress brushing around her thighs, matching the rhythm of the wind's dance.
Not just the sun, but even the wind seemed to be strong, too, this particular day. On the birthday of such a wild-spirited girl like Ellie, the weather, too, perhaps, had shifted to adjust her soul's energy as a gesture of celebrating the day she was born.
That's right. The day had come when they were finally celebrating Ellie's birthday—a beach birthday, to be precise. It was Ellie's idea—going out to the Sea-town beach, which was her most favorite place in the outskirts of Asthel.
Ellie, Kate, her child Owen, Neil (he was going to stay in Asthel for a while), and of course, Victor and Victoria—that was their small gang headed for the party.
In the passenger seat of Victor's car, she got in and remained quiet as he started the car. The engine purred to life as he twisted the key. He handled the steering with sturdy hands and remained as quiet as her as they set out for Kate's place, where he was going to pick her up. Neil would pick up Ellie and meet at Kate's as well, from where the two vehicles would take the entire gang to the beach.
Minutes passed, and none of the two talked inside the car. There were only noises of their breathing and random coughs and awkward clearing of throats here and there.
It had been two days since the event day. And for some reason, they both got into a state where they were avoiding conversing with each other unless it was absolutely necessary like it might pass a contagious disease or something.
"I'm good waiting out here," Victoria stated in reply when Victor said he was going up to help Kate come downstairs with Owen.
He was so caring toward her— toward Kate.
Victoria never smoked. But for some reason, at the moment, she felt like it wouldn't have felt bad if she did. Perhaps, a cigarette or, at least, a vape would have calmed her state of mind.
When they came back, set the baby seat for Owen, and Kate was about to get in the backseat, Victoria rushed and insisted she sat at the front, next to Victor.
"I'll sit with Owen—" Kate was protesting. And not to mention, she looked immaculate as always in a loose, floor-length, sky-blue beach dress, which perfectly matched the blue t-shirt Victor was doing on today with casual pants.
Anyway, Victoria was damn stubborn today about the sitting matters. And what could she do if they decided to match the colors of their dresses? So, she said, "Let me spend some time with this munchkin. By the way, he already seems so awestruck by me," she jokingly finished.
And truly, the munchkin Owen was truly staring at her with a spellbound smile stuck on his face.
Kate chuckled. "Are you sure?"
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Well, of course."
As Kate got into the front seat, finally convinced, Victoria let out a discreet sigh. The inside of her heart twisted.
This whole time during the battle to take the backseat, Victor was a silent observer, leaning against his car toward the driver's seat.
Now that Kate was inside the car, Victoria glanced at Victor properly. He was staring at her in abundant curiosity.
"Oye! Kate and Vicks square!" Ellie's hollering voice reached their ears, and all of them looked back to find Neil's car right behind them, and half of Ellie's body sliding out the rolled-down window to wave mad-hi's to them. Victoria noticed that she was wearing a nice pink tank top with a net throw-over and shorts.
Neil only gave a friendly smile of greeting toward them with a casual salute. None came out of their respective cars, as there was no point wasting time here.
They started the long drive instantly.
In her mind, Victoria couldn't help but replay how immaculately Kate and Victor set that baby seat. Clearly, he had done it so many times before.
It felt like these two belonged together.
The more she thought about them, the more she felt guilt and pity for herself.
It was a two hours long journey that took them past the outskirts of Asthel. During the entirety of their journey, Victor didn't speak a word to her, just like how it had been in the past couple of days. Although Victoria caught him glancing at her through the rearview mirror. The moment their eyes would connect, he would look away instantly. Nevertheless, he was only conversing with Kate, who nodded off after the first half hour of the journey at the same time as Owen did.
The inside of the car felt suffocating with the long-stretched silence.
Taking a turn from the highway, the two cars traveled a small road for a couple of minutes to stop beside the bushes near the entryway of the beach.
The sea-town beach was, surprisingly, quite a vacant place. Contrary to the popular beaches, the lack of crowd made it a beauty in its purest form. There was something incredibly thrilling in desolation.
As they spread out a mat and started to settle down under the semi-shades of a long oak tree. While the bushes and a variety of trees were on one side, the other had an endless sea with different shapes of black stones splattered where the water met the land.
For the first couple of minutes, Victoria felt quite unable to stop taking in the beauty of this place.
Thank God that she had brought her camera.
But for once, she found herself enjoying the company of the people around her enough to delay touching her camera. Especially, Ellie and her every jovial action and word made Victoria forget about her own turmoils. Perhaps, Neil felt that way too or more because Victoria caught him staring quite starstruck at Ellie twice. Other times he looked at her like she was the origin of all insanity existing in the world.
Kate's kid Owen was a tiny sweet packet. Cuteness overflowed from even his mere action of blinking. He loved everyone's attention, and everyone loved to play with him.
As they played handball, raising a cloud of sand, Victoria sat with Owen on the sidelines and watched. Since the injuries she had obtained in the span of the last couple of months hadn't healed yet, she did not join the game. To be more precise, when Ellie was calling Victoria to play in her time, Victor announced that she was not in the condition to play in a no-nonsense tone.
Did he still care for her even when he wasn't talking to her?
Victoria couldn't tell anything from his behavior anymore.
He was a puzzle, and she didn't know if he was hers to solve.
However, the amazing fact was Victor and Kate made a good team while Ellie and Neil played in quite a volatile way against them—rolling into the sand, crashing against the net that separated the two teams, and making faces when winning (the last one was all Ellie).
Engrossed in the exciting jumping around the adults were doing in front of him, Owen clapped his little hands from Victoria's lap and hollered in his baby voice.
Running the palm of her hand down the boy's soft hair, Victoria chuckled softly at the boy's antics. She wondered if there would ever come a day when she could have a child of her own. The next second, she sighed against the salty wind. Considering the unexpected, forced, and now confusing marital bond she was in at the moment, it was simply outrageous for her to wish for such blessings of life before sorting everything out.
At one point, Victor took off his shirt simultaneously as Neil did.
"Argh," stomping on the sand, Ellie said, "That's not fair. I did not bring my bikini thinking it's an evening outing."
"Why so sour, little monkey?" Neil smirked, picking up the ball. "You jealous of us men? We do not need bikinis to show off our magnificence." And he flexed his biceps.
Ellie put her fisted arms on her hips. "Really? Then pull down your pants at this moment, why don't you."
"Ouch," Neil fake coughed, looking a little stumped while the others rolled with laughter.
And here, on the mat, Victoria could not remove her eyes from the mentioned magnificence of the male physique that Victor possessed. His sinewy arms had patches of dust. He even had some incredible abs that she felt would be terrific to touch. Those biceps, his sturdy hips—she couldn't take her off of the view. The splatter of light hair on his chest trailed down—and further down to hide from human eyes inside his pants. And when he laughed—by God, throwing back his head when he laughed—she felt everything slow down. The waves crashed on the sand tardily, and the earth spun even slower.
And then he was walking down the distance toward her, running his fingers through his hair.
Saliva stored in her mouth, and she gulped aloud.
Her stance broke only by Owen's hollering and laughter as the kid saw everyone coming closer to him.
Exhausted, all returned to the mat.
Opening the cap of a cold drink, Ellie sipped from it urgently and then stated with glee, "Oh, how I love winning!"
"You ron because of teaming with Neil," Victor said in a teasing tone.
Neil lifted his collar, boasting, "Well, it's true. You should be lucky that you got to play in the same team as me—"
Ellie's face soured. "Excuse me! How dare you!"
As the banter continued, they brought out snacks to date their hunger.
Victor was quietly arranging the firewood they had brought in the trunk of Neil's car to light a fire soon as it would gradually get chilly, contrary to the cozy temperature now.
The sun in the sky had started to splatter an orangish hue in order to start the process of saying bye for the night.
Ellie started to cherish how she found this beautiful beach. "We were traveling together to his town when I discovered this small heaven from the car," Ellie reminisced. "I immediately had him stop the car to check it out. And instantly, I fell in love with this place."
"Did you two use to travel together a lot?" Neil asked with great curiosity.
Victoria had noticed that Neil was quite a lot curious about matters concerning Ellie. Was there something brewing between them? She wondered as Ellie replied to Neil.
However, thoughts of any brewing between them left her as Kate joined in with Ellie in the reminiscing saga. Shifting on her folded legs on the mat, Kate shook Owen on her lap. The little boy was beginning to come out of sleep slowly. "I remember when these two first brought me here," she gestured at Victor and Ellie.
Getting thirsty, Victoria picked up a bottle of water and started to drink from it.
"Victor had both hands on my eyes, blocking my view, and Ellie held my shoulders. I could tell it was a beach from the crashing noises of the waves. But what I didn't expect was the beauty of this place."
Victoria couldn't help but visualize the memory Kate reminisced. However, in Victoria's version in her mind, Ellie was missing from the scene. Only Victor and Kate remained—Victor had his hands on Kate's eyes, and he ushered her forward to an empty beach where only the wind, sea, sand, and big seagulls welcomed them. Kate placed a hand on top of Victor's. They were both smiling as his hands were lowered. Her eyes sparkled with wonder as the beauty of the beach struck her, and she looked up at him. And he looked down at her. His sinewy arms surrounded Kate's petite shoulders, which were opposite of Victoria's broad-shaped ones. The distance between their faces decreased until their lips met...
A furious pang in Victoria's chest made her suck in a wrong-timed breath while she was still drinking from the bottle. And suddenly, she was spluttering on the water, coughing violently.
Ellie was getting up to reach her, but before she could, Victor and Neil did. Without wasting any time, they jerked her over and were slapping on her back violently.
Lord save her!
It seemed like these men had intentions to kill her instead of helping her in her condition. Her eyes widened as she tried to regain her breathing while also praying for the men to stop or for them to get hit by lightening from heaven and faint right away as that seemed like the only way for her to survive their merciless attack.
"Are you two fre*king insane?" Ellie bellowed, gaping at the scene. "You're going to beat the girl to death at this rate! For cuckoo's sake, stop!"Thanks to Ellie's hollering and scolding that they stopped at last.
Both the men turned to pin Ellie with an incredulous stare.
Neil said, "Putting pressure on the back is supposed to help her—"
Victor hastily included his agreement, "I agree."
"Yeah. See." Neil nodded.
Ellie tskd. "She's able to cough, which means it was a partial blockage. She can clear her windpipe through the coughing and deep breathing."
Kate added, "Just let her relax, okay? No need to freak out so much."
Victoria was still coughing. She said between coughs, "I'm... alright. Don't... worry..."
Giving her a long look, Victor stepped back.
However, Neil still remained knelt beside her. "You need some water?"
Victoria shook her head in a negative.
Victor had his eyes narrowed suddenly. "Are you planning to drown her with more water?" Scowling, he then raised a finger and pointed it toward where Neil still had his hand loosely on Victoria's waist. "She's got an injury there—right beneath that hand of yours. I suggest you remove it this instant. Come on, remove it."
It was true that Victoria was beginning to feel the pain rising in that place. However, it was surprising that he remembered—even though she believed it was just sympathy.
Surprise crossed Neil's face at Victor's behavior, but he did what he was told to do. "How did she get hurt?" He asked Victor since Victoria was catching her breath, although her coughing fit had stopped by now. Indeed, it was fixed on its own.
"Falling from the stairs, according to her," Victor replied. He blinked rapidly and said it through his teeth—Victoria noticed. Clearly, he didn't tell what actually happened purposefully. And Victoria was thankful for that. She would rather not show the world her messy, disturbing life events.
"According to her! Where were you?" Neil inquired further.
Kate, Ellie, and Owen, who was wide awake now, looked back and forth between the two. Owen's mouth was curling in small tremors. His face signaled an upcoming crying fit.
"I don't follow her around the whole day, Neil. Both of us have different workplaces." Victor dragged a hand down his face. "And it happened before our—"
"Your?" Neil urged.
Now it seemed Neil was badgering him.
"Neil!" Chastised Kate.
"You know it very well!" With his fists planted on his hips, Victor looked completely riled up at Neil now.
Even a now-recovered Victoria was gaping at the verbal exchange. What the actual hell was going on?
Neil did not seem in the mood to stop. "But—"
"That's enough!" Ellie roared like a bear. "Neil, you're going to stop with your inquiry now."
Dramatically, Neil let out a long sigh. "Anything you want, my queen."
Suddenly, Ellie silenced with a hint of pinkish shade rising up her jaw and cheeks.
Many things were happening in all directions, it seemed.
And without warning, Owen started to sniff and snob, which turned into a full-blown wailing as everyone's eyes fixated on him. There were noises of wet squelching and a few booms.
"Oh, the boy can fart like hell!" Ellie commented.
Kate chuckled nervously. "Well, Victor, could you please lend me your car keys? It seems baby Owen has pooped. I need to change his diaper."
"Sure. In fact, let's go together," Victor said, sighing. Signs of irritation from Neil and his little verbal exchange evaporated swiftly. "Let me help you."
Kate denied his assistance a few times, saying she didn't want to spoil all the others' fun time and that she would be back quickly. But Victor could be extensively convincing most times. In the end, they left together for the car, telling everyone they would be back fast after cleaning up and feeding the little boy.
"Are you alright now, Victoria?" Ellie asked in concern.
"Huh?" Victoria removed her eyes from the departing two's backs. "Ah, yes, I'm perfectly fine now," Victoria reassured and smiled, yet it did not reach her eyes.
Like always, Victoria's camera bag rested right next to her. Turning toward it, she opened the chain and got out her DSLR.
Impressed, Neil whistled. "It's cool seeing women handling devices, gadgets, and gears so deftly," he commented, watching Victoria expertly attaching the massive lens to it.
Victoria smiled without looking up from what she was doing.
"That camera looks like a shotgun now. Well done, girl," Ellie remarked. "Are you going to start taking photos?"
Victoria nodded. "I feel like I can get a few good clicks closer to the sea," she pointed at the distance. "It's truly a lovely beach, Ellie. Quiet, vacant, and serene. Thanks for inviting me."
Waving a hand, Ellie said, "Eh. No need to thank and all that. You're a part of this circle now."
A forced part of the circle. She sighed in her mind.
Walking close to the sealine, she began to click photos of the sun's downward journey into the deep sea. It felt like the sun was slowly submerging into an infinite pool of water. And she reveled in it despite knowing it was an illusion. This extraordinary beauty in front of her was actually an illusion. Nevertheless, she reveled in it like all the other ordinary human beings who reveled in the beauty of illusions.
And as all beautiful things and moments must have pain mixed in them, at least a pinch if not a lot—Victor came up to stand next to her.
In the middle of taking another nice shot, she was a little startled. It was at that exact moment that a faraway mighty wave, which had gotten way too slow the more it traveled up the sand, kissed her toes and got into her flip-flops.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said, with his hands shoved inside his pants pockets and eyes staring ahead. His brows were furrowed for some reason.
Victoria guessed that reason must be her interrupting presence in his life.
She nodded in reply to his question. "It is." And then she looked ahead, first observing the reddish, darkening clouds through her naked eyes and then through her camera. She dove back into capturing the scene.
It was unknown to her if it was the cold wind or Victor's presence next to her that awakened goosebumps on her skin. Possibly, both were at play.
It was not long after that Victor again started speaking, "Can you explain to me what happened that night?"
Although Victoria knew which night he was exactly talking about, she asked, "Which night?"
His reply was logical. "You know which night I'm talking about."
However, it irked her that after what he had done, he had the gall to demonstrate how dumb he was and even question her about the mess he had made. How dare he!
"You did what your heart said," she said simply, calmly.
There was silence for a couple of seconds from his side before he asked, "Now, what's that supposed to mean?"
Victoria shrugged and could feel the waves of frustration coming off of Victor. At last, she couldn't help but let out the question that had been poking her insides like a venomous thorn. Lowering the camera, straightening herself, she turned her head to look at Victor. "Do you love someone, Victor?"
Victor was quiet. It was clear from his expression that he didn't expect this question. "What kind of question is this?"
She softly rubbed her cheek where one of her tangly hair strands had slapped. "Do you?" she was indomitable right this moment, right here, right now. And the answer mattered—she didn't know why. She just knew that it did.
Victor stared at her for a long time before finally replying, "I felt strongly for someone," as he said it, he looked away into the sea.
Her heart squeezed at the reply. She swam deeper, now that she was in the sea anyway, while still staring at him. "Is it Kate?"
He didn't turn to look at her as he remained in silence. But the way his jaw tightened and the way he stopped breathing for a second before letting it out in the form of a long sigh said it all. His reaction to her question was a stark answer enough. His silence was profoundly enough.
And she looked away too.
Many significant wheels turned inside her mind and her heart at that very moment.
Conclusions were reached.
She grasped the fact with certainty that her presence was an obstacle between two lovers—or potential lovers—whatever. And bloody hell, she did not want to be that.
This marriage was forced upon her, too, but that didn't mean she couldn't do anything to untie these knots, which were wreaking havoc in multiple hearts and souls. And to untie them, she would do what she had always done best as a form of a quick solution—ditch it all to hell and run.
And before that, she must do something important to start the process. The process of a smooth and quick divorce.
~
Word Count: 3661
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A/N:
Hello sweetlings,
We reach a very crucial point in the story. Are you excited? Or are you traumatized?
Let me know freely about your precious views.
I cannot wait for the next section of this story to begin already! I'll bring in a personal new vibe to them; I wonder if other stories have on Wattpad! So, it will be a unique touch for me. I just hope that you'll enjoy reading and watching them.
Please don't forget to vote, comment and share! Fan/follow me to get notified of my updates!
Lots of love,
Lara.
P.S. (IMP)
I forgot to tell you guys, a version of this chapter from Ellie's POV is available in the book Rain Again as an exclusive paid chapter. You get to see everything from different eyes if you want to :)
The external link is added to the chapter :
Ellie's Ever After - A Sharp Gift