"Are you a okay now" Irene asked lightly caressing Jennette's hair still hugging her.
Irene woke up at that time because her throat felt dry. On her way to kitchen she thought of checking Iris and Jennette but saw only Iris on the bed. When she saw the washroom light switch was off too her heart skipped a little thinking 'no way she went out at this time'. Before calling her husband she felt like checking the 2nd floor. Running up she finally found Jennette on the balcony.
Jennette nodded with a sniff. She calmed down few moments back but still didn't want to let go. After a long long time someone hugged her this warmly and she just wanted to feel this warmth a little bit more.
"You know i was so scared when i couldn't find you. I thought you left without telling anyone"
Finally breaking the hug Jennette slowly muttered "sorry"
"No don't say sorry. It's okay. Are you okay now?" Irene softly asked brushing Jennette's hair with her fingers. Her hair was a mess as she was clinging it tightly moments back.
Jennette closed her eyes thinking 'don't cry again oh my gosh stoppp' she wiped her eyes and smiled at Irene "I'm sorry auntie for worrying you. I just saw a dream. I'm okay now"
Looking at Jennette's sudden smile Irene asked with concern "what kind of dreams?"
Jennette's smile dropped for a moment but blinked and looked at the sky which was not black anymore "it was- ah i forgot.."
Irene looked at the small girl beside her. She clearly lied, Irene didn't force her to share. It's just a dream after all but Irene wondered why does she look like that? She's been thinking about this since the kidnapping incident. Girls her age should not look like that. She couldn't figure out an exact odd spot but something was definitely not right.
They sat there quietly looking at the morning sky together. It's was beautiful, as if the cold night was never there.
Jennette finally broke the silence and asked "do you believe in fate?"
Irene looked at her "fate?"
"everyone is bound to their fate which they can't escape no matter how hard they try... something like that" still looking at the sky Jennette thought 'what am I saying?'
"Hmm... it's a difficult question. Answer can both be yes and no"
Jennette looked at her as she continued "you know I used to believe in astrology and stuff a lot when I was a teenager. So I once went to a tarot shop with a friend" she paused and laughed lightly "it's funny how I cried all the way home" Jennette blinked and curiously asked "why?" Irene looked at her left hand "the woman said I'll not live long"
Jennette looked at her with wide eyes. Irene laughed at her expression and said "i looked at her like this too haha. After crying for 2 days I remembered what she said when i was getting up to leave, she said I must escape my fate to live my fate"
Jennette frowned trying to understand what she meant 'escape fate to live fate?'
"I was confused too until i got to know i was getting into an arrange marriage. Before, i had no problem marrying anyone my parents choose for me but that lady's words.... keep on buzzing in my head. So i ran away"
Jennette looked at her with her hand on her mouth muttering "woah.."
"I mean.. i said no to the marriage but my mom got angry so i ran away. It was heavily raining that day. i sat there on the bus stop with wet clothes for more than 2 hours until a guy came and sat beside me..."
With a smile Irene closed her eyes remembering what happened after that,
𝐴 𝑔𝑢𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 '𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑚 𝑖 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑤?'
𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑡.
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 " 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡?" 𝐼𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 "𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐸𝑟𝑖𝑐'𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟?"
"𝑌𝑜𝑢... 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 *𝑎𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑜* 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐸𝑟𝑖𝑐?" 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑑.
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 "𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟?"
"𝐻𝑒..."
"𝐻𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡?"
"𝐴ℎℎ.. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢."
"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡-"
"𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑤. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠. 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎. 𝑆𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔-" ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒.
"𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝!"
"......."
"𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤.𝑑𝑜.𝑦𝑜𝑢.𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤.𝑚𝑦.𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟?" 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. '𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑦? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒!?' 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 'ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑠𝑜 𝑔𝑜- 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑚 𝑖 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔'
"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒..." 𝐻𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 "𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑜 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒" 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 "ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑖𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒!"
"𝑊𝐻𝐴𝑇!"
"𝑁𝑂 𝑁𝑂 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡- 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡. 𝐻𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑖 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑"
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐻𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 "𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦"
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑜, 𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢... 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑? 𝐼'𝑙𝑙-"
"𝑁𝑂!" 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒
"𝑁𝑜?" 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦" ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒 "𝑖- 𝑖 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑘..."
'𝐼𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜..? 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦!? 𝑇𝑂 𝑀𝐸!!' 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒.
"𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑦𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑?" 𝐻𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 "𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́" 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ '𝑛𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́ 𝑦𝑒𝑡' . 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 "𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚?"
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝐻𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 "𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒?" 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 "𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠! 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑" ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 '𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝑀𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́?𝑤ℎ𝑜'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́? 𝐴𝑟𝑔ℎℎℎ'
𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑠ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝. "𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐴𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔- 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘? ℎ𝑒𝑦!?" 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 '𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒- 𝐼𝑆 𝐻𝐸- 𝐶𝑅𝑌𝐼𝑁𝐺!?'
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑.
𝐻𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 "𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤... 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖- 𝑖- 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑖-"
𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 "ℎ𝑜𝑤? 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒"
"𝐼- 𝐼'𝑙𝑙- 𝐼'𝐿𝐿 𝐷𝑅𝑂𝑃 𝑂𝑈𝑇!" ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝐼𝑀 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠.
"𝑌𝑜𝑢.. 𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑒?"
𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎.
"𝐴𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒. 𝑌𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜?"
𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 "𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎-"
"𝐴ℎℎ ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑡. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑖 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́.. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟?" 𝑆ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 "𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤?"
𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 "𝑎ℎℎℎℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́ 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑜𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑚 𝑖 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒́ 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑔ℎℎℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑖 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑤!"
𝐻𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 "𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛"
𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦.
"𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒"
𝐻𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠
"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑇𝐻𝐴𝑇 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑟, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡" 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 '𝑖 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠'
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦, 𝑡𝑏ℎ 𝐼'𝑚 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡. 𝐼 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑝. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑦. 𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚! 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑚! 𝑂𝑘𝑎𝑦?" 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒.
𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 "𝑖 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜..."
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 "𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛?"
"𝐼 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑧𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑. 𝐼𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡.. 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛" 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚
"𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦!? 𝑂𝑚𝑔.. 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑗𝑛 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑. 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑖 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜?"
𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒. 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑
"𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒?"
𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 "𝐼'𝑚...."
"IT WAS UNCLE!? OMG!!" Jennette with her hand pressed on her mouth looked at Irene with wide eyes. Irene nodded with a big smile "after that i tried to change many little things last moment even when it was not necessarily and as you can see I'm still alive, living my best life"
Jennette with slight open mouth look down thinking 'right! She is still healthy and not at all like the story i read' she still remember how she cried reading Ijekiel's backstory about his mom.
"So do you think i-"
"Wow i hurt..."
Irene and Jennette both jumped with the sudden male voice behind them. Jennette placed her hand on her chest, leaning on her side while Irene looked up with her hand on her chest saying "o god i almost had a heart attack!"
"No seriously mom I'm hurt! How do i not know your and dads love at first sight story? How can you skip the main part..." Ijekiel who was clearly sulking frowned with a slight pout. He woke up early because it was Wednesday and he was suppose to make breakfast on Wednesday. He was strolling around half asleep with his coffee mug when he heard two people talking. He quietly walked up and saw his mom and Jennette sitting on the wooden swing talking 'what the- what are they doing there this early' while thinking he peaked through the glass window 'I'm feeling like a thief in my own house' as both the lady's did not noticed him he thought of going back down but hearing his moms saying "I'll not live long" his sleep vanished and kept on listening to the whole story.
"Ijekiel!! I told you this before, you forgot." Irene flatly looked at her sulky son and got up from the swing.
"When! You didn't mom!! I remember clearly you definitely didn't!" He quickly said then looking at the small girl still sitting on the swing. Jennette raised her brows as if saying 'what!? It's not my fault you didn't know' he blinked tightly trying not to eye roll, clearly failed as he heard Jennette snickers but ignored.
"Well...now you know.. come on, finish your coffee quickly and come down. I'll go wake you dad up" Irene ruffled her son's hair and turned to Jennette "get a little more sleep Jennette. I'll go down first" she smiled and left 2 teens on the balcony.
Ijekiel went in front of the swing and sat where Irene was sitting previously
"You are sitting on my spot" he took a sip of his coffee and leaned back admiring the beautiful sky.
"It's not like your name is written on it" Jennette shrugged looking at him.
He moved his eyes to the girl beside him, smirked "actually.... I do have my name written on it"
"Where?" She moved a bit to see if anything's written in the backrest.
"You won't find it. It's hidden"
" huh- liar.." Jennette rolled her eyes then sat with her arms crossed.
"Liar- seriously!! Ya move I'll show you" he scoffed and put down his coffee mug
Jennette closed her eyes and said "who cares. I'm sitting here right now" before he could answer she opened her eyes and said "and I'm your guest remember?"
He looked at her for few moment then picked up his cup and chucked the whole thing as it was cold by now.
Jennette suddenly got up chuckling and said "come on man, are you still sulking for the story? I also don't know how my parents met. It's not a big deal"
"That, i know"
Looking at his cup Ijekiel playfully smirked then at her "I can tell you if you want"
"What do you mean?"
"Your parents love story. I know everything with full details" he got up with a mischievous smile on his face and whispered "but I won't tell you" then walk out leaving her stunned.
Jennette blinked few times registered what he said and immediately followed him out saying "wait why! Hey don't run wait-"
Irene downstairs first saw her son fast walking inside the kitchen with a small grin then the girl running after him while asking him something she couldn't hear.
She looked down on her palm with a soft smile thinking 'did I succeed? Or it's also another dream?'