“(Yawn)...”
Eryna opened her mouth wide and swiftly covered it with the file in her hand to avoid being called new names, she had been sitting in the posture for three hours straight and she could feel her back sour, she stretched her arms wide and looked around.
It was lunch time and Zukey was still working hard, Eryna patted her back a bit to get her attention.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Eryna asked.
“Huh? Hungry?” Zukey glanced at her watch suddenly. “Hah! It’s already break time,” she chuckled lightly. “Let’s hurry up and make sure we get a seat today,” Zukey got up swiftly and stretched a bit and was ready to fly.
“Wait for me!!” Eryna shouted and ran after her,
Luckily the cafeteria was not as populated as yesterday. Eryna, who wanted to eat to her heart's content today, picked up a tray and filled it with all sorts of mouth watering dishes. The good thing about the cafeteria was that the food was of top quality.
“Slow down Renya! Nobody is going to take it away from you,” Zukey spoke while controlling her smile,
“Do you mind if I join you?”
As Zukey and Eryna were about to walk up to the table they heard a manly voice from behind, Eryna recognised the voice and turned around swiftly.
“We don’t—“ Rryna stopped and smiled wickedly, she closened up to Ayden’s ear and whispered, “But your admirers will surely not like it,” She giggled,
Eryna placed the tray on the table and pulled the chair.
“As long as you are okay with it, I don’t care about other people.” Ayden spoke in his deep voice before pulling the seat beside Eryna to sit.
“I see you have made friends,” Ayden glanced at Zukey’s perplexed expressions and said.
“Hi, I am Ayden, and you are?” He asked.
“Hi, I am Zukey,” She replied with a reserved smile.
The cafeteria was filled with low murmurs, while Eryna felt goosebumps all over her body, she could feel the cold stares of the people on her back, Eryna choked in her food and started coughing bitterly.
‘Cough, Cough, Cough…
Zukey picked up the water glass while Ayden swiftly rubbed her back to ease her cough, Eryna looked around while she was still coughing, she saw her end in the eyes of the people staring at her.
Eryna gulped down the water which stopped her from coughing.
“Haah!...” Ayden sat back beside her and gave out a sigh of relief, His eyes glued to Eryna’s face, his eyes had tenderness filled in them,
‘Could it be that you have really forgotten me?’ Ayden thought to himself, while staring at Eryna.
“Flash Back” (three years ago)
The roads were flooded, the trees had fallen over the road blocking the traffic, Ayden was coming back from the resort that was still under construction at that time, He was tired and wanted to rest but there was no way he could get out of the mess, He slowed down as he saw the cars stopping.
“Gosh! Where did the storm come from all of a sudden?”
His face had a frown as he tried to look through the heavy rain that fell on his car’s windshield.
‘Ring,Ring…
“Why is Mom calling me?” Ayden muttered. “Hello Mom, what’s up?” Ayden asked cheerfully.
“Ayden dear, Where are you?” Her voice broke as she spoke.
“Mom? What happened? Are you alright? Did you cry,” Ayden suddenly felt uneasy.
“I am going to attend a funeral, I wanted one of you to accompany me but you know Micah! He never listens so can you go?” She was having a hard time speaking.
“Mom I would have come but, I am stuck here in the traffic, by the way where is the funeral?” Ayden asked.
“It’s in a small town close to the construction site, can you manage?” Emerald asked.
“Yes, okay I will go there,” Ayden reluctantly replied.
“I will try to reach there in time,” Emerald replied.
Ayden took a u-turn and drove back towards the construction site and waited for his mother to send him the location,
Ayden reached the location, there were about thirty cars parked in front of a place that looked like a flower farm,
“This must be it,” Ayden got out of the car and walked inside the gate. He saw in the distance a huge tree under which there were people circling around , they were holding onto black umbrellas.
Ayden walked in closer, nobody noticed him, they just stood staring at the lady who was on her knees, holding onto the tomb stone on which the name “Simba Garcia” was inscribed. The lady was about fourth years old and the way she cried made Ayden’s heart ache.
He stood there while the people around them started to leave slowly, Ayden didn’t notice that he was there all alone.
“Why are you here? It’s not like he was your son,” a guy approached her, he was a tall guy, his clothes all wet and his hair drenched by the rain. His eyes were red as if he had cried for a long time.
Ayden took a step away.
“ Did you find Eryna’s body?” The woman spoke with a painful voice.
The guy who was trying hard to keep himself in a piece breathed in deeply and replied,
“No! Why do you want to know? Why are you asking about her now when you hated her when she was alive?” He broke, his eyes gave away his tears.
“You are the murderer! You separated two lovers!! You don’t deserve to be here!” Hunter spoke bitterly.
“Stop it! Stop it! I didn’t know!”
“Stop lying! Your stubbornness killed my brother and you killed my friend! I will never forgive you for what you have done,”
“Hunter! Is that how you talk to your mother?”
At first Ayden was surprised at what was going on here, but when he heard his mother’s voice from behind he was speechless, he wasn’t sure what drama was about to unfold before his eyes.
Hunter stopped when he heard her voice, he looked at Emerald who stood a few steps away from him with an umbrella in her hand.
“Anna!!” Hunter's expressions melted and he walked closer to Emerald and hugged her tightly.
“Anna!! Simba is gone,” his head was on her shoulder as his tears socked into her dress, “ Anna, my Simba has left me alone,” his voice was sour, he spoke like a little begging. “Anna! Tell him to come back,”
“Is okay! Just cry out, everything will be alright,” Emerald patted his head as she whispered,
“But he will not come back,” Hunter muttered bitterly.
Ayden didn’t know who they were, but by the looks of it, the guy had some close relationship with Emerald. The lady beside the grave got up and walked closer to Emerald.
“I ruined everything, I should have listened to you, Now I have lost my son as well as a daughter,” She lifted her hands and muttered, “ with these two hands I ruined everything,”
“No you didn’t do anything, it was written this way,”
Ayden felt the odd he had no idea what was going on but he saw the pain, the grief. His mother took both of them, away Ayden too followed her, they walked out of the flower garden and towards the small cafe. They walked in but Ayden kept on standing outside he didn’t want to go inside as the sadness was too much for him to take in, he strolled back to his car and saw another car stop by, and a person with a familiar face walked out of it,
“Isn’t he? The guy…” Ayden remembered Grayson’s face but wasn’t sure where he had seen him. The guy walked in through the gate. His face had clear signs of misery. For some reason Ayden followed him into the garden and then to his surprise he saw another person standing beside the grave, there was a girl who wasn’t there when he left. Grayson walked in closer to her and patted her lightly.