Each other’s ice cream flavors looked appealing. They both stare at each other’s hands holding their ice cream, wondering how it would taste.
Or better, how it would taste when mixed.
That’s what they exactly planned to do.
“Come here.” Zayn whispers softly, his lips inching closer. Cassandra stops biting her lips and closes her eyes.
Inch by inch, Zayn was coming closer to quench his curiosity. Cassandra was awaiting for his sweet yet flavored kiss.
However, there was a sharp mental image inside Cassandra where she saw an old man sitting in front of her. The image doesn’t even last for a second. It was of an old man, she could say by his ancient looks and grey hair.
Startled, she drops the cone of ice cream and concern sprouts in Zayn.
“Hey, what happened?” He holds her jaw, placing his cone on the plate. Cassandra was awestruck at the image she just couldn’t unsee. The man looked vaguely similar.
But she never remembered an encounter with that man.
Suddenly. There was a commotion going on outside.
It was something to be worried about.
Cassandra snaps out of it and looks through the window. Zayn too looks outside. There were a lot of people gathered around something.
“What’s… that?” Growing equally curious, the two jog outside and knead through the crowd to see a fatal accident.
It was an old man, brutally stabbed in his gut by a pick pocketer. Cassandra gasps loudly while Zayn phones the paramedics and police simultaneously. But as they measure his breath…
“He’s gone.” Zayn declares, the crowd gasping loudly. Some say their prayers to the old man, some leave it to his damned fate.
Cassandra, on the other hand, began breathing unstable. That old man was someone she knew.
That old man was the one who came in her image just now.
Suddenly, she sees another image.
This time, the old man was speaking…
Her head was playing games with her.
The odd similarity in their faces, their dressing style and the cigar scent made Cassandra believe she was sick. It was as if she was hallucinating and confusing herself between people of two different generations.
Zayn inspects the murdered man, a small ID hanging out of his collar.
“Dan Johnson… it’s the same last name as I have.” He says more to himself. Meanwhile, Cassandra was losing her mind because even the name sounded awfully familiar to her ears.
Dan Johnson… Dan Johnson…
Zayn’s eyes widen.
He dials another number.
“D-dad…?” His throbbing voice filled with tears calls out for his dad.
[Shit is about to get real fucked up right now.]
“Y-your ex boyfriend. D-do you remember the photo I accidentally saw when I was really young?” Zayn asks, his knees shivering. Cassandra sees her own boyfriend having the same break down as she was having.
There was a decision to take, whether to keep herself prioritized or help him out. The situation Zayn was in felt much worrisome than herself.
She pats his back, slowly rubbing circles as the people waited for an ambulance or a police truck to arrive.
“Dad… Dan Johnson was someone you knew in the past, right?” Asks Zayn. His eyes were crying yet his heart was throbbing with an unknown feeling.
“Dan… Johnson? H-he was my adopted brother.” Says Zayn’s father.
“Wasn’t he…?” Zayn stops himself from further confusion. Adopted brother? Weren’t they five of themselves?
Also, why did Cassandra react that way to this man? Did she remember something like Zayn did?
“Dad, I want you to tell me the truth.” He says to his father. The police and ambulance cars blare at the background. But it all seemed muffled to the duo on the phone. Cassandra was as confused as ever and pulls Zayn to the side while the police covered up the issue.
Zayn still waited for his father’s response.
He wanted to confirm things before it got even more confusing.
“Son… I was among the five brothers and one sister. The man who died was the fourth brother, Dan Johnson. We… we separated paths after our Dad died in 2023.”
2023…?
Something didn’t feel right to Zayn.
“Dad…” he curls himself into a ball, but straightens back up. Taking the support of the tree, he ignores Cassandra who keeps questioning what happened to him and who was on the phone.
“Who the fuck is Dan Johnson…?” Now, he’s lost his cool. Even his father knew about it.
“Dan and I… we were in a relationship before Dad died. Dan and I… were only adopted. It was a long story, my son.” Says the man, cutting the phone.
One of the five brothers?
What happened to the sister then?
If he was one of the five brothers who didn’t die, who was it?
[A/n: Lemme see who all remember the five brothers names before we move to the next chapter hehe. I’ve given plenty hints. All doubts will be cleared in the following chapters]