As she passionately spoke about a million more things, the lovestruck man continued to awe her beauty and the childish enthusiasm embroided in her personality. He would want to hold her, hug her all her wanted and crushed her little body with all the love her had for her.
But they were in public, sitting under the shade of the huge tree on a bench. He purchased a little ice cream cup for her as she told him every detail about the life she had been living up until now.
She fishes hee phone out, he watches her with love even then.
“You won’t believe me, Zayn. But she is our biological mom. Like… literally. And our dad died in an accident when I was five. He was Eugene.” Zayn furrows his eyebrows.
“You mean Eugene D’Angelo? Oh shit…” he curses as Cassandra reveals her surname to the man.
“I know him from the past. I was a big fan of his fiction and I loved reading aunt Jessica’s books too! But wait… does that mean…?” Cassandra excitedly nods her head as she shows him the picture of the woman.
“That’s my mother.” She says, pointing to the old lady beside herself.
Zayn gasps so loud that the birds of the tree begin to take flight in fear. Cassandra chuckles as Zayn looks at her.
“Baby…” Cassandra nods with her tears brimming in her eyes.
“It was the best sacrifice ever. Maybe that was why the mission wasn’t given to you. It was… it was like a choice for me. The greatest choice I’ve ever taken and… look who brought me in this world in the end.”
Zayn held her close to his chest as she cried.
“I’m so happy for you, Cassie. So fucking happy that you were born to her… oh my God.” He was in shock as well. Cassandra would refuse a person like Ravine to be her mother any moment.
But the woman changed a lot after the death and loss of her husband and child in the same year. She was filled with grief that couldn’t be digged out by Cassandra even till this date.
As Ravine aged, she was beginning to look more and more like Cassandra’s mother as she knew. It all started making sense to Cassandra then, that the God of Death had a lot in store for her.
“Well, I have got the biggest shocker for you as well. But before that, let’s introduce each other to our families.” Zayn excitedly says to the girl who gives him a poker face.
“Are you for real, Zayn? You’re twice my age right now. And what are you going to explain to them when they ask you how we’ve met? First sight love? Or you’re gonna blame it on fate?” At Cassandra’s witty explanations and words, Zayn couldn’t help but laugh at her expressions.
She looked so pissed, yet so cute like an angry little doll.
“You’re laughing too much, Zayn-boy.” She says, looking around as people were beginning to speculate about the identity of the man behind the mask.
“Oh jeez. That was so good.” Zayn realises that he had laughed so good after a really long time. When he got his memories back twelve years ago, he was always anticipating for the best and for the worst.
He often dreamt about something happening to the girl, who he didn’t even know existed.
On the other hand, Cassandra was totally aware of her parted boyfriend’s existence. She kept all tracks on him, afraid that she would lose him in any case. She often wrote him letters, which never reached him anyway.
They were probably lost in a junk pile of million other letters.
Cassandra knew that her competitors will be mad. Million other girls would have to give up on the dream to marry the most eligible bachelor of the Johnson Family, in the whole world as well.
Patting her face dry out of the tears, she stabilizes herself quickly before patting him on his thigh.
“Say, are you hungry?”
“I could eat you.” His blunt answer makes her dive into another poker expression.
“Let’s go to a cafe. And tell me everything about your family.”
“Even though you know everything about us. I’ll save the stories for the next time, Cassie. I just want to hear you talk about your mother and your life. You look so happy.” The man says to her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears as she takes a deep breath in.
She shifts her gaze upwards, towards the tree that housed for many birds and other species under it’s shade. They were one of them too, temporarily enjoying the shade of it under the harsh eleven O’clock weather of New York.
“I know a place, would you come with me?” Cassandra asks as the man nods willingly.
They walk towards a cafe on the street. She chooses the corner most seating available as she makes the man sit turning towards her. He was loving her protectiveness.
“And yes, that’s the best thing of my life. I watched my cousins get married and have kids too. A week ago, Riley married his childhood sweetheart named Oiko-”
“I know about that, handsome. Tell me about yourself. How- how did you manage to keep it all a secret? By the time I was revived in my body, I was barely 5 that time. It was fucking hard acting like a baby when I was actually a 17 year old girl trapped inside. It was a total mess. Sometimes I wonder if I am actually 30 years old now, you know, with the time and… all…” her pace of words begin to halt when she sees him staring at her with those lovesick eyes of his.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Zayn didn’t have the heart in him to tell her, that her question towards him was taken over by herself as she began talking about her own life. He was listening to her like a little boy listening to his mother’s lullaby. She sung so sweetly, every syllable that falls off her mouth felt like a blessed sound from the heavens.
“Don’t stop talking, my love.
I feel like I’m falling for you all over again.”