NOVEL NEXT Chapter 494.
Chapter 494. Rekindling Old Flames before Parting Ways at the Break of Dawn. (2/3)
I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was thinking he could lie to his daughter and just tell her he’d met her mother and tried to get back together with her but she declined when he never met her at all.
“Alright. Then let me write up the contract.”
When I turned away a devilish grin floated to my face. That was close. I’d been holding it back since the moment he agreed.
I retrieved a folded-up piece of paper from my pants pocket and wrote out the conditions while holding the paper up against the wall.
When I was done I handed it over to him.
He read through it carefully making sure he wasn’t somehow signing away his farm or house to me.
As soon as he signed it I could taste it. My body’s response confirmed the contract was a resounding success.
I retrieved the contract from him and separated the sheets and handed the top sheet back to him.
“Here’s the original. I’ll keep the carbon copy.”
“Okay.”
Yes… I’d used carbon copy paper to create a second contract. It wasn’t a simple copy though. It was nearly identical but I’d written out terms in advance on the piece on the back effectively creating two separate contracts.
His soul was mine and he never realized a thing.
As for the taste of this contract, it was bittersweet. Neither particularly good nor bad for me.
The reason for that was that I gave him the same revocable condition I gave Aurelia in hers. This way, that lost time, they could at least recover some of it.
If they wanted to have another child, they could do so without worry of any complications arising due to their age. I’m sure Dawn would be happy if she had a younger sibling.
I wished their family the best.
Ah… that reminds me... I have both of her parents' souls but I still haven’t signed the contract to acquire Dawn’s. I should really get that done. Rosa should still have it. I hope she didn’t lose it.
Right when I was thinking that Dawn’s father spoke up, “Kid, looks like yer girlfriend’s back.”
When I focused on the dirt road a pickup truck was headed our way.
“You should start preparing.” I gave him a friendly warning.
“Preparin for what?”
“To get down on your hands and knees.”
“Huh? Why would I…” he froze when the pickup truck was close enough for him to see inside the passenger seat.
“Well, good luck I guess. Looks like we won’t need to wait.”
“Yuh tricked me yuh little bastard! Yuh already knew she was with them, didn’t yuh?”
“Of course. I only take bets I know I’m going to win after all.”
“I forgot I gotta check on the horses.”
When he turned to leave I stopped him, “Are you going to run away like a coward even when she’s come all the way to see you?”
“Ugh. I dunno how to face er or what tuh say after all this time.”
“Are you an idiot? We already established this in advance. Get down on your hands and knees and just tell her ‘I love you, I want us to get back together.’”
“That’s too humiliating.”
“So what? You're a man, aren’t you? Suck it up and don’t be a little bitch. Is your stupid pride and dignity worth more to you than the woman you love?”
“...” He fell into silence internally struggling between fleeing and staying.
“You may not get another chance. Are you going to miss it?”
He took in a deep breath before he slowly exhaled out, “Yuh’re… right… this could really be... my last chance.” His voice quivered emotionally. It looked like the memories he shared together with her were flooding in. He covered his eyes with his right hand as tears began to roll down his cheeks.
When they parked up, Rosa jumped out of the back and opened the passenger side door. She started lightly slapping Aurelia’s cheeks to wake her up.
“Wake up sleeping beauty. We’re here.”
“Rosa, she’s my Mom... can yuh… uh... be a bit more gentle?”
“If I’m not forceful she’s going to keep pretending to be asleep. Seriously, how long do you plan to pretend you’re still asleep? I know you woke up a while ago on the way here and you’ve been pretending to be asleep since.”
Slap. Slap. Slap.
“I’m awake! I’m awake! Please stop slapping me in front of my daughter, it’s embarrassing and just makes it harder for me to admit I’m awake.”
“Good. About time. You’re not as nervous anymore now though, right?”
“Well… you sort of slapped the tension out of me I guess…”
“Then get out already and go see him.”
Rosa… can you please read the mood?
I couldn’t help but notice Dawn’s father’s lips twitching a bit as his shoulders trembled.
Was it from being moved from hearing the voice of the woman he loved? Or was it because he wanted to laugh? It was hard to tell.
Aurelia’s eyes landed on me beside Dawn’s father before they shifted to him. When she saw him with his hand over his eyes and the current state he was in her eyes rippled emotionally as she hesitated.
Rosa didn’t miss a beat and forcefully pulled her out of the vehicle and pushed her along from behind.
“Jeez, what are you hesitating for? Stop being so lame.”
Aurelia seemed helpless against Rosa’s pushiness.
“I can walk by myself, so stop pushing me already!”
With one final push from Rosa, Aurelia came to a stop in front of her ex-husband.
“...”
“...”
An awkward silence.
“I- uh- …” Aurelia opened her mouth to try and say something to break the silence but she couldn’t find the words.
Dawn’s father’s head sank down. He fell down onto his left knee and opened his mouth but not a single sound came out. His left hand was planted flat to the ground powerless devoid of strength as his right hand covered his eyes. The tears wouldn’t stop falling.
Aurelia clutched at her heart with her right hand and extended her left hand out wanting to touch him but she couldn’t. She was teary-eyed and looked like her heart was breaking.
“A-Aur… elia…” he somehow squeezed her name out, his voice trembling. His head tilted back as he sniffed up his runny nose.
“I’ve… miss… ed yuh… so much… I… love yuh… and have… always wanned... ta get back... togethuh… Can... we? Is it… too late fer us?”
“I… c-can’t… you deserve... better.”
“Yuh’re… the only one… for me. Please! I love yuh so much it hurts!”
“But… after everything... you suffered… because of me…”
Dawn’s father’s hand shot up from the ground and grabbed her left hand.
“Aurelia, will yuh... marry me? One more time.”
Aurellia’s lips parted slightly, but she quickly bit her lower lip and covered her mouth with her right hand.
“...” She couldn’t say it. I could see it in the fluctuating color of her soul. She felt guilty that she wanted to say yes, that she was being forgiven for running away and so easily given another chance to be together with the man she loved. Another chance to be happy. To be a family, living together with her husband and daughter. It was like a dream that was crushing her.
“Aurelia…” Dawn’s father slowly lowered his right hand covering his eyes down to his side onto the ground
“Will yuh marry me?”
Aurelia’s eyes shut tight, she couldn’t voice it, but she nodded her head.
“Is that… a yes?” Dawn’s father asked with tears flowing down his aged face.
“Yes.” She was finally able to say it.
Aurelia collapsed to the ground and wrapped her arms around his neck resting her chin on top of his right shoulder.
“You’re still as big a crybaby as ever...” Aurelia whispered quietly as Dawn’s father wrapped his arms around her back and embraced her tightly, lowering his head and taking a deep breath in.
“Speak for yourself. Yuh’re cryin too.”
“I used to never cry… but recently... it seems I’ve been crying a lot… I missed both of you so much.”
“We missed yuh more.”
“No way. You had each other so you wouldn’t be lonely. I missed the two of you way more.”
“I should have chased after yuh… when yuh left.”
“But you couldn’t… because of him… right?”
“Yuh knew?”
“I… only found out the truth yesterday… and he... went and died.” Aurelia’s voice grew weaker and weaker until her words were almost inaudible by the time she uttered the final word.
He hadn’t yet been informed of the target’s death yet. The contract he had with Wisteria was considered complete when Wisteria provided the alternative solution of having the target rot away suffering behind bars for life in a jail cell for the shady dealings he was involved with. But something unexpected happened and he was assassinated by the “dangerous people” he worked closely with in broad daylight for knowing too much, afraid he’d spill the beans to the cops.
Right now, just what was he feeling after hearing about the untimely demise of his former friend turned greatest enemy?
The color of his soul revealed everything.
Was it happiness?
Satisfaction?
Joy?
No, his soul had transitioned from a happy yellow when Aurelia said yes to marrying him to a deep shade of blue.
Sadness. A sense of melancholy as grief overcame him.
His feelings on the matter were mixed and complicated. I didn’t know anything about their times together so there was no way for me to say anything on the subject.
In the end, he was once a good friend. Even if betrayed by him, hearing about his death wasn’t something that made him happy. It gave him no joy, only buyer’s remorse.
“How… did he... die?”
“We can talk about that later. It’s a long story.”