Chapter # 46

EARLIER, Back when they knew about what happened. Zariah was with De Villiers and Amanda, telling them about the minimum, barely enough memories she made with Nathaniel. The barest moments that kept her going and believe that one day- things would be better. Smiling to herself, she hugged the pillow and told about an old, juvenile tale where she was seventeen and started to feel conscious about herself. 'He was changing me, since the beginning, he was my only emotion so one day I was in the garden…" She was sitting in the gazebo, lost in herself worrying while Nathaniel was struggling to cut the thorns of a rose before tugging it behind her ear. 'There. All perfect," He grinned, hiding the blood in his hand that got pricked by the thorn. She definitely noticed and placed his injured hand under her cheek sorrowfully. 'How- why do you do this? I don't know how to express my emotions, Nathaniel," 'I will do it for both of us," He scooted closer, eyes drowning in her emotionless ones. She gulped, placing her other hand over his heart. 'I don't know how to show love," 'Isn't mine enough?" He chuckled huskily, cupping her cheeks, forcing her to maintain the keen eye-contact. 'I don't know how to be-" 'Sincere?" 'Yes" Exhaling, he held her depressed face in his palm and rested his forehead against hers, promising sincerely, lovingly. 'Even if you don't know how to be sincere, I alone will be sincere to our love," Blushing at the memory, her grip on the pillow tightened. Amanda was shocked to hear that as De Villiers smirked. 'And he no doubt did," 'I chose my father over him time over time, tried to kill him but he just stuck with me after losing memories too," She chuckled, finding herself mesmerized. 'Now that I think about it, all my life, I have been loved by only two people. Alessandra and Nathaniel." 'What about your mother?" Amanda asked, noticing she didn't spare much grief on her death too. 'What did she ever do for me? I never had that type of bond with her," She sighed, waving her hand to shrug it off. 'Do you remember when he started calling you an angel and pissed us off?" De Villiers interrupted, not destroying the flow of the talks that made her giggle. 'Oh, that," 'What happened?" 'Issac taught me combat, Nathaniel hated me fighting and I got a deep cut on my cheek," Zariah whispered. Touching her cheek, losing in the two beautiful years of teenage she shared. 'And…?" 'I never cared about my scars before but after being with Nathaniel," She became shy, hiding half of her face in her hand and giggled. 'I hated them, I always wanted to look graceful for him so when I cried, he came to me and…-" 'Why are you crying?" Sighing, Nathaniel entered her room, standing behind her. She was grieved at her reflection and kept on sobbing- how unusual of her- so it perturbed him. 'Look at my face, it's not pretty anymore. What if this scar remains on my face forever and ruins it?" She cried more, covering her face in her hands, afraid to meet him. He frowned, hating the tears glistening on his face. He was longing for her smiles, for her radiance, not those tears of sadness. 'So what?" He sighed. Placing his hand over her shoulder as she turned to him weakly, removing her hand gradually and staring back with those teary eyes. 'You would hate it on me," 'Who says?" 'You are the future king, obviously you would require a worthy-" Cutting her off sternly, his one hand possessively held the side of her face, forcing her to stare as she gulped at his unforeseen action. He held her like this for the first time. 'Listen, Zari," Inhaled sharply, he declared seriously, etching this in her mind as a fact. 'You are the most exquisite woman I have ever laid my eyes upon and that fact will never change," 'And I still remember what he told me that day," 'You have already told us about it many times," De Villiers muttered, waving his hand. 'You guys were together?" 'Yes. All four of us, we grew up together except for the fact they used to swoon around with their romance and make me and Alessandra jealous," De Villiers nodded. His hand in the air with an unwanted face, not wanting to remember how they used to be so clingy, only existing around each other. But, the way that moment went away… it never arrived again. 'I wish we could go back to those times, it used to be so beautiful. Whatever, however, it was, we were together, as one," Zariah whispered. Wanting- dying to hold him, forget her worries and abandon her world. To be where he was but… circumstances had changed. 'Aren't you one now?" De Villiers frowned, noticing her dismay. Sighing, she expressed her feelings sincerely, not holding them back anymore. 'I… don't know. Sometimes I find him so far away from me… so close yet not beside me," Her lips ended up quivering, curling her hand in a fist of powerlessness. 'I feel like my Nathaniel is lost in the midst of time," 'And only you can help him," De Villiers reminded her seriously to which she chuckled dryly. 'Why do you think I have completely changed myself?" For him, for his sake, for their betterment. 'I completely detached myself from the Mafia, this wasn't the life I wanted in the first place," She mumbled, not ever wanting to forget that promise he made of saving her from that darkness. 'As a human killing machine, as a piece of robot. I just wanted to be his, always," And then chuckled, 'Plus he is my only emotion," Which couldn't last long, vanquished before the wall of his wrath, refusing to settle down and accept the new change. 'And in the way I have changed myself, I want him to change himself too, for the better." 'Did he expect us to fight till our last breaths?" 'He is the son of Valencia Alroy, the Queen of the underworld after all." Amanda made her remember. 'Yeah, you should have thought about entangling yourself with such a fatal man before," 'Yeah, yeah-" She was about to tell another past tale but De Villiers received a call from Mark, informing him about the situation in Nathaniel's cabin. 'Do you have any idea who and where he must be?" 'I will check on the doctors who checked in tonight and let you know who is missing. I will also send you the location," 'Okay," 'What happened? Is Nathaniel okay? Is everything alright?" Zariah panicked after seeing his expressions twisting into a worried one. 'If it was, he wouldn't be calling me. Seems like Zoran blended between us and now targeted Nathaniel," 'Then we must go and save him!" Zariah enunciated. Getting up immediately to reach the depths of hell to save him. 'Woah, both of you are not going anywhere. I will go and settle this," De Villiers said strictly but she refused to allow any harm to reach Nathaniel in her presence. 'Do you think I will let you leave without me, De Villiers?" She hissed, standing determined to not back away. 'Because it's dangerous and you are no longer a part of it!" He snapped. 'I don't care, to save Nathaniel, I will go!" 'Why are you so stubborn like Boss?!" 'We are in the same category," He was about to scowl but well aware of her stubbornness, he sighed loudly in defeat. 'Of course, Come," Amanda smirked at their bickering as he growled, going to save Nathaniel from his predicament with Mark. Ensuring one thing that for his sake, she could do anything.