Some Enchanted Evening 7

That morning, I was awaken by the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. It was a sound that I hadn’t heard for a long time. I quickly rushed out of my room and headed towards the kitchen.

Standing next to the kitchen stove, holding a mug of coffee, was Meg. "Meg!" I shouted with glee and rushed towards her. "Jade!" she said immediately and we hugged for the longest amount of time. Just then, I felt her give me a little slap on the shoulder.

"Hey! What was that for?" I asked, nursing my hurt shoulder. "Do you need to ask? Where were you 2 months ago? And how the heck do you have the guts to runaway without even calling me?" she said in that tingly voice of hers.

I just shrugged and hoped that she’d drop the subject. I wasn’t too keen on talking about my mishaps with my mom listening next to us.

"Oh, okay you two. You can continue talking when we’re seated on the table for breakfast." My mom said, while ushering us to the dining table.

What ensued next was a blast of stories about my niece, who was now learning to walk. It was an hour later when we were both safely in my room that I managed to talk to my sister about what’s been happening.

I told her about how I ran away from home and what I did. I told her about how dad finally found me and managed to get me home. And it was then that I had to tell her about how I met Benedict and made a deal with dad that if I had him for the next 3 months before my birthday that I would finally do what they asked of me.

I saw her expression change from one of amusement to a slight frown. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. "So, what do you think?" I asked, testing how she would react to what I just told her.

"You mean to tell me, that you got Benedict to say yes to this ridiculous deal with you and dad? Wow, he must have really changed…" she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, the Benedict I know from 15 years ago was the ultimate rebel. He would never have said yes to any plan that involved him doing anything he doesn’t want to do." She said.

"Well, then he must really be a different guy now…" I said, my thoughts drifting. "What happened between you two anyway?" I asked, curious about them.

"Oh baby sis… It was a relationship I had 15 years ago. I have really fond memories of him though. He was my first boyfriend, you know." She said with a smile.

"Well, it’s a good thing you’re married now then…" I said, annoyed. "Oh come on, Jade… No need to be jealous…" she said while carefully brushing my hair to take out the tension.

That night was the moment that I had been dreading about for the past months. It was the night that Benedict and Meg would finally meet again after all this years. Would they still feel the same for each other? I knew that Meg was happy with her life now. And yet I also knew that Benedict was still in love with the young Meg from the past.

So as I let him inside the house. As I let them see each other face to face after all this years. As I watched them acknowledge one another with smiles on their faces. And I watched them give each other a long hug, my heart was broken piece by piece.

For I knew then that what we had was just a hoax. And what they had back then was more real than I’d ever imagined.

The night grew even dimmer for me. We had dinner together in the dining area and I couldn’t help but acknowledge how much they seemed to know about each other. They talked about so many things during dinner that I didn’t even bother to try and relate with them.

I was now mildly annoyed that they were acting like a bunch of lovers who haven’t seen each other for years. Well, they were. Yet my sister should have known better for a married woman. And Benedict could at least try to pretend like our deal meant something to him.

So when dinner ended and all of us went to the balcony, I decided to slip out of the house for a while. I just couldn’t bear anymore of their little talks with each other.

In my haste to get out of the house I didn’t notice that someone followed me.

It was just when I reached the small clearing in the dark garden that I noticed someone walking towards me.

It was Benedict. I decided to ignore him a bit. Teach him that he wasn’t the only one who could ignore a person.

"What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly leave us?" he asked. It was like he didn’t even have a single idea of why I was annoyed at that point.

So it was my turn to ask him a question that I wanted to be answered for a long time.

"Tell me about you and Meg. What happened between you two 15 years ago?" I asked him directly, staring at his expressionless face.

He just managed to turn away. It was as if I wasn’t even there.
"You have to tell me how you two broke up. What happened? I mean, I keep trying to replay everything on my mind, but I don’t remember what happened between you two. Please, tell me." I asked, pleading with him.

He just stared into space, as if he didn’t hear my question. It was then that I realized how stupid it was for me to ask him something I wasn’t ever meant to find out. Even with everything that happened, I was just a girl that he needed to make his dreams come true. I wasn’t anything else besides the sister of the woman he loves.

Tears started to form in my eyes and I tried to hold them back. I turned around and stepped away from him. I was too distraught to even run to get myself out of here. It was too much.

Then I heard his soft voice call my name.

"Jade, wait…" he said. I turned around trying to hide the tears from my eyes by wiping them with the back of my hand. "Please, sit here beside me." he asked. Reluctantly, I walked towards him again and sat in the small clearing next to him.

It was then that he told me the missing pieces of memory that were lost in my head. "I loved her. We were both 17 when we met each other in this Rock concert. Typical, huh?" he asked with a chuckle. I noticed that his eyes still held certain sadness even with the smile on his face.

"Well, as it happened, we started to go out with each other and everything seemed to be pretty amazing at that time. She was so full of life, always wanting adventure. You could never tell what she would be up to next. That made me like her even more. So, we started going steady about 2 months before her 18th birthday. I thought then that everything was great between us. She never told me that she was having problems with her parents. Yes, she was having problems with your parents…" he said, while looking at me.

"She’d tell me things about them though. The way that your dad wanted her to run the family company. The way that your mom would consistently tell her how to talk and act ‘appropriately’ as she said. It was all for the best, they told her. Back then I thought it was just a little thing between your parents and her. You know, just like we all have with our parents. It wasn’t so simple though. I found that out the hard way on the eve of her 18th birthday. She invited me to this lavish party in your house. You were probably about 8 years old at that time. You probably don’t even remember me…" he said. Of course I remember you. The problem is that I never forgot you. I said to myself.

"Anyway, so I tried to dress up. I didn’t know at that time how rich you guys were. I just didn’t see that in her. But that night, I was pleasantly surprised. I wanted to talk to her that night. I was planning to tell her about my plans of finally being together. Something happened though…" he said, then stopped.

"What happened?" I asked curiously. "Well, I heard her parents talking to her about their plans for her future. They wanted her to marry the son of some rich tycoon. It was going to be a huge merger between the two companies. And I was prepared to fight for her then. I wanted to tell her that we would run away and she’d never have to think of her parents again. "he said.

"So why didn’t you?" I asked in a small voice. "I didn’t have the chance. She didn’t even blink when they asked her if she was willing to marry this guy. She said ‘yes’ on the spot. There was no emotion. There was no doubt. I just couldn’t believe it. I felt as if I didn’t know her at that point. So I immediately ran away, as fast as I could. I almost reached the gate when I realized that I needed to talk to her. So I went back to the garden to try and find her. I saw her from a distance, dancing with the some guy. I was so angry that I wanted to go to her. Then suddenly, a strange thing happened. As I was standing next to this tree, out of nowhere, a young girl fell from the top. It was so weird. I helped her go inside the house and when we reached the door, she told me something I’ll never forget. She told me that one day, we’d meet again and that she’d marry me. It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard of. Well, besides when you told your dad that you wanted me…" he said with a laugh.

I couldn’t believe it. Dear reader, he remembers me! Well, he remembers the little girl from that night 15 years ago, but still… In this small pocket inside my heart, I felt an increasing ember of happiness.

"What happened after the party?" I asked. "Well, as expected. I talked to her the next morning. We fought and I couldn’t get a straight answer from her. I knew we still loved each other, but I couldn’t understand how she could just let your parents break us apart like that. So we split up without really talking about everything. We didn’t really resolve any of the things we were supposed to talk about. I guess that’s why it’s still a little hard to see her now. After all this years…" he said with a sigh.

Before I could ask him anymore questions, he said, "We better get inside now. It’s getting a little chilly in here."

So when we walked side by side towards the house, I finally let myself smile in satisfaction. It was a smile that I let myself have even with everything that was happening. Underneath it though, there were still questions left unanswered. And there was still a future that might mean losing him.

Hi everyone! It's the last few chapters before the story ends. Tell me what you think. If there are still things that you want to know, just leave your comments and I hope to answer them for the next chapters. Thanks!