Her.

Chapter Twenty Two.

Years and years later...

"So is that how Uncle Perri met her" Mimi whispered to her father, the small girls eyes watching who she knew as Uncle Perri dancing with her brother, this was the place she had grown up, the place that everyone in this large connected family felt safe, but it didn't take a genius to work out that someone in her family wasn't right, that they wasn't okay. "You're full of questions today" Jordan laughed, pulling gently on her lose pig tails, the curls in her hair more evident now that she was older. "I just don't like seeing Uncle Perri sad" The young child whispered as Perri flipped Cass over his shoulder, the room being engulfed in laughter.

The truth was, what happened that night haunted Perri, it also haunted Esme. Some people believe in right person wrong time, some people believe that fate draws two people together and crashes them into each other, but not all stories end with the happiness, not all love stories pan out the way we expect them to, at least not the ones Disney portray on the big screens, the ones where the princess sleeps for thousands of years and is awoken by a prince who traveled near and far to find her, to wake her up.

The truth was whilst Perri and Esme knew how they felt about each other, neither of them perused it, but if I was to tell you that the story would be over, wouldn't it? They'd be no need for endless of chapters of drama, or unneeded moments leading up to the final paragraph, and there would be no fun in that would there..

"Why do you ask Mim? What's got you so puzzled today?" Jordan asked his daughter, watching as her eyes gazed at Perri, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, her thinking and concentration faced rolled into one, gazing into the unknown territory, well unknown territory for a five year old that was.
"Well daddy, you used to do that radio station kiss me" Mimi questions, her eyes falling back to her father, who was now struggling to contain his laughter at his daughters seriousness and lack of actual information. "It was Kiss but yes" Jordan whispered as he picked his daughter up and carried her out of the practise room, balancing her on his hip. "Uncle Perri used to love kiss me, so why did he stopped, why did you both stopped?" Mimi questions, the five year old innocence coming through in her words, she was only five, but as Jordan stood here with his daughter he couldn't help but think of how grown up she was becoming, how alike Naomi she was beginning to be.

"Sometimes adults have to make touch choices" Jordan whispers, kissing the top of Mimis head, it's not like he could tell a five year old the truth anyway. "I know about love daddy" Mimi states, the seriousness dripping from her child like tone, making Jordan roll his eyes internally. "I know that Anna loved Christoph and I know you love Mummy you had that big day remember?" Mimi states, as Jordan places her on the floor, kneeling down to her level. "Okay, yes but what does this have to do with daddy being a radio host?" He questions, his own curiosity getting the best of him as to where his daughter was going with this story. "Well, daddy" Mimi whispers, her hands on her hips. "Uncle Perri brought someone to your big day with Mummy and he loved her he had the lovey eyes" Mimi smiles and she places her hands on her face and pretends to look all loved up, sighing to herself making Jordan chuckle. "You're right Mim, Uncle Pel did love someone once, but things change" Jordan mumbles quietly, but Mimi still caught the first part of his sentence. "So where is she now then daddy?" Mimi questions, as Jordan loses his concentration with his daughter and begins to think about everything that had happened in the years since that night at the Kiss FM ball, everything that had changed, all the reasons as to why it had changed.

"She is actually amazing" Perri breathed as the whole room erupted into applause. "Maybe now is your time to go and tell her, no time like the present to admit your feelings for one another" Jordan stated, wiggling his eyebrows at his best friend, it finally felt like all the pieces were fitting together, the puzzle had finally been solved. "Thank you to girl behind the microphone it has been a pleasure to have you perform for us, is there any words of wisdom you would like to say to the starstruck fans in the room" Jamie asked into the microphone, meeting Esme on the stage, Jamie's smile showing how proud he was of her and Perris smile matched Jamie's. "just that if you can dream it you can be it, for every negative comment I have, there's two positives, if you life your life pretending to do something you don't enjoy you're not living, you're surviving, if everyone in this room just lived their lives they'd be no enjoyment, so my words of wisdom is dream the impossible, believe it and do it" Esme smiled into the microphone, as the room claps around her. "Are we going to find out who you are?!" A voice bellowed from the crowd, as murmurs break out and others begin to ask for the same question.

"I honestly wasn't going to show who I was today, it's something that's played on my mind for a while, something that I've debated for a long time, I never felt as though I would fit into the whole show biz world" Esme chuckled, her smile slowly falling. "But to follow my own advice, I'm just surviving by doing this, I'll never know if I never try" Esme whispers, as her hands pull at her mask, letting it fall into her hands and her bright eyes becoming fully visible to the crowd, her smile radiating the room.

"My name is Esme, I'm girl behind the microphone" she whispers into the microphone, as the room fell silent.