Neptune

Chapter 44 | The Missing Words

C A S S I E

I wake up in the morning feeling so weak. Groaning, I sit up on my bed. My eyes are swollen from too much crying.

Damn. Fortunately, I'm on a break from the spotlight. Paul would freak out if he saw how I look right now.

My mind wanders to the fact that I still don't want to see Luke, and it means that I will be escaping breakfast with him and Aiden.

I hate it. I hate that I can't see Aiden because of this. Moreover, it's the weekend, so Luke will probably stay home all day to play with Aiden.

How am I going to avoid him?

My door creaks open, and I'm surprised to find Aiden walking in. He's pushing a rolling tray of foods, and when he halts beside the bed, his eyes widen in horror.

"Are you okay?" He looks at me like he's about to cry. "You look pale. Is it that bad? Should we go to the hospital?" he stutters.

I abruptly shake my head, signaling that I'm okay. Luke must have told Aiden that I'm sick.

"Sweetheart, I'm fine." An instant smile creeps onto my lips as I brush my fingers through his brown hair. "I was just feeling a bit tired."

Aiden still looks at me with worry, his expression so adorable as he stares at me with his big innocent amber eyes.

"Really?" he echoes. "Luke told me that you're sick and can't have breakfast with us and that you must be feeling lonely, so I think it would be a good idea if we have breakfast together in your room."

My heart melts from Aiden's kindness. I giggle, taking out the food trays from the main tray and placing them on my bed.

I pat the sheet, telling him to hop on.

"Well then, let's eat them together," I say in a cheerful voice. It's crazy how my mood brightens up every time he's around.

Aiden grins, and we start talking about something else that takes my mind off Luke for a while. It turns out that my weekend morning is not that bad, because I'm having breakfast on the bed with this little bundle of joy.

*

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, sitting at my dresser as I spray my favorite lavender body mist on my body. I had a long warm aromatherapy bath earlier to calm myself down, and it worked because I feel freshened up.

However, these bags under my eyes make me mutter under my breath. Since I became a celebrity, the existence of eye bags has become unnecessarily important, and it's annoying.

Aiden said earlier during our breakfast that he's going to paint for his art homework today, so I'm excited to spend time with him inside the gallery room.

Smiling, I stand up from my dresser and step out of my bedroom. While I'm walking down the hallway, relief washes over me because Luke is nowhere in sight.

When I finally reach the gallery, I open the door and step inside.

Like I've seen before, the room is filled with paintings made by Luke's deceased elder brother, Victor.

Sadness stirs inside me as if I just heard the tragedy all over again from Ms. Langston. My heart sinks remembering how much it must have hurt Aiden and Luke to lose Victor and Emily, but now that I stare at all of these paintings again, more pain strikes my heart.

As if I've seen before that painting a picture is a form of washing away all the pain. Something about...escaping.

But then again, this sadness might result from the irony that Aiden paints just like his father did, and that maybe the kid is trying to escape his loneliness.

I sigh, a soft smile on my lips as I find Aiden sitting on the floor with a brush in his hand, staring at the canvas lying in front of him.

"Hi, Aiden. What are you painting?"

Aiden turns to look at me and beams. "My teacher asked us to paint the planets in our galaxy."

I raise my brows, approaching him. "That's really cool."

I bend down next to him, observing his painting. And again, I'm impressed.

Aiden does an amazing job of painting the planets. His work is beautiful.

"Well, can you tell me about all of these beautiful objects?" I playfully challenge him.

"Of course," he says, excitement in his voice as he finds me interested in this piece of art. "This tiny planet right here is the closest to the sun. Mercury." He points the said planet.

I smile and ask him to keep going, "And?"

"Then there's this one next to it. Venus," Aiden says. "It's earth's twin in size."

As he goes on, the smile on my face stays. I watch him closely.

"Earth," he says. "Our beautiful planet."

"Mars."

"Jupiter."

"Saturn."

"Uranus."

"Neptune." He points at the pretty blue planet, and my heart suddenly feels like stopping.

Neptune...

A strange feeling attacks my insides, and there's a voice inside my head, whispering:

"He's my Neptune. But—"

Blood rushes to every vein in my body, all of my senses awakened. A sudden pain strikes me, and my hand shakes, making Aiden notice it.

He startles when he sees my shocked expression.

"Cassie?" he calls, worry in his voice. "What's the matter? Is there something wrong?"

And now as I stare at Aiden's face, more pain pierces through me.

I don't know why I suddenly feel this kind of agony, but my hand touching the canvas now shakes even harder. Aiden grips it.

"Cassie," he stutters. "What happened?"

I look away and stare down instead, trying to calm myself down, my other hand covering my eyes. If I don't stop this ridiculousness, I'll make Aiden worried.

"Nothing," I rasp. "I'm okay, Aiden. I just feel a little bit dizzy."

That's a lie, because my head feels like it's being hit by a hammer now. I wince, touching it.

I can't stop thinking about the voice that suddenly echoed inside my head. Whose voice was it? What does it mean?

"He's my Neptune. But—"

But what? What is it trying to say?

I can't finish the sentence in my head.