An Inevitable Past

Chapter 13: The Undiscovered Solution

November 03, 1800

"Cyrus! Oh, I missed you dear." Eleanor ran to Cyrus' arms, engulfing him with a tight hug. Tight enough to not make him ask for more.

"I missed you too, Eleanor. How's Blair?" She led him to the living room where her daughter ordered the hired planners for the big day that was going to happen in a week. A week!

"No, he can't cancel at the last minute, Dorota. I won't take no for an answer." Cyrus smiled as he watched Blair look so dedicated at being the head planner.

"Blair, darling." He called, and she turned her head to face him. She couldn't help but sigh at the sight of her mother and Cyrus all cuddled up together.

"Cyrus, hi." She greeted him with a hug, too. Not as tight as Eleanor's though.

"Not enough!" He chuckled and pulled her back in. The two giggled as they filled each other in on what they have been up to recently. Aaron stood behind his father, watching him be so comfortable around the Waldorfs.

Blair was ecstatic to have Cyrus and his son here. Or else she would have to deal with her mother's panics every ten seconds. At least her mother will be able to relax with her lover in the Mansion.

Today, Blair and her team had been finalizing the details of the most awaited wedding in the whole village. She was surprised at how calm she was taking it. In seven days, she was going to be married. And marriage had always been a big deal to her.

Instead of having the cold feet, she couldn't wait 'til it was finally the day of her wedding. Something told her everything was going to be perfect and fine and all will go accordingly by the plan. But there was that feeling deep inside her heart that warned her about something horrible happening. Tragic.

She chose to push those negative thoughts down because it was too late to back out now. Not that she was thinking about stepping back. But she was all in, and she definitely wasn't going to ruin her wedding she planned for the past month.

"Eleanor tells me you've been very busy these days. Don't get too stressed, dear. Bad for your health." Cyrus says as they both walk to the garden. She decided she would show him around for the time being. He and she had no plans for the day and a little tour of the Waldorf Mansion would be a great time killer.

"Don't worry, Cyrus. I'm making sure I don't stress myself too much. The preparations excite me, actually." She said, and looked at her fully grown flowers she grew herself. Maybe with a little bit of help from Dorota.

"Well, if you're excited, then I'm excited too. When do I get to meet Mr. Charles Bass?" Blair's heart pounded in her chest as she hears his name again.

She had not mention Cyrus to Chuck yet, since he was so busy lately. She understood, considering the fact that they had literally been spending all of their time with each other.

When she'd ask Lily where Chuck may be in times where they weren't together though, her answers would be the same.

"He said he needed to go somewhere, dear. He didn't mention where."

It was odd, but it was none of her business so she let him be. The idea of cheating was far from her mind, because Chuck would never do that to her. Doing that to her would affect his family name and he had always been all about the business and the safety of his clan.

"Soon, Cyrus. I'll set a date with him when he gets back from the work trip." Blair takes a seat at the bench.

Cyrus gives her a nod and a smile as he sits beside her, ready to have a change of conversation.

"So tell me." He started, and she listened. "What do you plan on doing after the wedding?"

——————————————————

"This doesn't make any sense." He mumbled as he looked at the piece of paper being showed to him. "I've visited all of these art museums. Where the hell could that painting be?" He asked Arthur, even though the poor guy had no idea what he was talking about. He was simply the one taking him to all of his destinations.

"Sir, maybe we should go back. It's getting dark, after all." Chuck heard him say. He sighed deeply and nodded anyway.

He would have to see if there was another way to go back to the original timeframe he came from. He can't stay here. He just can't. He left so much behind and he just couldn't sacrifice all of those for a life like this.

Although he'd be spending his life with Blair. . . It just felt wrong. He had to take care of more things first. Bass Industries, his friends, his family.

But Blair. . .

He shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't help but feel horrible for what he was thinking. Surely there was a way to get out of this decade. But when that happened, that also meant having to leave Blair and everything he had learned to love in this world away.

Chuck scolded himself for getting too attached. That had never happened before. Blair was just different. She was rare. No woman was like her.

Now he would have to come to a choice whether to leave her for his not-so-great life back home.

"We've arrived, Sir." He saw Arthur open the door and step aside to give him access to the exit. He pats his shoulder before going in. The house felt eerily quite but he assumed everyone was at the party hosted by a family friend in the next village. He was all alone tonight.

He decided to finish his painting for Blair when he spotted it in his room. Just a few more finishing touches and it would all be good to give to her. He was hoping she'd like- no, love it. He had spent a lot of time on this portrait, making sure it had no flaws like scratches or smudges. Thankfully, there was none.

He picked his palette and paint brush up and started to work. Painting relaxed him in a very weird way. To this day, he still could not believe he was capable of creating such masterpieces. It felt truly incredible, knowing you could do something and you had that undiscovered talent inside you. He was grateful.

Chuck continued on his work for about an hour and a half when he felt sleep slowly crawling into his system. He put the tools down, washed his hands, did his routine like brush his teeth, change his clothes, all of those basics.

When he was finally able to drop his tired figure on the bed, he closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him. He was sure he'd dream of her again. Like every night. He really did love her. But he thought it was best not to say it for now when he still hasn't figured the way out of this surreal world. He was correct. He did dream about her again, this time, it was different.

It made him sweat and grit his teeth as his eyes were still closed. No, he hated this dream.

"Blair, no!"
——————————————————-
Unedited. Such a boring chapter but things are about to get real complicated soon. No CB interaction, I know. I promise there will be on the next chapter. Anyway, I feel my eyes slowly closing so I should probably go before I misspell a word. Please review!