Never Meant To Be

Chapter Thirty Three

Aria's POV

"Hey Aria."

"Yeah?" I said as I looked up from the menu.

Cassie hesitated for a while before speaking up.

"Have you.... have you ever gone to visit your mother's grave?"

I felt a huge lump go down my throat as I blinked the tears that were forming in my eyes.

I had been pushing the news about my parents to the back of my mind because I did not want to be an emotional wreck but now that Cassie has brought this up, I just did not want to let my emotions get in the way of anything. I fought the urge to excuse myself and go to the bathroom as I did not want Cassie to be worried about me when she already is going through a lot.

"Uhh...no, no I haven't." I said as I diverted my gaze back to the menu.

The waiter came and took our orders and I looked at my phone again as I received another message from Axel.

Get to work right now Aria.

"You sure have been staring at your phone a lot, are you expecting a call from someone?" Xander asked and I shook my head.

"No no, I was just checking up something."

"Finally our food is here!" Xander exclaimed and Cassie chuckled, I was not really in a laughing mood so I just kept quiet.

Xander cracked his silly jokes and Cassie laughed hard while I forced myself to put on a smile every once in a while.

There was another beep on my phone and I knew that it was another message from Axel.

I don't have time for your nonsense, get to work or else you can kiss your job goodbye.

We finished eating our lunch and went back to the hospital. There was a man seated on one of the seats in the waiting room.

"Dad." Cassie called and the man looked at Cassie as he stood up.

"Dad!" She called again as she ran into his arms.

"Cupcake." He said as he embraced Cassie in his arms.

Cassie had told me that she had informed her father about her mother's illness. She was not sure if her father would come all the way to New York City to see how his ex-wife was doing but fortunately he did.

"You came!" She said excitedly as soon pulled away from his hold.

"Of course I did cupcake, she is your mother and I care about her." He said as he looked at her so lovingly.

I wish my father looked at me that way, he never even dared to look my way, he always said that seeing my face made him wonder where he had wronged God.

"Dad, I would like you to meet my friends." She said as she pulled his father towards us. "This is Xander, and this is Aria."

"Nice to meet you sir." Xander said as he shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr......" I trailed off as I did not remember Cassie's surname, lately I had been easily forgetful and also my concentration was very poor.

"It's Chanzu.... Ivan Chanzu, and it's a pleasure to meet you too." He said as he shook my hand and I smiled. "Thank you both for being with my daughter in such time of need."

"It's okay sir, Cassie would have also done the same if it had been us." Xander said.

"How is your mother doing?" He asked as he looked at Cassie.