The Fallen Star

Chapter 8

Anastasia

I picked Sarah up and laid her on sofa draping her with the hand knit blanket and started cleaning up the mess in the room.

It took me a little over half an hour to clean it all and make it look presentable except for the curtains, there was nothing I could do to smooth them down. I would have to provide him with an explanation for these at least. I picked up the the last crystal and threw it in bin. It was not safe for them to be around her. I had to show her a better way of dealing with anger and these are not an option.

I checked the time and it was almost past dinner time. I hurried into the kitchen to cook something. As much as I was lazy but I always made time to cook something healthy. Upon entering the kitchen, I saw the boxes of pizza stacked on shelves and was instantly hit with hunger.

I resisted having a slice of pizza instead started searching for the owner of the house. I had yet to know his name officially. Although I already knew his name but I couldn't make that obvious on him. I searched for him around the house when I didn't find him in his study. I decided to go back in the room and wait for Sarah to wake up or him to show up.

After a few minutes of catching up with my godly duties and making sure my pals were able to handle everything smoothly. I sat on the sofa near Sarah and watched over her, smiling, wishing that if I ever get the choice of being a mother, I'd want a daughter as cute as her.

My eyelids started getting heavy and I felt my head slightly tilting to get support of the sofa and before I knew I was in deep slumber.

Haedum

After going through two shelves of books on ancient history, I had gone through every page and realized I still had no idea what I was searching for. All the books were on Gods, their duties, their incarnation and what not. I gave up and checked the time to realize it was a little after midnight and hurried out the door. I closed everything, and left my table a bit messed up to make sure that my presence there could be confirmed.

I walked to the living room expecting another disaster to struck me or something but the room was cleaned and an attempt of smoothing the curtain had been made, although unsuccessful. I walked in to find the two of them fast asleep. I glanced at the watch worriedly, they had fallen asleep without having dinner. But I draped a warm hand knit blanket that I would wear whenever I slept on couch over Anastasia and picked Sarah up in my arms. I carried her to her room, she fell into even a deeper slumber if that was possible as soon as she came in contact with her bed and stuffed dolphin. I smiled and kissed her two kisses on forehead before leaving.

I came back down to dim the lights but stopped dead on tracks when I saw Anastasia sobbing in her sleep. I took a step forward, unsure what to do. But before I could take any action, she woke up and wiped her tears off her face as if she wasn't fazed by the fact she woke up crying.

I decided to turn and walk away before I could be caught in the situation of staring at her.

"Sir, shall we talk?" She asked in a voice too sweet, a tone she hadn't used with me before.

I gulped down the saliva residing on my tongue and ran a hand through my un-combed hair, making them more messier than they already were. But despite the lump forming in my throat because of the closeness between us as she sat on the chair beside me with just mere inches between us. I could feel her coldness and wanted to engulf her with her warmth but I kept my hands to myself and my partner in my pants.

"Sir...?"

"Rodriguez, you can call me Haedum, Anastasia." I replied

Her name rolled off quiet nicely on my tongue but I wanted it to be something reserved for me.

"Haedum, how is your relationship with Sarah?" She asked, dropping the formalities and sitting starlight with concern lying on her face.

As much as I was grateful to her for being this concerned, I wanted to etch that concern right off and place a smile.

"I think you could see that I am very fond of her and have been taking good care of her ever since our parents died. We have a healthy relationship and I could have taken care of her all by myself but I need a baby sitter because there are times when I am not at home, for hours or days too, sometimes."

I look at her, trying to read what's going on her mind but give up and continue instead,
"With me taking over my father's company, I'll be more busier than usual."

She stared at me for a minute before deciding what to say,
"I think both of you haven't embraced the fact that your parents are dead. Did you guys sit and talk about what next?"

I thought for a minute.

"She didn't need to, she coped with it all very well. She didn't question me or cry. She understood what had happened." I replied honestly.

"No. She didn't, you think she handled it but all she did was suck it in. Do you know how deadly can this be. She didn't cry or make a fuss. When you do something like that you are slowly letting that pain poison you form inside. Making you just a living hollow." She let it all out sighing with exhaustion.

I'm that moment I craved to know what had happened to her that shook her so much, taught her so much. But with Sarah on my mind, I couldn't bring myself to let that thought settle in longer than it did.

When I think back to how the past few days have been, I can suddenly see the change in Sarah. She was trying to be a version of her that I'd never seen before. And it clicked in all the right places.

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Hello readers,
Sometimes we are unable to see what's in-front of us. There are many things that are overcrowded and make it difficult for us to see what's lying right in front of our eyes.

But with time, these clouds disperse and we can see what we would initially either refuse to see or we couldn't see.

Love from Pakistan. ❤️