I MARRIED A CUPID

17: HER SEARCH

CHAPTER 17

CAELON

I watch as Aila sat by the window, a phone on her ear while she talks with different people. She is trying to look for her parents and she started by searching for her mother.

The sight of her focused face made me weary. She was an entirely different person, as she was a different being. She is now a human  after she pierced herself with the arrow. She suffered in a comatose state for a week and ever since she woke up, she merely said anything to me except for how to search for people and how to use the phone.

She stays in a different room and won’t even draw close to me. I never tried to use her body because I feel like I have a fault here. That is what she is making me feel and I am tired of keeping up because it isn’t me who stole an arrow and left. It was her.

I gritted my teeth and opened the door to the balcony, planning to confront her as soon as she ended the call. Her stance changed and Aila stared at me,  preparing to leave.

“No.” Aila looks up in question, “You can’t leave. We have to talk.”

“But I have to go and check the other address. My mother—”

I tugged at her hand and pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her, “I am sorry, okay? If you are avoiding me because you saw me with another woman at the park then, I apologize.”

“No, it’s not that,” She shakes her head and tried to remove my hold from her body but I only tighten my arms, “Caelon, please.”

“What is it, Aila? Tell me what is bothering you!

“We had a baby, Caelon, and I lost it because I pierced myself with the arrow.” Her answer shocked me and I lose the strength on my arms. Aila fell on a heap upon the floor, her shoulders shaking as she cried. She covered her mouth and whimpered, “I didn’t mean to. I am sorry.”

I kissed her cheek and rubbed her back, “No, it is not your fault. We will get through this, okay?”

*

I set down the cup of tea in front of Aila and lay the biscuits next to the papers. The number of faces printed on them including the contact information, map of places and possible locations littering the top of the desk makes it impossible to see the wood beneath, as though we have resigned on doing a collage of investigations.

Aila sighs for the nth time as she put her feet down on the carpet. She reaches for her cup of tea and smiled pouring some milk and tentatively stirring it with her spoon, her eyes glazed. “Thank you,” she murmured but I only nodded back, preoccupied with dialing the phone and waiting for the other line to answer.

“Hello?”

 

“Oh, good morning. Is this miss Emily Crowe?” Aila shots up from her seat and round the table, settling her head next to mine as she listens, “No, it isn’t she. This is Molly Goods, her sister.”