Met by Coincidence...Separated by Destiny...

Date Day Turned Disaster

Jo's Point of View...

I see Hero's car getting disappear at Stary midnight. I turn to enter the house when I find the front door unlocked. It's very unlike aunt Sydney to keep her front door open at midnight, suddenly I feel the ground beneath my legs getting disappearing as I hear her voice.

"So, who was the boy?"

I see her sitting in one of her armchairs which she keeps in the garden facing our house. I see her, she smiles at me and gestures for me to come to join her. Nervously, tugging the large sleeves of my shirt, I move towards her, and within three long strides, I find myself standing in front of her.

"Come on Jo, join me. Tell me all the details."

It's too dark to see if she asks me for the details in a teasing manner or a serious manner. Her tone and the smile I saw earlier suggest, she is teasing me. But again, at her house, I am her responsibility and I have always treated her as my mother.

"How can you say it's a boy? It can be my boss dropping me too."

"Two nights a row? I don't think so. Also, not to mention yesterday you came late in the morning from somewhere which means the day before that you were with someone and stayed with that " Someone" overnight."

I smile and can't help to stop blushing at the memories of my night with Hero comes rushing in. I can sense aunt Sydney's eyes on me. She is waiting patiently for me to give her a response.

"Common Josephine. If you are seeing someone, I want you to know, that you can come to tell me about anything you want to. In the absence of your mother, I want you to feel comfortable around me. I know I can never replace your mother, and neither do I want to, but I just want you to know, if you ever miss your mother, you have me to rely on."

"I want to tell you, Aunt Sydney, I just don't know how you will react."

Aunt Sydney moves a little in her chair and tries to scoot herself closer to me by repositioning her chair, now she faces me and I can see her face, she can see mine, thanks to the light coming from our porch.

"Jo, you don't have to worry about my judgments. I will never judge you for your decisions. Tell me anything, ok?"

"I..I..I am seeing Hero."

I take my time to face Aunt Sydney and when I do, I see her looking confused and a bit cautious about my confession.

"Hero..as in..Rick's son, Hero..as in Lucas's stepbrother, Hero?"

I just nod and wait for her to adjust to the newly confessed reality.

"Wow..I cannot believe that."

"I am sorry..I should have.."

"When did you start seeing him?"

Aunt Sydney cuts me middle of my sentence and now I am more scared than confused if she will support me and my relationship with her stepson, the son who her son and my best friend hate very much.

"About a couple of days ago, but we have been meeting each other since a couple of weeks ago, just after we moved here."

"Wow..Jo. Honestly, I can not believe you are seeing Hero."

"I am...sorry Aunt Sydney. I know I should have told you or Lucas but everything happened so fast, he kissed me and.."

"He kissed you?"

I nod. I wish I can tell her, he did way more than just kiss me. Before I can process what to say next, aunt Sydney's next question catches me off-guard.