𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆, 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

11. So pure.

𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚

"Angie, may I ask you something" I mumbled while holding on to some photos.
"Sure kid" she answered while approaching me.
"You do remember our neighbors, back in the valley? Right?" I asked her and she nodded.
"Of course, I do, Tyler. Why are you asking?"

"I was looking through some photos and found these..." I said to her and she smiled when she saw two little kids in the picture.
"Yes, she is their daughter. I wonder what she's doing now" she mumbled with a bittersweet smile.
"Why did you stopped being her nanny?"

"Ugh, the parents of this girl died" she said and I held my breath staring at her.
"...After all these years and I still don't understand how, but a fire started in the house, in the kitchen. I was with little Ashley outside playing and the next thing we heard was an explosion before everything got caught on fire. Then, her aunt took her to raise her and I stayed with you" she said and the photographs fell from my hands to the ground.
"What did you just say?" I whispered losing my breath. Fire, dead parents, Ashley. Could she? Is she?
"Don't you remember her?"

"I remember her" I said and sat on the couch. Is Ashley from now, the Ashley from then? Is that possible?
"Of course, you do, you spent almost every single day together for over a year. Here, this very photo, I remember it like it was yesterday. Occasionally I watched you too when your nanny wasn't available. That morning, I took you to their house, I was holding your hand and when she saw you, she ran away to hide. She was so shy. She could talk a bit but she didn't talk to you, at first..."

"You left to prepare her some milk after you put me to sit on the couch with her and then you went to the kitchen, so she got away and hid behind the other couch. I got up and saw her from a distance, I wouldn't approach her because she was always running away from me, for some reason" I mumbled and felt chills on my spine reliving that image in my head.

"You were calling her pretty and you were always so careful with her as if she was a porcelain doll. This photo is right after she almost fell from the couch but you caught her. She was trying to reach her bottle and then you took it and started feeding her. Ashley was holding your hand, teasing your fingers while you were holding her bottle and you chuckled kissing her forehead. Then she chuckled too so you did it again... You were not as little as she, you were eight and she was one. You had started school and every time on the way back you were seeing her. And she was waiting every time for you to return and hug her" she said and my eyes had almost fill with tears. This is just so pure.

"Ashley White? Ashley Carolina White, that was her name, right?" I asked and she nodded. She had from a young age the tendency to run away from me. That explains a lot.
"I'm positive she was your first love" she said and I smiled. I'm positive too.
"I think I found her"

"You found her? What do you mean found her"

"And I think I'm falling in love all over again"

"Speak, boy!" she said and then the bell rang.
"Are you expecting someone?"

"Nope" I said and went answering the door but I got speechless seeing her stand in front of my door step. But she was more than speechless, I'd say surprised.
"Hello, beautiful" I said kind of nervous because she caught me off guard. She took some steps back looking around.
"I... Think, there is a mistake"

"You were trying to locate me and didn't expect to find me inside?"

"No. No, I was trying to find a property" she mumbled and I smiled as I saw her cheeks blushing.
"And you found me, is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, teasing her and she was holding her breath again.
"Do you want to come in?"