A child leaned into his mother's warmth and closed his eyes, content with the current situation. The mother threaded her hand through the soft locks of her beloved son.
However, the child knew something was wrong. It wasn't explicitly shown, but enough that he knew something was different.
A hand holding his small hand woke him up from his mind, and a lovely voice reached his ear. "What's wrong, Cale? Why are you so quiet today?"
Cale knew that. He wanted to be cheerful just like he used to be, but something was just wrong. Something was tucking his heartstrings painfully that no matter how much he wanted to express what was in his mind, it was blocked.
His mind turned blank.
"... I don't know," That was all he could say to his beloved mother.
He did not know what was pulling his heart.
"Oh my child, look at me."
Cale followed his mother's words as he turned to face the paper woman, who looked at him lovingly. No, something was wrong with that gaze.
His lips wobbled, but it was shut just as his mother kissed him on his forehead. The warm kiss made him relaxed but his guard wasn't down.
He returned the kiss, and his mother giggled.
"I love you,"
Jour softened her gaze and sighed in her heart. Her son truly was the star of her darkness.
"I love you as well, remember that."
However, she was about to leave this star. Her heart squeezed painfully at the thought, but she knew it was for the best.
She knew she was cruel to do this, but there was no other way. Only by her gone did fate not interfere and not doom the world, then will her son be safe from an even more dangerous future.
The soft breathing of her child made her resolve to leave crumble, so to prevent that, she placed her son on his bed and tucked him in.
One last time, she kissed her little star's forehead and slipped a letter under his pillow.
Just like that, Jour Thames, mother of Kale Henituse, disappeared for a week before her body was found near Harris Village. With her soul already under the hand of the cruel but merciful God of Death.
Just like that, Cale Henituse's world crumbled, and he finally knew what was pulling his heartstrings.
⥢◈⥤
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The weather seemed to be crying for the death of the kindhearted countess just as loud sobs rose from the crowd and the willpower husband. However, whispers also arose from the crowd of black-dressed guests.
However, those whispers weren't full of pity or grief but malicious down to the bone.
It was directed to a child who barely registered what was happening in his life. His face was abnormally blank, and his eyes were vacant of emotion.
He was like a doll, standing there under the black umbrella while looking at the tombstone soullessly.
Cale knew he wasn't to be so soulless and emotionless, but there was no other way. His father was currently wailing as a child. There was no one there to comfort him, and he didn't understand why his mother had left so suddenly.
Did she know that this would have happened?
Was it that why she has been so secretive recently?
Just what does she know to come back with a cold body?
Didn't she promise she would see him be a swordmaster?
Didn't she promise him that she would take him to see his godmother and his sworn siblings again?
So many questions, but the person to answer them was already gone.
Pit pat, pit pat, pit pat.
One by one, the guests left the back hill with white roses stacked on top of each other in remembrance of the deceased countess. The count was brought back to his room with help, after what it seemed he might faint from grief.
Only Cale was left under the storming rain that seemed to reflect his want to cry.
His hand held a beautiful white rose tightly, painting the thorn with his blood before the red liquid streamed down the white petal.
The once pristine petal was quickly dyed like a beautiful crimson petal of one of its kind.
Pit Pat, pit pat, pit pat.
"Cale..." A woman's voice called out as a shadow slowly emerged.
Cale recognized the voice, and he looked up slowly, burgundy met amethyst.
"Aunt..."
A soft smile spread on Celaena's face as if she were welcoming him into her home just like before. She held his soft cheek and placed a kiss, affectionate and understanding of what was going on in his mind.
Cale's heart was constricted with many emotions, and he had to gasp to let out the tightness. If someone told him that he could die from emotions before, he wouldn't believe it, but now? All he wanted was to lash out in despair and cry until his eyes turned puffy and red.
However, he couldn't. No tear was gathered in his eyes, no sound of despair spoken, and no inner state of his was shown.
A gloved hand reached out in front of him, and he took it without hesitation and rested his head between his neck. His face was hidden away in the boy's embrace, but the boy, five years older than him, just patted his back. Another arm circled them, and a girl squeezed herself into the hug.
The twin siblings looked at each other and tightened the hug as if silently telling their younger brother that they weren't going anyway.
No words were said between them.
Their silent support moved Cale. They didn't judge him for how he currently was like those relatives, but instead, they welcomed him as if it was just another day of group hugs. They make their thoughts known by their actions and not words that he felt wouldn't go through him currently.
Isn't this what he wanted from his father when he first heard of his mother's death instead of the other way around?
Cale Henituse couldn't cry, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't grieve for his beloved mother.
His emotions weren't shown, but if one was observant enough, one could see his shoulder trembling, and his lips wobbled.
He didn't grieve like his father or a child his age. Instead, he was mature and calm.
The funeral was meticulously prepared by him as a show of his grief and his love for his mother. Each rose was picked and tied with the same material as his mother's black ribbon. His silence signaled the heartbreak he mentally dealing with as he watched his mother be placed in the coffin in her favorite white dress.
"... No one understands me," Cale lamented and hugged the older boy tighter.
He could feel his voice trembling subtly with despair.
"I want to cry, but I can't."
"It hurt,"
"It hurts,"
Cale lamented under the dark sky while shaking like a leaf about to be blown from its branch.
His heart hurt like it was bleeding.
It choked him up.