The Omegas Heart

Chapter 33 "There isn't exactly a hallmark card"

Hunters office was empty.

For five minutes i lay on the sofa. For the next five minutes I sat in Hunters chair. For the following five minutes I rummaged through Hunters desk. And for a whole two seconds i debated leaving the key i found alone... but after those two seconds i decided against it.

I mean, if he didn't want me to use it he wouldn't have left it underneath a paperweight buried in work. Obviously...

Every lock, every crevice, i slotted the key in, wiggled it around and tried to unlock everything. The window, the filing cabinet, I ever searched the paperweight for a keyhole. I tried everything. And then my mind thought of something. I ran back across the room to Hunters desk and began burrowing through the drawers until i found the small box i had seen some time ago.

The key slid in with ease and clicked instantaneously. It wasn't until then I realized that i had been holding my breath and let out a puff of air. I opened it and began to look through what sat inside. There was a small box in the corner, two envelopes and a photo. The photo was face up and so caught my eye. Two sets of eyes stared back at me. One I knew well from my reflection and the other, well, I was in his office.

It was Hunters 10th birthday. I remember he spent two hours taunting me that he he was a grown up with two numbers and I was still just a little kid. When they gave out the cake rather than eat my slice I walked straight up to Hunter and smeared icing down his face in a phantom of the opera style. In retaliation Hunter flipped his plate and turned it on my head, the sponge and colorful icing getting mixed with my brown locks.

There was a war which resulted in Luke, Cassidy and both my parents losing their cake, not to mention the leftovers. It wasn't until I fell, sliding on some of the icing that we had dropped, that Hunter laughed yelling 'You should see your face.' 'My face?' I yelled back, 'you should see your face!' Hunter pulled me back to my feet, both of us laughing our heads off. My dad called our names, we turned to look and snap. The picture was taken.

The second after, my dad stepped on some icing and fell. Mom tried to help. She fell too.

If there was ever a moment which captured the entire relationship my parents had that was it. That was them. And now, this picture was everything they were and miraculously they weren't even in it, unless you count the vague blur of my dads finger in the top right corner. 

Just looking at it made me sigh, every last second shaking. I myself could hear that i was shaking.

Despite every fiber of my being telling me to stare at it forever, to never leave the moment of reminiscence, I placed it back in the exact spot where i found it as though i had never been there, but that wasnt true.

I had forgotten all about that day, and right now I could think of nothing but then.

I went to reach for something else but before I even made contact there came a voice. "What are you doing?" I jumped slamming what I had been exploring shut and out of sight before staring wide eyed at who stood before me. As it all closed I caught the tiniest glimpse of "ria inher". I never thought much of it beyond that it wasn't English.

Hunter. He stood there looking like the typical him. Plain simple clothes that teeter on boring yet on him seem to reflect his serious standing and young age. His hair was styled the same way it always is, in fact I'm not sure if it's 'styled' at all given its natural appearance.

In all honestly it was his eyes that caught my attention. They were practically glowing. Not his burning alpha glare but with this uncontrollable happiness. He looks cheerful, despite both of us clearly knowing why had had called me to his office.