Destined

Chapter 15 ~ The Drawing

Chapter 15

Kayla slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the blurry vision of Yuri who was softly touching her hair with a worried expression on his face. She could hear people talking in hushed tones and slowly turned her head towards the sound. She saw Luca and Helena standing near the door.

"If she's still out after 5 minutes, I'm taking her to the hospital, mama," he insisted to the smiling Helena.

"O gios mou [my son], she just fainted because of shock. She will be fine soon, you'll see."

"Mommy?" Yuri shouted, "Daddy, mommy's up!"

Luca ran to her side and kneeled down beside the couch where she was laying, still in his office. He held her hands in his. "Baby, are you okay?" He asked worriedly. "Shall I bring you to the doctor?"

She moved to sit up and was instantly drawn to Luca's embrace. She stayed enclosed in his arms until Helena handed her a glass of water. She accepted it; suddenly finding herself so thirsty.

"Mommy, are you sick?" Yuri asked worriedly.

"No, baby. I'm fine," she hurriedly assured him with a small smile.

"Come, engonos. Let us leave your mommy and daddy so they can talk," Helena said holding her hands out to Yuri.

"Go, buddy. We will join you in a little while," Luca said lifting the boy from the couch and gave him to his mama.

They were silently staring at each other until the door softly closed.

"Who was that woman?" Kayla asked pointing to the hanging frame. "Why does she looked just like me? Is that me?"

"I didn't want to tell you this early because I was afraid you'd thought me crazy," he paused and took a deep breath. "But believe me when I say I have all the intentions of telling you."

She just stared at him and waited for him to continue. If anything, she was more confused now than ever.

"Do we know each other from before? I don't think so," she asked and answered her own question. "I am terrible with names but I don't forget faces. I just can't put names on the faces that I remember."

Luca gave her a faint nod and stood up staring at the drawing.

"I drew this when I was in 5th grade. It was an assignment for our art subject. I was thinking of drawing my mama. But on our way home, I chanced upon a girl in the park who was crying. When the older woman failed to make her stop crying, she hoisted her up in her arms. The girl put her arms around the woman's neck, holding on for dear life. The woman's back was to me so I can clearly see the girl. She was so tiny and young; probably around Yuri's age, just shorter. It was probably something the woman had said but the girl suddenly looked up, tears still falling down her cheeks. I saw a pair of magnificent eyes God had ever made ~ brown, which looked even more glassy with tears. I suddenly felt a fierce protectiveness towards her that I wanted to go out of the car and hug her. But the driver and my nanny wouldn't let me. Then the traffic moved forward. When I came home, I went straight to my room and drew her. I was so drawn to her eyes that I cannot remember the details of her face so I decided to just draw my mama's face with that girl's eyes. I wasn't a good sketcher, still isn't, "he turned to her and gave he a faint smile. "But I was able to manage this."

He looked back to the drawing and continued. "I personally think she neither looked like my mama nor that girl at all. But I was happy enough with my art work that I introduced her to class the following day as the girl I wanted to marry someday. It was my dream."

"My art teacher said that in order for our dream to come true, we must make it our last thought before we sleep and our first, the moment we wake up. Kids usually take adults' words at face value. So, I did until I started dreaming about her. This face had become so vivid in my mind that for years, I looked forward to sleeping every night so I can see her again in my dreams. Sounds stupid, really."