our ride through life

CHAPTER 21

--MIA--
"She called me 8 months ago, and I gave her what she asked for."
"Oh okay. Thank you, Doctor."
"Anytime." And she hung up.

I placed my phone on the desk and turned my chair to look at Ace.

"That's what caused it, Ace." He closed his book and looked at me.
"So she knows." I could practically hear the gears spinning in his head.
"What do we do, Ace." I asked him, clasping my hands together.
"We wait for her to tell us." That's all he said. Then, he proceeded to read.
"Ace, this is serious." I raised my voice.
"I know it is." His nose still stuck in the book.
"Then why do you act so chill about this?!" I threw my hands in the air.
"Mia, Anthurium is no longer a child. If I know my daughter, the first person she'll talk to is Aku. He will come to us and tell us how she reacted. That's the time that we'll do something." He said, calmly.
"Anthurium has been away from us for 8 months and she took the drug. Do you still think that you know her?" I argued.

"Fine. We'll do what you want to do."
"We'll take her there." I saw his eyes widen.
"You swore that we'll never go back there." He let go of the book he was reading and sat up properly.
"We don't know what else she did when she left. If she took the thera-"
"No!" He cut me off.
"Mia, you swore." He stood up.
"I know I did! But since she took the drug, we don't know the side effects anymore." I stepped closer to him.
"Why can't you just accept the fact that she remembers?!" Our bodies are pressed against each other. I had to look up because of our height difference but I didn't lose my stance.
"Because I'm afraid!" I lost my stance; I collapsed. Thankfully, Ace caught me.

"Ace, she's my baby girl. If she thinks it through, then she might leave us again." I sobbed.
"Our decisions were made out of selfishness. We thought that we did it for her, but we did it for us."
"We made her forget her little sister." I covered my face with my hands and cried.

Ace hugged me and mumbled sweet nothings in my ear.

"I need you to stop crying, Mia. You know I hate it when you cry." He said in a joking manner to stop me from crying but it was a futile attempt. I just kept sobbing.

"Mia, please stop." He begged.

I wouldn't stop crying; these are the tears that I refused to shed back then. Ace couldn't stand it anymore. He crashed his lips on mine; it shocked me too much that everything in my body stopped- even my heartbeat.

Ace pulled away and he wiped my remaining tears. I closed my eyes, trying hard to keep myself from crying again. He carried me to the bed, bridal style. He laid next to me when he was sure that I was comfortable with my position. His arms were still wrapped around me.

"Mia, Tori will remember whether we like it or not. We just have to accept that she remembers and be with her every step of the way."

*****
"Caleb, can you please wake up your Aunt Tori and Uncle Luke?" Caleb jumped off the stool and ran upstairs.

"Aunt Tori! Uncle Luke! Grandma Mia and Grandpa Ace said that you two should wake up already!" Caleb's voice was heard in the whole house. Ace hugged me from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder.

"I think it was a bad idea that you sent Caleb to wake them up." He mumbled in my ear, laughing after.

A door was slammed shut and Caleb ran down the stairs.

"Mommy, did you hear me?" Caleb's energetic voice asked his mother. Ace was still hugging me and my focus was on the breakfast I was cooking. I turned off the fire and faced Ace, his arms still wrapped around me, while having a perfect view of the mother-and-son duo.
"Yes, I did, Caleb. Why are you so hyper today?" Maria ruffled Caleb's hair with a smile on her face.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Ace on the lips. It was just supposed to be a super short kiss but he wouldn't pull away. He eventually pulled away after a few seconds and I saw that Maria was covering Caleb's eyes and she was wearing a playful smirk. I removed Ace's arms around me and proceeded to cook breakfast- hiding the blush on my face.

"After all these years, Uncle Ace, you still act like a teenager in front of Aunt Mia." Maria said with a playful tone.
"Of course I do. Its what keeps things interesting. If you know what I mean." I could practically see him wiggling his eyebrows.
"Ace, its too early in the morning for you to be dirty." I groaned.
"Its 10:43 in the morning, mom. Now I know why I'm not a morning person." Tori cut in our conversation. Luke was carrying her on his back while she was laughing.

"Luke, don't move." I said.
"What? Why?" He asked, his tone a little panicked.
"You two look so cute together. I want to take a picture." I quickly took a picture with my phone and smiled contently. Luke put down Tori and both of them face-palmed.

"What? I couldn't help it." I placed my phone back in my pocket. I placed the food on plates and placed it on the kitchen table.

"Fooood." Caleb immediately took a seat and dug in. Maria laughed, sitting beside her son. The rest of us smiled, then sat down and dug in.

*****
--TORI--
"Where's Aku?" I asked, taking a bite of my breakfast.
"He left last night, after you arrived." Dad answered.
"Can I stay over at his house tonight." Mom and dad tensed.
"Um, why? I want to take you out tonight." Luke said. I caught dad give Luke a relieved smile.
"I'm pretty sure our date is not going to take forever." I giggled.
"It can if I want to." I stopped giggling and shot him a look that said really? He just shrugged his shoulders in return.

"Sooo... can I?" I asked again.
"Why?" Mom asked.
"I just want to hang with him. I haven't seen him for 7 months." I reasoned but I really need to talk to him.
"You haven't seen me for 8 months and you want to spend time with Aku?" Shit. I knew she was gonna say that. Dad nudged mom with his elbow, shooting her a glare.
"Mom, its not like that. I just really need to talk to him." Mom opened her mouth to respond but dad clamped his hand over mom's mouth.

"Yes, Tori. You can stay over at his place tonight."
"Thanks, dad." I smiled at him.