Treacherous ❅ Hemmings

Epilogue

April 2036

"THERE you are." I breathed in and out, catching my breath. I had to take a couple of seconds. I wasn't as fit as I was in my younger days.

I looked down at the collapsed and caked face sixteen year old on the apartment building's lobby floor. Her golden hair covering half of her face, she stared at me as she pulled her dress over her knees.

"Mom, I'll be back up. Just give me ten minutes or something." She said. However, her blue eyes told me otherwise. I put my hands on my waist and sat down next to her. Although the concrete was cold and so was the wall we were lying against on, the broken-hearted little girl didn't seem to mind.

"Olivia," I sighed, trying to push strands of her hair away to reveal her face. She shrugged me off and I pulled back.

"Don't you think we're putting every effort we made to waste if we stay here like this?" I asked her, raising my eyebrow. She turned away and shook her head. "I'm perfectly fine here, Mom."

I laughed at her stubbornness. This must be the one thing she'd gotten from both me and Luke. "You certainly don't seem like it though."

She didn't reply as she completely turned her back from me now.

"Can you at least tell me what exactly happened, sweetie?" I tried asking. We remained silent for a while. About three people have passed us, from the front entrance to the elevators. Each and every one of them looked at our way. I just smiled at them and waved them to walk away.

I gazed upon my fragile daughter, smiling sadly to her. She must feel so helpless right now. I saw myself in her - falls in love sweetly and tenderly, falls out of it just as bitterly sweet.

"Jake dumped me." Olivia muttered under her breath, clearly hearing the pain in her voice.

"Such a pretty name for a terrible boy." I shook my head, thinking back to when I was about her age and Calum and Dylan made a "ship" name for me and Luke. "I never liked him. Do you hate him right now?"

She nodded her head.

"Then I hate him too." I spat. I heard her giggle. Slowly, she raised her head and brushed her hair away. With the back of her hands, she wiped her tears away.

"You look exactly like me." I grinned saying. I reached out to tuck a strand of her hair - almost like mine but of a lighter shade of brown and almost golden - behind her ear.

She grimaced in response. "I look like I've been hit by a bus."

"Exactly." I chuckled in reply. "Come 'ere, will you?"

Olivia scooted over and rested her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and spoke, "You're what? Sixteen? And here you are spring formal crying over a boy. You remind me of myself awfully too much when I was seventeen - eighteen."

"A boy broke your heart on Spring Formal too?"

I nodded my head as I looked down on the butterfly locket around my neck. "Yup. It's just that he didn't really break my heart the way you'd think he did. He broke his arm too while he was at it."

"You mean he didn't dump you for Volleyball team captain Andrea Danielle?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

I shook my head. "I never made it to my dance and neither did my date. He got in an accident."

There was a spark in her eyes when she asked me, "What happened?"

"What happened afterwards would interest you more than telling you how the accident happened." I told her, my hand rubbing her back.

"In that case, what did happen afterwards?"

"The accident was what broke that barrier that separated me and your father. As much as it hurt us both, it gave us a better reason to be together." I said, flash-backing to all we've been through together.

"Dad? Dad got into an accident?"

I chuckled, "Yes, but I'll save our love story for another time."

Before she could argue with me, we heard the elevator doors slide open. We both looked up to see six figures walking towards us.

"There are my queen and princess!" It was Luke who jogged closer. He helped me up while Olivia got up on her own. She miserably tried hiding her tear-kissed face behind her hair again but failed just as miserably.

Behind Luke came three more figures. Michael walked with his hands in his pockets, Calum had his son, Marcus, on his back while Dylan straddled Maria following them.

"What happened to movie night?" I asked them. It was a Friday night and we had this monthly thing where we all invite one another to one of our houses to watch some films. This time, Michael's wife, Emma, couldn't come because their daughter, Joan, had a fever. Calum and Dylan brought the twins with them since their babysitter had a Spring Formal to attend.

"Luke got worried because you two have been gone for too long." Michael said, scratching the back of his balding head.

"Uncle Mikey, why are you scratching your head? You don't even have hair to scratch." Marcus teased as he began pulling his Dad's own hair to show him.

Maria let go her Mom's hand and slapped Calum's leg. "Stop being so mean to Uncle Mikey! He brings us chocolate."

I rolled my eyes at them. Michael wrapped his arms around Maria's stomach and carried her, twirling her around. "And this kids is why you don't dye your hair too much."

Everyone started laughing, except Olivia. I nudged Luke and motioned him to comfort his daughter.

"Liv, Princess, are you okay?" He asked, cupping her face with his hands.

"Obviously she isn't, Lucas. She is crying, after all." Calum scoffed. I shot him a look and he put his hands up in surrender, almost dropping Marcus off his back.

"We'll leave you alone, Jay. We'll go upstairs. We kind of left Daniel and Sofia alone with Ashton. We all know what happened last time." Dylan said, pushing her daughter to start walking back to the elevators. Calum and Michael nodded their heads and went on their way.

As soon as we heard the elevator bell ring, Luke let out a chuckle. "You look exactly like your Mom... broken but still beautiful."

"I guess our family's cursed with bad luck dances, huh?" I laughed, thinking about our Senior Spring Formal and Prom. Both went terribly wrong.

"You could blame me for that. I sort of started the trend." Luke said, reaching for his daughter's hands. He smiled sadly at her, "But that doesn't mean my baby princess can't have her dance."

"Dad, could you even dance?" Olivia blurted, clasping one hand with her Dad's and the other on his shoulder.

"If you must know, I taught your Mom how to dance. She's a terrible dancer." Luke cried out, putting his other hand high on Olivia's waist.

"That's true." I nodded my head. I put my back against the wall and watched them dance to the same rhythm Luke had always danced with me. They danced as if they were on clouds, as if gravity didn't defy them. They moved so gracefully and slowly. I couldn't help but see myself in my eldest daughter. She's so vulnerable and had so much more to look forward to. Life will only be cruel to her. I just pray to God it wouldn't be just as mean to her as it was to her parents.

My Dad always said life wouldn't be easy as cake. It will only get harder. As my love story with Luke was ending, our daughter's was only beginning and so were my other two children's. Like my Dad said, "Being in love is a wonderful thing. Be infinite and oblivious. Don't open your eyes or else you'd see demons at the finish line."

For the first time in a really long time, I felt safe and content. I had nothing to fret about at the moment and although I'd want it to stay like this, life's not going to be some fairytale, it'll only get treacherous.

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