Falling Like The Stars || UNDER HEAVY EDITION ||

Two

Live while you can.

The quotation tag that hung from the car's half- snapped rear mirror chimed in the breeze, drawing my entire attention on how awfully I wanted to hop out of the dreadful old vehicle (which I assumed aged a thousand years by the current date) and enjoy the pleasures of my creaky bed.

The squeaking seats reminded me of my great-great-great grandfather, whom I have never met in the sixteen years of my life, and who I supposed must have bought this mature AMC Eagle in the 80s and drove the next three generations in its fabulous splendor. Unfortunately, neither did the splendor last, nor was it much of a heartbreaking tale for the trendy students in my ex-school—and I didn't expect it to impress the ones at the new as well.

Especially not with the farting odor that I'm ashamed to confess comes from the vehicle. Or as my Mum put it, 'The beauty of nature comes from the back.'

I knitted my eyebrows, at how ridiculous it was going to be and sighed sturdily. "I cannot believe you actually made me do this."

Josh laughed for a good thirty seconds, unable to reach a full minute after seeing the stubborn look on my face. He cleared his throat, "Well, atleast now we know that your Mum will be happy." His eyes shot at the third woman he ever married, and never regretted over his declaration. I, on the other hand, cringed at both how weird it sounded, and how beautiful their love was.

I drifted my gaze at Mum, and remarked at how right he was— she really seemed in high spirits. Unlike her partially-dead daughter who was actually the one going to school. How wonderful.

"She might be, but I'm definitely not," I tried to appear as devastated as I already was. "I don't really have a reason, do I?"

Josh leaned against the car door, hands crammed in his pockets. "Are you sure about that?" He peeked at me through the corners of his eyes.

"What do you mean?" I arched a brow, noticing the sarcasm in his voice.

"Well..." Josh exaggerated the suspense, forcing me to wince in impatience. He swiftly turned at me, anxious if I flinched because I got hurt and burst the tension in haste. "I have something for you."

He fumbled in his pockets, and I watched him reflectively. Only if he had been married sixteen years earlier to Mum, would I have been proud to call him an over-protective dad. Sixteen years makes a huge difference.

He pulled out an antique box, carved with dark wood and gold fillings. My eyes widened at it, enthralled by its magnificence. Josh paused and stared at me, a hint of a smile lurking around his lips. He handed me the box, "Open it."

I stroked the wood carvings with my fingers and gently unlatched the top. As the box exposed its interior, my chest stiffened with sentiments. Inside the tiny antique lay an emerald pendant, which was an exact copy of the one Mum wore when I was born. That same pendant which was sold away to a jeweler during those rough times when Dad had left us and life was nothing but a selfish creature which never sympathized upon our grief.

And looking at it now, my eyes glistened with tears. That was one time, and this was another. Mum was married to the man she loved at that time, and she is still married to the man she loves now. The man changed, but life leaped into freedom.