Side Effects To Marriage May Include

Chapter 25: Navigating Purposes

< there was just something about
being wanted, by someone who never knew what they wanted >

- JP Saxe.

Nickolas's PoV:

After getting out of the shower in a towel securely wrapped around my waist, I trudge to the closet and pull out casual denim jeans and a black shirt and get hurriedly dressed up.

I've noticed Aria was also dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt, so I'm guessing wherever she needs to go doesn't require a formal attire.
Makes sense, when it's 10 a.m on a weekend.

My mind wonders to the possibilities of where we might be headed today.

The anxiousness was oozing from her minute figure, and she looked like she was immersed into some deep thoughts in her mind.

What is she thinking?
I wish I was gifted with psychic vision so I can figure out what goes on inside her head instead of speculating.

Once I'm finished getting dressed, I grab my wallet and keys and phone and apprehensively descend the stairs.

I find her in the living room, zoned out of reality and focused on the occupying matters pressing her.

I tweak my lips upwards to form a reassuring smile and proceed to ask her "Ready to go?"
She responds by a quick 'yeah' and gets up from the sofa.

The moment we're inside the car, seatbelts fastened, engine roaring and ready to go I realize she hasn't really told me where we're going.
Like not for the sake of telling me, but for navigating purposes.

That sounds reasonable.
Yeah, for the sake of navigating purposes.

I shift in my seat to come face to face with the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen, and clear my throat "So Umm, where do you want to go?"

Her agonizingly beautiful emeralds scan my face for a brief moment before clearing her throat and averting her gaze from my face to the windshield ahead.

"Go through Greenwood 45, the one that leads out of town, and I'll instruct you where to next"

Please don't be a divorce attorney, please!

I keep chanting this mantra in my head, while driving to the discrete location for the time being.

35 minutes later, and we reach Greenwood 45 street, like she said earlier and I avert my gaze from the empty road for a second to the side of her face in my peripheral vision.

"Now where?"

"Take the next left, then a right and we'll be there" she states calmly and I nod understandably and do as I'm told.

As the car passes more distance, I realize we've come to a cemetery?

I park at a vacant spot and we make our way out of the car.

My overly confused look travels to her quiet defeated eyes and I make stride towards her, putting my arm around her shoulder.

I don't speak, even though I'm confused as hell. I figure she should be the one disclosing the information, not me having to squeeze them out of her.

She puts her arm on the middle of my back, and starts taking small steps towards the entrance of the cemetery, urging me silently to do the same.

The more we walk, the more I'm clueless about who is she visiting and she seems to pick up on my cluelessness.
In a quiet voice, barely above a whisper she states "My mom died 10 years ago, I was in high school" her tone is on the verge of breaking and I empathize with her.

I guess I'm lucky to never have experienced this type of trauma in my life, since both my parents are alive and well.
I mean, sure, my dad and I don't always see eye to eye but it doesn't mean I'm not grateful to have both him and my mom.

"She was a free soul, and I barely got to know her before she got cancer" she continues heartbroken and my hand tightens simultaneously on her shoulder, bringing her pressed up closer to my side and showcasing my support.

She soon comes to a stop to a grave which its tombstone has the words 'Lily Armington. A loving wife and a mother' carved on the thick white rectangular stone.

She leaves my side, goes caressing the tombstone for a second with delicate fingertips and smiles a pained expression on her features.

For a moment, I'm reluctant on what to do. Should I step away further giving her privacy with her deceased mother's grave or should I go sit beside her there as a moral support.

I frown at the first option, she wanted me here, I'm not going to leave her.

But I also despise the idea of interrupting this sacred moment, so I decide to just stand still waiting for her to finish whenever she feels ready.

Once she does stand up and starts to take a few steps in my direction, I open my arms wide open for her to bury her teary eyed face in my shirt.

I hold her with all my power, like a moment before an apocalypse.

A few moments pass by with her still clenching onto me, and I the same before she tilts her head up a little "Ok, let's go"

I inspect her face for a few seconds "Are you sure you don't want to stay longer?" I ask with the most gentle voice I can muster.

She shakes her head, her left hand wiping her face "Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go "

We silently walk out of the cemetery, not wanting to disturb the dead, and climb inside the parked car.

The moment we click our seatbelts in, I bring the car into life with a roaring engine and as soon as I shift from Parking to Drive I bring my hand and interlock it with hers.

The soothing circles I draw on her knuckles seem to do their trick, when she tightens her hold on my hand and a small graceful smile tugs her lips upwards.

•••

A/N:

It's 1:11 a.m as I finish this chapter.

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