Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Author’s POV

Chase is sitting beside Cara on the edge of the bed. His eyes are fixed on her beautiful sleeping face.

No one in this entire world can imagine, how staying around her or looking at her or just hearing her voice, makes him relaxed and feel at ease.

A small smile appeared on his lips when she started squirming in her sleep before opening her eyes. Their eyes met and a beautiful shy smile plastered on her lips.

He leaned forward, hovering his upper body over hers so that their faces were just an inch apart.

He removed few strands of her hairs from her face and caressed her head gently before pressing his lips against hers in a morning kiss.

He left her mouth and whispered softly, “Good morning” and she replied in same kind of tone.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked him.

“Yes I did” he replied confidently.

She stared at his face for few moments before saying, “You are a bad liar, you know?”.

He chuckled lightly at her words, “In front of you, yes I am. I know”.

She caught his lie. He couldn’t sleep a wink last night. All those memories which he had buried deep in his heart, kept bugging him whole night.

To make her believe that he is sleeping so that she can sleep too, he had to pretend to be asleep.

Once she fell asleep, he spent whole night while staring at her face so that he can push those painful memories away.

“Are you going somewhere?” Cara asked him. It’s still early morning but he is already ready in his black shirt, dark denim jeans and boots as if he is going out somewhere.

“We both are going out” he said.

Cara sat up on the bed and asked, “But where?”

“There is this one place I want to take you. So go and get ready. I’ll prepare breakfast for us” he said and kissed her forehead.

He was about to get up from the bed but Cara held his hand stopping him.

“You are okay right” she asked him.

He cupped her face between his palms and whispered with a smile, “I am okay. Don’t worry”. He again leaned forward to kiss her before coming out of the room.

Cara quickly got ready and came out of their room. Chase was done preparing breakfast. They ate their breakfast while talking about some random stuff.

Chase is driving the car in a direction which is unfamiliar for Cara. Both of them are sitting in complete silence.

Chase is deep in thoughts and looks unsure about something. Cara noticed his turmoil but didn’t ask him anything.

She wants to give him some alone time as it looks like he is preparing himself for something.

Despite both of them being silent at the moment, both of them having different thoughts and different worries in their minds but still they are there for each other.

As Chase’s one hand has tight grip on Cara’s hand. She is also drawing small circles on the back of his hand in order to soothe him, not with her words but her gestures.

Both of them are comforting one another without any words. Driving for around two hours, Chase stopped the car.

“We are here” he said and the shiver in his voice didn’t go unnoticed by Cara. She is feeling worried for him, very worried.

He got out of the car and opened the door for her. Once she was out, he took her hand in his, holding it tightly as if his life depended on it.

She covered his hand with another hand of hers. He started walking and for the first time Cara moved her eyes from his face to look at the surrounding around them.

This is a cemetery. He brought her to cemetery, but why? Did someone passed…

Cara shook her head to remove all the thoughts from her mind and waited for him to speak.

With every step his hold on her hand was tightening, at one point it almost became painful for her but she didn’t utter a single word.

After walking for few minutes he stopped in front of a grave. Cara read the name on the grave and it was Victoria Adams. And the date of her passing read twenty fifth December.

Before Cara could jump on any conclusion about who Victoria Adams is, Chase spoke up, “It’s my mom”.

Cara’s eyes filled with tears upon hearing the pain in his voice when he said those words.

“Mom Look, who is here. My girlfriend. Her name is Cara and I have decided to…” he paused and glanced in Cara’s direction to find her already staring at his face with tears in her eyes.

His eyes were reflecting the pain he was feeling inside and it was making Cara cry. She wants to take all his pain away but doesn’t know how.

Chase lifted his other hand to wipe her tears away and continued, “I have decided to spend my whole life with her”.

Cara’s heart filled with warmth. She turned around to look at his mother’s grave and whispered, “Hello Mrs. Adams. I am Cara. This is my first time meeting you but I didn’t even bring flowers for you, I am sorry”

Chase just kept staring at her face which was tear stained but still was adorned with her beautiful smile.

“About your son Chase, he is very nice guy. He really takes good care of me. So I promise you that I will also take care of him for rest of my life so that there is no pain left in his life” she said.

Chase’s hand reached up to curl around her neck and he pulled her closer before placing a long lingering kiss on her forehead. Her words spread the warmth in his heart.

They sat there on the bench a little away from his mother’s grave, still in complete silence.

His one hand was wrapped around her shoulders holding her closer and his other hand which was intertwined with hers was resting on his lap.

After sitting in complete silence for sometime he decided to speak up, “Cara… remember, you told me that you wanted to share your past with me on multiple occasions, but you just couldn’t do it”.

She nodded her head at the same time she took in a deep breath, knowing what is about to come.

“I also wanted to tell you everything about myself. But as you know, it is painful” he whispered. Cara’s hold on his hand tightened.

“But now I don’t want to keep you in dark anymore” he said and turned around to stare into her eyes.

“I will try my best to tell you everything today but if somehow I can’t say it all in one go, please… please understand me” he said in desperation.

She cupped his face and was about to tell him that he doesn’t have to tell her anything, but before she could say anything he leaned forward to press his lips over hers.

He pulled away and rested his forehead over hers, “I want to tell you Cara, let me do it”.

She wrapped her arms around him and he instantly shoved his face into her neck, holding her tightly. After few minutes he pulled away.

“My story is divided into two parts” he paused and she waited for him to continue with a loudly beating heart.

“Let’s start with part one….”

***

Past…

Tonight is the night of Christmas. Everyone in the world must be busy enjoying this beautiful festival of joy and happiness, right?

Well, not exactly. Not every festival brings joy to everyone’s life.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be happy on each and every festival, just like the five years old child naming Cara who had just lost her parents in accident few days ago and is in protection of police for now.

Just like a boy whose name is Chase, who has been craving his father’s love at such a young age of Six years.

Chase, his sister Valerie and his mother Victoria are waiting for Frank to return from work, so they can cut the cake and celebrate Chase’s favourite day of the year.

But Frank is late, again, as always.

He is a prosecutor, so Victoria always tries to understand her husband but sometimes she also feels disheartened. Especially for her kids, just like she is feeling right now.

Her kids barely get any chance to spend time with their father because of how busy he is. At least Valerie who is ten years old, had chance to get father’s affection when she was Chase’s age.

As Frank was not used to be so busy in his work at that time and used to spend quality time with his family.

But poor Chase has always been deprived of that fatherly love.

Everything was prepared. Victoria had decorated the whole house for Christmas. She prepared so much food, cookies, muffins, cakes and many other things of her kid’s liking.

They were just waiting for Frank to return. He promised to little Chase that he will be home before seven in the evening. And it’s already over nine thirty.

The happy and hopeful faces of both the kids are turning sad and gloomy.

Victoria has been trying to call Frank for hours but he is not answering his phone.

“I think we should cut the cake by ourselves, look the food is getting cold” Victoria tried to convince her children.

“No mom, I want dad to be here. He promised me” Chase whined.

“Your dad must be busy bunny, you know right how hard your father works. So let’s just celebrate the Christmas…” she couldn’t complete the sentence when Chase again started whining.

“No, no, no. I want to celebrate with dad. Every friend of mine celebrates Christmas with their dad. Their dad take them out to play. I also want to do the same thing mom”.

By the end his small eyes were shedding big tears, covering his chubby face with tearstains.

“Oh honey!” Victoria is feeling bad for him. She understands her boy’s pain. He is just a kid and he craves attention of both of his parents.

But she knows that Frank is not going to come. He never does.

Still plastering a fake smile onto her lips Victoria said, “Okay, don’t worry. I promise your dad will be here”.

“Really?” he asked wiping his tears with his tiny hands and she nodded her head.

“Valerie take care of your brother. I will be back in a minute” She said and made her way upstairs, towards Frank’s study.

She searched for the number of his office and dialed their number, hoping that now she will be able to talk with him but she only got disappointment in return.

Someone else in the office answered the call and informed her that Frank is not in office. He went out to investigate some details regarding a case that he is busy with these days.

Victoria disconnected the call feeling heartbroken for her son again. She wiped her tears and came out of her room to make her way downstairs.

All the while she was thinking of an idea to convince Chase. She was at the top of the stairs when her eyes fell on Chase who was climbing the stairs, making his way towards her.

Valerie told Chase to wait downstairs for their mom but Chase was being impatient. He also wanted to talk to his dad and ask him to come home.

He was on third or fourth stair when suddenly he slipped and fell on the floor hurting himself in the process.

“Chase!” a scream left Victoria’s mouth and she tried to increase her speed on the stairs. But unfortunately her foot slipped while coming down the stairs.

She rolled down from top of the stairs, falling at the bottom with a thud.

Both Valerie and Chase screamed in terror upon seeing their mom. Val quick came to check on her mom whose head was now bleeding.

Val quickly got up on her feet and tried dialing her father’s number with her trembling hands, using her mom’s phone. But again, it wasn’t answered.

Then she ran out of the house to find their watchman so that he can help her mother. When watchman saw the crying Val, he got worried and came running after hearing about Victoria.

On the other hand Chase was glued to his place. He froze the moment his mom fell and landed few steps away from him.

He was seeing the blood oozing out of her wound. The white tiles of their living room were now turning red. It made his body shiver.

Her teary eyes were fixed on him, looking at him with so many emotions in them.

Past end…

***

Chase snapped out of the memory. His breathing was uneven, he was sweating profusely. His eyes turned bloodshot red.

It was the beginning of the disliking he has towards his dad in his heart. Which now has turned into hate.

The look his mother gave him on that day was still right in front of his eyes. When he was younger he thought that he saw sadness in his mom’s eyes, also the look of apology.

But now, whenever that image appears in front of his eyes, he only sees one thing in that look of his mom and that is accusation.

Accusation, that he is the reason of her death. Blame, that she died because of him. And he believes that and blames himself till this day.

Cara saw the amount of pain he was in. She didn’t say anything to him and just pulled him in her arms. And he melted into her, instantly.

Burying his face into her neck he whispered, “She died because of me Cara. If I wasn’t being stubborn, if I had agreed to celebrate the Christmas with just three of us, only if I wasn’t walking up on those stairs, she wouldn’t have fallen. She wouldn’t have died”.

“It’s not your fault Chase. Don’t think like that. Your mom will be very sad if you blame yourself for something, you are not responsible” Cara tried to remove the self blaming thoughts from his mind.

He pulled away to stare into her eyes and he had tears in his eyes.

“But she says I am responsible for it. My mom blames me everyday. Whenever I close my eyes she appears in front of my eyes and says…” he paused to swallow the lump in his throat.

“…she says I am responsible for everything that happened to her. I am responsible for what happened with Val. It doesn’t even let me sleep at night” he whispered in pain.

Cara’s heart was bleeding upon seeing him in this condition. He was looking broken, in so much agony, so much pain.

But she didn’t miss when he said ‘responsible for what happened with Val'. He didn’t tell anything about his sister. He just spoke about his mother.

‘What happened to Val? I have not heard anything about her from Chase before. He never even mentioned her name before' Cara had this thought in mind but she pushed them all away.

She cupped Chase’s face and whispered, “No Chase you are not responsible for her death. Not at all. So remove this thought out of your head. Because your mom also thinks the same way as me”.

Chase kept staring at her face for a moment and slowly the pain in his heart started subsiding. His mind, his heart seemed to trust her words, making him relaxed.

He again buried his face into her neck as he started inhaling her scent to calm his insides.

After sometime he spoke, “I am sorry, I couldn’t tell you everything today”.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it” she replied immediately.

“But I…” Chase was going to assure her that he will definitely tell her everything about himself, when his eyes fell on the man he hates the most in this world.

He pulled away from Cara. His eyes turned ice cold, enough to make anyone shiver just with one glance. His jaw clenched, fists tightened.

“You are already here. You should have told me, we could have come together” Frank said.

Chase just glared at him but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to lose his temper in front of his mother’s grave.

He got up from the bench taking Cara’s hand in his. Without saying anything to his father Chase turned around to leave the place.

“Let’s come together next month. On Val’s death anniversary” Frank said and Chase’s body froze. A horrible memory flashed in front of his eyes.

Cara’s eyes were wide open in shock. His sister is also no more, she could have never imagined it.

Chase turned around to glare at his father with his burning gaze as he gritted out, “You have the audacity to say that you want to visit her grave, after what happened to her just because of your lack of attention”.

Frank’s face paled as his eyes turned even more sad than they were before.

“Don’t take her name in front of me. I don’t like hearing it from your mouth” Chase spat. He didn’t wait another second and started walking towards his car.

He was trembling from inside. His heart was pounding against his ribcage. His headache was killing him. He was not sure if he will be able to drive back home or not.

Cara was worried about the same thing. She could tell that he was not in the condition to drive right now. She didn’t want him to drive but she doesn’t know how to drive.

They reached the car and surprisingly, both John and George were standing in front of Chase’s car. Both Chase and Cara sighed in relief.

“What are you guys doing here?” Chase asked.

“We know what date it is today. We went to your apartment, you were not there. So we knew you would be here” George said.

“Let’s go” John said while taking the car keys from Chase’s hand. Chase didn’t protest because he knew his friends are here because they know whenever he comes to see his mom or sister, he can’t drive back.

John started the car once Chase and Cara settled on the back seat. As soon as car started moving, Chase decided to rest his temple on Cara’s shoulder and close his eyes.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked softly. He noticed that she was deep in thoughts.

“Nothing” she replied simply.

“Tell me Cara” he pushed her to answer.

“I was thinking about… Valerie” she said and his body stilled against hers for a moment.

“She is the part two, of my story. But I will tell you about it some other day”.

She took his hand in hers and said, “Okay. It’s a long drive from here. I think you should sleep”.

Chase again closed his eyes and mumbled, “I was planning on doing the same thing”.

***

Both Chase and Cara were deep in thoughts after returning from visiting his mother.

He was not in a good condition but it was still better than last night or how he was feeling in the morning.

Both of them were wrapped into one another when suddenly his phone started ringing, waking both of them.

He left Cara’s body and turned on the nightstand lamp. He picked his phone from the table and found it was an unknown number.

He glanced in direction for a moment who had questions written all over her face.

He answered the call in his husky voice, “Hello?”

But he didn’t hear any response in return. His brows knitted together as he repeated but this time in stern voice, “Hello?”

And this time there was a reply and the voice of the person on other line caused his heart to drop in the pit of his stomach. His mobile slipped from his hand and his mouth hung open, stopping his heart from beating.

“How are you my boy, Chase?”