Ryan could feel something piercing down his heart, he was never an apathetic person yet for this little girl all he felt was an endless pity. She was really young, childhood was said to be the golden age of a person's entire life- while he was drained off in learning how to survive alone this girl's life too wasn't much better than him. She too was learning to live alone but sadly, this left a deep scar in her.
Catherine wiped her nose with her palm before looking around the room, casting a smile weaker than her she said, "You asked, right, why I have so many stuff toys in my room. They are here... To make me feel a little less lonely. At night, when they are around... I feel a little less by myself. I... During nightmares, I couldn't call anyone to accompany me; all I can do was..." Catherine hugged her Fiona doll and closed her beautiful round eyes drowned in sorrow, "hug them and try to find... Warmth in them which makes me feel... Not alone and... Insecure."
A sing
The abrupt question sent Jack into a daze; he was unable to guess why his friend was asking him about the age difference. The boy who was currently feeling the cold breeze on his face was more unpredictable than the weather itself so trying to guess his wild thoughts would be a sheer waste of time. He asked, "What do you need that for?" Ryan looked at him and said in a serious manner, "Catherine is five years younger than me." Jack's face was still for a while as he tried to puzzle up the latter's words but it didn't take more than two minutes for him to realize what he was up to. He sprung up on his seat and having no control over his tone he voiced out, "Ryan, are you crazy?" Ryan sat unmoved on his seat but someone did give a response to his sudden yelling. The driver turned back and asked, "Is there a problem, Master Jack." Seeing that his words had grabbed the attention of the chauffeur the boy could estimate just how loud he was a while ago. Assuring th
The following day when he met her again he couldn't resist her; when she touched him he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen which was both pleasant and peculiar for him. He couldn't take his eyes off her; the more he saw her the more he feared that his emotions for her were not normal and the comments were rather true. Was he... Really in love with her? When he was with her he felt like forgetting everything and just being with her, nuzzled in her company. His young heart was blossoming with a beautiful emotion. It was hard for him to accept this and till lunch, all of these worries were churning in his heart; the worst kind of feeling in the world was the one that is left unknown. Ryan finally gave up denying everything; he liked her, he did like being with her and wanted to protect her all his love. He started to accept this fact and even if he had some doubts about it everything vanished into thin air when they had a heart-to-heart in her room. When h
The couple watched the little boy walk upstairs, the man was furious but his wife knew how to calm him down. Giving him a hug like a spoilt kid she looked up at him, "Hubby, please forgive him. You know your son... He is just like you. He will be safe and even if he is not my mighty hubby is there to protect him, right."The man loved his wife more than anything and seeing her acting spoilt and calling him mighty was enough to melt his iced heart. He huffed off his anger and wrapped an arm around her; pulling her closer he looked up at the young boy's disappearing image, "I better keep an eye on this lad, he is up to something."He was his father and has lived twenty years more than the boy did; even though the boy didn't say anything clearly at the end of the day he was his son and it was not that hard for him to guess what was going on in his mind. He too has crossed this stage and age; developing friendship and engaging in peer activities was really common at this a
"I missed you too, Cathie!" Ryan caressed the girl before receiving the basket that Jack had in his hands. Giving it to her he said, "This is for you, baby girl. It has got cookies, cupcakes, and candies." Catherine took the basket and smiled, "Thank you, Big Brother." Ryan's eyes picked on the specks of dirt that were on her elbow, he carefully dusted them off asking, "Did you fall again?" Catherine poked out her tongue, "Floor likes Catherine..." Ryan ruffled her hair spolingly and looked up at the housekeeper; his tone, which was warm as the summer breeze just now, turned cold like that of glaciers all of a sudden, "You are supposed to be watching on her; why is she hurt?" The housekeeper knew that the Young Master of the Nguyen clan was someone she couldn't afford to offend. "Mr. Nguyen... I... I...." She tried to reason herself but the boy's gaze and presence were so overbearing that she couldn't even spill a sane word. Ryan signaled her to stop,
Ryan and Jack descended the stairs and accompanying them were the housekeeper and his little princess. The girl held Fiona in one and Ryan's hands in another, even though she was all smiles her eyes still portrayed strands of sadness in them. Ryan looked down at her and said, "Be a good girl, okay? I will come back tomorrow to meet you..." The girl's grip tightened on his hands, she asked hesitant, "Can't... Can't you stay with me, Ryan?" The boy signalled at the driver to hold as he bent down and cupped her left cheek, "Tell me, what is it? Am I not coming back tomorrow for you?" Catherine nodded wordlessly and looked into his eyes; even though she had yet to say what it was Ryan could understand that he was ought to pay heed to it. He was older but he knew that things which are negligible to adults are capable of messing up the peace of kids like her. She clutched his sleeves tightly and replied, "I saw a bad bad dream last night." "A bad dream?" Ry
The two were called down for dinner; during the whole course of dinner Catherine kept on chattering about her wild fantasies.'Ryan, does unicorn exists?''Ryan, do you think... I am a little mermaid! Did I too lose my memory and came to land?.'Ryan, do wonderland really exist? Can you take me there?'The Young Master was extremely patient with the kid, he went on nodding and giving out the reply that she was looking forward to. If believing that unicorns existed gave her happiness, he may as well start believing that those mythical one-horned creatures were real. If she thinks that she was the little mermaid of the ocean, he would start believing that he was the Prince she left the ocean for.After the two washed their hands Ryan looked at the time and asked, "Why isn't Mr Silva here yet?" The housekeeper, who was currently cleaning the table, replied, "Something urgent happened in an International branch, I don't know much about it but Mr Silva said that
"You are more irrational than the irrational number itself.", Ryan complained. No matter how much he refused his friend still explained, "You fancy her, bro. You are gonna make her yours. You are not doing anything wrong... Be a man, Ryan. A MAN!" The boy made sure he stressed the last two words to influence his mind.Ryan grunted, his friend did have a point. He was sure he will make her his one day, there was nothing wrong in... Personalising her for himself, right. A little body contact won't kill anybody! He massaged his temples and said that he will look into it before hanging up. When he went back to the room the girl was decorating the bed for them; she cleared all her stuffed toys to make space for him. The boy looked at her arrangements and asked, "Umm... What are you doing, Cathey?""I am making the bed for us to sleep!" The girl straightened the irregular blankets and sat down before continuing quizzically, "Why do you call me Cat
The next day, Jack came to fetch Ryan with the chauffeur. Seeing that his car has pulled up Ryan looked at the girl who was sleeping beside him. She still had his hands clasped; he smiled before slowly removing his hands from her grasp. He made sure that she was sleeping before locking the door behind him and descending down. It was still early in the morning but the housekeeper was up and welcoming Jack insdie. Seeing that Ryan too had came out she greeted him; Ryan nodded in acknowledgement. When he was asked what the two boys would want to have for the breakfast he replied plainly that he won't stick around for meal and would leave once Catherine woke up. "Hey, buddy." Jack jumped off the car, Ryan asked, "Did you get what you were telling me about last night?" Jack nodded positively before pulling out a gift wrapped box from his seat. He handed it to Ryan and reported, "I did my fair share of re search of in it. Couples who are in lo
To my dearest readers,Since I am in college and is living in a hostel it is getting really difficult for me to write. There is no proper electricity, no laptop or computer to write or proper internet to upload the chapter (even now I am uploading it using paid internet who's hourly rate is no less than any gold.)Since I don't want to hang the readers I am going to summarize the rest of the novel in this one chapter. If I am able to in future I will write the expanded form. Please forgive me for this, I… really am helpless right now.________________________________Previous-Ryan and Catherine go on a date and after a day of hustle he takes her to her father's office where they first met. He, to surpris
Standing on the first floor by the stairs was her small frail figure dressed in knee length denim skirt and a white off shoulder top. She completed her look with white sneakers and a French hat sitting above her beautiful wavey hairs. She chose pearl earrings and a simple necklace to compliment her beauty!She wasn't white like him but rather had an olive tone; in that outfit she looked young and chaste- like a flower yet to be seen or touched by mankind. She never dresses up like this, maybe she put efforts on her look keeping in mind that they were going on an official date. Ryan's heart skipped a few beats when she tucked her locks behind her ears and smiled at him shyly.She walked down the stairs and stood in front of him; Ryan, though never lost his cool, was getting his hands soaked in swear as she inches closer. He stood up and observed her charm, how can someone not fall in love with her- she was literally an angel in disguise. "Happy Valentine's day, gorgeous
Ryan kept mum for a while; his temper which was already in tempest hit its limit when she wasn't getting his actions and wasn't reacting in the way he wanted her to act. Afraid that he would embarrass himself more he decided t give up on it for now. "Nevermind!" He spat and turned away without even waiting for her to react."I- Ok." Catherine, who was well aware of how his mood worked, decided to let it go. He had never yelled out at her, not in the past long years was once when he talked to her with the slightest irritation in his tone but she had seen how scary he could get when he was not in the right mind.The two were about to reach school, while she was playing with the bouquet he gave her Ryan was deep in thoughts. Everything he heard from Jack, the times when he warned her admirers to stay away and random compliments he heard about her were echoing as a cacophony in his ears.When the car finally stopped he stepped out of the car absent-minded; he looked
Jack adjusted his position and turned towards his friend to explain, "Ryan, the whole school knows you like her but does she know about it?" Ryan fell silent processing his words while the latter continued, "This all flirting and asking out is happening because no matter who likes her she is still single at the end of the day!""She isn't your woman, she is your crush! None of this will stop, no amount of beating will hold people back from eyeing her because... She isn't officially dating anyone. You get that?"Ryan processed his thoughts and nodded, Jack's words made sense to him but he didn't know what he was implying. He asked, "So... What should I do?"Jack's eyes curled up as he said, "You need to make her yours officially!""Official?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, "She is still a kid, this is not the right time." Ryan turned down Jack's idea. She was only 12 and in his opinion not prepared for dating and commitments. He wanted to wait till she was 18 and
Time flew past and the two weren't kids anymore, one was seventeen while the other was twelve already. Many things changed, the way they looked and the way they were addressed in society but what didn't change was the way they treated each other.Six years later in the same school premises, a guy went crashing against the wall while his classmate stood dumbstruck, too afraid to do or say anything. The boy who was sent crashing went numb with pain as he shot a fearful glance at the one who did this to him... Ryan, in the school uniform but without his jacket stood there correcting a black band in his hands. Even though his face was calm and collected one could easily see the anger dancing on his face, he grabbed the latter's collar and pulled him up in the air. With his handsome face just a few inches away from his Ryan spoke out, "You must have some guts to flirt with the woman I love."The students who were witnessing the fight heard what Ryan just said and started to
Since the time Catherine was taken to her class and Ryan to his own the boy kept on wondering if she was doing ok there. He was so worried that he couldn't even concentrate in class, if not for his homeschool lessons which were too advanced the the one he was learning in class he could have been punished for not answering the questions the teacher threw at him.When a short break was given to them Ryan dashed across the corridors to her class to make sure she was okay. When he entered in he found he missing from her seat, he looked tensed at Jack and asked where she was. The two boys went inside the class to find Catherine standing at a corner hugging a single notebook."Ryan!" Her saddened face brightened up as soon as she saw those two similar faces. She ran and hugged his legs. Ryan knealt down to match her height and asked, "What is it, why are you here alone? And where are your stuffs."Her grip on the book tightened as she confessed slowly, "They took away
Around fifteen minutes later, the door of the principal's chamber flew open. Ryan stood up from his seat seeing Catherine walk out happily, "Ryan, I got accepted." The boy chuckled, "Of course, you did. Who would not take in my little Cathey."Jack looked around and asked the housekeeper, "If it's all done we can go for shopping.""No, I have a little work." Ryan stood upstriaght, he looked down at Catheine and said, "Wait for me, ok?" He entered straight into the principal's chamber leaving behind a confused Jack and housekeeper. The woman asked, "What happened to Young Master?" Jack shrugged and sat back on his seat, no one would know what he was cooking in his mind utill he produced the reuslts.A few minutes later Ryan came out with two pamplets in his hands, he looked at the gang who was waiting for him and said, "Let's go.""What were you doing inside?" Jack inquired and then his eyes fell on the two papers he held in his hand. Pointing at those he
After the account was made he saved his number in her phone and started teaching her. He showed her the interface and explained everything to her. "If you miss me and want to see me all you will have to open the app like this, can you see my name and photo here... Yes, that is. You click on it and tap this video recording button. You see this one... Yes! Click on it and wait for me to answer." Catherine listened to everything he said and nodded that she understood it all but a little unsure Ryan got her drawing book and drew the steps to video call. He gave the tablet to her, even though it was bigger than her hands she still held it firmly. He took out his phone and got up, "I am going out, follow the steps how I taught you and call me." She nodded an okay and watched him leave; after Ryan disappeared she opened the tablet and followed the instructions. The call was successfully placed. Outside at the garden Ryan saw his phone ringing, he looked at t
The next day, Jack came to fetch Ryan with the chauffeur. Seeing that his car has pulled up Ryan looked at the girl who was sleeping beside him. She still had his hands clasped; he smiled before slowly removing his hands from her grasp. He made sure that she was sleeping before locking the door behind him and descending down. It was still early in the morning but the housekeeper was up and welcoming Jack insdie. Seeing that Ryan too had came out she greeted him; Ryan nodded in acknowledgement. When he was asked what the two boys would want to have for the breakfast he replied plainly that he won't stick around for meal and would leave once Catherine woke up. "Hey, buddy." Jack jumped off the car, Ryan asked, "Did you get what you were telling me about last night?" Jack nodded positively before pulling out a gift wrapped box from his seat. He handed it to Ryan and reported, "I did my fair share of re search of in it. Couples who are in lo