WITH TIME

PROLOGUE Four humans . Two couples. They stood by the edge of the rock, the tides washing up. In their over joyous state, they held different seal stamps and presses it over a thin piece of paper. “Do you think they will acknowledge this sacrilege decision of ours?” The woman with the pepper head asked warily. “They have no choice but to.” Her partner boomed in his intimidating voice. “I agree. The conditions should give them no choices. They must obey.” “I dunno why but I kind of feel like a badass going this. You know, dictating the future and all that.” The smaller lady said in her squeaky voice, almost sounding like a mouse. “We should drink to this. That will make it feel more accomplished.” The quiet man said. “Why don’t you just say you always look forward to drinking? You won’t die.” The first woman chided. “Hmmn.” “How come you haven’t said anything about this?” Tugging on his shirt, the smaller woman asked. “Because I

CHAPTER 2 Clara could feel her arms itch as the sleeves of her dress scraped against it. She wondered the sort of fabrics they used in making these beautiful yet uncomfortable dresses. Can’t clothing industries use soft clothing materials like that of sweatshirts, cotton trousers and the likes? To top it off, the dresses were freaking heavy! She hated going to parties especially parties with her parents. This particular one was an impromptu and not planned, who holds a party on a Monday evening? Oh, she knows. The Smiths. Unfortunately for her, she had gone home to pick up an old vase from her room. “Sweetheart, I didn’t know you would be coming home today. That’s good. You have to go with me to the Smiths. Your father will meet up after work.” “I'm not prepared to party. I just came to pick a vase up. I will be heading back right now.” “Come on. It is important that you come along.” Her mum stopped in front of her and tuck her red hair behind her ears.

CHAPTER 4 Clara was so exhausted the next thing on her mind was to flop into her bed and get carried away into an island of sleep. But then, her parents thought otherwise. “Clara, dear. I thought your dad informed you that we had a general discussion. Didn’t you tell her, Mark? I think I reminded you at the party.” “Oh. Skipped my mind. What’s up?” She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. “Ok.” Her dad sat beside her while her mom sat across her. Clara knew that instant that what she was about to hear was going to blow her mind. She was just sure. Whenever her parents sat in that manner to ‘discuss' with her, it just meant something bad had happened or is about to happen. The last time such happened, it was her kindergarten teacher that had died. She had a great bonding with the woman. When she got back from school, they sat her down and announced Ms. Garter's passing. Clara hoped that wouldn’t be the case tonight. “Who died?” “Died? No o

The atmosphere was bright and that uplifted Clara's heart. Clara arrived at the shop and went about her business. She returned to tending to the fresh batch of flowers. Then, she put out orders that have been placed by her clients for their different occasions. Being surrounded by flowers was her happy place, she felt secure there. Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her mum. They hadn’t really spoken since that night.“Hey, mum.”“Sweetheart.”They both paused for a while before her mum spoke again. “You have an appointment with Sarah by eleven. I directed her to the shop if that’s fine by you.”“Ok.” Sarah was a new member of their community. She moved in a month ago and was getting married. She wanted a flower-themed wedding. Fresh flowers, she has insisted. Clara's mother overheard her and told her about Clara's business. Clara was rearranging the flowers she placed outside when a woman with purple hair popped in front of her.“Good morning, you

Since her meeting with Aiden's family, Clara had decided to accept and embrace every change as it comes. There was no point in questioning the whole situation since there was no going back. Clara knew she should rather find solutions to every challenge she would encounter along the way. She got to work earlier to cover up for all the time wasted. She had some batch of flowers to deliver today and she had not even started. Alongside that, she was also supposed to plant some flowers seeds that got delivered a week ago. Clara had so much to do. Once she got to her shop, she set the flower display, and did some cleaning up and tending.Being so engrossed in her work, she didn't realize time had gone so fast. Her stomach rumbled signaling that it wanted lunch. After ordering some takeout, her phone rang. It was a call from her mum. She hadn’t been on talking terms with her parents since they dropped the wedding bombshell on her. Clara wondered what news the call could be about.