Chapter 16

Ava and Hazel arranged all the required things on the table while Ed and Chris sat in the living room watching TV. Ed arrived a few minutes after Chris. Charlotte called earlier to inform that she will arrive late due to some emergency at her office. After arranging everything they too went to join the guys in the living room.

'Where are your wife and kids Chris?' Ed asked looking at Chris.

'They will reach soon, I guess' he replied not turning away from the TV.

Just as he finished his sentence the doorbell rang, Hazel froze.

Ava answered the door and Robert and Aurora came running inside enthusiastically. As soon as they noticed Hazel, they straight away ran towards her and sat beside her.

'Hazel, what are you doing here?' Robert asked looking at her happily.

'We are all having lunch together' she replied smiling pleasantly at the two.

'Rob, where is mom?' Chris asked coming over to him.

'She left after dropping us' Aurora replied nonchalant.

Hazel was a bit shocked to hear her reply but the words didn't seem to bother Chris or the kids in fact Ed too didn't react to Aurora's answer.

'Is Chris divorced?' Hazel wondered for a moment.

'Why isn't your wife joining us?' Ava asked curiously.

'Well…' Chris stopped and took a moment to look at Hazel. Hazel turned away from him trying to tell him that she doesn't care.

'She is going to meet her mom and since it will take time to reach her parent's place she couldn't join us here, I am actually quite surprised that she dropped the kids here without any whining' he replied smiling.

"Well Haze, you sure did imagine a lot for a sec and it was nothing" Hazel told herself regretting for having such a thought.

Hazel suggested that she will take the kids to her room so that they could play till Charlotte reaches. Ava joined them after doing some cleanup work in the kitchen leaving the guys alone in the living room.

'So you asked Ava about it?' Chris asked looking around making sure that the girls were gone.

'No not yet' he replied.

'Well thank god! If you did, she will surely think that you are a pervert' Chris said laughing.

'Shut up idiot! You keep forgetting that I am doing this for you' Ed defended looking at Chris who was still laughing.

'Yeah I know I know. Don't get angry and I think it will be better if you ask her after a week or so' Chris suggested.

'Actually that's soon too but for your sake I will try and ask next week but if she doesn't accept then get ready to die' Ed threatened Chris.

'Ok dude just chill!' Chris said smiling at him.

'You are still laughing about it?' Ed asked giving him a 'YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE' look.

'Well you have got to accept that you look funny when you try to fake your anger on a person' Chris answered suppressing a smile cause he knew if he laughs again, Ed will burst out eventually starting a lecture which Chris didn't want to listen to.

'Don't you feel like we are rushing with the plan?' Ed asked after a moment of thought.

'I know Ed but there's no other go now. I wanted to take it slow but…' Chris answered. He got lost in his thoughts halfway through his explanation. He knew he had to go a long way. Now things aren't the same as before. He lost six years! Even if he wanted to take things slow there wasn't enough time and with each day the obstacles kept increasing.

'Is Hazel dating Ryan?' Chris asked looking at Ed.

'No! Actually not yet' Ed replied not knowing what to tell Chris.

'Not yet?'

'Well…I did hear that she kinda likes him and wants to give him a chance' Ed answered trying to read his face.

'Good for her!' He replied smiling. But it was an empty smile. Ed noticed that Chris didn't smile whole heartedly there was something bothering him and he was hesitant to share it with anyone.

The doorbell rang and Ed answered the door. Charlotte walked inside and looked around searching for the girls.

'They are in Hazel's room' Ed answered looking at her.

Charlotte nodded and walked towards Hazel's room.

Ed spoke out after Charlotte left the living room;

'You know what Chris? The only person we have to fear here is Charlotte. If she gets to know our plan, either she will help or try to spoil it in the worst way possible. And considering that she loves Hazel so much it would be much better if she didn't know' Ed said in a worried tone.

'Dude she is your sister!' Chris said laughing at Ed's words.

'And that's why I am worried so much' Ed answered smiling.

Meanwhile the kids were playing inside Hazel's room while the other two watched over them.

Charlotte walked into the room and sat beside them. As they sat talking to each other, Robert walked towards them.

'Hazel who is this?' he asked pointing towards Charlotte.

'This is Charlotte' she introduced.

'Hey Cuties' Charlotte greeted them smiling.

'So you are Charlotte?' Aurora asked. She seemed to be familiar with her name.

'You know me, honey?' Charlotte asked amused by Aurora's question.

'Well... No!' Aurora replied but it was obvious that she was trying to hide something from them.

'My dad is scared of her!' Robert answered at the same time as Aurora.

'WHAT!?' the three girls asked in chorus.

'Rob, what is it?' Hazel said looking at Robert determined to know what he meant by his previous statement.

Robert looked at his sister and knew right away that he should SHUT UP!!!

But when he saw Hazel he knew that he couldn't lie to her. The little five-year faced a dilemma.

'Once we heard him saying over to someone that he is scared of Charlotte' Robert answered in a low squeaky voice.

Hearing his explanation all of them burst out laughing.

'Char, I didn't know you scare Chris so much' Hazel teased laughing hard.

Aurora heaved a sigh of relief as Rob didn't tell them the exact conversation they heard.

'Please don't tell dad' Robert pleaded with innocent eyes.

'Of course honey it's our little secret' she promised. Rob grew delighted on hearing her promise.

'Shall we go?' Charlotte asked as it was already past 2p.m. and they still didn't have lunch.

As they entered the living room they noticed that Chris and Ed were nowhere to be found.

Hazel asked Ava and charlotte to set the table and give the kids food and volunteered to go in search of the two.

They both nodded and Hazel walked out of her apartment and went downstairs in search of Chris and Ed.

She found them seated near the fountain which was situated right in the middle of the apartments. It was a very old fountain, and so was its story. Back in the 60's the fountain was placed right in the middle of a palace. It was abandoned for a long time but strangely a passerby entered the palace during his journey and sat by the fountain for some time and then he napped there for a while. He dreamt about getting rich and miraculously after some days that guy became rich and believed that the luck was brought by that fountain. So he rebuilt the palace and soon it evolved to be an apartment now. Initially, there were many tourists who were attracted by that fountain for its beautiful legacy but soon many complained that the story was fake and the fountain had no magical powers and eventually all the great stories about it died. So now it's just a fountain placed there for decorative purpose.

Hazel walked towards them;

'Guys! It's already late come let's have lunch' she told sitting beside Ed.

'What are you guys doing here anyway?' she asked looking at them.

'Well Chris was telling me about this fountain's history' Ed answered her.

'Oh I know it too. The story is quite interesting but I don't believe in it' she told Ed.

'You don't?' Chris asked surprised by her answer.

'No…' she answered in a low voice.

'Well I do' he said looking at her. Hazel avoided his eyes.

'Oh!' she exclaimed not wanting to say anything more.

'Oh god!' Ed yelled all of a sudden.

Hazel and Chris looked at him startled.

'I totally forgot. I planned a surprise for Ava and told my secretary to arrange for it and I told her I will call her by 1:30p.m to explain the details. I better call her now' Ed said and rushed from there.

'Well… that guy in love? Seems totally weird to me' Chris commented seeing Ed who was walking off in haste.

Hazel smiled slightly.

'Why don't you trust the luck of this fountain?' Chris asked playing with the water coming from the fountain.

'Because I tried it many times and nothing good happened' she replied.

'Are you sure?' he asked with a serious look.

'Actually it happened…but not at the right time' she answered looking right into his eyes. They kept looking into each other's eyes, totally lost into it for some time. It looked as though they were searching for something inside those eyes and when they were about to find it… Hazel jolted back to reality. But she noticed that Chris didn't look away for a long time though she turned away from him.

'We should go' she said getting up frantically.

'Hazel, wait!' Chris stopped her getting up. He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He took a coin out from his wallet and gave it to her.

'I told you that I don't believe in this anymore' she told him downhearted. Her eyes expressed sadness. She was afraid of getting her heart broken again because of her expectations.

'Try it! Let this be the last time' he pleaded. She looked at him and for the first time after six years saw life in his eyes. She knew that he wanted her to try it real bad but didn't know why he wanted that. But she didn't want to know the reason cause the fact that Chris pleaded her to try something made her happy.

She took the coin from his hand and turned towards the fountain and as she was about to close her eyes she noticed Ryan walking towards them.

'Hey Haze!' he called out beaming.

Hazel waved at him as he approached them.

'Haze?' Chris questioned Hazel.

'I didn't know that you both were this close' he told her. She noticed that his eyes which showed concern a moment ago were gone and it returned to being lifeless again. Something about his aura gave her chills.

'He is my friend' Hazel managed to blurt it out trying to defend her relationship with Ryan.

His aura grew fiercer with her statement. Hazel's knee grew weak with fright on seeing his expression. He looked like a hungry predator looking at his prey.

'What are you both doing here?' Ryan asked Hazel smiling at her. But his smile faded away as he looked at Chris.

"This two sure doesn't have an ordinary or good correlation" Hazel thought to herself looking at the two.

'Well I was just about to make a wish and throw this penny into the fountain' Hazel told him trying to break the tension between them.

'Well as far as I know Hazel, she doesn't believe all this nonsense' Ryan said looking at Chris.

'Well then it means that you DON'T KNOW HER!' Chris replied sternly.

'And you don't know about her either. Hazel doesn't believe all this' Ryan stood by his comment.

Hazel observed that the two were literally fighting each other verbally.

'Haze! Why don't you tell Mr. Finch yourself that you don't believe in superstitions' Ryan said looking at her.

Chris turned towards Hazel to hear her reply. He was pretty sure that Hazel would support him.

"I can't believe this guy turned the tables on me" Hazel thought shocked by Ryan's suggestion.

She turned to look at Chris. She really didn't know whose side to take as both Ryan and Chris were eagerly waiting for her answer.

'Mr. Finch…' she started looking at Chris.

Chris turned away from Hazel and walked away. He didn't want to listen a word more.

Hazel tried to stop him but she knew it was of no use. Before he turned away from her he looked into her eyes for a second, and it clearly conveyed that he was hurt.

'Well he could have at least listened to you' Ryan said watching Chris walk away.

Hazel watched Chris walk away and she felt a sharp pain within her and she couldn't figure out the reason but the pain grew worse with each minute.

'You told me that you had work' she spoke out looking at Ryan.

'I did but I didn't have the heart to turn your offer down. So here I am' he told her excitedly. She gave him a weak smile.

'Let's go' he told her.

She nodded and they both walked towards the ground floor's lift. As they were about to enter the lift Hazel remembered that she left her phone near the fountain.

'Ryan you go first. Let me get my phone and come' she said hurriedly walking away leaving him inside the lift.

She reached the fountain and picked up her phone from there. She turned to leave but stopped suddenly. She looked at the fountain and the penny in her hand.

'There is no use in hoping Haze. You aren't lucky in love, just accept it!' she told herself turning away from the fountain.

But she couldn't leave. Chris' words kept popping inside her head;

"Try it! Let this be the last time"

She closed her eyes; she slowly made a wish and threw the coin into the fountain.