48| Alyssa's clone
Dinner was going well in silence until Selkath broke the silence...
"Alyssa dear, is everything ok with you? You've not touched your meal yet."
At once the lioness dropped her fork and sparked, furiously. "How will I be fine? Of course not, am not—"
"Alyssa, don't create another scene now, am begging you." Dave interrupted with a calm tone.
She tilts her neck with a fake SURPRISE expression, "Ah, look at him. Trying to be a saint all of a sudden like you're not the one who started it first." She turned to the Empress and pointed at him. "He's the reason why I'm not fine."
Dave buried his head down, rubbing his temples in frustration.
"This is just like watching Henry danger season two, right Becca?" Bella laughed.
"Shh," I hushed her.
"Okay, just because I didn't let you step out of the palace half naked doesn't mean you should call me a LUNATIC. I heard it loud and clear." Dave said through gritted teeth.
"And am glad you did!" Alyssa is only drawing attention from the Empire, Empress and everyone on the dinning table.
"Wait," The Empire dropped his glass of wine and clasped his hands underneath his jaw. "So, you two already had a fight before now?" When silent greeted him, he chuckled. "I thought you two were having a nice flow."
Alyssa frowned, "Nice flow' my foot!"
"We saw it during the family's picnic." Dexter chimed in. "I was going to ask my brother if the both of you were dat—ow!" He winced when I kicked his leg under the table.
"Listen, there's no fucking way am going to date your brother." Alyssa pointed out. "He knows. I don't have feelings for him. Infact, how will I have feelings for a man who's in a relationship with another woman—"
"I already broke up with Miranda and please don't talk about her ever again, I beg of you." He stood up and left the dinning room.
The whole place went back in silence again. I looked at Alyssa, she was coated in shame. The expression on her face shows a lot of regrets. The furious lioness, barking like a mad dog suddenly sat there calm like a dove. She couldn't withstand the multiple glares coming from every angles and corners.
She stood up and left too.
************
THIRD PERSON POV....
"Please go away, I need privacy." He groaned when someone knocked on the door.
For the so-called person to return to wherever he or she is coming from, it still went ahead to open the door.
Alyssa stepped in uninvited. When the dark room greeted her, she rummage the wall for the light switch. When her finger met something, she switched it on and there she saw him standing by the window. He didn't even care to look back to see who invaded his privacy. His main focus was on the city's view.
She fidgeted with her fingers as she drew closer to where he was. The moment she saw water droplets rolling on his chins and dropping on his tshirt, she felt guilty instantly.
"Oh my God, tell me you're not crying for what I said?" Without waiting for him to say anything, she started crying too. "I'm sorry, I never meant to call you a lunatic. I was stupid to address you that way. It's my fault. I was the one who started it first, I shouldn't have picked a fight with—"
She swallowed the rest of her words when he pressed his lips on hers. She was so into the kiss that it turned so deep, exploring each other's tongue in each other's mouth.
When her fingers combed his dark hair, he broke the kiss and said, "It was never your fault. It was my fault that I never regarded you." Then, he captured her lips in his mouth again.
She squealed softly when he lifted her from the ground and carried her to the bed. Her legs wrapped around his waist with her arms around his neck. "It's been eighteen years since you last touched me."
"Call me STUPID for keeping you waiting."
"No, we never waited for each other but it was worth the delay and separation." She smiled, playing with his hair. "If we hadn't parted ways, we wouldn't have tasted how it feels to be heartbroken by others, right?"
"Hmm," He sighed. "Aren't you on your period?"
She rolled her eyes, "To hell with that. I should be having the last tonight, but.....fuck it off, I don't care right now. All I want is what I missed." Her arms around his neck, "And all I missed is just you, Dave."
Let the fire ignites. Lightning breaks the cloud, the thunder roared in the darkness of love as the two made love like never before.
Automatically, it didn't end there. It happened severally, often, normally, continuously, simultaneously, frequently...day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, day seven, day eight— are they going to go on like forever? It's like something that has no end and they don't seem to get sore everyday, everytime, anytime, everywhere.
It's been eighteen good years since they last touched that body and they got hold of it the moment they got the opportunity.
The only reason Dave was pained was because of the fact that Alyssa couldn't see the genuine love he has for her in his eyes. He was so disappointed in her and in himself. He blamed himself so many times for abandoning her because of what she did to him in the past and she blamed herself too for hurting him so many times in the past.
.............
"You've been sleeping more these past few days," The Empress sat on the edge of the bed and placed the back of her hand on Alyssa's neck.
"Am fine, your highness." She whined, jerking her hand away softly. "There's nothing wrong with me."
"I can see that too. Your body temperature is normal." She chuckled. "But don't you think.... you're pregnant?"
"Preg—" Alyssa's swollen eyes bugged in shock as she sat upright. "N...no! I'm not pregnant. I haven't met someone yet, how can I be pregnant?"
"You haven't?" The Empress gave her a questioning expression and laughed. "My dear, relax. I know if a woman is telling the truth and when she's lying. Just the same way I know if a woman is pregnant and when she's not." She stood up. "Didn't you say you haven't met someone yet? And you're lying on Dave's bed and also wearing one of his sleeves."
Alyssa quickly looked down on herself. She realizes that the Empress was right about the bed and the outfit. When she lifted her head, the Empress has already left.
She cursed herself for staying up to this hour in Dave's bedroom. She got up, had the first shower of the day at 2pm and strode out to the vineyard. When she got back inside the mansion, the whole place was dark.
"Who turned off the chandelier?" She questioned herself in the dark but no response.
She started screaming out the names of each staffs but nobody answered. When she was about to go out and call the guards, the lights suddenly turned on and to her greatest surprise, the whole place was decorated to the finest.
"Surprise!" Everyone beamed in excitement and she startled in shock, almost developing an heart attack.
When did all of these happened behind her back? How did her parents got here? How come Triana tagged along with the surprise thing and she couldn't even tell her about it and ......oh wow! And there goes the man responsible for her accusation earlier.
Dave.
He knelt down in front of her holding an expensive diamond ring which was in a little red velvet box. She felt like crying before the words came out of him.
"Alyssa O'Brien, will you marry me?"
For good ten seconds, she couldn't say anything. All she could do was tear up in front of him and everyone. His excited face turned pale when she didn't say anything for long.
Everyone was anticipating, waiting for her to respond. Even Triana was whispering 'YES, SAY YES' in the background but her best friend just did something that made Dave feared for his life.
Alyssa ran out of the palace to the bridge where the ocean was. That time was exactly 7pm sharp. The water bodies could barely be seen as blue as the surface is dark.
"I know you're not a good swimmer, so please, don't do it." He pleaded when she peeked at the heavy waves underneath the thick handrails.
"Why are you stopping me from doing what I want? Why?" She cried aloud from the heavy stormy weather, moving backwards as the wind blew her long hair across to her face.
"Because I love you, Alyssa. I love you wholeheartedly and I swear on it." He didn't give up his faith as he kept moving forward in slow and steady steps. Having the hope that his sweet words could stop her. "I beg you, my love, don't do this."
She moved backward, "Stop coming closer. Or else, I'll jump." When he stopped on his tracks, she added, "You're a good man, Dave. But you see sometimes, love is not what it takes for two people to be together. It's all about trust and I don't know if I can find that in you."
"You can trust me, Alyssa." He placed his hand on his chest. "I swear on my life that I'll never hurt you. Believe me."
"Stop swearing." She freaked out, messing her hair with her fingers. "I've heard and seen men telling me that a million times. I don't want to marry you and at the end of it all, your ex-girlfriend, Miranda shows up and—"
"If Miranda trespasses our relationship, I swear to you..... I'll kill her with my bare hands." His eyes covered in rage and anger. His lips pressed tightly together.
She paused for a while, then said, "You....swear?"
"I swear, my love."
"Alright then, turn around."
He frowned briefly, "Huh?"
"Just turn around."
"You mean.....I should...." He was still scared she might do something stupid behind his back.
"Yes, turn around." She sighed. When he obeyed and did as she asked, she sneakily jumped into the ocean.
It was the sound of water splashing that took Dave off guard. He turned around quickly and couldn't find her standing where she were.
"Alyssa!" He screamed when he saw her floating on top of the water. While the others were rushing up to see what happened, he jumped into the ocean too.
"Bring in the rescuing team! Hurry!" The Empire commanded, firmly. "These kids have lost their minds."
Could you believe that all of these were Alyssa's hallucinations? The real moment wasn't by the bridge or in the ocean.
She was still literally standing before everyone with Dave still kneeling in front of her with the diamond ring in the box.
"Mom?" Christian's voice interrupted her delusional daze and she shook her head out of her deep thoughts. "You haven't said anything since. Dad's still waiting."
That was when she remembered the man kneeling in front of her. He still look pale in dismay. But yet, he had the courage to repeat the words again.
"Alyssa O'Brien...will you marry me?"
This time, she didn't waste any time. She nodded vigorously, giving him her finger, "Yes, I'll marry you, Dave."
"Whew!" Everyone breath a sigh of relief.
Dave inserted the ring on her finger and got up to kiss her, sweetly. "You scared the living hell out of me, my love." He said through the kisses.
"Did I?" She chuckled.
"I was thinking of committing suicide if you say no." He whined like a little child and she bursted into laughter.
"Uh-huh." The Empress butted in with a glass of wine in her hand. "Not so fast you two. Especially you, Alyssa." She faked a deadpan face at her then turned around to face everyone. "Attention, please. My daughter in-law here is carrying my grandbaby, so please, do not stress her with hard labour."
The whole family turned towards Alyssa at once with a shocking expression.
Dave was muted for a while before finding his voice again. "Honey, are you.... pregnant?"
"Um...." Alyssa scratched her head, stammering.
But the Empress came to her rescue. "She'd likely know or maybe not but....." She clicked her tongue. "I went to your bathroom, Alyssa dear. And I found the pregnancy test tube. Remember I was right when I said you were pregnant?"
"Oh my God, I'm so happy for you!" Triana pulled Alyssa into a tight embrace.
Everyone celebrated the new reunion and PLUS ONE of the family.
A week later, Alyssa and Dave got married and welcomed a baby girl nine months after. They named her Alicia because she has 99 percent resemblance of her mother, Alyssa. Or should we say, Alyssa's clone? Hehehe. Alyssa was later crowned the Grand duchess of Devonshire.
..........….......…
"YOU ASKED ME ABOUT LOVE…...? IT WAS NOT UNTIL YOU RETURNED INTO MY LIFE THAT I GRASPED THE TRUE MEANING OF THE WORD. LOVE IS NOT A CHOICE AND DEFINITELY NOT SOMETHING ONE CAN CONTROL. MY LOVE FOR YOU IS LIKE AN UNSTOPPABLE, WILD STORM. IT MIGHT END UP DESTROYING ME FROM WITHIN, BUT IT WILL NOT CHANGE THE FACT YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MY DESTINY." — Dave.
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice but falling in love with you.....I had no control over. We only part to meet again." — Alyssa.
"You are my oxygen, baby. How can I not need you? You are my Heartbeat, baby. How can I not love you?" — Dexter.
"Now that you're here, now that they know you exist, you'll never be free again. Ever. We're prisoners to our books, our fates planned long before we were born. You're no different than us. Fight your fate all you want, but deep down you know it's true."— Triana.
"Love is something that you can not touch, you can not taste or you can see it. But if there is real love, you can feel it. You can feel and you can know that which is real love. In this type of love, you can not express yourself clearly." — Winona Aurora. 💕
THE END. 😘