The wall of memory (1)

"I thought you wouldn't come back." Maximus remarked when Jasmine returned. He had thought that Dairon would be angry with him for letting Jasmine do such a thing as make clothes, and hence forbid her from going back. He was glad that she was back, he had to admit.

"I need to make more clothes, or else I would have to continue wearing those blue gowns. I wonder where he gets them." She scorned Dairon's taste.

"I've been meaning to say this. Who makes a simple blue gown with blue flowers?" Maximus complained. It wasn't the design that was bizarre, but the fact that he had been ordered those specific outfits which had to be of the same color as though other colors did not exist. "Those are the most regretful clothes I have ever created."

If it wasn't Dairon requesting them, he would have thrown the order in his face.

Jasmine laughed humoredly at the thought of Dairon's interaction with Maximus. "He has a horrible taste. If he wasn't so annoying, I would make him a pair of pants later."

"Are you done making all your orders?" She asked as she sat down, not wanting to inconvenience his work.

He nodded as he cleared the space for her. "You should use your gift to earn income. Don't let it go to waste." He advised.

"Thank you. I do that in my world." She thanked him gently and sighed softly, longingly. "I'm a fashion designer."

"I'm sorry." He realized that he had reminded her of her world, which was probably sad to think about.

She shook her head to signify that it was alright. It was not. "I just find it unfair that my family thinks I'm dead."

"Your family is alive?" Maximus looked shocked to hear her mention her family.

She nodded, taking note of his reaction. It seemed like he had expected her to say that she no longer had one. "Do you have a family?"

"Not anymore. They died in a war ages ago." He explained, making the atmosphere heavy. He knew she was about to apologize for asking about it but he stopped her. "I have already moved on."

He must be incredibly brave, she thought. She didn't think she would ever move on. He prepared the materials so she would access them easily if she needed them and as she took them she asked, "Are you human?"

"Yes." he answered, much to her relief. She had thought that he was a demigod at first but after interacting with him for a bit, she realized that he was nothing like Dairon. Finally, there was another human she could interact with. It made her wonder why Dairon had so many humans on his island. He couldn't be collecting them as some sort of psychotic hobby, right?

She started making clothes and was done making a silk dress when Dairon walked into the room.

"Here you are. I was looking for you." He bummed her yet again, and she didn't want to speak to him.

"You don't need me for anything."

"Yes I do. Come willingly." His lips curled upwards on one side, an indirect threat.

She huffed, knowing that if she refused to follow him, he would simply compel her into doing it.

"What do you want?" She asked as she walked out of the door after him, against her will.

He kept walking forward and she could only follow him to the library. This time, he didn't show her any book, but instead, a door which he opened into an empty room.

"Why are we here?" Being in an enclosed room with a man wasn't one of the safest things to do. But then again, they had been living in the same mansion for a while and he would have already hurt her if he wanted to. Even so, she didn't want to take any risk so she went back to pull the door open.

He laughed at her actions. "I want to try something."

"What is it?" She was still in the middle of asking when his palm connected with the wall, and an outline of a girl formed on the large wall. Why did that girl look so much like her?

The image became more vivid and she could now see it clearly. The girl had a pair of beautiful, black eyes that matched her straight hair which was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink dress and a pair of black stockings on her small legs.

"That's me…" Jasmine recalled as she watched the little girl run across the garden.

"Jasmine, catch!" A ball was thrown her way, and Jasmine heard a childish voice she could recognize anywhere.

Vivian?

"Why did you…"

He hushed her before she could get her entire statement out. "Sh… if I get distracted I can accidentally warp history."

She wanted to avert her gaze and not watch her own past, but her eyes remained glued onto the wall.

On the wall, Vivian looked at her white stockings, upset that they had a drop of mud on them. She ran to an elderly lady." Nana, I got mud on my socks!"

"I'll clean it for you." The elderly lady smiled and took her into the house to help her change into another pair. When she returned, she was wearing a dress similar to Jasmine's with the same type of stockings. "I'm a princess. So are you Jasmine." She laughed joyously, and the girl in pink placed a flower in Vivian's head.

Jasmine felt touched when she remembered the childhood that she had forgotten, which was more precious than she had ever thought. She and Vivian loved each other so much even as kids.

The scene one again transitioned into another.

"Sunscreen check, diving gear, check. Swimsuit, check… Jas, are you okay?"

The present Jasmine wanted to say something but she was afraid that she would distract Dairon so she watched silently.

"Are you going to swim?" Vivian asked as she followed Jasmine who was giving monotonous responses the entire time. The latter sat down to play with water.

"It's calm here, don't you think? I could design twenty outfits just sitting here." She let out a beautiful smile.

"How about we go for a dive first?" Vivian suggested and stood up. She held Jasmine by the shoulder and tried to pull her to stand.

The present Jasmine who was watching already knew what she discussed with Vivian so she focused on their surroundings instead. She suddenly tried to signal him to pause.

"Wait. Is there a way to pause?"

"No, why?" Dairon asked.

"You were in the sea." She exclaimed.

"Yes." He nodded like it meant nothing, making her want to roll her eyes at him.

"Focus on yourself. Please." She requested, and the scene focused on the man swimming near the cruise ship, who was Dairon. His hair didn't look wet even though he was in the water, and he looked so handsome that the present Jasmine was almost captivated by him.

"Excuse me? Why are you swimming when you shouldn't?" A crew member spotted Dairon and interrogated him sternly. It was the same man who had just scolded Jasmine and Vivian for planning to go diving at random.

"i…" Dairon didn't know what to say.

"Get back on the cruise!" The man ordered before Dairon could say anything, and he could only leave the water to enter the cruise that he was not part of.

"Why did you enter the ship?" Jasmine asked him. He was a demigod and didn't need a ship to travel around the sea, so she thought it was impossible for him to have been part of the cruise.

"He would have known that I'm not human if I did anything else." Dairon sounded regretful.

Jasmine wanted to ask but it was more important to focus on the wall so she saved the questions for later.

When Dairon entered the ship he entered an unoccupied room and tried to secretly leave, but teleportation failed.

"There is something wrong with this ship." He muttered.

The present Dairon knew what he had said on that day and didn't want Jasmine to hear it, so he returned the focus on Vivian.

By this time, the scene had changed to that of the restaurant where the girls had joined the other members of the group they didn't know existed before getting scolded.

"I wanted to go diving and to the Caves of Cannon but she rejected the idea. What a bummer." Vivian complained to a man on their table.

"We can go later." The man suggested.

Jasmine once again spotted Dairon at a corner but ignored this fact. He seemed to have appeared twice in their trip. Was it a coincidence?

As planned, the group went diving and Vivian couldn't hold herself back thanks to the anticipation she was feeling. She grabbed her friend's arm. "Let's go first, Jas! This is gonna be fun."

And they dived.

However, a storm happened.

Jasmine wanted to close her eyes but knew that she was close to finding out what happened to her friend. She could only hug her arms and watch on as the waves of the sea hit them down repeatedly.

Vivian finally managed to locate Jasmine with difficulty but when she reached her, Jasmine pushed her away, making the latter once again lose her balance.