176 My Aveline
After getting the beautiful tiara from Aunt Letitia herself, Becca made her way back into Gemma’s chamber, already feeling excited to put it on for Gemma and imagining just how she’d look having a tiara on her head.
“Gemma, I got the perfect–” Becca’s voice instantly trailed off when her gaze shifted to the place she had left Gemma and to her surprise, she wasn’t there anymore, leading Becca to stop in her steps.
“She’s not here?”
Staring at the bowl that was left in the room, she could see splashes on the ground, indicating Gemma had done something mischievous while she was away, and a knowing smile creeped onto Becca’s face.
“Gemma..” she called her name almost melodiously, “I know you’re hiding somewhere....” She pretended to search, knowing very well how Gemma was fond of playing hide and seek at times like this.
“Hmmm... now where can the little one possibly be? Is it....” Reaching for the foot of her mattress, Becca instantly went on her knees to look under the bed.
“Gotcha!” She had planned to surprise Gemma with those words, knowing how much she would giggle each time she said it, but to her biggest surprise, Gemma wasn’t under the bed like she had thought.
“She’s not here.” Becca couldn’t hide her puzzlement after seeing Gemma wasn’t under the bed, and she rose to her feet with a skeptical gaze, surveying the room and everything was just as it used to be, the candles were still lit and burning halfway.
Everything was intact except for the strange emptiness she felt in the room.
.....
“No no,” she mentally shook her head, Gemma must be hiding somewhere else then.
“Gemma.” She instantly went to search the bathroom, but she wasn’t there. She searched the big wardrobe where she kept her dresses as well, in case Gemma had outdone herself and hid there, but to her displeasure, she wasn’t there, leaving a look of uncertainty to play on Becca’s face as she closed the wardrobe back.
A slow dreadful feeling was starting to creep inside of Becca but the thought in her head felt too impossible to actually be true.
“Gemma... I know you’re just playing with me but it’s enough now, okay? You win this round, so you better come out before your Aunt scolds you again.” She tried to keep her tone playful incase Gemma was really messing with her, but unfortunately, she got no response.
And it was unlike Gemma to remain hidden after hearing the name of her Aunt being mentioned.
“Gemma!” She called out, searching the whole room because she was sure Gemma didn’t step out, she had left her here before stepping out.
So where could she possibly have gone?
“I’ll be in big trouble if I can’t find Gemma, it’s unlike Gemma to disappear like this, if she isn’t here then...”
Becca’s brows rose and a ray of hope suddenly returned to her heart as her mind drifted to Annalise.
“How can I forget, she must have gone to see Anna.”
That was very much possible since the second place she could guess Gemma to be was with Annalise. That little girl, she had told her to wait here, but she ran to her favorite maid.
As much as it eased her mind a bit, her heart wasn’t settled yet and she instantly left the room, going in search of Anna to make sure Gemma was with her.
And if she was, she won’t play with that little demoness for nearly giving her a heart attack.
~
“What is this?” Anna asked the glacier who made her sit before her dressing table without saying a word to her. This man really likes to make people wait for him when he’s meant to be getting ready at this time.
She was sure almost everyone would be wondering where his highness disappeared to, not knowing he was actually in her chambers.
“Roshan.”
“Quiet,” he silenced her softly before reaching for her drawer, opening it up and taking the locket that rested inside of it.
Annalise had been curious as to why he suddenly showed up and was going through her drawer, only to see him bring out the locket she had safely kept in her drawer.
The locket that belonged to Aveline.
A smile adorned Roshan’s lips as he saw the heart-shaped locket was safely kept, not only that, she had even polished it, making it look brand new and attractive to the eyes.
“You still kept it.” He said to her, meeting her gaze through the mirror and Anna shyly lowered her gaze, unable to meet his stare without feeling her heart jump in excitement in her chest.
“Mmmn.” She nodded.
“Why?”
“Cause I couldn’t get rid of it,” she honestly admitted before letting her gaze travel to somewhere that wouldn’t lead her to meeting his beautiful warm gaze.
“A locket like this holds a special meaning, most especially for humans and I don’t know why, but I had the urge to keep it.” She explained, “it was difficult to let such a beautiful locket like this go to waste and I...I felt that...”
“The locket was gifted to you?” He completed her words, putting it as a question in case he was right and Anna’s eyes instantly widened the moment he said what she couldn’t utter herself.
Standing behind Anna who was seated on the chair, looking at the man who had changed her life completely, he raised the locket up before uttering..
“Then shall we test it to see if it suits you.”
Anna’s heart fluttered at his words and her face uncontrollably bloomed as she exchanged glances between Roshan and the locket.
“W...what?” She said, sounding a little breathless as she wasn’t expecting he’d suggest something like that.
Without saying anything else, Roshan carefully placed the locket on her neck, moving her hair to the side and as he reached to hook it up, visible images of this same scene played in his head.
Anna was sitting at a dressing table just like this one, but she was wearing a different dress, and just like the action he just portrayed, he had carefully placed the locket around her neck in the displaying memories, earning an excited grin from the woman who made his heart beat uncontrollably.
“It’s beautiful.” Her sweet voice filled his ears and the moment he was snapped back to the present, Annalise was staring at him with the same look he had just envisioned, with a glow in her eyes and she herself was admiring how pretty the locket looked on her.
“It’s beautiful.”
Roshan just stared as she reached to touch the necklace on her neck, and Anna was filled with this unexplainable joy inside her heart and before she could understand what was happening, she heard him speak.
“It is you.” Roshan’s voice came out soft, holding emotions that when she looked into his eyes, she saw the longing he had for her inside of them.
“My Aveline.”
A breathless gasp escaped Annalise the minute he called her Aveline.
Could it be that he remembers her??
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