Chapter 26: 14|Who thought Felix could be like this?-2

I nodded in defeat as Alex sighed. "Let's go." He tugged my hand and I suddenly became aware of the heat radiating from his hand to mine. We walked towards the parking and he stopped in front of a black Camaro. He unlocked it and opened the passenger door for me. I got in and made myself comfortable in seat as he rounded the car to driver seat. "You were really amazing back there." he started the ignition and grinned at me. "Thanks." I really like this about Alex. He isn't a sore loser like me. He accepts his defeats as chance to grow and thrives to be better. We settled into comfortable silence for rest of the ride but instead of home, I found myself in McDonalds drive thru. I looked at him in confusion. "I know you are hungry because dinosaurs in my stomach are definitely roaring." I chuckled at this. He recited his order to the attender who dare I add, looked at him as if the god himself descended on earth. "A cheese burger and coke for me." I piped in. We waited for our orders and when they came, Alex paid for me too. "I could've paid you know." I huffed in annoyance. "Consider it as a token of thanks for coming to support me today." I rolled my eyes but failed to suppress the smile threatening to grace my lips. He drove out of drive thru and parked in empty parking lot. We got out of car and took a seat on the hood. "Do you ever wonder how your life would have been with your family?" I broke the comfortable silence with the stupidest thing I could have said. He stopped mid bite and slowly gulped before putting his burger down. "I used to." "And now?" I questioned in confusion. "I don't feel like I lost my family anymore." He shrugged. I nodded gingerly as we fall into silence and let the words sink in. I lost my mom but I don't have to feel like I lost her. I have her in my heart and figuratively speaking, dad and my brothers made sure to fill my heart with so much love that grief doesn't even has a place to fit in. Then why I keep wondering back to the last few moments of her life? The only thing I remember from the accident was waking up with a massive pounding in head and immediately regretting waking up at all. Mom was shouting for me to get out of the burning car and I didn't listen to her. I was in a daze. My head was bashed pretty badly and I almost puked when I felt dried blood on side of my face but somehow the brave 6 year old in me tried to help mom with her jammed seatbelt. She kept yelling for me to get out. "Give up, darling. Run away and save your life." I looked at her with huge eyes and she pleaded me with her welled up black ones. "Go. You've a life ahead to live, baby swan." And I did. I gave up and crawled out of the car just in time to see fire fighters approach. I don't remember a thing after that as I fainted and went into coma for months. Crazy how I forgot every precious second spent with her but the minutes I want to erase completely, are etched in my memory forever. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Come here." I didn't even know I was crying until Alex pointed out and engulfed me into his arms. I guess wearing a memory of mom and not being able to remember it, is taking a toll on me. I silently cried into Alex's shoulder for a while and he kept tightening his arms with every sob as if to protect me from my inner monsters. "I was broken too when I lost my family. I was so young and lost as to why I can't see them again. My every achievement felt vain. I closed myself and pushed away the people who cared. I didn't lose my family, I lost... I lost myself too. I lost my existence. I felt forgotten and insignificant. Sometimes I wish I was in the car too, I wish that I too collided and fell down the bridge, I wish I too drowned with them but then I look at Rose, Ian and now Aiden, Asher, Henry and you and feel that I haven't lost my whole family after all." I smiled at that but it felt strained. For some reason, I was feeling guilty and I have no idea why I was feeling this emotion. I didn't let go of his secure embrace around me until my phone pinged. Mr I-am-to-cold-to-chill- Home yet? I checked the time and winced. 10:35 PM "I think we should go." He nodded and we got seated again. I didn't open my mouth for rest of the ride. It wasn't exactly awkward between us. It was something else and I couldn't put a finger on it. As if it's on my tongue but I can't let it out. It was as if we understood each other better than anyone. And maybe that's true because we did lose our precious ones in a similar way. He pulled in my driveway after 5 more minutes and I got out. "Thanks for inviting me. I enjoyed it very much." He gave me a small smile and shrugged it off. "And thanks for, you know..." I trailed off and sighed. "I get it, Astrid. We have more in common than we think we do." I gave him a confused smile. He waved me good bye and zoomed out. I skipped towards door and it swung open before I could get my key out. "Hey, dad." I gave him a small nervous wave. He replied by cocking an eyebrow at me before checking his watch. His coffee mug told me that he was waiting. "That's 45 minutes late, princess." I shuffled on my feet. He rolled his eyes and ushered me in. "I and Alex pit stopped at McDonalds-" "You look so beautiful in her dress." I froze and looked up at him with wide eyes. He gulped and averted his eyes. "Dad." I whispered in helplessness. He took a deep breath and looked at me with determination. "Did you talk to your brothers? They were whining about missing you already." I went along with the change in subject. "I Face-timed them after school." He nodded his head and excused himself for bed. Mental note- time to buy a few dresses for yourself. I let out a tired sigh before hopping upstairs. I quickly changed and got rid of makeup before I hopped inside Liam's room. He was reading a report on 'The demise of Kovorelle' when I entered. "I see, someone is working hard for credits." He rolled his eyes but I caught ghost of a smile on his lips. "I found a clue. I think Cedric never died." "Really?!" I yelped and jumped on his bed in excitement. He glared at me and I mouthed a sorry. We waited for 2 minutes for any commotion but when nothing happened, we started discussing the journal. My exhaustion overpowered me and I fall asleep. Before Liam. Ooooh. what do you think will happen?