EPILOGUE I

EPILOGUE I
Emilia's POV

The soft hum of voices hovered behind me in the lecture hall, as did the rustle of notebooks as the students flipped their pages, writing after me. I wrote the last line on the chalkboard and slapped the chalk beside the last word for a dramatic period.
“—and that,” I said with a smile to my class, to the rows of faces sitting behind their writing desks, as I spun around. “is how myth and folklore often preserve more truth than history dares to record.” I dusted the traces of chalk from my hands.
My students scribbled down the final notes, some whispering to each other, others watching me with that quiet awe I was still trying to get used to. It's been a year since I became a lecturer, yet every lecture day, in these walls, with the bright, younger, and lovely faces staring up at me, it felt like my very first day.
As I stood on the podium, with my sleeves rolled up and my hair pinned loosely at my neck, as I looked up into the wide lecture hall, I felt a thrill of pride. I was once a student like them, once scribbled notes into my book, and stared eagerly at a lecturer on this same podium. Now, I stood as a lecturer, shaping young minds as mine was once shaped. I couldn't keep back the thrill of excitement that rippled through me, my face pushing for more smiles. I leaned on the lectern to feed my eyes on the beautiful faces whose minds leaned eagerly to my words as their eyes did to my face.
My lips parted for words. But the back doors swung open, and that cut off the sentence in my head. I looked up, and my heart nearly stopped. What was he doing?
Sebastian stood there, impossibly handsome in a simple shirt and dark jeans. He still wore his dark chocolate brown hair, half-tied back with a ribbon behind him, as he always did in his world. Even with his shirt and jeans, he looked as aristocratic as ever. In his arms, perched on his hip with confidence, was our son—Sebastian Jr. The same dark chocolate brown hair fell into his eyes, and he grinned cheekily at the class, just like his father.
He was more of a sample of Sebastian than he was of me. I wouldn't believe he was my son if I hadn't watched myself push him out of me in the labor room.
I glanced down at my wristwatch. It was just 12:00 pm in the afternoon. Sebastian should still be with his psychiatrist doctor for his weekly checkup, and he doesn't usually leave until 1:00pm, and his younger accomplice should still be held down by his kindergarten teacher until I come get him after my classes.
Sebastian being here meant he had either deliberately missed his appointment or he had hypnotized the poor doctor into freeing him. Either way, he was guilty of something. My teeth clenched tight, eyes taking on so much heat, as I dragged them once again to him. He had deliberately brought Jnr here so that I wouldn't get angry. But nothing was going to save him from my wrath this afternoon.
“Forgive me,” Sebastian said to the class, his voice carrying that same aristocratic timbre that never left him though he’d lived here for five years now. “I seem to be interrupting the professor.”
My students giggled, charmed, but I wasn't. The heat in my eyes didn't thaw, not even with Jnr’s cute chubby face smiling at me and gleaming with petulant mischief, as they both climbed down the aisle between the chairs to me. 
Whispers sizzled into the class the more they neared me. Jnr cackled a bright childish giggle and leaned out his chubby arms in the air, reaching out for me to grab him.
Somehow that thawed the heat in my face a little. He had a secret code to my soft spot, and he unlocked it cleanly. After I took him from Sebastian, pressing a quick kiss to his head, I looked up at Sebastian, and the heat in my eyes and the rage previously surging in me died significantly.
I bit down on my lips in reproach for myself as I shifted to the class. “That’s all for today. Go, read, live a little—and maybe believe in some impossible things while you’re at it.” I said my usual closing speech after my classes. Half of the class chorused it after, laughing softly as they packed their books and stood up to leave.
The sight brought a final calm to me, and when I returned to Sebastian again, only a little heat burned in my eyes. “Why did you skip your appointment with Doctor Henley today?”
“I didn't,” he answered.
My eyes squinted on him. I watched eagerly as he moved past me and gathered my books from the lectern into his arm. “Then why are you here at a time when you should still be at his office?” I said, my tone scolding, though I don't want it to.
But I couldn't help it. I wished he would take his health as seriously as I wanted him to. I could only thank God that Jnr hasn't shown signs of such illness, and I hoped he never would. I would die fast with worry if I had to deal with another him.
Though his episodes had greatly reduced both in occurrence and intensity. He has rarely shown signs of madness for months now, and even when he does, it doesn't last for more than a few minutes, and I am able to bring him back immediately, or he phases through it when I am not around. But still, I…
He grabbed my shoulders, both of them, forcing me to abandon my thoughts and raise my eyes directly to him. His lips curled in a warm smile. “I understand your concerns, Emilia. But contrary to your thinking, I didn't skip my appointment. I merely rescheduled for tomorrow.”
“Why?” I asked sharply.
His smile grew to capture his grey orbs, making them shine bright in the daylight. “You’ll see, wife.” Then he leaned low and planted his lips firmly on mine, tasting every bit of my lips.
I held Jnr on one hand to my chest, and with the other, I held his head for more. It took the class cheering excitedly, with giggles and laughs tearing through the room, for me to snap back from him. I looked up to realize half of the class was still very much hanging by the door.
They had one glimpse at my hard stare, and they scampered playfully out of the class, their laughter echoing after them.
I chuckled as I watched them, the heat growing on my cheek easing. When I turned my face to the culprit behind my embarrassment, I let my smile go.
“You shouldn't have done that in front of my students.” I scolded him, and I snatched his arm, pulling him fast for the door.
We strode down the parking lot for my car. I had wanted to ask of his, but when I saw him stroll ahead of me to the driver side of my car, I figured he didn't come with it. I tossed my car keys to him over the car roof, and he caught them like a good goalkeeper, teasing me with a grin.
Jnr clutched his chubby hands to my face, giggling as I strapped him to the backseat. “Mommy,” he chimed with that bright, exuberant voice most four-year-olds carry.
I dropped onto the passenger seat after, glancing at Sebastian’s grip on the wheel. He gripped the wheel too hard.
“What are you plotting?” I asked, the quiet hum of the starting engine beat music to my words.
He only smiled, maddeningly unreadable, as he sent the car into the road. “Like I told you earlier, darling, you’ll see.”
“Mommy,” Jnr chimed in from behind with his excited voice as usual, his eyes bouncing happily in his head. “Daddy wants to surprise—”
Sebastian turned to him from the road, “Jnr.” He cautioned, his eyes a little stern as his voice.
“Sorry, Daddy.” He quieted instantly, reclining onto his seat and throwing his tiny orbs away from me.
I looked from father to son, my eyes darting from one to the other eagerly. I hated to be kept in suspense. My lips moved to ask Sebastian what he was planning, but I clasped them shut. I turned to Jnr. He was my best chance of unraveling his father's ploy.
I leaned my face to his small chubby one. The excited gleam has dropped in his eyes, and mischief has grown in its place. “Jnr, if you tell Mummy what your father is planning, Mummy will buy you a big bowl of ice cream.” I said, widening my hands to demonstrate how big the bowl would be.
He sat up eagerly, staring up at me with childlike innocence. “Are you sure, Mummy? You always say not to eat ice cream.”
"Don't forget our agreement, Jnr. You know it is way better than what Mummy is offering.” Sebastian said, not looking back, grinning at the road as he drove us home.
“I am sorry, Mummy. But I can't tell you anything.” Jnr said, looking away from me again.
“Okay, how about two big ice-cream bowls, veeery big ones?” I offered again, with a teasing grin, widening my hands to demonstrate the bigness.
His eyes widened at the prospect, and he licked up his tiny lips, but he looked to Sebastian, and he shook his head. “No, Mummy. I am not telling you anything.” He said, turning away from me.
I looked to Sebastian again and then to him, and I realized I couldn't come between father and son easily, so I dropped back to my seat.
I chose to be petty then. “Whatever Daddy promises to buy for you, I won't let you eat it, Jnr.” I told him.
He looked sharply to Sebastian. A look of terror split his grey orbs. It was so childlike and cute, I stifled a little laugh. “Is it true, Daddy?" he demanded from Sebastian.
“Don't worry,” Sebastain assured with his smooth velvet voice. “I would give it to you in secret and let you eat it in secret too,” he said.
He sighed heavily, almost like an adult, and he gave me a cheeky grin as he held my gaze. I wanted to tease him more, but I knew I wouldn't get anything, so I just dropped back to my seat, turning to Sebastian then. “Just tell me what you are planning, Sebastian. I hate the suspense.” I asked eagerly, an urgent edge to my voice.
His lips stretched in another smug grin. “Like I have been saying, you will find out soon enough, darling.”
That told me I wouldn't get anything from him either, so I resigned to my seat, while my eyes kept darting from father to son, my mind moving wildly, ticking continuously, while the warm afternoon air screaming into the car caressed the back of my head. Just what are they plotting?