Reminiscence

Reminiscence
Morgan Daniels didn’t want to believe that Maia was standing a few meters away from her. She didn’t want to blink for fear that if she did, Maia wouldn’t be there anymore. She took in her appearance.

Her hair was no longer a dark brown, it was a dark auburn colour and was longer and wavy. She had aged a bit, but that was totally normal since it’s been seven years. Her facial features were more defined.

In conclusion. Maia looked beautiful.

Maia's gaze was focused on the seven-year-old who looked scared and frozen on the spot. Then, Lea rushed over to her mom, with fear and panic in her eyes.

“Mummy, I bumped into someone,” she whined holding tight to the hem of her jeans.

“It’s alright sunshine, mummy will handle this,” Morgan reassured her daughter and then proceeded to tug her behind her, as though she was protecting her from a wild animal. Then she smiled at the woman she'd been dreaming to see for the past years.

“Hi, Maia"

Maia Shelton stood frozen, her eyes glued to the spot where only a few seconds ago, Lea stood. Morgan wondered if she should speak up again or just leave it be and let her acknowledge her first greeting.

Seconds or maybe minutes passed and still no response from Maia and

it felt like Morgan wasn’t going to get any.

Then, after what felt like an eternity of torture, Maia's gaze met Morgan's.

And she wish it didn’t because the look Maia gave her was a blank and empty stare.

No love. No hate. Just blank, causing a cramping feeling to form in her chest.

“Hi” she replied finally, and the cramping feeling in Morgan's chest was replaced with a warm and fuzzy feeling. Only then did Morgan realize how much she longed to hear her voice.

“Come here little monkey, let’s go get you that ice cream,” Eleanor interrupted the staring competition that began as she took Lea from behind Morgan. Her gaze met Morgan's and she muttered a “Good luck” and Morgan replied by mouthing “thank you”.

It was just Morgan and Mania standing amid the numerous person who was busy walking about to get to either one of the boots. Morgan smiled at her, taking in her appearance one last time.

Maia Shelton was dressed in a flourish spring dress, a small duvet bag hanging on her shoulder and matched all of it over a pair of sandals.

“You look great”

“Thanks. You too” she says blankly.

“How have you been?” Morgan was hoping they would catch up. She didn’t know why Maia was here, but she just chose to believe that it was the doings of the universe.

“I’ve been alright, thank you. How about you?” she asks.

“Great,” Morgan spoke with a nod, staring at Maia with a joyous expression on her face.

“Okay, it was nice running into you,” Maia began to leave but Morgan stopped her by holding her arm. Her gaze shifted to Morgan's hand that was holding her arm and immediately, she let go.

“I'm sorry. Can we talk?”

“Uh, I have someone waiting for me” she replies, looking past Morgan before shifting her attention back to her.

Someone as in a partner or?

“Just five minutes, that’s all I ask”

For a moment, Maia looked torn between declining or taking up the offer. Internally, Morgan prayed that the red-haired would grant her just five minutes of her time.

Maia fished out her phone, typed away something on her phone, and puts it away before looking up at Morgan.

“Five minutes” she uttered and it was almost impossible for Morgan to hide the smile that made its way to her face.

“Thank you,”

Morgan let Maia out of the inner court, towards the exit. She figured the best place to talk would be her car as it will just be the both of us. She was happy when Maia didn’t question why she was leading her away and out of the inner court.

Morgan Daniels opened her 2020 Toyota land cruiser VXR V8 and waited until they were both inside to lock the doors. Silence filled the car. Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say as her mind was now blank.

She stared at Maia awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

“So, you have a kid” Maia Shelton finally broke the silence and it caused Morgan to curse internally. She knew what Maia was thinking. That Lea was hers and Ace’s kid.

“Yes, but it’s not what you think,”

“It’s not what I think? So she’s not your daughter?” she questioned.

“Yes. I mean no. I mean yes, she’s my daughter, but not in the way you’re thinking”

“I’m not stupid Morgan,” she says more sternly this time.

Morgan let out a sigh. “I know that, and I’m not trying to make it seem like you are. But if you just let me explain, it will all make sense to you” the tone in Morgan's voice sounded desperate

“Alright, go on. I’m listening” she says, folding her arms.

Morgan let out a breath. “Lea is Laiba and Jonah’s kid. They passed away a few years ago” Morgan explained, suddenly feeling the pain she'd been trying to bury for the past few days.

“Oh my god,” Maia said a hand on her chest as she tried to process what Morgam just said.

“Yeah, I know. They wanted me to look after her, which is what I’m doing”

“My God, that’s horrible. I wasn’t aware” she says, with hurt in her voice.

She considered Laiba and Jonah like family, so of course, she will feel hurt. When she caught Morgan cheating on her, she cut all tiles with anyone who was in contact with Morgan. She never reached out to either of them, else she would have known what happened.

“I figured. But that’s it”

Maia looked at Morgan with sadness and pity in her eyes. The last thing Morgan wanted was the pitiful look she was receiving.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Maia placed her hand on Morgan's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. A jolt of electricity shot through Morgan's entire body as she reminisced the feel of Maia's hand on her skin. The warmth radiating off her palm conveyed all the emotions she'd longed to receive from her.

“Sorry,” Maia apologised and quickly retreated her hand from Morgan's making the older woman miss her touch.

“No. It’s okay, I’ve missed that” Morgan looked into her eyes which were slowly being replaced with something she didn’t like.

“Morgan” she starts, her voice laced with pain and tiredness.

“I’m sorry Maia, I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just curious and it cost me you” Morgan sputtered. She couldn't find the right words to express how sorry she was.

She was curious. She didn’t understand the way her body felt whenever she was next to Ace. She had this tingling rush whenever he spoke and whenever he smiled. Morgan knew he was flirting with her, but she never stopped him. Weirdly enough, she liked it. Until one day, she decided to give in to it and leaned in for a kiss. A kiss that cost her everything.

“It’s okay Morgan. I forgave you a long time ago,”

“You have?”

“Yeah. I realized I had to let go of anything of this past to truly focus on me and achieve my dreams” Maia murmured, and whatever high hopes Morgan had slowly vanished.

She had forgiven her in the sense that she didn’t want to have any negative energy of the past holding her down, not that there will be a possibility of them getting back together.

“By the way, I’m proud of you Maia. I keep up with you every day” Morgan gushed with a big and proud smile on her face, and then she suddenly realized how creepy she sounded.

Maia blushed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I try my best,” she says trying to brush it off like it was nothing.

“Ay come on now! Don’t be modest. I see you on TV, kicking asses. You’re firm is one of the most prominent Freight Forwarding Firms in the country, and to top it all, a company owned by a lady. That’s huge Maia”

“Thank you, Morgan,” she says.

Silence fills the car as they looked at each other. The tension in the air was so thick it could only be cut with a saw. Although it happened so fast, Maia's gaze shifted to Morgan's lips, causing a reaction in her.

She leaned in, closer and closer. Her gaze shifted to her lips as she leaned in. Maia wasn’t pulling back. She wanted it too.

Finally, Morgan's lips touched Maia's. It was a feather-like pillowy kiss, but that was all it took to set her entire skin ablaze. It felt like it didn’t even happen because it was over before it even started. Morgan was about to lean in further and connect our lips Maia's hands stopped her.

“We shouldn’t,” she says, biting her bottom lips.

“But why, we both want to” she replied and pulled away from Maia against her will.

“We shouldn’t. I should get going”

Even though Morgan didn’t want to, she had to let her go.

“Okay. How long will you be here for”

“I leave on Sunday,” she says.

“Okay. Perhaps we can have lunch on Saturday” the older woman tilted her head quizzically, internally begging that she agrees.

“Sure, okay” she replies.

“Great. I’ll text you” she replied before pressing a button on her side so the door opens and she was able to walk out.

“Goodbye Morgan”

It felt an awful lot like this was probably the last time Morgan would be seeing her. She sat for a while in her car trying to gather her thoughts before walking out of the car and back to the fare.

Compared to earlier, it was now packed and Morgan feared that getting a hold of Eleanor would be difficult. So she fished out her phone and dialled her number.

"Where are you?"

"At the ice cream boot," Morgan rolled her eyes.

"There's about four ice cream boots here Eleanor. Which one?"

"Oh someone's mad" she teases

"Come on Eleanor, be specific"

"Jeez! the one next to the food stand," she says

"Is that mummy?" the older woman heard her daughter's voice on the other end.

"Yes, sunshine," Eleanor said.

Morgan Daniels hung up and made her way in the direction Eleanor had described. It was easy to find as she spotted Eleanor and Lea eating from the same cup of ice cream. They were chitchatting over something because Eleanor leaned in and Lea whispered something in her ear, causing the blonde to burst into a fit of laughter.

"You two sure banter like an old couple," Morgan took a seat next to Lea and place a kiss on her head.

"How did it go?" Eleanor spooned a mouthful of ice cream.

"Great, I think. I mean I came out of there unharmed" Morgan joked. However, Eleanor caught into her facade and decided to leave it at that and not press on.

"Mummy, was that lady a friend of yours?" Lea looked up at her mom with a big smile on her face.

"Uh yes baby, that's mummy's friend from way back"

"Was she mad that I bumped into her and spilt her ice cream?" Lea asks with sadness in her voice.

"No baby,"

"Okay, mummy. Can I go play" she asks with a beaming smile on her face, replacing the sadness from seconds ago.

"Okay baby, but play where mummy and aunty Eli can keep an eye over you" Morgan called out, but her seven-year-old had already run off.

"I did not ask if she was here with Janata, I'm sorry," Morgan spoke after a while of watching her daughter play

"Huh?" she asks, with a frown on her face.

"Janata. I didn't ask if she came with Janata"

"Oh, pff! it's okay" the blonde brushed it off with a shrug. She was avoiding the topic and Morgan respected that.

After a while, Morgan spoke.

"Eleanor, why did you leave her,"

Eleanor let out a sigh. She turned to Morgan with a painful expression on her face.

"Because you had no one. Maia broke up with you, and then a few months after, your friends - the only family you've had in forever, died in a car crash. I know how it feels, to lose everyone you ever loved. I've been down that road, but sadly, I did not have anyone by my . So I did what I thought was right as a friend. Even though it tore me into pieces to have broken her heart, it had to be done. She had Maia and they had each other. You had no one"

Listening to Eleanor explain her reasons for leaving the girl she was starting to fall in love with after the death of her fiancée, made Morgan emotional. She'd never thought it was possible to receive so much love from a friend. But Eleanor proved her otherwise.

And she couldn't be more grateful.

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