Chapter 13 A DREAM, YET A PAST
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“Vanessa! Oh, my darling Vanessa! The young master is waiting by the sweets table.” A woman cheerfully sang as she made her way up into the room, opening the door that led to Vanessa's room as soon as she got to it.
The young girl who had just clocked twelve was sitting gracefully like a princess by her dressing mirror, brushing through her silky hair effortlessly.
“What?” She exclaimed in surprise, the tip of her hair brush snapping as she heard the report.
The woman who had brought such good tidings, still full of heartwarming smiles, walked in, closing the door behind her as she approached young Vanessa.
“Oh goodness gracious— mother, tell me what he's like.” The young girl cried.
“Did you get to see his face? What does he look like? Calm? Loveable? Cold? Tell me at once, mother. Tell me all I need to know about him.” Vanessa continued restlessly.
She was both filled with unexplainable enthusiasm and great excitement that she could barely contain herself as her mother approached her.
She was both nervous and delighted at the same time.
With trembling hands, she began to come through her hair with her fingers, breathing heavily but cooly through her mouth as her mother delayed in arrival.
“My hair comb snapped, mother. This isn't bad luck, is it?” Vanessa continued.
The moment her mother's gentle touch fell on her shoulders, Vanessa suddenly became calm like a dove.
It was more than a reassurance to her but a grace so pristine she had been blessed with.
“Oh mother,” She cried, curling up at the scent of the woman who had brought her into the world.
With her once raving heart calming into still waves, she comported herself, looking into the mirror to watch the look on her mother's face.
Then she said, “Do you think he will be agreeable with me? Agreeable enough to want to get married to me? Do I look pretty enough for him?”
“Vanessa—” Her mother called tenderly, enjoying how chatty her daughter was with her at that moment and how it had caused her to be so restless.
She giggled, the valor of being young and still in her prime melting the vessels in her heart for her daughter— Vanessa.
Mother opened one of the drawers attached to the dressing table to kick up another comb. With gentle strokes, she combed through Vanessa's hair, whispering softly at her,
“You are a very lovely child, my darling and with no doubt, he will also be agreeable enough to want to get married to you in the future.
He will love you as much as you will love him and protect you when need be.”
These words drizzled a peaceful rain of hope within Vanessa and she braced herself like a refined poise woman, allowing her mother to tenderly care for her hair.
“And him? What does he really look like?”
—
Slowly descending the stairs that led to the sweets table, Vanessa counted her steps carefully. Each step that led her towards him was heavier than the last.
Today, being her twelfth birthday, was also a significant day for her family.
A marriage proposal between both families which was an agreement that would come to pass in the future when both are old enough to manage their future— when they had both grown into adults.
Vanessa's smile grew with each step she took closer to him and finally she could see him where he had been standing with his back turned against the entrance of the stairs, waiting patiently for her like a fine gentleman despite his young age.
Vanessa could see his young masculine frame which was well carved and refined in the suit he wore.
His hair from behind was soft and gentle to the eyes and she thought of him as perfect even without seeing his face yet.
And slowly, he began to turn around at her. The little fragment of his side face slowly being revealed to her.
Vanessa's heart began to flutter again, the moment seemingly bending in time as it slowly came into existence— just like in the movies, but that was all there is…
Vanessa suddenly turned away, forced to look towards the room she had just left behind which was already clouded with smoke.
The whole terrain has suddenly been filled with smoke and fear seized her little heart.
“Mother!” She called silently, the realization of what evil might have befallen her mother dawning on her.
With sheer adrenaline, Vanessa lifted up the skirt of her dress, running back towards her room.
She could hear the faint calling of her name from behind, but she was too concerned to reach her mother to care about who was chasing after her.
“Vanessa, come back!” He called after her hastily, running up the stairs after her as fast as he could, but she was too fast to grasp and he never turned back for once.
He needed to save her.
He had to.
That was all that mattered to him.
But she wasn't making things easy for him.
The lines between them began to falter into blurry lines, but he pressed on towards her regardless.
Vanessa, still not chanced to look back, could picture him in her mind already.
The one who was calling her back.
It was him.
The young master she had been betrothed to.
With her young tender hand cradled over the door knob which was already brewing hot, Vanessa, almost pushing the door open heard his final scream at her;
“Nessa!”
A loud boom resonated through the whole house the moment Vanessa opened the door, sending her flying out of the doorway as the force of the trapped heat and flame rammed into her.
Immediately, her eyes shot open wide into the real world, but her dream wasn't the only death surprise she received as she soon noticed a figure watching her which in turn startled her again, forcing her to scream with a jump scare.
It was him.
The same man— Rafael.