Narrators P.O.V

Two years has passed since he last heard from Aya, in fact he learned that she has resigned and moved away. Jim spent a few months heart broken, until he started to put himself back out there and heal properly with time.

"The guy was an ass." Jane mewls as she slumps behind the counter. "He could have come out to say goodbye to me but instead hid in a tree."

Jim chuckles, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at the prices of the new dandelions. "Could anyone be worse than Kevin?"

"I guess you're right." he heard her faint voice.

"You guess?"

She chuckles, "Your right."

Gripping the flowerpot in his hand, Jim strides over towards a defeated Jane behind the counter, unable to keep his smile at bay. He watched as Jane observes his crisp attire and the coif of his red hair before she flutters her lashes in a playful way, but then gazes down to the scars on her arm and winces.

"Have you taken medication for that?" he asks. Cringing deeply as if he was the one with the deep gashes.

Her already shrouding frame sunk even lower and she was hesitant to look down to the arm.

"Jane, you know you can always talk to me about this. This isn't something you can heal from mentally."

She sighs deeply. A winded tension can be heard as Jane groaned. "Not yet." She only spews, a lining of tears beginning to brim her lids.

Jim furrows his brows at her demeanor. Her puffy cheeks and swollen eyes. Sensing there was more than just the scar that caused her great sorrow. She was obviously not the same Jane she was before she went to Germany, but he can put his life savings to that it was her snake of a roommate that has done something to her. 

"New date?" she says as she breaks a smile with a faint.

"Mehh, something like that." He only shrugs keeping the excitement bottled in, but he knew he can never get past Jnae, not after twelve months of them becoming friends. In fact, his only friend. 

Twelve months have soon passed since he has now become a frequent visitor in Janes flower shop, and for those months he navigated towards a more friendly approach and saw them better as friends. They had more in common, and sucked balls in the dating field. And within that time frame, he discovers a lot with Jane. Clumsy, stubborn but pure. 

He still questions to this day, how is it she opened up a business when she has proven to be below average at math. A question best for another time. 

"Who is she?" Jane questions just as he tuned back to reality. 

He clears his throat. "I don't want to jinx this one." Was his only response, his blood bolting through his veins in excitement to finally meet the dark-haired woman from the app.

"Aya never ..." Jane was hesitant to finish her sentence as she scans the items, knowing she will open old wounds but wanted to double check if he has gone backwards.

Though the sound of her name stills his heart, Jim clears the gravel in his throat. "I have moved on. I wish her the best. And besides she could not handle this fire headed leprechaun.

Jane attempts not to cringe, she has gotten used to Jim making every Irish joke, and it always settled the mood. Spearing any silence that would ever thicken the atmosphere whenever either one was in distress about another failed date. 

Anticipation spirals in Janes eyes, he can almost see her pupil widening to find out more information, considering this was the third date he has had with this woman, and it was her that initiated today's plan. 

"In time, let's see how tonight place out."

***

Jim walks in the restaurant, the hostess spares him a glance before she cocks a brow. "Jim sir?"

 "Yes." he crooked his neck, wondering how it was she knew his name. Oh, wait the woman told her Duh, but how would she recognize him at all.

"Your other guest has already arrived. Please follow me." And he does follow the petite little hostess as she guided them towards the dining area. They cut through the center where he peers down to the new delectable of the French restaurant.

Crisped lambs lay on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes with what appears to be sautéed spinach and brown rice, the aroma of the meals made his stomach growl in an embarrassingly loud manner as he passed by a few kids.

"Mommy that guy just farted."

The little boy whines. And Jim flushed with embarrassment, dashing before the hostess. "I think I got it from here." He nervously chuckles. And as she was ready to part, he spots her. Sitting on a rounded table near the window, her silken hair straightened down to her back as she leans in to take a sip of her crimson wine. 

White dress, red lips, and despite her age she was still a radiant being with skin smooth to the touch. And touching her was his favorite part of being with her, after months of no closure from Aya, Jim opened up just in time.

His heart races like a ticking clock, eyes solely focused in her as he creeps in closer with instrumental music playing in his mind. She was his focus and she as all he could see. 

Suddenly she moved her head and the records scratched.

Sitting aside her, right next to the window was a young man. His hair streaked with golden blond. Even in his sitting position, it was clear he was a man with incredible height. Jims's heart plummets and beats against his asshole. Swarms of old memories swimming in his mind.

"H-hi." He says, finally reaching the table. Now that he was before them, the drumming in his ass quickened. The young lad was dashing, eyes as deep and blue as the ocean, skin free of freckles, lips as pink as a lily, thick muscles accentuate him all around his upper torso. Jim could not utter words, staring in disbelief at the incredibly handsome gentlemen, and as he rose Jim craned his head upwards, his eyes widening more to peer up the giant.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." The sound of his voice was ever so deep and velvet. Even as the young man extends a hand Jim could not blink away, until he was nudged

"Uh -uh. Oh, I'm sorry." he nervously chuckles, shakily raising a hand to shake with him. Thier palms connect, and Jims's hand was swallowed immediately.

Oh, God. This was the new stud here to replace him.

"Let us have a seat." the woman suggest. Jim observes the way she was extra cheerful when the two interlocked eyes, or even slightly touched, or her demeanor when he helped push in her chair.

Was he really about to get dumped in front of her new boo? 

"I am happy to meet you again." The womans sultry voice ripples his glare at the young lad with a smirk plastered on his face. "I was counting the days to see you again." The womans hands reached over, placing both her palms on the back of Jims hands. The touch of her skin felt cold and wet, he furrowed his brows. 

Oh goodness was she giving him a quickie hand job before I got here, he thinks to himself. His blood shrivels in disgust, and he slowly pulls away.

"Uh, I have missed you too." 

"The other night was fantastic -" 

Jim blurs out her words as he engages with the smug gentleman aside her, sneering his lips. How dare these men seek older women for their own fantasies of having sex, he disgusts me. And as Jim glares at the young man, the young man glares at him, a devilishly handsome smirk tugged on the corner of his lips, coyly leaning back. 

"I was thinking -"

"I love you." Jim suddenly blurts. A little too loudly for the few tables around them to hear.

She smiles genuinely. "Jim-"

"I'm sorry that was too loud, but it is the truth. I can give you everything you have ever asked for." He scoots his chair, scuffing the wood against the carpet, but the end was stuck, and he falls from his seat and down to a knee accidentally.

"Jim what are you -" the woman gasped as she looked around to the observing guests. 

Light claps and cheers begin to feel the room, as he was recuperating from his kneecap that reverberated painfully in his body, but it settled in time for him to now realize the circumstances by an unfortunate accident. 

He is down on one knee, in a fancy restaurant, and everyone was watching him. Jim swallows gravely, "Uhh."

The young man aside him chuckles faintly, but that only amplified Jims next step, it was killed or be killed. Why could he have not thought of something else? he did not think it through. Either predicament could lead to the most embarrassing day of his life, he could lie and say he has fallen and could not get up or he fell off a chair and busted his knee. 

Jesus, end him now. Instead, he chose an option that could save him. "Onacona" he shouts her name. "My days with you have been joyous, and for an old man like me at deaths door, that says a lot for the remainder of my days." A few guests chuckle. But as Jim gazes up to her eyes, in the dimness of the restaurant, he saw flashes of his remaining days, blissful and warm, and suddenly this embarrassing cover up began to feel more genuine than it intended to be.

"I wished on countless of stars in Ireland even wrote to Santa clause. Neither granted me a wish I wanted, and now I see it wasn't that they did not hear or see my request, but because they were not done creating you, and placing you in my path. I guess what I am saying is. This moment. I want to share forever, seeing those stars twinkle in your eyes. Be my wife, Onacona and grant me eternal happiness even after death?"

The crowd is too stunned in awe but flick their eyes over to her, awaiting the answer. Though her eyes starry and a tear glide down to her cheek. The moment is sensual indeed, but she is taking too long. Nervously Jim fidgets his eyes, the line of his lips wriggling to smile as she still mulls it over.

"Uhh-"

"Yes!"  

 Oh, thank God. Jims's chest relaxes, now he didn't have another embarrassment to live down. 

She flings her arms open, waiting for him to draw right into her embrace, he tries to lift himself but the pain of his knee sears. The tension now grows awkward.

"Uh, I can't get up." He whispered. 

"What?" she asks.

"I can't get up."

She curls her brows. "Repeat that."

"I can't get up." he blurts. 

"Oh!" she looks aside to the young man and says something in their native tongue.

As he attempts to lift himself, Jim scoffs. No way is he about to be helped by the likes of him, and with that thought process came a shield of temporary momentum that pumped in his veins, and he forces himself to rise. Determined not to be helped by the likes of that womanizer. Tears blur his eyes, as he stifles his cries and groans, gritting his teeth even as he heard the sound of a crack, with a pop on his knee. At last, he rose to his height, first sending the young man a smug look before he raises his arms to walk into the embrace of his woman. And the two mingle with a sentimental kiss as the applause grow in the background.

He thought he came here to lose to a young stud, but it is he that comes out with the prize. Beat that.

"Oh, sorry about that," the woman says, breaking their kiss off. "This is my grandson Rowan."

What now? "What now?"

She signals to the young man to approach, "This is my grandson, Rowan. He has been wanting to meet you for quite some time." 

Jims fingers quiver, "Oh-oh-OH! your grandson." he nervously chuckles. And now he stands there awkwardly rummaging over everything that transpired in the matter of only twenty minutes. 

An introduction at the beginning would have been great.

"Right, how do you do?" he extended a hand, now looking up to the giant man with a newfound perspective. Thank goodness, but now he assumed she was banging her grandson. He swallows. Burying that memory deep within his cranium, never to be resurfaced or spoken about until his grave.

Happily, the two newlyweds return to one another, and with the blinks of their eyes, they return the kiss, and this time Jim hugs her tighter than before, now forever granted the happiness he deserved. 

But if only he knew, the woman he kisses before him was a fate worse than death itself, for she was soon to be the devil that haunts his dreams and end all aspired to become in his little remaining life.

***

Jim shook violently by the sound of a horn blaring right behind him, he blinks away, he was back in the present day sitting under the red light that is now green. He clears his throat and waves a hand sympathetically to the driver in the rearview mirror.

How long had he been daydreaming, he dived deep into the past and yet it felt like he zoned out for a lifetime. In silence he drove with a steady speed in the traffic free road, torn by it all of what he should decide but his brain refused to grasp the concept. 

It was her voice in that recording. It was her tone he recognized. But that wasn't the woman he knew for so long, no way he was sleeping with a murderer. Her own daughter at that. 

As he pulls into the driveway, he noticed the dim lights in the kitchen, before he gazed up at the entirety of the mansion itself. A thousand acres, maids, butlers, fine jewelry, he never indeed wondered how it is she accumulated such wealth to gain such a high status. Chills tap against his nerves as it travels through the streams of his veins, and he swallows gravely when he noticed the room at the very bottom brightly lit.

She is always down there, he never questioned, and he would hear her laugh. 

The door creaks open, not a maid or butler in sight, but the house is warm with a very dim smell of rust. He inhales deeply and stepped in, each hallway was dark and carried an ominous loom, all he wanted was to have a wine and mull over everything he heard tonight. However, he was not as silent as he thought.

"Where were you?"

He jolts, whipping his head to a silhouette in the dark hallway until she steps out into the glow.

"H-hey." he forces as his heart beats irregularly, something was amiss in her mood, her coordinates were sluggish and her eyes bloodshot. But then again there was always something wrong with her that he did not want to admit, but as for tonight his eyes were open.

"It's late and where is Rowan," she slurs, rounding him to head for the cabinet of liquor.

Just by the scene alone, he knew she was down there for quite a few hours, laughing and taunting at something. Curiosity sparks in him like fireworks and he desperately wants to prove she is innocent, and as he gently grips her wrist, he felt her smoothness yet again the fragrance of her hair despite the strong liquor, she was in distraught about something and drank the pain away.

"I-I-need to talk to you." he mutters.

She only gazes up through her lashes and he guides them to the living room. 

"Ona," he says breathing out breath. "I love you very very much." 

"I love -"

"But I need you to understand I will be there for you no matter what happens"

Her brows crease in question.

"I believe you if you tell me, you did not do it. Did you kill your daughter."

Her eyes suddenly slit, "What are you talking about." she says darkly, clenching the bottle of wine in her hand.

"You -you killed your own daughter." he repeats, noticing her shift.

The room settles with a thick silence, her eyes sharply deadpanning into his soul for moments before she suddenly chuckled and rose up to the kitchen. In relief Jim exhales and rose up to follow.

"Why would you ever say something like that, my daughter died in a car accident." she nervously chuckles. "I told you this before and you know this."

And like Jane and everyone warned him, she would lie right through her teeth, his shoulders slump as he nodded lightly. His hand slips in his phone and pulls out his phone. He lays in on the table, and pressed play and the silent room is cut by the recording of everything he has heard tonight, even the audio that Jane recorded.

Her chest rose and fell heavily as she heard herself and Camerons mother. Trapped and trembling with nowhere else to run or turn to, but one thing was certain as she stares down at Jim who buried his head in his palms. If everyone finds that recording, it is game over, as she rummages her life in the future, the answer was simple.

Goodbye Jim. And with that her vision fights to stay in the light but was inevitably consumed by an abysmal darkness just as she slips a knife from the counter and dashes over to an unsuspecting Jim who looked up just in time, but it was too late to react, and the side of his stomach was gashed by the end of the butcher knife.

Streams of blood pour from his mouth as tears begun to brim, for the last time looking down into the eyes of the woman he thought he loved, her eyes are onyx as she smiles.

"I refuse to lose this life Ji, not for anyone. My daughter was my own burden, but she left me a blessing given by God. I am a blessed child, and I won't allow you to sin on my path."

He grunts in pain as she dug the knife deeper. 

"Say hello to my daughter in hell, my love."

Conscious slowly slips from Jim as the light in his eyes die down. Not before he sees his family flash in his eyes one last time, Aya, his career, and Jane, who warned him for his best interest.

Forgive me Jane, you were right. Live well and thank you for being my friend.