Chris And Hazel - Volume 1 Chapter 65

‘Yes honey, I promise!’ Hazel said looking at Robert.

‘Perfect! We are going to the amus.e.m.e.nt park this weekend’ he announced elated.

‘But dad said we could go to the beach this weekend’ Aurora said in a low voice as her face clouded with sadness.

‘Chris said that?’ Hazel asked caught between two ends.

‘But mom you promised that we are going to the amus.e.m.e.nt park’ Rob argued glaring angrily at his sister.

‘Dad promised me’ Aurora argued glaring back at him.

‘But dad listens to mom’ Rob said laughing with victory.

‘No!’ Aurora yelled throwing the pillow at Rob.

‘Both of you stop’ Hazel said holding them back before they could engage themselves in another fight that day.

‘Mom, tell her we are going to the amus.e.m.e.nt park this weekend’ Robert said looking at Hazel for support.

‘Mom, tell him that we are going to the beach because I was the first one to ask dad’ Aurora said looking at hazel expecting the same.

‘Both of you look at me’ Hazel said after managing to calm them down.

‘We are going to the amus.e.m.e.nt park on Saturday and to the beach on Sunday. Now does that clear up the misunderstandings?’ Hazel asked looking at the kids.

‘Yeah’ they nodded in unison.

‘Good but promise me you won’t fight anymore. If you do we aren’t going anywhere this weekend so promise?’ she asked looking at them expectantly.

‘Promise’ they replied in chorus.

‘Good, now be good to grandma. Dad and mom will be back after our dinner’ she said smiling at them.

After seeing them nod obediently at her, she got up to leave the room.

‘Did I hit you too hard?’ Aurora asked after Hazel closed the door behind her.

‘It’s alright. Wait, are you feeling bad?’ Rob asked giggling quietly.

‘No way..! If I didn’t, I just wanted to hit you harder’ Aurora replied trying to hide away her actual concern.

‘Liar, liar’ he yelled laughing playfully.

Hazel couldn’t resist but smile as she heard their cute petty fights coming from inside the room.

‘This is awkward’ Ed said playing with the food on his plate.

He looked around their table only to find an unshakable quiet atmosphere surrounding them. This dinner was supposed to be an ice breaker but everyone knew that it wasn’t of much help.

‘I know! I thought things would’ve got better but it seems like it got worse’ Chris answered to Ed trying not to disturb the awkward silence that was filled in the air.

‘Char, just stop it, ok? You are being unreasonable here’ William said looking at Charlotte who was sitting right next to him.

‘Haze, I thought we were gathered here to celebrate but why are we discussing things that aren’t necessary?’ Charlotte asked turning her attention to Hazel, ignoring William’s words.

‘Char, just listen to him. In fact, you should be angry on all of us why alone William?’ Hazel asked trying her best to dilute the situation.

‘I know the only reason you didn’t tell me was because Mr. Anderson didn’t bother to. I know you just didn’t want to meddle’ Charlotte replied in a stern voice.

‘But…’

‘Maybe we should go’ Chris said pulling Hazel from the table before she could finish her sentence.

He signaled Ed and Ava to join them as they left William and Charlotte to chat.

‘Chris I was trying something there’ Hazel said sounding annoyed over Chris’ behavior.

‘Look, honey! No matter how much we try to help, this isn’t something that we must concern ourselves with. Let’s just support whatever decisions they arrive at because they aren’t kids anymore’ Chris said trying to make her understand that they could only help to a certain extent.

‘See Chris, Charlotte isn’t in her right mind now and I don’t want her to make a mistake she’ll regret for life’ Hazel said hoping he would understand.

‘How do you know that she is gonna make a mistake? To be honest, he really shouldn’t have hidden it from Charlotte. She has every right to be mad Haze’ Ed spoke up as Chris was about to speak up.

‘Yeah, not everyone will forgive if a person hides something as important as this from them…unlike you’ Ava said indirectly pointing out previous situations.

‘Do you guys know why I didn’t make a huge fuss over Char hiding about William?’ Hazel asked looking at the three.

And as they stared blankly at her waiting for her to continue, she spoke up again;

‘It was because I know about Charlotte. Since high school if she wanted something like a project or prayer to succeed she wouldn’t tell us till it actually happened because she was afraid that if many knew about it, it wouldn’t happen. But she has never done it for a person except…William. She didn’t want to tell us about him at the beginning cause she was afraid it wasn’t gonna end well. She wanted to tell us once she knew it will definitely happen but we found out before that.

Just from this I know how much William means to her so I really don’t want her taking decisions in haste. Plus, she needs to understand that the only reason William decided to help us by ignoring his ethics was for Charlotte. Apparently, she was worried over us fighting against Grayson and since she was so much upset he decided to help us win the case. In one or the other way we vow it to her Chris’ Hazel concluded averting her gaze to look into a distance.

‘Is that true? You switched sides for me?’ Charlotte asked looking at William, beside her.

‘Yeah, you kept blabbering about it each time you were drunk and if something means so much to you, it does to me too. Plus Grayson wasn’t such a good soul too so I did maintain my ethics in a way’ William replied as he looked at the others who were standing at a distance from them.

‘And I am sorry for hiding it from you. I didn’t want to tell you till I won the case for Chris and before I could tell you all this happened’ he added knowing that if he missed this chance he won’t be offered another.

‘Fine’

‘Fine..?’ he asked in question trying to guess what she was building into.

‘Yeah, I forgive you’ Charlotte said looking at him.

‘Really..?’ he asked shouting in disbelief.

‘You just heard how much you mean to me, right? Even if you hadn’t explained so much I would’ve forgiven you in two days. So let’s just let it go past us’ Charlotte said smiling lightly at William.

William stared back at Charlotte not knowing how to react. He thought it was going to be harder than this; he even planned a list of events he needs to do in order to get her to forgive him but didn’t expect it to be this simple.

‘We should probably…’

She was silenced midway as William pulled her into a hug.

‘Will..?’

‘Just for a few more seconds’ he mouthed hushing her, as his grip tightened around her.

‘We should head back, they look worried’ William said pulling back gently.

Charlotte slowly took his hands into hers as they walked towards the others.

‘Char, it finally happened?’ William said looking at her.

‘What?’ she asked in a puzzled tone.

‘We all are finally going on a date together. Didn’t you always want to go on a double date with Hazel?’ he asked smiling widely at her.

‘Yeah, it finally happened! And this time even better, we are on a triple date’ she squealed happily.

‘Sometimes I just forget you are still a kid’ William expressed as they finally reached the place where the others were standing.

‘Guys, we resolved our issues. So shall we go back to enjoy our dinner?’ Charlotte asked as she looked at everyone.

‘Really, everything’s resolved?’ Hazel asked raising her brow in doubt.

‘Yes, now come on in’ William said nodding positively at them.

‘She didn’t beat you did she?’ Chris asked pulling William aside.

‘No’ William answered alarmed at his question as Ed joined them.

‘Don’t be alarmed. She does beat people when they are at fault. That’s why we are scared of her’ Ed clarified as William continued to remain in a confused state.

‘Okay!’ William said still trying to figure out what they actually mean by that.

‘You will soon understand but anyways welcome to the club’ Chris greeted as they made their way back into the restaurant.

‘See you guys’ Hazel waved everyone bye as they stood in the parking lot after finishing up their dinner.

‘See you Haze’

‘Shall we?’ Chris asked opening the car door for her.

‘Yeah!’ she nodded as she got inside the car.

‘You look happy’ Chris said after some time as they drove into the silent road.

‘I am. Somehow everything turned out to be perfect’ she said turning to look at him.

‘Really, perfect?’ he questioned in surprise.

‘Yeah, don’t you think so?’

‘If you feel so, it is’ he answered, his eyes on the road.

‘Come on don’t say it for me’ she said pouting slightly.

‘Of course not..! I need you to remember that every moment I spend with you will always perfect’ he answered turning to look at her.

‘Enough with the buttering up’ she said turning to cover her tainted cheeks.

‘Why did you stop the car?’ she asked as the car came to halt halfway on the road.

‘Get down’ he said and without waiting for her answer got down from the car.

As she slowly followed;

‘Quick!’ he urged her.

‘Why are we stopping?’ she asked curious of his actions.

‘We are going there’ he said pointing into a distance.

‘Why are we going there at this hour? Isn’t that the half-constructed bridge that was dropped after a few months of work?’ she asked a Chris dragged her all the way to the half-built bridge.

When he finally stopped she was all out of her breath as they literally ran all the way over.

‘Are we there?’ she asked holding him for support.

‘Yes’ he nodded lightly as they stood in the middle of the poorly constructed structure.

Hazel looked around the place. She could rarely predict the surrounding around her in the dim moonlight. She didn’t know why the construction was stopped in the middle but that wasn’t her concern at the moment, she wanted to know why Chris took her there.

She turned to look at Chris who was standing beside her; he was looking up at the sky, lost into his thoughts.

Under the night lights scattered around the street he looked rather handsome. Hazel totally lost herself as she quietly admired his features. She didn’t even realize that she was smiling without her own knowledge, that’s how much she was madly in love with the guy in front of her.

When she watched romantic movies at home, she always wondered whether her life would turn up the same way or end up in exact opposite way. She always wanted someone in whose eyes she could lose herself willingly and there he was, right in front of her.

After all, she finally found her fairytale.

‘Have you stared enough?’ Chris asked jolting Hazel back to her senses.

‘Who..? Who was staring? I wasn’t staring’ she argued nervously trying to hide away her embarrassment.

Chris laughed as he watched her come up with an excuse in order to save her face.

‘Why did you bring me here?’ she asked quickly diverting the topic.

‘Few years back, in this very road, my car got repaired and while I was waiting for my car to get fixed I happened to come across this bridge’ he paused to smile as the memories revived in his mind.

‘I stood in his exact spot looking up at the sky. I was actually so much stressed because of the overflowing business proposals along the way. I was still a rookie back then. But as I looked up at the clear sky, I instantly relaxed. The full moon gracefully clothed the sky and as she smiled on me along with her cute little friends I thought it would be so nice if you were by my side. And suddenly a sharp pain passed through me and I still don’t know how to describe it but the thought that you weren’t there with me at that perfect moment, made me feel bad. So that day, right at this spot I promised myself that I would bring you here on a full moon night and fill that void. And though it isn’t full moon night today, your presence is just enough to make this moment perfect’ he finished as he gently looked into her angelic eyes, staring adoringly back at him.

‘This moment feels perfect for me too’ she mouthed silently. She didn’t care whether he heard her or not but knew that he understood whatever she wanted to say at the moment.

With Grayson and getting things back on track she had actually forgotten the things she wanted to tell Chris once he was back for her.

Suddenly Hazel found so many things she wanted to tell Chris.

She wanted to tell him how she fell in love with him and when was the exact moment she realized it?

She wanted to tell him the things she did in order to grab his attention. She wanted to tell him how a single look from him made her entire day. She wanted to let him know how many times she felt butterflies roller coaster inside her stomach whenever he came over to talk to her.

Coming to think of it, she never really told Chris any of this but today she wanted to, she didn’t want to hold back. She wanted to live back the memories which she wished would just vanish off years ago. Back then, it seemed stupid and immature but now that he was right there, standing in front of her, loving her as much as she did, they turned into the most amazing moments of her life.

Although she was silent at the moment, Chris knew that she was expressing thousands of words through her silence. She was happy and that seemed enough for him.

‘Thank you, Haze!’ he said after sometime.

‘For..?’

‘For loving me, for holding on to me and for never letting go’ he finished slowly kissing her forehead.

Hazel slowly linked her hands into his, suggesting they go for a short walk. And Chris knew that it was going to be a long night for them as their lost memories were about to unfold.

The night was still young and so were their thoughts,

As they walked past the bridge, hand in hand, everything else faded into a distance.

The warmth of the cold breeze gently caressed their faces.

The world appeared to open up her secret chamber for them as they tried to make it up to their lost time.

The noises from afar didn’t bother them at all.

All they could cherish at the moment was each other’s presence, merging into the tenderness of life’s essence.

Embracing the silent night, the open road and the cold breeze;

Everything looked Perfect, as they gazed lovingly at each other.

It was destined!

He with her, she with him!

And as they kept walking towards the never ending lane of memories, nothing seemed to come in between.

Time paused in awe, as the heavens opened to bestow them with a miracle.

With the warmth of love surrounding their auras, their love shined above everything else.

And holding the night as their love’s witness, they gave meaning to LOVE ITSELF!

THE END!