Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 27: His Heartbreak

Chapter Twenty-Seven: His Heartbreak

Ella felt herself falling out of her own body and down through a torrent of dark, emotional turmoil.

These shadows were full of pain... pain that had been etched so deep into Xaphile's subconscious that no amount of love could ever heal it. Her eyes flitted around as the sound of disembodied voices floated around her. 

Voices full of cruelty and anger.

When she tentatively stretched out a hand to find out where she was, what she got instead was a roaring waterfall of images that were full of life and sound.

Her soul self shivered as they ripped through her head.

Then, a particularly vivid memory swept across her gaze. She closed her eyes for a moment as a strange buzz swept through her skull, but when she opened them again she was looking through someone else's eyes.

Someone very small.

She deduced that she was looking through a young Xaphile's eyes, and she watched, stunned, as the memory played out.  

A woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail was standing in front of a stove across a large table, swaying back and forth as she sang a beautiful song in a language that Ella had never before heard, yet somehow understood.

There was no sound, just a recollection of thoughts and auditory memory, but when the woman turned around, casting a loving smile her way, she realized two things that shocked her.

The woman was heavily pregnant, and she was most definitely Xaphile's mother, because his present day self looked almost exactly like her.

They had the same angular face, high cheekbones, cupid's bow lips and the same exotic upturned almond-shaped eyes, but unlike Xaphile, her nose was thin, slightly snubbed, and there was a large gap between it and her lips. 

Xaphile's nose was more arched, slightly down-turned, and far longer, since the tip ended closer to the top of his lips. In comparison, it was proud and aquiline.

The woman before her, however, was no less exotic in her own way. 

Her skin was a supple shade of tan, and those crinkly crescent-shaped eyes, which gleamed and jumped even in the depths of his memories, were an enchanting shade of chocolate that seemed to smile as much as her lips.

"Xa-Xa," she crooned in a lilting, accented voice, flickering like an old movie. "I know you're hungry, my little huzi. Don't worry, I'm almost finished."

"When will Papka be home? Soon?" 

The voice came from the mouth of the one who's eyes Ella now looked out of. It was young, extremely young, the high-pitched voice of an innocent baby.

"Shi, bǎobèi," she giggled, hugging herself with a giddy smile; she swayed back and forth, gently twirling around with the spatula still in her hands. "Your Papka has an early day off from work today! We'll spend it together in town!"

"In town? Is that okay?" 

"Hm? Of course it is. Why do you ask?"

"Some people say we're bad."

She paused, looking at him with an expression of surprise.

"Bad?"

"Shi, they say its bad that you and Papka came from different countries."