An Undecided Fate

Chapter 35

After a comfortable ride back from Alexander's parents' home, Alexander and Cassandra stepped into their house, in which they lived for only a week four years ago. 

"Quite dull, isn't it?" Alexander suggested. 

"It sure is," Cassandra agreed as she ran her fingers along the wall.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Alexander glanced at Cassandra before looking back at the dull-looking living room, "Our relationship, when we lived here."

"If this house reflected our relationship then, I'd say that this should be looking like a haunted house," Cassandra remarked but then regretted it immediately. 

"Haunted?" Alexander walked up to her, his head tilted in confusion.

"Well, I didn't mean th-"

"I scared you, didn't I?"

Unable to deny it, Cassandra slowly nodded her head.

"I made your life a living hell, in a single marriage," Alexander walked back, "I can't possibly think of one kind thing I said to you when we were here - why? Because I never did. There was no good memory in this house - and why is that? Me. I never let one happen. I don't recall ever treating you like a man should treat a woman - heck, I didn't even treat you like a human. I made you feel like trash. You might as well may have wanted to be dea-"

Cassandra immediately ran towards him and raised her hand to his mouth. "You don't need to say all this Alexander!" 

"I do," Alexander mumbled as he moved her hand away, "I need to hear myself say it, and let it sink into me. It's the least I could do to myself."

"But you are a changed man, Alex," Cassandra held his shoulders then raised her hands to his face, "That's what matters."

As he looked deeply into her eyes, Cassandra almost lost her ability to speak, but then words flew out of her mouth without her permission. 

"Alexander, I...I love you."

Before Alexander could even process what she just said Cassandra pulled herself closer to him and pressed her lips against his. 

For a millisecond she hated herself for doing that, but then the look in her husband's eyes once she pulled back made her feel like flying into the skies. 

Unable to look at him, she moved back swiftly and shut her eyes hard, trying to answer all her thoughts that were zooming all over her in her head. 

Should I have done that?

Did I just make him  more confused?

Is he angry at me?

Why did he look at me like th-

Suddenly Alexander broke her flow of thoughts, "I love you, Cassandra."

Slowly Cassandra opened her eyes only to gasp when she saw that Alexander was merely a few inches away from her. 

"Cassie," he smirked, "You are so wonderfully kind and beautiful at heart, there aren't even words to describe my love for you. There never will be," and with that he held her face in his hands and passionately landed his lips on hers. 

Cassandra's eyes were wide as tarts once he pulled back. 

Well I guess that somewhat answers my thoughts.

"Boy, anyone would mistaken your face for a tomato," Alexander grinned, his arms now around Cassandra's waist. 

"Well going back to the dullness of our house..." Cassandra began as she looked over Alexander's shoulder at their living room, "I say that we should give it some...adornments." 

"We can do it today itself," Alexander assured, "We are going to shop today for our outfits after all."

"That would be wonderful!" Cassandra's eyes brightened, "We still have time to spare before we all meet at the market, I could get some sweeping done here until then."

"No," Alexander held her hand and lead her to the living room, "You rest, I'm going to sweep."

"Ale-"

"Don't you dare say 'Oh Alexander, you really don't have to'!"

Cassandra laughed, "Actually, I was going to ask if you even knew how to sweep properly."

"Oh. Well, do you think I've never done this task before? It really isn't all that difficult to sweep and collect dust off of the floor!"

"Alright then," Cassandra stretched her feet and laid her head back on the arm rest of one of the couches, "I'll be right here if you need me."

For about half an hour he was silently sweeping and eventually he made a big pile of dust collected from all the rooms in the lower floor. 

"Agh! Oh! Come on!" Cassandra opened one of her eyelids as she heard Alexander frustratingly mumbling to himself.

"Is everything alright?" she called out to him.

"This stupid pile," he began, "It keeps on coming apart as I try to get it into the dust bin."

"Alex," Cassandra said as she got up from the couch she was resting on, "It doesn't come easily when you do it for the first time in a while," she outstretched her hand down towards him, "Give me either the broom or the dustbin, and you can hold which ever other,"

"I can do thi-"

"Oh please," she chided, "You can't do both...that only comes with constant practice."

"Here," Alexander gave Cassandra the broom stick and he held the dustbin for her. 

"There we go!" she cheered as she got all of the dust in, "Next time you can hold the broom stick," she chuckled. 

"Well would you look at that," Alexander glanced at the clock, "It's time we head over to the market."

Within ten minutes they met the other families as planned and everyone split into their own ways to do their shopping. For about an hour, the women tried on different outfits on themselves and did the same for their husbands (or to-be husbands). Along with shopping for outfits, Alexander and Cassandra went about their own ways to find beautiful decor for their house. It was only about three hours later everyone finished their shopping and returned to their respective homes. 

Alexander came out of the store with having bought a black elegant suit for himself and a beautiful red gown for his wife. Cassandra held in a big bag all of the new decor they were planning to adorn their house with. 

Once they reached home Alexander suggested, "Let's divide these based on which room we plan to put them in."

One of the decors, though, Alexander brought separately from the bag. He felt awkward to show it to Cassandra but also felt that he may not get anything more beautiful in any other store.

It was a sign that had exquisite red, green, and yellow embroidery on it saying, There's no place like Mama's kitchen.

Given that she isn't a Mama yet, he decided to save it for when the sign actually applied to them. Until then he decided to keep it hidden their attic. 

"I think we're done!" Cassandra said a couple hours later as she clapped some dust off of her hands. 

"Wow," Alexander murmured as he and his wife took a step back to take in the view of their now beautiful and welcoming home. 

"But oh my," Cassandra yawned and plopped onto one of the couches, "I can barely stand." 

"Neither can I," her husband followed suit and rested his head on one of the armrests. 

Alexander was about to drift into sleep when suddenly he felt a weight on his chest. He forced his eyelids open only to see that Cassandra had fallen into what looked  like a deep slumber. 

Grinning at her for a moment, he peacefully let himself do the same.