The Cliff

What Could Have Been

(Unedited)

"What is your favourite colour?"

I glared at him. "Really!"

He looked sheepish.

"Well...," I prompted him.

He began fidgeting under my gaze. "Okay, my bad." And then lowly mumbled,"I have watched them do this in movies." He ran a hand over his beard. "What is your favourite food?"

"I don't know." I answered truthfully.

"You don't know your favourite food!"

"I remember that I loved fried vegetable. It was my father's recipe. He was incharge of kitchen every thursday and monday. And he made them every other week. My mother thought I was playing favourites because I hated her recipe. She swore it was the same. It was not. On the other hand, Bran had loved her's. It was a disaster every time fried vegetable was cooked in our house." Now that I thought about it, I loved the memory more. I didn't even remember it's taste. "What is yours'?" I asked him.

"I love spicy noodles. Has been my favourite since the first time Nancy sent it to the pack house. I was what, four or five then, and she had just transferred to our pack. It was her 'getting to know your alpha move'. She won the unofficial contest of 'best first move after move in' me and Tristan has got going. No one has ever come close to dethroning her." He smiled softly.

"Nancy?" I asked. I knew so few people of the pack.

"Nathaniel's mom. She is the best cook in our pack. I don't know why she isn't running a diner. I would eat there everyday if she is cooking." He laughed. I smiled.

I hesitated to ask. "Your mom? Your favourite of her's?"

He laughed at this. "Goddess, she was a terrible cook. At my mom's first death anniversary, my father sat down with me to talk about her. When no one could speak a word without getting emotional, my father finally cracked the atmosphere by saying that atleast she isn't forcing us to eat her experiments anymore. She claimed that there was one dish she would be perfect in and her life's motto was to find that dish. Made the pack members' life miserable." His eyes shined and his lips smiled. I was experiencing something majestic and earth shattering.

"When did she die?"

"Almost ten years ago. She grew weak and one day didn't wake up. It was her time." The smile on his lips withered and his eyes twinkled with unshed tears. One tear fell down his cheek and got lost in his beard. I bent down and kissed it away.

"What was her name?" I felt shame for not knowing that.

"Rose." He smiled at me.

"Was her life full of love?"

He nodded. "She always reminded me that."

I looked up at the sky. The sun was still high up in the sky. Nowadays, it lacked its sweltering heat. Closing my eyes, I whispered, "Goddess, I thank you for the life Rose led. She will be remembered."

His eyes were looking at me. Staring a hole in my face. He lay on the ground with his head on my lap. We both were seated close to the cliff. My fingers wove itself in his hair as I looked beyond the cliff, wilderness as far as I could see. It was beautiful. I looked down and he took my breath away.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Since, you have already asked so many questions. It is my turn. And I will be asking you four. No interruption, only answers."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Go ahead. Who can defy the big bad alpha!"

He suddenly sat up. My fingers fell away from his hair. "What did you call me?"