Third Love's The Charm [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Thirty-Four: Naïve

There were some dates that you treasured so deeply because of the memories attached to it. Then something horrible happened that tarnished that date in your mind and now, you just wanted to forget about it completely.

And today was one of them.

I tried acting completely normal when I went down the stairs. I had this bright smile on when I walked over to mom, "Leon's outside, mom. I love you, see you later."

When I leaned down to kiss her cheek, she cleared her throat and that made me pause my movements. Her features weren't displaying the same forced positivity she always tried to put on whenever she was in front of me. Instead, she was showing her sadness loud and clear.

My heart dropped because this only happened twice a year.

"Remember what day it is?" she dared to ask and I gulped audibly, feeling as if somebody poured a bucket of ice water over my body.

Of course I knew, I just hoped she wouldn't bring it up.

"Yeah," I replied quietly, straightening my posture and pretending to be unfazed, "I'll visit after school."

She sent me a small smile, nodding in satisfaction, "Alright, have a good day, sweetheart."

After that interaction, I was afraid having a good day was impossible.

The usual giddiness I felt every morning when I got to see Leon was gone, it was replaced by this solemn emotion at the pit of my stomach. I planned everything out last night – act happy and preppy in front of mom and hope that she would forget.

But even I knew the chances of her forgetting was extremely slim.

"Good morning, babe," he greeted once I slid into the passenger side. I only grunted in response, sinking into my seat after I buckled in my seatbelt.

He immediately knew that something was wrong. But here was the thing that I learned about Leon – he never pried. Whenever he got the memo that I wasn't in the mood to talk about something, he would allowed me to sulk in my own little world until I was ready to tell him what was bothering me.

So he opted to keep his mouth closed, but he still went over to grab my hand and settled out clasped hands on my thigh. He kept it there the whole drive and I knew it was his little way of comforting me.

Although part of me had a hunch that he had an idea what was going on. I mean, he had time traveled more times than I would like to admit so he must have picked up something related to this horrible, miserable date.

Mia already knew what was going on so when she entered the car, she just a quick hello but also complied to my request of basking in silence.

"I need to do something before first period," she said after we arrived at school, "I'll see in the classroom."

And as she walked on ahead to the school's entrance, it was only then I realized that she did that to leave us alone. Even when I didn't ask, she did it on her own volition and every day, I felt more and more grateful that I have her.

"Come on," Leon spoke, wrapping an arm around my shoulder after he locked his car. He even went on his way to grab my bag for me, swinging it on his other shoulder.

Honestly, as secure as I was in our relationship because I knew absolutely nothing could come between us, I often wondered what I did to deserve him.

Like seriously, what did I do? Was my past life a saint or something?

"Can we go somewhere on our way home later?" I asked sheepishly and I already predicted that he would say yes. In fact, he looked rather happy that I finally took the initiative to talk.