Twice in a lifetime

SELENA LOCKWOOD

I turned around to face Tyler, who had surprise written all over his face, but he masked it immediately.

"H-how have you been? It's been I don't know, 4 years since we last met?"

"I'm good, great, actually. Yeah, it's been a long time."

"I'm sorry about, you know, whatever happened. However, I believe none of it is your fault."

"Yeah, I just -" I honestly didn't want to talk about it, especially when Lyra was at an age where she was really curious about anything and everything. And she definitely notices whenever there is a change in the environment.

She is very observant.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to. Coming to, who's this pretty lady right here?" He asked, referring to Lyra, of course.

God, WHAT am I supposed to say?!

Fuck it.

I'm gonna do it, I don't really care—

"Order for one butterscotch scoop and a sundae!"

Right now, that barista is my favorite person.

"Oh, that's my order. I hope I will see you around soon, Tyler." I pipped, giving him a light smile.

I hope not.

"Yeah, get going." 

I rushed towards the counter and collected my order.

"Mommy, mommy me!!" Lyra moved forward to grab her ice cream from me.

I laughed at her antics and hands her the scoop.

Our next stop was at the baby shop to buy some toys that Lyra has been asking for quite a while now.

It was late in the evening when we returned home after the outing.

Two days really went too fast.

I have work tomorrow.

Sigh

Don't get me wrong, I love to work. But sometimes it gets on my nerve.

I work as a software developer at Morales. Pretty much, develop new features for it, and fix bugs.

As easy it sounds, it fucks your head sometimes.

Lyra changed into her pyjamas and hopped into my bed, ready for another bedtime story.

I brought her closer to me and started narrating, "Once there lived a wise woman........"

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Lucian Ashford

"Yeah, Tuesday sounds good." I was speaking with my client on the phone outside some ice cream parlor Tyler took me to. 

According to him, this is the best ice cream parlor in the whole of England.

"Mommy, mommy me!!" I heard a squeaky voice past me.

The woman, who I assume is her mother, laughs and hands her the ice cream.

The little girl turns around in her mother's arm and looks straight at me. Her blue eyes strike me. She is a literal definition of an angel.

I turn around with a sad smile. If only I had a daughter.

We would have had a daughter like that with a beautiful life, if that dreadful night had never happened.

But life never works that way.

After a few minutes, Tyler rushed out.

"Dude, you would never believe what I just saw. Oh my god!!"

He is freaking out. Common occurance.

I grabbed my ice cream. "What is it?" I asked, clearly bored.

"Well, imetselena?!"

"The fuck you said?"

"I met Selena, your wife." He said, this time uttering each word more clearly.

This was the last thing I wanted to hear today.

"First off, she's my EX-WIFE, and I don't want to hear anything further. She's my past, I buried it a while back."

He did not seem too satisfied, but changed the topic for my sake.

Thank god

—————---

I returned back to my penthouse in London. I have this very big project coming up, and it should kick-start by Tuesday.

I was about to go through my files when my phone rang for the umpteenth time. I was already annoyed.

It was my mom.

I can feel a headache forming.

"Yes, mom?" I answered.

"Honey, how have you been, did you reach safely?"

'"Yeah, I reached by morning."

"I want to tell you something...." Ah! There it is

"Yeah?"

"Lucian, how long do you plan to stay single? You are 28!! You need to get married."

"Exactly, mom, I'm JUST 28, and I'm done with marriage. What's the point of getting married anyway?"

"That wrecked girl ruined my boy. I told you not to date that gold digger, but you went ahead and got married. She probably has settled somewhere nice and comfortable, and what about you?"

My mum rants the same thing over and over again. I really don't wanna hear that.

"Mum, mistakes happen, and I don't really care where she is now. I'm not in exact deep pit either. I picked myself up. And please, if marriage is your only reason for calling me, then you can hang up."

I'm might come off as rude, but she wasn't there for me either. It's either marriage or money.

My life is a mess.