Shyra was tending to her little flower garden on her living room balcony. She was happy to see a few snowdrops blooming and was proudly showing them to Rey. "They look beautiful, don't they? Soft and white petals drooping down almost like the snow itself!" She admired.
"Hmm. To be honest, I didn't even know the names of these until you started talking. Do they bloom all year round?"
"No! Just spring. See here, all flowers are for Spring!".
"That's unfair! Why should all flowers be for Spring only? What did the other seasons do?"
"They are too harsh for these!"
"So all the other seasons do not deserve a spot on your balcony for they are too harsh?"
"That's not it! I change the plants every season! So the balcony looks floral all year long!"
"So what do you do with out of season plants?"
"Oh I have a spot for them too. I have a bedroom balcony as well!"
"You sure earn a lot to buy such an apartment!"
"Yes. I mean I got some leftover from Papa as well."
Her face took a heavily depressed expression for a moment before she sighed and smiled like nothing happened. This was the first time she mentioned her foster father herself. The only person she had adored with all her heart. As Shyra went too quiet, Rey's further probes died in his throat. He didn't know how to bring it up.
"I'll go visit Rajiv and Charles!" Rey spoke hesitantly.
"Sure," Shyra replied indifferently as she kept tending to her little garden.
When Rey was telling this story to the two men, he could feel their sharp glares cutting through his skin. He looked up at them. Both of them had a disapproving look on their faces. They had forgotten a very painful truth about all this. That was Rey's background and his family. His great-grandparents were the owners of a rich publishing house in Calcutta along with their various other businesses which had made his family filthy rich. This rich was truly filthy in the sense that his family was laced with criminals. Many of his relatives were suspected of working with human trafficking, drug trafficking, murder, fraud and manipulating news - the most heinous of crimes. A family that Shyra had tracked down and paid the price for it with her own family.
Not only Shyra was one of the journalists whose families were targeted by them to teach them a lesson but Rey himself had shot Shyra on her chest during a confrontation that took place on the docks of Calcutta Port. On their attempts to keep this truth hidden from Shyra, they themselves seemed to have forgotten that Rey was not exactly the Prince Charming one would set up their friend with. But to their defense, Rey was Rajiv's childhood neighbor. His mother herself was one of the victims of the family's crimes. One of Rey's Aunts who had left the family for good, had set him and his mother up in London, faraway from the chaos of Calcutta. She didn't want Rey to be sullied in all these nightmarish stuff. His Aunt also provided a good house and some money off which they could live for a while. Rey's mother was employed in "The Sight" as a reporter so his childhood was tumultuous and lonely. Rajiv had considerable empathy for him. Seeing Rey from Rajiv's view, Charles had also softened on him.
But childhood nightmares rarely ever leaves one out before taking a piece. So the same happened with Rey. All his worst nightmares came haunting back to his adulthood, pulling him in its dirty dark embrace. Rey and Shyra's story was not of fairytales but of darkest dreams and so the Prince Charming of this story had already wounded the Princess before ever having a speck of warmth for her. Not to mention, their encounter was truly an encounter, Shyra never saw who she shot but Rey fell in love with the very person who quite literally almost took a piece of his heart. As the scars of this encounter remain on their body, sooner or later, Rey would have to reveal the truth.
Who knew that even before having their first fight, Rey had already sullied his hands with her blood. This violent truth could not only change the course of events but also take the form of a giant storm that was bound to sweep everything away.
Rajiv and Charles glanced at each other. If they got Shyra to be emotionally candid with Rey, she might learn the truth. It might be for her mental health issues that had taken a toll on her these days but she wasn't one of the top investigative journalists for nothing. She kept her professional self a bit distant from her personal self after being advised to do so to keep her mental health stable. Otherwise, with this whole affair, that's a wounded lion waiting to be provoked. But at this moment, Rajiv and Charles were less concerned about waking up the investigative journalist and more concerned about getting their lovely sister-like friend's heart broken. She might not be able to handle it well.
"Give the lady some space. She will come around eventually." This was the best possible reply Charles could come up with at the moment.
"Yes. She would be more open eventually anyway. You should worry about opening yourself up to her more," Rajiv spoke sternly.
Rey sighed. He would not be able to muster up the courage of opening up completely to her for a lifetime. But to say that directly to the face of these two men, he would be signing his death sentence. They adored Shyra, more so, Rajiv and Charles both hated people with a background like him. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't even have looked at the person's face.
"Well..." Rey was trying to come up with the best of phrases to not trigger a fight but he couldn't make anything up. He was hilariously at a loss of words. At this very moment, Claire came sprinting towards them.
"Gentlemen, I have news."
"Yes darling?" Rajiv asked.
"We are all going to a dinner! So you better get ready quickly!"
"Come on! It's only afternoon darling-," Rajiv spoke but looking at Claire's sulking face he quickly agreed to get ready as soon as possible. Rey and Charles could not help but smile.
"Rey! Why don't you borrow my clothes? You don't want to go in ladies' pajamas right?"
Rey had totally forgotten that due to his lack of packing anything at all, he was wearing Shyra's extra sized pajamas today as his previous clothes were sent to laundry.
"Sure," he replied almost embarrassingly.
"Also! Do you know that this boy right here sent roses to his lady?" Claire announced gladly.
"Really? how posh!" Charles teased.
Rajiv also looked very impressed at Rey's gesture. Rey only smiled blushingly. He would get awfully flustered when Claire spoke like this. But Claire had just started. So she asked again curiously, "So what's the deal with eight roses?"
Rajiv and Charles furrowed their eyebrows. "Eight?"
Rey seemed surprised too. "Eight? but how is that possible?"
"Well, shouldn't you know considering the fact that you sent it?" Claire was confused at his reaction.
"Well, no. I had ordered twelve roses not eight!" Rey looked frustrated.
"Oh then they might have messed up the orders!" Claire smiled unable to understand the frustration. So she asked again, "Why twelve though?"