"I am afraid," July said in shaking voice. She bit her lips, as she thought this thing thoroughly, since she met him for the first time on the frozen lake site, when he came looking for her, the first thing he did once he realized that she was nearby.
Knox even managed to tell her and Jasmine apart, despite the eight years of separation.
But, as much as she was so thrilled to see him again, the fear that July always felt, if one day he met him again, hit her very hard with the undisputable fact before her eyes.
Knox looked exactly the same like the day when he left her. He didn't grow older even a year, since the first time they met and he would never look older than he was now.
So, how long it was for her to look like his mother instead of his lover?
It sounded ridiculous, July wouldn't think about it when she was younger, but now, when she was thirty one years old and everything about her youth started to fade off, how long it would take for her to be fit for him, to fit to be called his girl?
She was not a girl any longer, she was a woman now. Someone who would look older than him within a few years, which meant nothing for him, which wouldn't affect him at all.
He would always look this radiant, handsome and attractive, but she would grow old and she would look like a granny.
"What make you afraid? What are you afraid of?" Knox looked at July right in her eyes and this time he knew that she was not telling a lie. She was afraid of something and he was ready to kill anyone, who made her feel like this.
Until he heard what she said…
"How long it will take for us to be together?" July finally said, as tear rolled down her cheek. It felt almost like all the things that she feared the most burdened her down at the same time.
"What do you mean?" Knox narrowed his eyes. "We will stay forever." He was very certain when he said that.
However, a sad smile graze July's lips when she heard that. "My 'forever' and your 'forever' will never be the same, Knox."
And as she said that, she knew it was true. She saw Anne and she could picture her future self in her.
While Anne wouldn't have the love of her life, but she watched painfully with her own eyes, how she grew old, didn't have family of her own and witnessed how the man that she loved had never been aged from the first time they met.
July would experience the same thing. She would watch herself old and withered, while Knox would be still like this forever.
That was their 'forever'.
Her 'forever' would stop when her heart was no longer beating, but his 'forever' would last for eternity. This was something that they couldn't avoid and only now July could realize how serious this matter was.
===================
Zuri helped Chaos to dry his long, black hair, trying as much as possible to not touch him, as he stayed still and didn't try to make any psychal contact with her, which she appreciated it.
"Open the door now," Zuri said, as she turned off the hair dryer and put it back to its place, while Chaos put back his shirt and flicked his finger. The door opened.
Seeing that, Zuri didn't think twice to walk out of the bathroom, since she had been trying to control her panic, she was overwhelmed, despite there was no skin to skin contact between them.
Zuri intended to walk out of the room and found some fresh air, only to see Anne had put a tray of lunch for Chaos. She didn't think she needed to stay to make sure he ate those food, thus she proceeded to walk away.
However, when Zuri opened the door to go out of the room, she found herself entering the room again instead. She was shocked by this, it was like a parallel door that would lead you nowhere, but to the same exact room.
It didn't take a genius to know, who had done this.
This time, Zuri was mad, she walked straight to him and confronted him. What he was doing was not right and she didn't want to put up with his game.
But once she was standing in front of him and was about to lash out, Chaos put his hand on her shoulder, which she swatted away immediately out of instinct, only to find, they were no longer inside the room.
They were in the middle of the bar with blasting music almost made her deaf and yet, Chaos managed to speak to her without any problem.
"Find the shattered soul," he said. His voice sounded very close to her ears, as if he whispered it directly to her.
"What?" Zuri was dumbstruck by his sudden request. But she was more shocked when she found out where they were.
"I need you to find me a shattered soul, Blue. I really need it now."
Zuri wanted to complain about many things, but she had never heard Chaos was being insisted on something before or forced her to do something that she didn't want.
In the past, he would let her be when she said that she didn't want to find another shattered soul for him, after figuring out what he would do to them.
"Why? Are you dying?" she made a comment in passing.
Instead of answer her question, Chaos pulled her close to him, when a drunk man almost knocked her. He was too capable to be said as a blind man.
But then, she saw him. He was the bartender. Their eyes met and Zuri could see how he mouthed her name.