The Fated Match

I wasn’t even surprised when I met with one of the families drivers at the airport. The effect of my grandfather was still living onto this day and somehow that amazed me.

” my beautiful little Girl you are glowing ” my auntie, Racheal said hugging me tightly. My first visit was at my grandfather’s gravestone. I guess the word had got around that I was here. My auntie burst through the doors of the family quarters in my grandfathers house.

I smiled as I wrapped my arms around her, welcoming such a friendly face. My mother stood not too far behind with her brother staring at us. I don’t know how long it has been since my mother stepped foot in this house but I was relieved that she decided to come for this.

” Hey Rach, hows my favourite Auntie” I said pulling apart and taking a quick look at the tiny blonde that she is. Mom had died her hair a dark Brunette which I can say was the only real difference between the sisters.

She smacked my arm ” How can I be your favourite when you don’t visit me” she was right how could i.

” Rach, Elle is busy coaching a full on swimming team, if you think managing 2 kids is tough” My mom came over to my side defending mefrom her sister who is the stubborn one of the two.

“hi sweetie” Mom said to me. ” Hi Uncle Reg” I waved over at my distant uncle who I haven’t seen in years. Me and mom never really had that really close relationship but she was my mother and I knew that she cared for me deeply.

” Hey Elle, its been too long come here” he surprisingly opened up his arms, I stared at him for a few seconds before mom slightly nudged me.

” where is she I want to see her” I said after the initial reunion was finished. I came her for one reason, and that reason only.

I followed my mom to the car outside, she would probably be at the house where she lives with her parents. Kalen, my brother was probably already there by her side probably telling her some idiotic story he made up.

” Her parents are stuck, they don’t know what to do with themselves. They don’t believe that she is mentally ill so its very confusing for them right now” Mom explained to me as we took a car over to the house.

I grew annoyed ” it doesn’t matter of they believe or not they should support there daughter and give her the help she needs” I said frustrated.

Mom put her hand on my arm, a method to help me calm down. When it comes to Aika I am very passionate about her. My grandfather loved that little girl and I know that he would want me, need me to help her as she grows up.

” they have traditional beliefs Elle, its hard for most Asian families to believe anything else than what they know” Reg said finally finishing the phone call he was on.

Reg was a Professor at a university In Australia and he was in charge of a lot of the university events there so the fact that he was all the way over in japan was a big statement.

” look Elle we’re here”

Moms words faded as I looked out the window coming into the residence of my grandafathers. When Aika was asked where she felt safe she told her parents this address and I understood that.

The garden were decorated in full with he beautiful vibrant beds of flowers and multiple waterfalls surrounding them. A lifesize statue of my grandfather looked over the gardens and I instantly felt like home.

” still so beautiful right” Rachael said her eyes moving with mine as we took it all in. sometimes its nice to go here and just feel his energy through the residence.

I never got sick of coming here when I was younger, normally I would find my grandfather around the back talking with his animals or getting lost in many of his gardens.

When I stepped out of the car I was met instantly with my brother, kalen. This 5’9 man was totally different to when I last saw him. I wasn’t surprised when I saw he had a lot more tattoos to show, not even trying to cover them. He loved them, embraced them actually.

“Elle” he spoke as I looked him up and down.

” hey Kalen, you look good” I said almost nervously, I didn’t know how he was going to react to me. Kaleb reminded me a lot of my father with his anger issues and I think that’s why he removed himself from my life. Scared that he might do something.

” you scared of me little sister, don’t worry I took my meds this morning” he joked about. To a lot of people this would be awkrawd and it was for me but I also knew that this was a way of coping with his issues, making light of the situation.

” I’m not scared, I just haven’t seen you in years” I said moving forward testing the waters a little bit.

I was glad when he made no move at all to back away.

” just hug me already so we can see Aika, I want to see her chubby little eyes explode when she realises you’re here” he said making the final step before wrapping his arms around me.

It didn’t feel very brotherly to have his arms wrapped around me but it felt somewhat like home.

When we were done reuniting we walked together through the house. pictures were spread all over the house with all of the children that my grandfather helped throughoutthe years.

If I wasn’t doing anything I wold have stayed to look for Theo but I couldn’t I had bigger problems on my hands.

Kalen stood by the door at the very end.

” smile for the camera” he said before pushing the door open for me. I rolled my eyes at him but walked through.

The first thing I saw when entering the room was the bright white walls which were decorated with posters of Ariana grande and jessie J.

She loved Grande, everything from her music to her ridiculously long ponytail.

Next It was Aika, sitting up peacefully in her bed, her headphones in her ears as she mouthed lyrics. I stook leaning on the door for a while just looking at her. Wondering what she was thinking to even think about wanting to end her life.

It was also if she noticed someone in the room because she snapped her eyes oopen. When she did that it was almost as if it was scripted with the way her eyes widened significantly and her mouth gaped wide open.

Her tiny body scrambled out of the bed knocking over her tablet and she raced towards me and jumped into my arms. She wasn’t young anymore so she was extremely heavy but I managined to keep her up.

” Elle, omg you’re here this isn’t a dream where you swim away from me is it, I hate those stupid dreams” she says into my ear. I laugh as I rub her back.

” no Aika i’m really here, unless your room miraculously starts to fill up with water I wont be swimming away from you” I comment on what I can only assume were so pretty interesting dreams.

She registered my words and hugged me tighter.

I gently placed her down onto the ground. ” I’m sorry Elle, you must be so disappointed in me right now I feel so ashamed” she bowed her head as she played with hher short strings. I lifted her head.

” I’m not disappointed, I’m mad at myself for not checking up on you. For not inviting you to England. I’m here , we’re all here because we care about you and don’t want you throwing away your life, the life that he would want you to live to the fullest” I said to her using the most gentlest voice I had.

I should have tried harder.

Poor Aika broke out not sobs wrapping her arms around my waist. ” I don’t like feeling this way Elle, it scares me. the only way out is if I go talk to him I needed him, and he wasn’t here” she was now full on balling completey wetting my teshirt. Not like I even cared.

” Look Aika, look around you. You have the biggest most loving family in the world and anytime you feel lonely, sad or anything negative you talk to us. I have not been the best guardian to you” I rolled my eyes when heard a fake cough come behind me.

“its true, I haven’t been Aika” I said moving her attention back to me when she sent daggers at my brother beihnd us.

” its not your job to worry about me Elle” I shook my head.

“but it is Aika, I promised Chikara that I would be your guardian whilst he was gone. I need to live up to that promise not only for him but because I love you” I said pulling her down to sit back on the bed.

Her sniffs were the only sound coming from the room.

Kalen came over and knelt before her, his hand resting on her legs. ” tell us what you want Aika, its your school holidays now do you want to get out of here” I looked over at my mom who looked as surprised at Kalens words.

Would this be a good idea to take her somewhere else.

When I looked around her room I noticed a few things. One, that she loved pop singers but secondly she had images of famous landmarks, one of them being th eifeel tower and the other one being the London eye.

” why don’t you come back to England with me for a week. I can take you to the London eye if you want and we can go see where all the princesses live” I bent down next to Kalen.

” I cant go without my oarents though” she says in her quiet voice but Kalen shook his head.

“I already spoke to them, they want you to do something that makes you happy, your parents love you and want this for you sweetie” he said stroking her delicate cheek.

I could already see the excitement bubble inside her like a kid on Christmas morning. I knew that I would have to give Tina a lot more work to do with the team but I was willing to do that to treat this little girl.

Me and Kalen left the room as Aika and her parents helped pack for her little trip.

” I found that guy you asked about, he doesn’t live too far actually and he’s pretty famous around here, well his wife is anyway” Kalen said as he showed me pictures of this house near the city.

Something that was on my mind on the plane here was Theo and his fathers story. Its strange that we would have this type of connection and I think I would really regret not going to see his father.

” since I did this for you, you think your boy toy can get some tickets to the world cup” Kalen asked cheekily. I sent his a look which he just shrugged his shoulders.

Little git.

” First of all he’s not my boytoy and secondly, ill try my best” I smirked at the surprised look on his face like he couldn’t actually believe it.

He stuttered ” wow really, I actually was joking but if you can do that, that would be super cool sis”.

I’m sure if I couldn’t get his tickets through Theo I could get them myself for him as a thankyou for today. We don’t see eachother often but im happy, relieved more like. That we could come together for this girl.

When Aika was finally resting I gave myself a few hours to go out and find this man. Kalen made it so much more easy to find him, all I had to do was put this address into my GPS and we were good to go.

I stopped outside this house, it looked like something out of a magazine, it was definitely a nice house to look at.

I parked my card to the side of the road and headed for the entrance with the picture in my back pocket. Mom helped me dig out the picture from the archive.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

I stepped back after ringing the door. I heard the sound of paws scraping against the door which let me know in advance that they had pets.

Seconds later the door was finally being opened revealing a girl behind the door , she was sucking on an ice lolly when she saw who it was at her door.

” who is it Bella” I heard a deep voice from within the house before the door was pulled open further and I was staring at a replica of Theo.

” Hi sir, my name is Elle. Im a friend of your son, theodore I don’t know if he has spoken to ” I was fully aware that I was rambling but I wasn’t really prepared for this.

He held his hand up stopping me ” I know exactly who you are Elle, please come in” he stepped to the side letting me inside. I smiled and walked through the doors and into his home.

I felt lightly awkrawd sitting in his home as he brought out drinks and food for me, a women who I guessed was his wife brought out a range of different foods and desserts.

” this is embarrassing, they always go too far” chloe, who I know now as their daughter and sister of Theo.

Her parents gave her a harsh look which I pretented I did not see.

” you don’t have to do all of this, I am just happy to be in your home” I said moving the plates around the table for there to be more room.

” any girlfriend of our theo must be treated well” her mother said offering me a kind smile that I had no toher choice but to return. I knew that this treatment was not just to do with Theo but rather my family.

When her mother left chloe smirked at me. ” you’re not with my brother anymore are you?” she said just loud enough for me to hear, away from her parents but her dad was closer than we expected.

” youre not?” he sounded hurt.

“I mean we ‘re not official or anything but we agreed to take a break since I’m very busy and everything” I couldn’t help but defend Theo before they could blame him for anything.

“this is brilliant” chloe laughed, even going as far as clapping her hands.

Now I think about it I wished I kept my mouth shut.

“wait… is that?” Chloe exclaims as I got up to remove my jacket. I felt her fingers go to my back at from that moment I knew what she was talking about.

” oh you didn’t know sweety, Elle is Hiroki’s grand daughter”