Promise me

Salt

3rd pov

The horizon blurred past as the sound of the car was filled with a soft hum of the radio, accompanied by a lively banter between the two with Mal knee-jerking the car to scare Mia. Her phone screen lit with notifications from her video editor, youtube, and i********: with endless compliments and appraisal of her hard work with the choreography. Some pointed out how strong and sexy she was with her moves, others started a ship between the two best friends.

“You haven’t told me where we are going mal, we’re already past the borders, where does this road lead to?”

“You’ll see, darling!”

Soon, the sun was well into the afternoon and the sky marigold. Quiet rustling of the trees did nothing but radiate harmony in Mia. A scent of fresh moss caressed through the window as Mal’s lemon scent turned sweet. the car stopped on the side of the road towards a timid pathway flourished with greenery. A sound of freshwater was heard within. Mia’s face brightened with a glimmer of curiosity in her grey lobes.

Mal reached to the back of his car, pulled out a picnic basket, blankets and mats. “Your dad is already there, I invited a couple of my friends too, hope you don’t mind.”

Mia turned on her heel with a slight upturn of her lips.

“As long as I keep a safe distance, I think I will be fine”

A nod of acknowledgment from Mal signals to Mia his recognition.

---------

Mal’s pov

“You planned this, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did darling, only for the girl who had grown to a wonderful and successful woman in front of me, heck I even got dms from your crazy fans as well to treat you right. Who wouldn’t?”

Her laughter filled the air, a mellow chuckle and her scrunched nose were the only things I ever paid attention to. God, she’s so cute

“You should laugh more, Mia.”

She stopped, with a puzzled face and many thoughts processing in her oblivious brain of hers. If only she can stay innocent like this forever.

“ok, I’ll try”

Try? Nothing fits her better than her laughter. It stayed the same throughout our childhood, even after that f*****g bastard did something to her this morning. But that thought is in the back of my head right now. Nothing is more important than to enjoy her birthday. My wolf howled with frantic excitement as her wolf tried to reach mine whilst walking down the footpath.

“babygirl, is your wolf trying to reach mine?” I c****d my head to the side and chuckled.

“Hey! You’re Mia’s best friend right? I’m Lylith!” a soft voice echoed in my mind, my wolf wagging his tail to the point I can feel it hitting the sides of my head.

“AY! I’m Bronx! And yes, Mal is Mia’s friend since 5, we gotta run together some day!”

An ongoing chatter between the two was hushed to the corner, a wave of information shared between the two as both accessed our memories to fawn over.

“Yeah, she’s very lively today. I would need your help so I can figure out how to shift some time for her to come out.”

She turned back her head to the front with flickers of light gracing her figure through the trees and fern. Voices traveled to us from the clearing insight by the river.

“We’re here.”

**

3rd pov

“Pass the f*****g salt Arron!!”

“bro, your saltiness is enough to pickle your own d**k, that s**t’s a gherkin.”

A howl of laughter vibrated through all of us, Mia sitting here toppling over many times from laughing with tears. Her dad sitting there, beer in one hand like an Australian dad on the picnic table failing to attempt to hold back his. Jake sat tomato faced, trying to come back with a better mockery, but the alcohol didn’t seem to help with his creativity.

“f**k this, I’m going for a dip”

Jake stood, 6’1 and tore his suicide boys t-shirt and dashed to the lake. Soon after, everyone followed suit except for Mia herself and her dad sitting side by side, enjoying the view of Mal and his friends brawling; Mal threw Arron further down the lake like a doll with a string of profanities and cussing, to then be toppled over with mud on his face by Jake.

A hand went over her shoulder to pull her close, and a warm fatherly gaze fell to hers.

“My bean, You’re of age now. Do you know what this means? You’re legal of marriage, a bond, owning property, traveling, owning a business and many other things.”

Mia’s content face fell into a deep trance of thought. She knew that she is already financially stable through her career as a choreographer and her online masterclass. Her work was the fruition of her will to mentally grow.

The forbidden memory that will always be a deep scar in her will always ache. This fueled her to be able to express it through her skills. Out of many stories she’s read online from people who went through a similar experience, though she’s geographically impossible to track down, let alone Gyrestone from the rest of the world map, Mia is doing nothing,

but trying her best to heal herself.

“Mia? Darling? What are you thinking about?”

His dad, the only one in the family who truly supports her despite not knowing a father’s worst nightmare that could happen to his own daughter, sat there with a puzzled look. He will never know. Never over her own dead body.

“Nothing. I just wish that Auntie can be a bit kinder to me.”

“My girl, you know your mother’s death was not your fault. She is under my watch.”

Not thorough enough though, she thought, she will never tell her most treasured father the truth, as her gaze fell over the plates of savored food and beer, across the lake until night fell onto the warm evening.