Bright Territory, a few days ago
Gill followed Juni to a place, observing the territory further. They ignored the many heads turned along the way, the two of them silent and seemingly focused on the destination ahead.
A few minutes later, the former couple sat inside the only tea shop in the territory. Of course, the tea offered by Bright Village was only two relatively bitter varieties of indigenous edible leaves. They were also consumed in small cups because potable water was quite costly.
They sat there silent for a while, looking at the wooden table in front of them. Gill looked at the crude workmanship but still felt a bit proud a Terran territory could achieve all this in a few weeks.
He knew it must not have been easy.
Several minutes of silence later, Juni finally broke the silence. And she was very direct to the point. "Can we try again?"
"What?" He asked. Gill genuinely thought he was hearing things.
The beautiful woman took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "These subsequent tragedies… they changed a lot of people. All the other things were rendered useless in a blink of an eye, and I am reminded I only truly loved one thing."
She raised her head, her beautiful brown eyes meeting his dark ones. "I want to try… to mend my relationship with you."
Meeting the actress' familiar brown eyes, his mind turned to another set of orbs. Purple ones.
If the others knew what he was going through, they'd want to beat him up. Gill didn't know this, however, nor would he care.
He frowned and looked at the woman, arrogantly crossing his arms. "Why?"
"Why not?"
Gill massaged his forehead. Their breakup was somewhat amicable, but it was not painless. Seeing her being gossiped about on the news with different men still brought him stings until they were transferred here.
After all, they basically grew up together, and they were each other's firsts in pretty much everything. She was his first love, his first kiss, and she took his first time. She had been patient with him, loving him purely even despite all his flaws.
He had been acerbic since he was young and he had hurt her many times with his words and his frequent absences. It was why he never blamed her when she broke up with him.
But things changed when their relationship ended and she became a completely different person from the sweet innocent girl that he knew. She even took some racy projects, modeled in skimpy outfits, and the like.
It was like he was the one who broke her heart.
Heh…
Also… he didn't want to judge her, but staying in that industry with her background. How could she be clean?
It wasn't that he was judging her blindly either, he had called her once in a drunken stupor a week after the breakup, only for the phone to be answered by a man—with her soft and seductive voice in the background.
He mused he must've completely given up on her then.
The thought of the innocent girl he knew serving men for profit made his stomach churn and it served as a reminder of how stupid he'd be if he fell for it again.
"If you think I'll happily agree with your proposal then you're sorely mistaken," he said and stood up, knowing he didn't want to continue this conversation
"Gill," Juni uttered, calling out to him. She saw his indifference and bit her lips, looking at him with a complicated expression. "Things weren't that simple."
"Regardless. Those things have passed." He remembered saying at the time, sounding extremely cold. "Move on."
But as he walked away, a deep hidden wound reopened, and it ironically closed his heart even tighter.
___________________
Ferrol Town. Present.
When Cassandra arrived, she saw how popular the Terran Mercenary Team's stall got.
The line was long and everyone was chatting excitedly, many of whom were holding products they just bought. In fact, everyone who got products had relieved smiles on their faces.
Considering the shop's popularity, they could've missed it after all!
Luis even organized a small puppet show. The puppets were modeled after Althea and Garan, and he was showing their reunion.
"Oh my… what a touching story!" A woman exclaimed, unable to hold back tears.
"Are they really back together?" A wistful teen asked, very seriously. Luis grinned.
"Yes! They're living happily with their two babies."
"Amazing!"
"Amazing!"
Not far away, Gill watched the booming business with satisfaction, until he saw a couple holding hands and tasting the corndog together.
An image of a young him and a young Juni flashed by his head, doing the very same thing. He frowned and he massaged his forehead as if it would wipe off the annoying picture.
He lifted his head in a bad mood, but the beautiful face of a violet-haired woman occupied his entire sight.
"Amazing! Where did you get all these things?" She asked as she approached.
Without him noticing, his darkening face softened a bit.
"Altera," he said with his usual deadpan tone of voice. Cassandra was used to this though, and she knew he was generally like this.
She turned and looked at the sign and her balmed mouth made an 'o' shape as she studied the symbols.
"Good meaning," she said and he nodded with a shrug. "It must be an interesting place…" she mumbled and then turned back her attention on him, her purple eyes reflecting all of him.
"Are you back for good?"
Gill shook his head, not bothering to explain more. Cassandra pouted and crossed her arms, but she didn't move away from him.
Instead, she just watched the activity in their stall and, while curious, her upbringing told her not to squeeze in the crowd, so she simply stood by and watched like a lady that she was.
((Her upbringing also told her not to be too forward with men, but she had a selective memory.))
It was quite fun and even if she didn't join in, she found a smile on her face.
Her eyes couldn't help but be attracted to the toy section the most, surrounded by many happy little kids. She had always wanted siblings, but her mother didn't like her getting close to any of her dad's illegitimate children. She was actually quite fond of kids.
"Our children would be just as adorable," she voiced out without thinking, making them both flinch as soon as they uttered it.
Gill couldn't help but think about what his mother told him before leaving. "Garan is a year younger than you but he already has twins!" She had said, "You better get me grandchildren soon or I will die with regrets!"
His pale face was now red as a monkey's butt. "W-What are you talking about!!"
He could vaguely feel he was a little different from this woman after he saw her wield the sword with skill. Unfortunately for her, his defense mechanism—after the previous failed relationship—was high and very, very, reactive.
"Stop with the nonsense, it's annoying."
Cassandra frowned at his words. She knew she was being improper, but it shouldn't attract such mean words from him, not after the last time she showed off her 'skills'.
Because she was the only legitimate child, she was the only one allowed to learn the techniques, probably in hopes for her to teach her future 'son'.
She had practiced it vehemently to gain the approval of her parents, though she never got it. When she realized this she gave it up, though she found it again after falling in love with Gill.
She had practiced her sword skills again to impress him. She practiced so hard that the soft hands she took care of got calloused!
Before he left she felt that he had finally softened up a bit, but what was this now?
"You obviously have a good impression on me!"
"I won't like showy women like you!" He said, ignoring his own acting like a brat. "It's like you can't live without a man!" He blurted out without thinking and frowned when he realized what came out of his mouth.
He raised his head and wondered whether or not to apologize.
But he saw her reddish eyes, holding back tears, and his voice died.
Inexplicably, his heart hurt a bit.
He refused to admit he had been moved by Cassandra.
"Fine! Who wants to make babies with you anyway!!" She said and ran away.
Gill didn't know how to react, so he just didn't. He turned to see the disapproving gazes of his team.
"Can't believe boss Gill had such a messy love life!"
"Wasn't my goddess Juni his ex? She specifically looked for him!"
"I thought they were back together?"
"Anyway! Boss Gill's love life is definitely colorful!"
"One violet and one blonde?"
"Complementary colors?"
"Now that you mention it—"
"Anyway, they're both angels sent from above."
"They're supreme beauties, too!"
All the noise made his head hurt.
"Buzz off!" He yelled, making everyone flinch in shock, and walked away.
But… unconsciously, his phoenix eyes gravitated to the direction a certain girl left crying.