She's My Sleeping Pill

Natsu pulled the woman beside him and they sat on the space which was quite far from Cayenne. "You've been working for Stefan for quite some time, right?" Natsu asked the lady beside him. "Have you ever heard if his wife knew someone from City D?"

"How would I know? I didn't pay any attention to her." The woman replied in disgust. "I hate women like her."

"Oh?"

Natsu smiled and continued to observe. Stefan's ex-employee was also observing Cayenne not far from them. She, too, didn't expect that she'd run into this enemy. She really hated her.

"She's not meeting with someone here, right? Going as far as coming in this place, she's really bold. Did she think no one would know as long as she's meeting the person far from City A?"

"Who knows?" Natsu didn't agree or disagree with her words but, he continue to feed her with negative emotions. "She might be here just to have a coffee."

"That's impossible."

And as if to prove her theory true, Reuben arrived with a gift bag and gave it to Cayenne but they couldn't hear anything they talked about because they're quite far from them.

"Hi, dad." Cayenne greeted him and received the gift from her father.

Reuben kissed the top of her head and gently pat her back. "I'm so happy you've come to initiate a meeting with me."

"I'm sorry you couldn't bring your wife with you."

"It's fine. She understands." Reuben replied with a faint smile. He called the waitress and ordered their drinks before facing his daughter once again. "So, what is it that you want to talk about?"

"It's about mom. Don't you have any idea of her identity at all?" She asked directly, not planning to beat around the bush because she needed to save time.

Reuben took a deep breath and looked outside the window glass. "I met your mom just like this. I saw her in a café, crying her heart out. She said she was heartbroken but she didn't tell me the reason why. I bought her a drink that time and we chatted just to help her feel at ease. After that meeting, I thought I wouldn't see her again. When I passed by the café, I saw her on that same seat, wearing the same sad expression. I thought it was all a coincidence and then, the next day it was the same. Day after day, while I was going to school, I always see her in the same café. So, I told her to get up and go to the nearest park with me. Ever since that day, we got a little bit closer and closer and we fell in love."

Cayenne was listening attentively but his father abruptly stopped and sighed. Their drinks arrived just in time as well so he took a break while recalling the past.

"Would you like to talk in my car instead? I think it's a little bit private and I don't want anyone to hear about your mom."

"S-sure. I don't mind." Cayenne stood up. picked her bag and the gift before following her father out. Natsu and the woman followed them but not closely, making sure that they won't alert the men that always follows Cayenne.

Reuben opened the door for his daughter like a fine gentleman before getting to his own seat. He also helped her fastened her seatbelt like how he would for his wife. He didn't get to spend so much time with her so, he would do everything he could even if it's just a small thing.

"To continue," Reuben took a sip of his drink and started to tell Cayenne the rest of the story. Two years, they spent two years together and never once did her mother brought Reuben home. It wasn't until she got pregnant and carried Cayenne in her tummy for two months. "At that time, I wanted to meet her family to take responsibility for her but she refused. I don't understand why she would refuse and she even told me to bring her to a far place. Without really understanding her, I brought her home. That's when my parents knew about you."

"And they didn't like it." Cayenne stated bluntly. She wasn't hurts by these words anymore. She has already accepted that not everyone can like you or accept your existence in this world. And she didn't care about it. She just wanted to live her life with those people who cares for her and who accepts her past, present and her future.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you and your mom."

"That's fine." Cayenne nonchalantly replied with a faint smile. "So, you never knew that her name was fake?"

"I found out about it after we got separated. I never wanted to marry Ingrid but they threatened me with your lives. How could I have the heart to refuse when your mother was tied on a beam on top of an unfinished building? I married Ingrid and your mother broke up with me. She left. I tried my best to explain and to get her back but she already closed her heart to me."

"So, you gave up?"

"I didn't want to give up at first but, the news broke out between people of higher social hierarchy that the only daughter of Jean Nikko Rule, the Princess of Dragon Empire as they called her, has run away from home. Her name was Amethyst Nile Rule. When I saw her picture, I felt really cold and deceived. And then, my parents knew about her identity. After separating me from her and getting me married to someone else, they wanted me to get a divorce to get back your mother. I'm not stupid? I know that they only wanted her because she was a better connection to getting more riches."

"And so, you refused this time." It wasn't a question but a statement coming from his daughter. "You didn't want to get us back because you didn't want us to be used by your family."

"Yes."

"But why didn't you tell her family where she was? You knew that she was all alone now without you but you kept her whereabout a secret?"

"No. I didn't. Well, I didn't intend to but your mother approach me once again for this matter. She didn't want to go back home. She'd rather die in the woods than going back home. I was perplexed. I didn't know why she'd refused to go home when she could just live there happily."

"Did she tell you the reason?"

"No." Reuben was shaking his head with a helpless expression. "Up until now, I couldn't understand why she refused to go back. After she begged me to never let anyone know of her location, she begged Ingrid as well. In exchange of this secret, she wouldn't bother us anymore."

'So, that is why she didn't want me to know anything about my father. She thought that I'd be bothering them which means she's breaking her promise.' Cayenne never thought of this thing before but now, things were making sense to her.

"Dad, just forget about mom. Start over with Ingrid because she gave you freedom from the impending pain."

"What do you mean?"

"Mother didn't just run away from home without reason. She wanted to live. She wanted to live, have her own family and grow old. Because if she stayed with the Rule family, you wouldn't have met her or she wouldn't have given birth to me. If she stayed with them, she will only have a short life because she was meant to die as a vessel to her mother's heart."