The Heiress's Revenge - A Bloody Affair - Chapter 35

[35 – Fragments of Innocence and Memories – I]
“Would you like to have a cup of hot chocolate?” Seraphina asked as she wiped her hands with a kitchen towel. They had just finished cleaning the dishes after dinner.

It was a part of Seraphina’s bedtime routine to have a cup of hot chocolate before going to bed. Out of politeness, she asked Elijah if he would like to have a cup as well.

“Uumm,” Elijah hesitated but so Seraphina said, “I am making one for me, so don’t worry you are not causing me any kind of inconvenience. So, tell me, should I make you one as well?” she asked and began gathering all the ingredients that she would need to make the hot chocolate.

“Yes, please.” smiled Elijah which Seraphina responded in kind. She asked him about his choice of milk and the amount of sugar he would like in his hot chocolate. Surprisingly, both of them loved having their hot chocolate with a mix of whole and cashew milk, extra scoops of cocoa powder, and skip the salt.

With a soft smile of his face, Elijah watched Seraphina stir the rich, velvety hot chocolate on the stove. The warmth from the pot filled the kitchen with a comforting aroma, blending perfectly with the cool, late evening air. Elijah just stood there, watching her, a sense of nostalgia washing over him.

Aware of his constant stare, Seraphina continued to act obvious and poured the hot chocolate in equal amounts in two large mugs.

“What toppings do you want?” she asked as she walked over to the pantry and opened the door to give Elijah a glimpse of the toppings she has.

Though Seraphina did not live in this mansion but she kept it clean and stocked. While planning her revenge and setting up this decoy house, Seraphina had guessed that situations like this might arise. That’s why she hired a caretaker to clean it every alternative day and make sure that it is equipped with all the basic necessities along with a few items of indulgence so as to avoid any kind of suspicions.

“Mini marshmallows, a pinch of cinnamon, and chocolate and caramel drizzle.” he replied shyly making Seraphina chuckle. Along with the toppings of Elijah’s choice, Seraphina grabbed a pack of freeze dried strawberries, a peanut butter jar and a chocolate bar.

Elijah watched Seraphina add toppings to his mug before and then onto hers. Nostalgia hit him hard when he saw Seraphina break the chocolate bar into small squares and put about 10 of them into her hot chocolate, a spoonful of peanut butter and a handful of crushed, freeze dried strawberries.

“what?” Seraphina asked on noticing the serious, nostalgic look on Elijah’s face, “Do you want some too?” she asked while pointing at the packet of freeze dried strawberries.

Elijah shook his head and laughed lightly, “No, it’s just that Caroline used to drink hot chocolate like this as well. Same choice of milk, extra scoops of cocoa powder, no salt, and the exact same toppings.”

The room grew silent, and Seraphina froze. Her hand trembled slightly so she set the spoon down before it fell out of her grip. She turned to face him, her expressions of casual interest masking her true feelings of curiosity, unease, and anxiety, “Caroline?”

Elijah nodded, suddenly wary. Though he considered Seraphina to be a friend and liked her romantically as well, but they weren’t close enough yet.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up. It’s,” he paused trying to find the right word, “it’s just personal.”

Though Seraphina nodded positively in understanding, but she could not let it go. Something about the way he spoke of Caroline stirred a deep, unexplainable feeling inside her.

“I would not force you to share anything but I just want to say that I am here to listen to anything, to everything you are ready to share with me.” she stepped closer and placed her hand on his arm, squeezing it gently.

“You know my father used to say that happiness doubles when shared, and sadness decreases when shared.” Seraphina smiled and added, “Sharing your problems and sadness can help ease them, Elijah. So, if you think that you can trust me enough -” she deliberately left her sentence incomplete.

Elijah placed his mug on the kitchen counter and grabbed her hands in hers, “Thank you, Seraphina.”

Seraphina nodded in understanding as she waited for Elijah to say something else, and she was not disappointed.

Elijah sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. Tracing the rim of his mug with his fingers, Elijah said, “You know I spent most of life away from my family. I was 10 years old when I went to stay with my grandfather and only came back home recently. Even then, I had to go to London for a year so I didn’t get much time to spend with them all.”

“But I still have a lot of memories of my childhood and almost all of them are of me with my siblings, with mt father’s friends kids.” Elijah chuckled and took a sip of the hot chocolate before continuing.

“Ethan, Caroline, Camille, Mia, Asher, Nathaniel, Christopher, and even Chloe.”

Seraphina’s grip on her mug tightened hearing her brothers names but she remained silent and continued to listen to Elijah, “It’s hard to believe Ethan and Caroline would do something like this. Ethan’s always been a wild child, but Caroline -”

Seraphina maintained her cool while her heart was pounding in her chest. She was anxious to know about what Elijah thought of and remembered about Caroline, about her.

“She was so sweet, innocent, and kind. I don’t know what happened to her.” Elijah shook his head and took another sip of his hot beverage.

Seraphina leaned forward, curious to know more, “Tell me more about Caroline.”

Elijah’s gaze turned inward, as if searching through old, dusty memories, “The first time I saw her was at the hospital. I had gone to see Aunt Emily and her newborn baby girl at the hospital along with my parents. She was so tiny and fragile, and the sweetest newborn baby.”

Deeply lost in his memories, Elijah did not notice the subtle change in Seraphina’s demeanor, “She hardly cried, and was always so calm around everybody. After Uncle Michael and Aunt Emily brought her home, I spent the most of my time at the Sullivan house instead of my own. I used to play with her, always trying to make her smile. I loved the sound of her giggles especially when I would make these funny face.”

He made a funny face just then and Seraphina could not stop the chuckle that escaped her lips.

“She loved animals, but her love for dogs was something else entirely. She would always bring in strays and give them funny names.” Elijah smiled fondly, “And she absolutely adored the Strawberry Shortcake cartoon; she was crazy about strawberries.”

Now this was something that Seraphina could recall from her memories.

“I gifted her a pair of pink colored shoes once, that had strawberry decorations on it. And you know what Caroline did?” Elijah laughed through tears recalling the sweet child he had been familiar with, “She used to clean them everyday after wearing them for only 2 hours and then put them beside her pillow when going to sleep.”

Seraphina’s cheeks turned pink as she recalled her brothers teasing her about this particular memory.

“Little Caroline couldn’t say my name, so she called me Eli instead. We once rescued a cat from a tree, and because that cat looked similar to me, you know, same hair color, and same eye color, so she gave that cat my name. Eli the cat.”

A small, involuntary smile tugged at Seraphina’s lips as Elijah laughed and continued, “Ethan once played a prank on her that went too far. I went to search for her without telling anybody else and saved Caroline that night. In return she gave me this.” Elijah reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a delicate necklace with a strawberry-shaped pendant.

Seraphina’s breath hitched as she recognized the necklace, her eyes widening in surprise as the memory that Elijah was talking about flashed behind her eyes.

Elijah continued oblivious to what was going on in Seraphina’s mind. His voice turned softer, “I wanted to give this back to Caroline on her engagement as a gift, but now -” he stopped mid sentence, his expressions turning serious.

“Now?” Seraphina urged him to continue.

Elijah turned to face Seraphina and said, “I don’t want to five it back to her because to me, this necklace represents the innocence that adult Caroline seems to have lost.”

Seraphina’s mind raced as she tried to recall her memories from that time but she could not remember anything. Though she had read that it is normal for adults to not remember their memories from when they were 4 years old or younger. It’s something called infantile amnesia.

But the details Elijah shared stirred something deep within her and Seraphina wanted to know more. She wanted to know more about her childhood and of Elijah’s memories of her but she hesitated because she did not want to sound too curious and raise his suspicions.