The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 90: A Peek Into The Past (2)

Chapter 90: A Peek Into The Past (2)

Fourteen years ago....

The sun had just set over the horizon, casting a warm orange glow across the sky. The calm waters of the river beneath the bridge reflected the gentle hues of the sky, creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere. The streets of the upper East quarters were sometimes empty in these parts, making it the best place for someone to take a walk if they felt like they needed some alone time to themselves.

But amidst this tranquility, there sat a little boy on the edge of the bridge. His natural curly hair fluttered with the breeze as he remained where he was, looking unaffected by the long height below his feet for someone his age.

His side profile already gave away his adorable charms, one that was so eye-catching that it made people stop to do a double take on who could have birthed such a dainty-looking child.

But once it became clear who the child was, everyone stayed away since he was considered illegitimate by the duchess herself. Besides that, his unruly actions that had been rumored across the upper East quarters was enough warning that alerted the passersby to keep moving and never go near him.

The little boy who was known to be Cassian by name, continued to stare blankly into the deep river, his small legs dangling over the side as he studied how high the bridge was from where he sat to the running river below. It was a river even an adult would find his/herself struggling to escape from if they end up falling into it, talk more of a mere child like himself.

And that was his main goal for coming to the bridge.

His mesmerizing face was solemn, and warm tears were streaming down his cheeks, yet he made no effort to cry them out as his hands balled into little fists. His eyes were filled with sadness and pain- something beyond his young age.

The sun continued to set gradually, and the bridge began to empty, but the little boy remained. Lost in his thoughts, feeling a pain that even he could not comprehend, he sat there silently, staring into the darkening water as though he was deciding whether he should jump off the bridge or not.

It was a sad picture, one that tugged at the heartstrings of anyone who saw it. But for the little boy, it was just another moment in his life, a moment filled with confusion and heartache.

He had no one to talk to since he got rendered illegitimate, there was no one to tell him that things would be okay even if they wouldn’t. So he just sat there on the bridge, alone, with his sadness.

Everyone considers him trouble wherever he goes, no one ever wanted him around them, not even kids his age, and he felt like an outcast with his own family since all his mother ever did was yell at him for being stubborn.

Nobody wanted him around. And if they didn’t want him around, then shouldn’t he do them a favor by disappearing completely?

Wiping his tears away, the little voice in his head continued to whisper the word ’Jump’ into his ears. It kept convincing him to take his own life like a dark spirit that wouldn’t let him be, and being a little boy that he was, he listened and slowly shifted closer to the edge, already planning to jump off the bridge when a cute tiny voice made him halt in his movement.

"What are you doing?" The voice asked in half surprise and startlement, whilst stopping Cassian from commencing his tragic plans.

Whipping his head to the direction of the person who had spoken to him, he spotted a little girl who looked much younger than him, dressed in a pale blue gown with her hair tied into two ponytails. She stood at the outside of the huge gate, her tiny fingers clutching against the rails when he locked gaze with her obsidian dark orbs.

Confused, she tilted her head innocently to the side, barely aware of what the little boy was doing.

He saw her stand on her toes to try and take a look as to what was at the other end even when it was impossible, but she could guess it was a really high place.

"Aren’t you scared of falling?" She asked again while the little lad looked down at the running water below him, and he silently admitted that it was pretty scary from up here, and he was only starting to realize that now as he instinctively shifted back.

"Are you planning to jump?" Her eyes naturally widened after realizing he was going to jump off the bridge. "What if you get hurt? Won’t your family be sad if they never saw you again?"

"No one wants to talk with me, so why do you care?" He asked in a dead voice, and for the first time, he saw someone smile genuinely at him, and she closed her eyes as a big grin enveloped her cute face.

"Come to me, I’ll talk with you." She opened her eyes after uttering the words he never planned on hearing from her.

He blinked in surprise as she beckoned him over, yet his little pride didn’t make him move from the bridge. Noticing his resistance, the little girl looked around to make sure the place was empty before speaking.

"Aren’t you too small to consider dying?" She questioned. "I heard people from the upper East quarters are very educated, so you must be aware that we humans live only once, unless you’re not human, and you’re already trying to die when life hasn’t hit you."

"Huh?" Little Cassian was immediately amused by the strange girl who had shown up from nowhere. It was the first time someone would look him in the eyes and speak directly to him. To be clear, it’s the first time someone ever considered talking to him in such a friendly tone.

"What’s your name?" He asked the girl instead, ignoring her earlier words.

"Maddie." She replied, and there was a brief silence between them before the little girl named Maddie gained the courage to ask.

"You live here?" The curiosity in her tiny voice made him nod his head in response.

"Can’t you come in?" Even if he preferred talking with the girl, he didn’t like how he had to speak with someone outside the gates of the upper East quarters, and unfortunately, the gateman was nowhere near to open the gate for her.

"I....I can’t come in, we are not allowed to step foot in here unless someone invites us in." He heard the little girl say in a disheartened voice, and his face brightened a little when an idea popped in his head.

"Do you want to come in?" He asked the girl who nodded her head slowly whilst looking at her small feet.

"Will you come tomorrow then? I’ll invite you in if you promise to come." It was his way of seeing the girl again so he could talk to her, and he noticed her big eyes sparkle with delight, and she nodded.

"I’ll come."

"What if you don’t?" Cassian didn’t want to end up meeting someone who would abandon him the way everyone else did, and to his surprise, the girl brought her pinky finger forward.

"If I don’t come, then you have to come find me. If you do that, then I’ll talk with you for as long as you want! We can become good friends!" She timidly suggested.

Hearing the mention of ’friend’, a faint smile finally graced his lips, and he no longer heard those voices that urged him to jump off the bridge. Instead, he jumped down and went to lock pinky’s with the girl.

"It’s a promise."

The little girl’s smile broadened, also looking delighted that she had made her first new friend.

"We’ll call it a game of hide and seek!" She suggested with spirited eyes while keeping their pinkies locked.

"But where do you live?" He asked, no longer looking solemn and all his tears had vanished. He no longer looked like the depressed child she saw earlier.

"I live in..."

"Lord Cassian!"

Rather than completing her words, the little girl gasped as she heard someone’s voice and immediately ran away without saying where she lived. At first, he was confused when she suddenly dashed off, but he understood the minute he heard Amade’s voice behind him.

Amade stopped in front of him, relief washing over his panicked face as he had run miles to come find him, and nothing could express his joy to see the mischievous boy was still alive. "Lord Cassian, where did you run off to? Your family, everyone’s worried sick at the mansion!!"

"I left on my own terms, so I’ll come on my own terms, I’m not going with you." He ignored Amade and ran off.

"Pardon?? Where are you going? Wait! This boy..!!.." And Amade, who was starting to get frustrated, was left with no other choice but to go after him.

~~~~

Closing his memory layne, Cassian smiled as he looked at the same little girl who had now become his woman. "I found you and brought you in as promised."