My Long Lost Mate

"Violet, look at this," my mom held out a purple-colored flower, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"It is really pretty!" I giggled, "What is the name of this flower, mama?"

"Violet," she smiled.

"Yes, mama?" my head tilted to the side while my eyebrows rose up in excitement as she called me.

"It's the name of the flower," she laughed heartily, "It has the same name as you."

"Then... are we twins?"

She ċȧrėssed my hair and untangled the tied knot that was forming on my brown wavy hair, "Not particularly, but you do have some similarities."

I stared at the purple flower on her hands and frowned as I didn't recognize any similarities between me and this flower. Perceiving the look on my face, she calmly explained,

"Look at the color of the flower," she pointed to the petals and smiled, "Do you see the resemblance now?"

After receiving the clues, my face lit up knowingly, "Oh! My eyes!"

"That's right! You have the same beautiful purple color right here," her fingers tapped on the side of my eye lightly, "This is where your name came from," she waved the flower on her hand, "Do you know what's the meaning of this flower?" she asked to which I shook my head to.

"It means 'I'll always be true'," she replied.

"What does it mean?" I asked, confused by its meaning.

"It means to be completely honest with yourself, staying faithful to your values, being sincere, open-minded, and fair. No matter what people say about you, I want you to only believe in yourself, live your life the way you wanted it to be lived, not how people want you to live," she patted my head softly, "Remember this, okay?"

I nodded and asked, "Are you also true to yourself, mama?"

"Of course," she answered without any hesitation. I gave her a beaming smile and said, "Then I will also live the way you live because mama is always right!" She returned my smile with another affectionate smile, the one that I've always love to see.

"Which one is prettier, mama? Me or this Violet?" I placed my palms on both sides of my cheeks and blinked my eyes a few times, trying to outstand the beauty of the flower.

She first stared at me blankly for a second and then laugh loudly, "Who taught you to be this cheeky?" she touched the tip of my nose, "Of course my daughter Violet is prettier, from who do you think you got those looks?" her chin raised up proudly.

"Isn't it from the fairies?" I gave her an oblivious answer to tease her and giggled, showing my two missing front teeth.

She flicked my forehead lightly and grinned, "You naughty child!" she raised her hands up, bending her fingers slightly, forming the shape of a claw. She then started to tickle my small body, "Take this!"

I wriggled my body side to side and laughed from her tickles, then slipped away from her hands and escape from the deadly tickles. She chased after me and soon caught up to me, swifting my body off ground.

"You dare run away from me?" she smirked, "I shall punish you with this," she raised one of her hands up to the sky as if receiving power from heaven and proceed to tickle me further. Now there was no way out of her tickles and I was laughing ceaselessly due to it.

"S-stop hahaha," I tapped on her shoulder for a time out. As I was getting out of breath, she eventually stopped to give me time for my lungs to inhale the oxygen it needed to work.

She pinched my cheeks, "That's what you get for teasing your mom," she grinned playfully.

"But mama also teased me a lot!" I complained breathlessly, still trying to calm myself from the attack that was thrown at me just a minute ago.

"Life is always unfair, honey," she ruffled my hair.

The morning sun woke me up from my deep slumber and blinded my eyes right after I opened it. I used my hand to slightly cover my eyes from the blinding light, giving it the time to adapt to the bright luminance.

I stared at the ceiling and tried to rewind the dream that I have just had. A very pleasant one, indeed. It made me start my day with a smile splattered on my face. I didn't have any pictures of my mom so it was really nice to look at her face again even when it's only from a dream. At least this way I won't forgot how she looks like after all these years.

I got out of my bed and headed to the bathroom to wash the haziness away from my face. I wiped the mist that covered the mirror and focused on the reflection that was formed. My hand trailed up to my cheeks, then stopped at my eyes. It was clearly in the color green, but why is it purple in my dream? I knew that it was a memory from my childhood and not some kind of imagination my brain made. But I don't remember my eyes being purple. What made it different, after all these years? Is there something that is missing from my memory?

Stepping out of the bathroom, it finally dawns on me that today is the day Luke will be leaving. I looked at the clock hastily to see that it was now eight in the morning, thirty minutes past the time he said he was going to depart. I promptly changed into whatever attire that is closest to me and ran out of my room to look for him.

I dashed through the long corridors and found my way out of the house. When I finally went out of the house, there were already a few people standing close to the forest, with Luke in the middle part of the gang. They were all looking towards the forest but then turned their bodies over to me as if they knew that I was here even without looking. Luke stepped out of the crowd, giving me a dashing smile while I ran with sweats dripping down my cheeks.

"I thought you are not going to see me off," he mumbled in dismal.

"I'm sorry, I overslept," I held one of his fingers timidly, "Did you wait for me?"

"Of course I did. I'm not going to leave before I see you," he said as he wiped the perspiration that was showing on my face, "Did you run all the way here?" he asked and I nodded to answer.

"Why didn't you call for me?"

"I want to know if you are going to see me off on your own," he smiled, "Your shoes are mismatched," he pointed to my mismatched shoes which I just realized, "Seems like you are in such a hurry," he laughed.

I looked down and fidgeted my feet, "I was scared that you might have left without seeing me."

He opened his arms, "Will you give me a hug?"

I gawked at him and glanced at the few people around us. He noticed my gesture and asked, "What's wrong?"

"There are a lot of people looking," I said bashfully.

"And?"

"It's embarrassing to be stared at—" before I could finish my sentence, he pulled me to his arms.

"Why should you care about that," he said, inhaling my scent, "All you need to care about is me. People stare at you because you are the most beautiful person they've laid their eyes on, but that's not your fault, is it?" he laughed.

"That's not true," I muttered shyly while leaning to him.

I felt the people's gaze and my cheeks started to rose in temperature so I hid my red face in Luke's ċhėst. We stayed in this position for a few more minutes and it was getting pretty awkward with all the stares and all so I asked, "How much longer are you planning to hug me?"

"I would want to stay this way forever if I can," he chuckled and pulled back to look at my face, "Will you let me do that?"

"That's not possible," I replied, "What if I need to use the bathroom?"

"I will accompany you there," he said nonchalantly, "I won't look if you are shy but if you are not then—"

"It's getting late, I think you need to go soon," I pushed him away nimbly and break off the hug, "Where is the carriage?"

I looked around us but there was no sign of any carriages. There were only a few unfamiliar faces which I ȧssumed were the warriors he was taking, and then there was Jack who was standing idly by while looking at the sky peacefully.

He pouted at the distance that was added between us, "It's faster for us to run than going on a carriage."

"But won't it be tiring?"

"This way I can go back faster," he winked, "I don't want to leave you alone for long."

It was the first time that we were going to be apart any longer than a few hours and it felt weird. For all the time I've spent here, he was always in a part of my day so I didn't know what to feel about this. Will it go back to the days I spent before meeting him? It was a dark and lonely day.

"Stay here and be a good girl, okay?" he patted my head, "Don't do anything bad behind my back," he warned me playfully.

"I've never done anything bad," I frowned and glared at him, "You shouldn't do anything bad behind my back too."

He threw his head back and laughed heartily, "Like what, Violet?"

"Don't talk bad about me."

"I only have good things to talk about you, rabbit. Thousands of it, do you want to hear it?" he smirked flirtily while tilting his head to the side.

"Y-you said you want to come back sooner, it will be sunset by the time you are done," I turned his body around and pushed him towards the forest, "You should hurry and go now."

He laughed while letting me pushed his body, also cueing the people to get ready to depart. His laugh soon died down and was replaced by a heavy sigh, "I don't want to leave you," he said while looking backward at me.

"I know," I gave him a wry smile, "See you soon," I said as I wave him goodbye.

He stared at me with a pained look and hugged me one more time, reluctant to let go of the hug. I hugged him back and patted his back, "I will wait for you here, so come back faster."

He was only leaving for two days but it felt like he was leaving for ten years looking at how hesitant he was to leave. Did I affect him that much?

"Alpha, we can't waste any more time," Jack came calling for him while glancing at his pocket watch. Luke frowned at him but release his hug and left a kiss on my forehead, "I will see you soon," with that, he walked away from me and headed to the forest. Just before he walked further, I tugged the hem of his shirt which made him turned back to me again.

"Don't get hurt," the tone of my voice coming out to be a little bit cracked, the worry in it was clearly visible.

"I won't," he smiled, "Who do you think I am?"

Still cheeky as ever, I thought. But I guess anyone with such a high standing position like him will also be as cheeky and proud as him. Or is it just him, I wonder?

Luke and the group then proceeded to walk, getting deeper and deeper into the forest until they were no longer to be seen. Now, I was the only one in this big and vast place. What should I do today?