54: Remembering

**Tristan**

I was clearly not the only one surprised by the sudden guest. In fact, Jasmine and Damon seemed to be the only people aware that he was actually coming to this dinner too. He met my eyes briefly, tilted his head and then said, “I didn’t know that the stranger I’d be meeting today would be Tristan Creed.”

So, this was the route he was taking? Well, now that he had set the stage, I’d take on my own role.

“Oliver? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” I said, trying to make it seem as though the time period between now and the last time I’d seen Oliver had been a matter of months, years even, instead of the few days it had been in reality.

“Do you two know each other?” Damon asked, quite surprised.

I let Oliver answer since this was his little act.

“Yeah. She and I are old friends… and I’m guessing that she’s the newfound sister that you wanted me to meet? What a small world!” He said before taking a seat right next to me and quickly giving me a hug on the side. It was an innocent gesture between the both of us, but judging by Loren’s mortified expression and from what Lucien said next, the two of them didn’t perceive it to be innocent. “You know, aside from being Jasmine’s sister, she’s also *my* mate.” Lucien said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder rather possessively. I turned my head to him and raised an eyebrow.

“You ass. He didn’t mean “friend” in the way you’re thinking.” I said.

Oliver chuckled as the realisation struck. “She’s right Lucien. We were, quite literally, just friends.”

This seemed to put both Lucien and Loren at ease and Lucien relaxed his possessive grip around my shoulders. But that did nothing to alleviate the tension that hung thickly in the air as Oliver’s eyes met with Loren’s.

“Loren. It’s good to see you too.” He said nervously.

She huffed and refused to answer him, and I wondered how on Earth two people- my sister and her fiancé- could willingly create such an awkward situation. The amount of discomfort at this table was overwhelming even for me, and I was of the select few that didn’t have a problem with anyone at this table. Luckily Jasmine was quick with her tactic of topic changing.

“I’m sorry we’ve started without you. I thought you were not coming.”

“Oh, sorry about that. I was caught up with work.” Oliver said. By work, I assumed he meant running around and doing errands for my father.

“That’s alright. Apart from meeting my sister whom you obviously have already met, I wanted to tell you that Damon and I are having a baby!” She exclaimed.

Oliver did as good a job acting surprised about the whole ordeal as I did. Perhaps even better.

“That’s amazing! You two are finally starting your own family. Have you thought about names yet, because personally I think-”

“Lucien junior is a good name!” Lucien said suddenly. And just like that, an uproar began with names being thrown around haphazardly. That was when all of the tension from before just seemed to disappear almost completely. I wondered, as I listened to the laughs and loud chatting at the table, if Lucien had purposely done what he’d done. And if so, he wasn’t half the villain that most people at this table thought he was.

When dinner was over, Jasmine pulled me aside and took me to a quiet place outside in hopes of having a private conversation with me. However, before we could even begin conversing, she vanished, saying she had to fetch something that she wanted to give to me. But it wasn’t long before I was joined by Oliver.

“What are you doing here alone?” He asked.

“I’m just waiting for Jasmine. By the way, thanks for giving me a heads up that you were coming here today.” I said sarcastically.

He laughed in return. “In all honesty, I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure I was going to be coming. Like you, I had a pretty good idea as to why my cousin and dear Jasmine had invited me over. And I knew that Loren would probably be here too…”

“Then why did you come?”

Oliver shrugged and then gave out a sigh. “I wanted to see her again. The last time I saw her made me realise something.”

He then turned to me with a soft and sincere look on his face as he said, “I love her.”

I was taken aback by the sincerity in his words. It wasn’t like Oliver to be so serious. Then again, people you cared about brought things out of you that you never knew were there in the first place.

There was, however one important question that he needed to answer:

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

It was all good and well saying that you loved someone, but from what I’d observed from people, love was more of an action than a fleeting feeling.

Oliver scratched at the back of his neck for a moment before giving another shrug. “I- I don’t know.”

But I did.

“You’re going to fight for her, Oliver. That’s what you *must* do if you expect to have any hope of rekindling the love she clearly once had for you. How is she supposed to know that you’ve changed if you don’t show her?” By the time I was finished with my little speech, I was surprised by the words I’d let come out of my mouth, and so was Oliver.

“Finally…” He uttered after a long moment of silence between the both of us.

“Finally what?” I questioned.

“After years of seeing you bury yourself away to please Ambrose, you’ve finally dug yourself up. This is the girl I remember and I’m so glad that she didn’t die that day you made the decision to not feel anything. On that note… did you make your decision?”

I could tell by the happy edge in his voice and that intense look in his eyes that he knew I already had. And so, I just nodded.

“And does Ambrose know?”

I stayed silent. Telling Ambrose about my decision was not an option. I just assumed that he’d take the hint eventually.

“So, I take it your silence means no.”

Again, I just nodded.

“Well, if you won’t tell him anything, then I won’t either… oh and look your sister’s back! That’s my cue.” He said before giving me a wink and then walking away.

When Jasmine arrived, she gazed between Oliver’s retreating back and me a few times before asking, “Are you sure you and Oliver are ‘just friends’?”

I nodded. “Yeah… he’s more like family than anything else.”

“Speaking of family…” She then stretched out her hand and within her palm, held something I’d never ever thought I’d see again. It was a torn and slightly singed photograph of the both of us when we were younger. Jasmine’s hair was in two long braids, and she held an old toy close to her chest. I stood next to her, my hair wild and unbrushed. My index fingers were on either side of the corners of my mouth as I sported a wide smile. I remembered the exact day this was taken. It was Christmas and the cute toy Jasmine was holding was her present which she refused to put down for even a second. It's also important to note that I broke that toy later on in the day. I cried so hard and felt so guilty about breaking something so precious to my sister. But Jasmine was mad for a fraction of a second before she embraced me tightly and told me that she forgave me. That was the day I truly began to understand the concept of love and forgiveness, and now that I stared at the picture that Jasmine had placed in my hands, it was all coming back to me. That girl that Oliver was talking about earlier now felt closer to me than she ever had been before.

“After the whole Lucien situation which, I’m sure you’re sick of hearing by now, I decided to go by our old house a few times and I found this. It’s funny, we survived the fire just like this photograph of the two of us.” She said warmly.

I felt… sad when she said this. My parents were gone and all that remained were these two smiling children in this photograph they’d left behind. Only now, we were a little older, and unlike Jasmine, I’d lost my smile. And as I thought this, the strangest thing happened- a drop of water fell onto the surface of the photograph. I stared down at it curiously and then briefly looked up to the sky. But it wasn’t until Jasmine gently stroked at my cheek, that I realised it wasn’t a raindrop, but a tear.

I gasped, surprised by my reaction and then wiped away the teardrop from the photograph quickly, almost in a futile attempt to hide the fact that I’d just shed a tear. At the same time, I rubbed my wet fingers together, savouring the wetness against my skin. I hadn’t shed a tear in years, but the fact that I was regaining the ability to do so was both terrifying and reassuring.

“I shed a few tears myself when I saw it.” Jasmine said softly. I attempted to hand it back to her when she shook her head and then enclosed my fingers around it.

“You keep it.” She said.

I was taken aback by her offer but accepted the photo nonetheless and placed it carefully into one of my pockets. It seemed my collection of photographs was growing. I wondered whether I’d eventually have enough to start a small family album. I’d always been fond of family albums when I was younger. They were books filled with memories and with those memories associated smells, scents, tastes and feelings, just like the ones the photograph in my pocket gave me.

“You are a very mysterious person, Tristan, but I hope in time, that you can find it in yourself to trust me with the secrets you keep.” She said suddenly, catching me off guard. The look in her eyes was not malicious or accusatory. Instead, it was kind and warm. And although I wasn’t ready to tell her about our blue-eyed alpha family secret, I could tell that she would wait, no matter how long it took for me to finally open up to her. And so, I did something that startled her. I grabbed onto her and pulled her into a warm, tight hug, savouring the feeling of the closeness between us. That’s when I knew that no matter how many years had passed and no matter how different we’d grown to be, I loved my sister. So much so, that I gave up everything I had ever worked for to keep her and her family safe… and that included Lucien. And it was almost as though Jasmine had read my mind, because she immediately, brought him up.

“I see you and Lucien are getting closer. I’m a little jealous of him. You’re my sister and I’m sure he’s spent more time with you than I have.”

“Well, we do work together.” I said as a way to reassure her. She nodded and then folded her arms loosely against her chest.

“Loving him won’t be easy.” She said.

I turned towards her, taken aback by her words, and then, I became instinctively defensive. “I don’t love him.”

She laughed and raised a brow. “Fine. Maybe you don’t *love* him now, but you are starting to.”

I kept silent. As much as I wanted to continue being defensive, I couldn’t, because deep inside, I knew that what she’d said was true.

And so, Jasmine continued. “I just want you to be careful. Love is a dangerous emotion, and it can make you lose sight of who you and the person you love are. Just make sure that you don’t lose sight on who *you* are Tristan.”

“Who am I?” It was a thought which I’d accidentally said out loud and was about to retract when Jasmine began to answer instead.

“If you’re still the person I remember you to be, then you’re kind, unselfish and you’d sacrifice anything for the people you love and care for. You’re Tristan fucking Spectra, remember?”

It had been years, but finally I felt as though I did remember who I was, and slowly, the emotionless, uncaring and unfeeling Alpha’s daughter that I once was, was beginning to fade away.

“And hopefully… you’re also someone who accepts her sister’s offer to become maid of honour. We’ve moved the wedding until after the baby’s born, but the offer still stands. Will you be there for me on one of the most important days of my life?”

What she said had gotten to me. I’d missed so many important days in Jasmine’s life already. The least I could now do for her was to be there for her when she needed me. And so, I agreed.