Chapter 142 - REMEMBERING THE MARKINGS ON HER WALLS

Derek soughed in relief as he saw his cousin, Maya, come into the room with a tray of covered dishes.

"About time..." He muttered, adjusting and readjusting himself on a particular spot on the bed, which he had been sitting on for a while, thoroughly expectant.

He had almost gone after her at one point, when his stomach hadn't been able to bear the wait any longer.

"Sorry that I took time..." Maya stated, while using her right leg to kick the door shut, as she approached the bed.

"It's alright." He responded, as his taste buds came to live at the sweet aroma of the food.

"Smells nice..." He stated, his eyes totally narrowed at the plates in the tray.

"Uhuh...I think you would like it. It's my favorite." She said with a short smile, before dropping the tray on the table closest to her bed, a dressing table actually, but it was just void of the basics, unlike Emma's own.

"I will like it then." Derek said, very sure of it.

"Fish and chips right?...with bacon sandwich as an add on right?" He asked, basing his mentions on what had been seven years ago. He wanted to know if they were still her favourites, or some changes had been made.

"Yeah." Maya responded with a toothy smile. She hadn't really expected her cousin to remember her favourite meals.

"You're right." She added.

"Cool then." Derek muttered, before stretching out his hand to collect the plate which Maya was handing over to him.

He took a bite of the bacon sandwich first, which was arranged by the left hand side of the plate.

"Mmmhmm…." He moaned, as his taste buds relished the suppleness of the meal.

"You like?" Maya asked, already biting into her sandwiches too, after she had sat opposite him on the bed.

"So much." He replied, before taking up the chips this time around.

"I will tell Mom to prepare this when I get back home. It's been a while." He stated, remembering that he had stopped his mother from cooking fish and chips especially the years following up the pack war because it had reminded him of his cousin and her betrayal.

She had understood and heeded his request, and it had been the way till now. He would have to ask her to include it back to her cooking timetable.

"Seriously? Thanks Coz." Maya managed to say, even with the crumbs of the fish and chips filling up her mouth. She was happy that she would also be chanced to eat her favourite meal back at her cousin's pack.

"Why are you thanking me? I'm not doing it for you." Derek mouthed, while gurbling another section of the sandwich down.

"Yeah yeah. Anything that floats your boat." Maya said with a chuckle. Instinctively, she knew that fish and chips had been prohibited in his pack because of the fact that it would remind him of her betrayal. She knew that he loved the English meal as she did, and had been surprised when these weeks she had spent with him had passed, without even a taste of the fish and chips, or the bacon sandwich.

Derek flipped his cousin's off with his middle finger, as he continued interacting with the meal in his plate. He was almost done with the meal, when she brought up the situation that had happened earlier in the living room.

"About the gift you had given to my mother..." She said, leaving the rest of the statement hanging, knowing that he would understand whatever message she had meant to communicate through.

"It was a thank you gift." He stated, not entirely happy about discussing the subject. It reminded him of her betrayal. He had forgiven her in all entirety, but his mind hadn't forgotten.

" I know that, Derek. I want to know why. What had my mum saved you from?" She asked, already done with her own meal.

" From your father." He replied, before taking up one of the bottles of water on the tray.

"My father? When?" She asked, her eyebrows scrunching in curiousity.

"During the last pack war, before you guys had ousted us out of the pack, your father had tried to kill me, but your mother had intervened. End of story." He answered, before gulping some water from the bottle, down his throat, obviously done talking about the subject.

Maya soughed, while massaging her temple, as she processed what Derek had just said. Although she wanted to know more details, like the when and how, she knew that her cousin was done talking about the subject which reminded him of her betrayal. Seems she would have to ask her mother then. She thought, taking up the other bottle of water on the tray.

"Okay. I'm sorry about that." She said, after an afterthought. 

"No qualms. It's in the past." He responded monotonely, which caused Maya to wonder whether the situation had actually been left buried in the past. She didn't think so. She knew that her cousin still had in mind a revenge against her father, especially since the older man didn't feel remorseful at all for what he had done. 

But newsflash! She didn't care.

She only hoped that the bitterness wasn't eating her cousin up.

"Alright." She muttered finally, before breathing out in content. She was full and not hungry.

"You need more?" She asked him, when she noticed that he was done with everything on his plate.

"Nah, I'm okay." He replied, his former jovial note returning back to his voice.

"Sure?" She questioned, throwing him a wink. "You don't need to hide it if you are. I think there's still some left over in the pot." She said, bursting out in sudden laughter as she remembered what had happened last night in her Aunt's kitchen; the incidence of foodish Emma and Anthony.

Derek, knowing where her thoughts had taken her to, chuckled a bit, before laughing out loud.

"She is a good eater, eh.." He stated, still smiling.

"It seems Anthony was coaching her. He must be happy finding a partner in crime." She said, smiling too.

"Well, as long as he doesn't cross his boundaries…" He murmured, a dazed look on his eyes.

" Quit jealousing around. Anthony wouldn't touch Emma. He already knows she is your mate." She said with a chuckle.

" I hope for his sake, it is true." He stated, causing Maya to shake her head from side to side. She thought his possessiveness was too extreme.

" They are mates." Sia, her wolf, mentioned.

" Like I don't know.." She muttered through their link.

" Wouldn't you want our mate to be the same?" Sia asked.

" I don't know." She answered with a shrug. But of course she knew. She wanted a mate that will pamper her like Derek did with Emma. She wanted the same, a possessive mate. But then, the mate was with someone else. She knew because her instincts told her so.

" Don't worry much about it. He would be back." Sia stated.

" Yeah." She responded, knowing that her wolf was only trying to lessen the feeling of hurt on her which would be incoming soon. But in actuality, technically, she knew that her wolf would also be the one to howl in hurt if it she sees Leo with someone else.

"Hey Coz..." She heard Derek call, and snapped out of the communication with her wolf.

"Huh.." She hummed, staring at him. She noticed that he was in knots, perhaps thinking or deliberating on some issue.

"What's the matter?" She asked, shifting closer to him on the bed.

"You remember this drawings on the wall, these lines going on and on to eternity?" He asked, pointing on the line drawings on the wall, just ahead of them.

"Yeah. The ones you and Clem designed daily on the walls. I hadn't been able to get around it; the reason why you guys did that." She replied, almost asking him, what had been the connection of the question to whatever seemed to have put his face in a shade of worry.

"Well, I saw something of this sort on the walls of Emma's walls, the one in her living room to be precise, on the first day I had entered her house, to clean; well, a more thoroughly designed map though, in lines form." He stated, as the lines on his forehead deepened, as he went deeper in thoughts.

" Did you see it too?" He asked her, lifting up his eyes to look at her.

" No. I have no idea about what you're talking about. Why haven't you mentioned it to me? Does your mother knows?" She asked, totally thrilled with curiosity at the new subject. She doesn't remember seeing any markings on Emma's walls, not that she had ever looked though.

"No, I haven't told mum. I had entirely forgotten. I had just remembered it when I saw these markings on the wall." He answered, turning his eyes away from her, to stare at the markings on the wall.

"Oh well..we need to get home fast." She muttered, as she dabbed the tip of her nose with her index finger.

"Yeah. Tomorrow at least." He concurred, standing up abruptly from the bed.

"Let's go check on Leo and the others." He said, wanting to round up everything there and then. There was no time to waste.

"Alright." Maya responded, getting nervous all of a sudden, as she stood up from the bed too.

***

"How do you think she is coping, you know, not seeing me before I left?" Derek asked Maya as they left her room.

"She will miss you; but she will be fine.." She answered, rubbing her hands together to quell her jitters.