Chapter 64 - All A Coincidence

Guy stared incredulously at the visage glaring back at him. The resemblance was eerily uncanny.

'She's exactly like Grace when I first met her!' The myriad of travels he and Grace undertook since their early twenties back on Earth had affected her physically and emotionally. Before they began their venture, she used to have a more cold and fenced off aura that dissuaded others from approaching her. It was only after getting to know her at a personal level that Guy realised the underlying reason for her frigid demeanour.

'If only I had known about it earlier, I could have made so much more progress in our relationship,' Guy lamented. But then he quickly shook off that thought, because standing here in front of him was his second chance!

"Have you met Miss Grace before, Master?" Markus inquired.

"Master? Markus, who's this?" Grace interjected.

"You're name's Grace?" Guy exclaimed.

"Yes. Who're you?"

"This is my Master, Matron Reva," Markus clarified.

"Reva? Are you... you're a mother?" Guy asked hesitantly while gesturing between Markus and Grace.

"What? No! Again, who are you? Who is this, Markus?"

"No, Master. Since we're all orphans, we decided to take Matron Reva's last name as a sign of solidarity. And Matron, this is Master."

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" Grace exploded. She released a long exhale and let the silence settle.

"Now, one at a time," she pointed at Markus and reiterated. "Markus, who is this person? And please, don't tell me he's your Master again!"

"This is my Master, Teacher- I mean Mister Guy Larks. He's the teaching apprentice I was learning under."

"Great! Next question, what are you doing back so early? We weren't expecting you for another year," Grace replied with visible confusion.

"That? I... I dropped out..." Markus replied in a low voice.

"Excuse me?" Grace raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She craned her neck closer and narrowed her eyes.

"I dropped out of the Academy," Markus confessed in a shaky tone.

"Why? Did something happen?" Grace asked with concern. She placed the basket in her hand on the ground and walked up to Markus and embraced him gently.

"It's alright. Everything is going to be ok. It's fine even if you couldn't become a mage, we can find something else for you. OK?" She said in a soothing voice while patting the back of Markus' head.

Markus wiggled out of her embrace while blushing in embarrassment. "That's not it! I didn't fail in becoming a mage."

He pulled out his magic wand and cast a massive |Fireball| directed towards the sky.

Grace huddled back in fear as she beheld the |Fireball| hurtling skywards. Her face contorted with an expression of unimaginable terror. Her legs started to shake and give way, but she quickly stabilised herself and began to breathe measuredly. While she was doing so, Guy rushed forward immediately and snatched the wand from Markus.

"What are you doing?!" Guy reprimanded. In response, Markus lowered his head and retreated his head into his neck.

"Sorry, Master. I... wasn't thinking straight."

"Damn right you weren't! I'm confiscating this! You will get it back once you've properly contemplated your actions. I've taught you better than this, Markus. I'm extremely disappointed in you," Guy continued.

While the Master was disciplining his Disciple, Grace finally managed to calm herself and steadied her breathing. She coughed loudly to attract the duo's attention.

"Since you've become a mage as you've wanted, why did you drop out?"

"I dropped out because they fired Master," Markus answered righteously while avoiding Guy's eyes.

Grace gazed blankly at Markus. A stale silence hung in the air.

"WHAT?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Grace finally burst in anger and exclaimed animatedly.

"Do you have any idea what your sister and I had to go through to get you admitted into that Academy? In fact, I was against it from the very beginning, it was she who convinced me in the end. And what did you do with her efforts? You dumped it into the mud and trampled all over it! Even now, she's out travelling with some caravan and scrounging money just to send it to you! You, who dropped out of Academy! And for what? Because they fired this clown?" She added while pointing aggressively at Guy.

"Matron, please don't insult my Master like that!" Markus interrupted.

"MASTER? He's your Master?" She commented in disbelief. "Who even are you?"

Guy walked forward and politely answered, "Hello, I am Guy Larks."

"Nice to meet you Guy Larks. Could you please do me the honour of introducing yourself?" Grace responded sarcastically.

"I'm an unemployed teaching apprentice," Guy responded with a chuckle. This banter reminded him of his conversations with Grace back on Earth. At that time, everyone hated Grace for her snarky sarcasm. Not Guy though. He loved to play into it because he knew that she never had a comeback. And coincidentally, this Grace was also stumped at Guy's shameless retort.

"You think this is funny?!" Grace screamed as she marched closer to Guy. "I don't know what you did to fool this boy so well. But if you have an ounce of integrity in your heart, you will convince him to go back! Get him back into the Academy. Beg if you have to!"

"No, Matron! I'm not going back there again," Markus denied vehemently.

"You don't get to say anything, you stupid boy!"

"But Matron, you have no idea how-"

And then the two entered a back and forth that started to barrel out of control. Markus fervently denied even considering returning to the Academy, while Grace pushed at him harder and harder to do the opposite. Guy observed the situation with longing eyes as he reminisced about another similar occurrence from his past life.

At that time, Grace got into an intense argument with an 8-year-old orphan boy who had recently lost his family due to a drought. He was so closed off from everyone that he refused to utter a single word or eat another bite of food. Somehow Grace got through. She managed to grasp at something that peeved that boy so furiously that he completely forgot about his oath of silence and debated with her with unwavering conviction. In between, Grace casually handed an opened can of biscuits into his hands, which the boy then nibbled at while haranguing at her. Guy thought that Grace was ingenious to skillfully break through the boy's barriers and get through to him. But it was only at a later date that he learned from her that she was actually serious when she argued with that boy!

'They're just so similar... Mast, what's happening?' Guy asked internally.

(What are you talking about?)

'Why is she here? Why is Grace here? Is she also a transmigrant?' Guy added with some anticipation.

(Hmm. No. She's a native,) Mast answered casually.

'But, how? They both look the same. They both have the same name. They both even have the same personalities! This is far too convenient to be a coincidence!'

(And yet, that is exactly what it is,) Mast answered monotonously.

'But that doesn't make any sense! The probabilities have to line up so perfectly for everything to match up to such an extent.'

(And yet, that is exactly what happened.)

'You're joking! Are you hiding something from me, Mast?' Guy interrogated.

Mast sighed and answered casually, (No, I am not. Believe it or not, this is really all a coincidence. That woman has nothing to do with the woman with the same name that was acquainted with you in your past life.)

'Then... was this fate?' Guy commented. No matter how many times he tried to convince himself before his death, Guy managed to overcome his greatest regret of not being able to follow through after confessing to the love of his life. Even after being handed a second chance, he was finding it hard to open himself to the experience of falling in love again and pursuing another woman. Maybe it was because Grace was his first love, and was someone who was so deeply implanted into his heart, that he couldn't get over her. And yet, in his second chance, Guy was given another shot at pursuing Grace! Maybe the universe was finally being generous with him. After dumping all over him in his past life, was it making it up to him now?

But Mast summarily burst Guy's bubble by saying, (Don't flatter yourself. The world doesn't revolve around you. This is all just a coincidence. The result of numbers lining up in the same order for the second time. Neither I nor any other agent had any hand in this.)

'You say that. But think about it! You just coincidentally happened to drop me into the body of this man, who just so happened to be close to this woman. If that is not fate, then I don't know what is!'

(Who knows. Maybe you are right! Maybe this is all fate and I'm just another chess piece in the game of someone stronger and greater than I.) Mast then emulated a mechanical chuckle and followed up, (That was my attempt at sarcasm. I think I'm getting a hang of it.)

Guy grumbled internally as he returned to himself in the present. He felt an excess of excitement as he began to formulate a plan to pursue Grace once again. But he was immediately distracted by the sorry sight of Grace pinching Markus' ear and giving him a thorough spanking with the other hand.

"Everyone, please! Let's take a second to calm down and talk things out," Guy suggested. To which he was greeted by an accusatory gaze from Grace.

"You! You're the reason for this mess!" She started.