Fiery Memories and Cold Blood

"Fucking thief. The most innocent looking ones really turn out to be the worst of them." Charlotte said with a scoff behind her words.

"Her name was Mia." Liam said without fear as he held the glass in his hand tightly and headed to drop it at the kitchen.

"I couldn't care less about her name. She was a leach after all." Charlotte said as she looked towards her phone, and smiled.

Liam, who had returned to his room full of disgust and disappointment towards whomever Charlotte had become, sat in his bed and stared into open space before slipping into a memory.

Before he could immerse himself into his mind's repository, his phone rung. It was his mum.

"hey, Liam." Tiffany, Liam's mum said on the other end of the phone.

"Hi, mum. How are you?" Liam asked softly with love blooming on his hitherto fiery face.

"I'm fine, baby, but this call's not about me. It's about you. How's your marriage going? Is it bliss?" Tiffany asked with concerned curiosity.

"It's well, mum. It's going okay. Charlotte is sweet as ever and everything else is going according to the contract." Liam said with a sentimental voice that was holding back a dozen tears.

"Liam? You don't have to go through with this if you don't want to. You're my priority." Tiffany said as she further heightened the genuine emotions they shared in this moment.

"I don't know. I'm doing this for us, you know, for dad, too. It's what he'd have wanted." Liam said with a shaking voice.

"No, baby. Your father ever only wanted the best of happiness for you. When you didn't want to work at the company, remember he didn't stop you. He wanted you to be happy, and so do I." Tiffany replied with utmost sincerity and a smile covering her feelings of grief.

"I know, mum. I'll be fine. You take care, too, okay?" Liam said slowly as his smile widened.

"Yeah. Bye, son. I'll be in touch. And happy 30th, baby. Treat yourself to something good today, please?" Tiffany said with cheer.

"Awwwnn. Thank you, mum. It's Monday in London already. Great. Bye, mum." Liam said with an even broader smile as he hung up and dropped his phone next to himself on the bed.

********** *************

Liam slips into a memory flashback as he glances into open space.

"What do you think we'd be like when we're thirty, Liam?" Young Charlotte asked him while they sat on a bench by their high school lawn.

"That's old, you know. But I think we'd be married, maybe have a dog or the cutest kids and be happy, you know. What'd you want to achieve by thirty?" Liam asked her with all his attention while he dropped the Cheetos he had in his hand by the other side.

"I'd want t have my picture on the front cover of the Vogue Magazine, and I'd like to be featured in the Forbes' list like your parents." Charlotte replied with a smile and a vivid gesticulation with her hands.

"I don't doubt you'd achieve that. You're special and you're so focused on getting things done. You'll do great, Charlotte." Liam said with an encouraging smile.

"That's easy for you to say. Your parents are the richest people in the city. I have to work hard every semester to keep my scholarship. And I know your parents have offered to help with that, but I don't want that. I want to go after my dreams without much of a hand helping me out." Charlotte said with her pitch hitting the lowest octave as she spoke solemnly.

"I feel that way, too. I don't want to just be the wealthy kid who had his life handed to him. I want to work my way to the top, no matter how hard that might be." Liam replied as he looked towards the fields.

"I got you something, Liam. Close your eyes." Charlotte said to the shocked and confused Liam who obeyed her and closed his eyes.

Charlotte gave him a quick kiss on his lips, not lasting more than two generous seconds but enough to make the both of them smile and blush like penguins in bloom.

"Was that it?" Liam asked with his cheeks heavy from the kiss and his tummy heralding the moment he'd just had.

"No, that wasn't. This is." Charlotte said as she brought out a book from her back and gave it to him.

Liam didn't hesitate to smile in return as he collected the book, Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the wind."

"Awwwnn. This is so sweet, Charlotte. Thank you. I didn't know we were exchanging gifts. I didn't plan anything." Liam said with a lean sad face.

"We aren't, dummie. Today is your birthday. You really didn't think I was going to forget that." Charlotte replied with a witty straight face.

"Wait, what?" Liam said as his smile turned sour quickly.

"They forgot again, didn't they? I'm sorry, Liam. They didn't mean to. They are out making the world better, you know. Where are they right now?" Charlotte replied empathetically.

"Shanghai, I guess. I just wish they'd show me they care. At least, this one day." Liam said as he looked at Charlotte who held his hands warmly.

"They do care. Believe me, they do." Charlotte replied as she looked him in the eye till he was forced to smile.

************ ***********

Liam was out of this memory flashback which was 13 years ago, and he opened his phone's gallery and clicked on the folder "Charlotte's" and played a voice note she'd sent him a year after she'd given him the book.

"Happy birthday, Liam. I wish you were here so we could go grab those sour popsicles again, but I'm doing great here, too. How's California and the many actresses you're hooking up with? Anyway, I gotta bounce, Liam. Miss Valedictorian over here has a speech to give. I miss you, Liam."

Liam smiled with his emotions overpowering him as he sniffled and played the voice note again.