- Cassidy -
Caden's car was filled with tons of things. Toys, snacks, clothes, accessories, stationery and thirty-five boxes of pizza.
To what I remember there were about a hundred kids at this orphanage and I helped to chip in a little bit more money for the gifts when the girls ran out of money.
Only Anastasia knew that I helped to pay off the excess, the younger ones didn't know.
Caden paid for our nail salon trip and I didn't even know until the staff told me.
He was really sweet and he knew I wanted to pay for the girls so he didn't come in to pay.
But the nail salon, yeah he wanted to pay for me and I let him.
The moment Caden pulled up outside the orphanage, twenty of the kids ran out and Miss Wendy had to gather them or else there would have been a stampede.
Caden was shocked, he thought the three girls were crazy enough but no, there were more.
Miss Wendy assembled them back in the dining hall and we gave out the food and gifts.
They were delighted, needless to say, I could only come down once or twice a month because of my workload but they still welcomed me with open arms nonetheless.
It was night by the time everything was over. I tucked the girls into bed and Caden was standing by the wall watching me.
He was so nice and endearing, taking care of and watching out for every child. I saw a new side to him today, and I really liked it.
"Cassidy, the next time you come you can text me, Miss Wendy allows it," Anastasia proclaimed proudly and I nodded, "Sure thing, by the way, I bought a little something for you."
Caden fished out three velvet boxes from my bag and handed them to me.
The girls climbed over to Anna's bed and I giggled, "This one is for you Anna, for being a wonderful big sister to everyone."
It was a necklace with a hollow heart-shaped pendant. I took out the second and third boxes, "These are for Maia and Chloe, so you girls will remember to stick together always."
Their pendants were half hearts and they all fit into the hollow heart perfectly.
They squealed and giggled, happy to receive such a pretty gift from me.
"Thank you Cassidy! Thank you Caden!"
They screamed together and bear-hugged the both of us.
Caden was adorable, his expression was stunned like he'd never been hugged by three girls before.
After settling them we met up with Miss Wendy and thanked her for taking care of the children.
I hugged her, "I'll come back to visit whenever I can."
She nodded and patted my back, "You're welcome back here any time Cassidy. You too Mr Jones."
"Please call me Caden," He shook her hand and we bade our goodbyes.
Caden drove us home and I was staring at the road, I was exhausted but felt so happy.
"Rose?"
I turned to him, "Caden."
"You alright?"
I smiled and nodded, "I'm fine, what about you?"
He chuckled, "Well, considering I've mostly never been surrounded by kids before, I'm great."
My heart felt genuinely happy, seeing Caden being happy when he's around me made me feel special.
I took his free hand and brought it to my lips, kissing it gently.
"Rose?"
I intertwined our fingers and leaned back in my seat, "Thank you Caden, for everything."
"Anything for you Rose. I mean I am your best girl friend."
I laughed, "You had to ruin the moment huh?"
He shrugged, "I'm a man Rose, I have my ego."
I straightened up, "Okay Mr Ego, since I've given you more than a sneak peek into my life, why don't you tell me about yours?"
He gulped, which I found hilarious but held in my laughter, I wanted to know about him.
And maybe the reasons behind all those contacts on his phone.
***
- Caden -
Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to share my past with Rose.
But it scared me to hell too.
There were so many ugly events that I wanted to spare her from but if I really wanted to be with her, I had to share everything with her.
Even though I'm technically still her best girl friend but whatever, I'll be there to catch her when she falls for me.
"Where do I start?" I really didn't know where to begin.
"Well, you can start with something major that happened in your life?"
My palms were actually sweaty, I was afraid things between us will change when I tell her.
Okay chill, Rose is a nice girl, she'll understand.
"Okay then. Firstly, I've been married three times, divorced all three times."
Her eyes were wide as she watched me, my grip on the steering wheel was tighter.
"Sadly I didn't love anyone of them. My mother made me marry them because she wanted to see me settle down before she left."
"Before she left?"
"She passed away from cancer. Breast cancer. She kept trying to get me married as quickly as possible. I just did as she told me, I didn't want to disappoint her."
We were approaching our house and I drove in. My grip finally relaxing a little on the wheel.
We drove up to the door of the house and alighted. Rose held my hand and led me to the back of the house where her garden was.
After staying here for almost a week I didn't even bother exploring the house and I felt ashamed about it.
Because the garden was amazing. It was dark but it felt so fresh, there were even roses growing in a corner.
She smiled, "My father instructed that I planted some roses."
I nodded, "It's suiting."
We sat down near the fountain, the sound of the water making me feel calm.
"So you got married for your mother?"
"Yeah, the first marriage was horrible, the girl was crazy possessive of me and I hated it. It wasn't even because she loved me it was just because of the title that I'm her husband."
Rose cringed slightly and I squeezed her hand, it seemed like a sensitive topic.
"We agreed to divorce just a year after getting married but man it was torture. Then my mother got another girl and I was trying really hard to make it work.
It was terrible, we were both clearly not into each other and we were occupied with our own work. We couldn't even look at one another without feeling awkward.
We decided to divorce as well, but my mum was furious with my decision. Her condition was worsening and she said I wasn't helping if I keep divorcing the girls she picked out for me."
Rose leaned her head on my shoulder and rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand. I sighed, I loved it when she touched me in small ways.
"So I told her I will stick with the last girl she picked out for me. I promised her. I didn't try to make things work out though. She was cheating on me but I didn't even care.
I just stuck through with the arrangement until my mother was bedridden and she passed away. There wasn't a reason for me to stay with that girl anymore after that so I divorced her.
My father got really pissed at me. He kept saying I was an ungrateful brat and didn't appreciate my mother's efforts but he knew better. I wasn't happy."
I turned to Rose, her eyes were actually filled with tears and I panicked, "Hey you alright?"
I cupped her face in my hands and she sniffed, wiping her tears away, "I'm sorry I'm terrible at sad stories."
Gosh she's killing me slowly.
I leaned in and kissed her, she started crying, her tears falling, but she kissed me back.
My tongue ran over her lips and she parted them for me, she was so good.
She stopped abruptly and pulled away, leaning her forehead on mine, we were breathless and she tried to calm down. I helped wipe her tears away and she gazed into my eyes.
"Caden."
"Rose."
"Is it weird that I actually feel sad because I wasn't there for you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your mother passed away and you had three unhappy marriages but I wasn't there. I didn't even know you then and yet now I want to be there for you."
I smiled, "I thought I was the only one feeling that way, when you told me about your past I hoped I'd known you sooner so I could be there to protect you."
She ran her hand through my hair and I watched her, she was so beautiful.
"Then where did you get your nickname from?"
I raised an eyebrow, "What nickname?"
"Casanova."
Oh my God I felt my blood freeze. I was terrible with women even till now.
"Erm."
Fuck I felt cold sweat forming on my forehead, I was a mess and I kept going to clubs and now my pretty girl is here waiting to hear about it.
I took a deep breath, "After my last marriage I kept going to clubs, it was my way to cope. Ray kept sticking by me to make sure I didn't get into trouble. I went home with a few girls but I never did anything with them.
I will always pass out and Ray will have to chase the girl out of my house. I don't know, I will always somehow have their numbers on my phone and they will keep texting me. It's annoying but I kept going to those clubs anyway.
The loud music, the crowd, the drinks, it made me forget my mother's passing, my father's expectations, my work and my unhappy marriages."
She nodded, "But you did fuck your wives didn't you?"
Argh man, "Yes I did, well technically they were my wives at one point-"
"Okay okay I don't need the details," she put her hands up and moved away from me. "That shall be enough for today," she announced.
I chuckled and leaned close to her, "I'm not done yet though."
"What do you mean?"
I pulled away, "I mean yeah I'm just your best girl friend and all-"
She smacked my arm and I laughed.
"You really won't let it go, shoot, what do you want?"
I took my new phone and handed it to her, "I want your number, so I can have girly chats and gossip with you."
She laughed but typed her number in and pressed call. Her phone rang and showed me that she got my number.
"There settled," she stood up and pulled me up as well.
"We have about five hours before our departure time, let's just pack and catch up on sleep on the plane," she glanced at her watch and I gazed at her.
"Caden?"
I held her face and she froze, "I love you Rose, I won't expect you to say it back to me yet, but I mean what I said."
"About what?" She asked breathlessly.
"I'll be there to catch you when you fall for me," and I leaned in and kissed her sweet tender lips.
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