114 Finding Him; Finding Her (1/2)

Thus, two long and peaceful years had passed for them. In the process, they had forsaken their past identities and taken up new ones for themselves…

Summer Ambrosia was known for the beautiful angel that worked there, but the owner himself was no slouch either. Many a fair maiden had come to frequent the bakery in order to meet the other half of Summer Ambrosia.

He was now referred to as Aeschylus and she as Maia.

There was a strange, charming quality about the mysterious pair that left many customers perplexed and seemingly enthralled. It was as if they possessed an invisible halo, an unseen aura that made them unbelievably unique to the eye.

Like they were special in some kind of unexplainable way. Whatever it was, it made them stand out and by extension, their little business.

He naturally didn't dislike the attention he received from the young girls who'd come to frequent the bakery — he was a healthy young man, after all — but he knew that their feelings weren't genuinely real.

They aren't infatuated with me. It's what I sealed up that's caught their interest.

Reed let out a defeated sigh. He knew that the girls who'd come to fawn over him weren't looking at him for who he really was. They were being influenced by the slumbering power he'd sealed to become mortal again…

The same applied for Lu'um too, even though it probably played a part in her case. She possessed beauty and charm in spades, more than enough to attract people without the need of her slumbering powers. It annoyed Reed, but he couldn't deny that Lu'um was naturally enchanting like that.

Over the course of the last two years, he had come to terms with how he felt about her. It was an unexpressed emotion, borne from the myriad of experiences he had shared with her since they'd met years ago. She, too, had come to a similar conclusion based on what they'd been through…

Infinitely close, yet distant to the touch.

A single glance was enough for anyone to figure out the relationship between the two of them. How they gazed at one another. How they finished each other's sentences and thoughts. How they behaved around each other.

In many ways, they were endearing. That was why the Hartfords continued to frequent the bakery every day. The old couple saw themselves within them. It was like peering into a looking glass that reflected one's past back to them…

With nothing better to do, the old couple took it upon themselves to impart their hard-earned wisdom and meddled in their affairs, egging both of them to change their ways and adopt new habits.

They'd done what the could for the young couple and it had proven somewhat effective, from the look of it. The air around the pair had grown much more harmonious as of late, much to their pleasure.

Reed and Lu'um, on the other hand, had long since caught onto their little plot. Naturally, they were very appreciative of the well-meaning old couple, but they had some… reservations about the whole thing.

In the name of keeping up appearances, they had played along with the Hartfords' recommendation for the last two years. The last thing they wanted to do was make the old couple concerned about the nature of their relationship. They both understood that the Hartfords' only wanted the best for them, after all…

And it wasn't as if Reed disliked the Hartfords' aggressive approach. If anything, he'd eventually come to enjoy it. A part of him even found it frightening how well their plan had worked in the end.

He'd grown so much closer to her than he could have ever possibly imagined two years ago. They'd spent their days speaking, listening, and learning about one another. It was then that they had finally seen each other for who they really were, no longer bound by their previous biases…

Suffice to say, everything that he had once thought her had been wrong. Completely wrong. Reed learned a lot that day about her and who she really was beneath the composed facade she always maintained.

Reed had once thought of her as an infallible figure who had an unshakable resolution about everything she did. That she'd never bend to anything or anyone; she was a no-nonsense type of person. A true-to-life empress in the making that possessed overwhelming power at her fingertips…

He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried.

It was the complete opposite. Of course, she had moments of indecision. It went without saying that she also had her own worries and fears, too. She had revealed everything that she'd done in order to cultivate the outward facade that Reed had mistakenly assumed to be who she was on the inside.

She much, much cuter than Reed could have ever imagined. It was astonishing how different she really was compared to the projection that he had forced upon her.