Chapter 46 How We Met
Trisha turned to the picture and subtly wiped off her tears. "He is… was… Joseph\'s brother- Jacob. He told me multiple times that it was because of his younger brother that he chose to study psychiatry."
"Is that so?" Xavier asked. "Do you know when he had passed away?"
Trisha knitted her brows. "If I am not wrong, it was a little over five years ago, a couple of months before we married."
Xavier and Eulene shared a glance again. Five years. Five years. Five years. Everything pointed at the same time. Did Joseph kill his own brother? Or was his death that led to the psychiatrist\'s psychosis?
Trisha turned back to Xavier. The fires of home reignited in her emerald eyes. "So, can you help me?"
Xavier let out a couple of coughs and brought back his professional face. "If it was any other case, I would have suggested you to sit down together and have a heart to heart talk. But considering you have already conversed about the issue before and that led to a fight, and the fact that Joseph is a \'friend\' of mine, I will have a conversation with him."
Trisha widened her eyes in gratitude. "Will you?" She bowed. "I appreciate it very much."
Xavier nodded. Finally! The play was over.
[Don\'t tell me you were actually a marriage counsellor] Eulene\'s half-curious-half-mocking tone reached his ears.
Xavier looked straight into Eulene\'s jet-black eyes and transmitted, [I was also an \'Idiocy Counsellor\'. And I am very eager to give you a free session]
"Oh!" Trisha grabbed the duo\'s attention. "I have been only talking about myself. Tell me about you two. How did you meet? How long have you been together? If you aren\'t married already, when are you planning to tie the knot?" Her stream of questions rendered the two speechless.
[You are the one who got us into this] Xavier said. [Now, it\'s your job to get us out]
Eulene turned to Trisha. An innocent smile crept up on her face, as if she were a teenage girl who was blind in love.
Xavier instantly began to regret his decision.
Eulene looked up with reminiscing eyes. "It was a night of full moon," she began- the smile yet to leave her place, "the strings of fate pulled me to a desolate place devoid of anything alive. I thought I was alone, as I went through a test not designed for normal human beings." Eulene remembered that terrifying physics questions and her smile wavered. But she composed herself and went on.
She turned to Xavier. "But as fate would have it, I was not alone that night. I could not see anyone, nor could I feel any presence. But our hands- they met."
Trisha, who was in a daze, gasped.
Xavier, on the other hand, was speechless- surprised by Eulene\'s way with words. Everything she said was the truth, but anyone who were not present that day would be imagining… things.
Eulene continued. "Our eyes met. I knew, then and there, that he was the one I lacked- the one I have been searching for my life- someone worthy."
Trisha teetered her gaze between the excited Eulene and the embarrassed Xavier, who was tilting his hat further down to hide his face.
Trisha gulped. Just the imaginary scenes of their romantic tale made her heart flutter. It felt straight out of a romance novel.
"Then what?" she asked.
"Then what?" Eulene\'s face glowed as the smile on her face beamed brighter. "And then we danced."
"Danced?" Trisha\'s eyes almost popped out from her sockets.
"Yes," Eulene affirmed. "We danced like there was no tomorrow- not caring of our lives. Sometimes he took the lead, and sometimes I. It was bloody to say the least. However, it was the best dance I ever had in life. But alas," she sighed, "the stage was too small- too weak to hold the both of us. It cut the dance short."
Trisha gulped yet again. Even romance novels failed. Her thoughts ran wild. "And then?"
Eulene shrugged. "After it was over, he took me to a nice place and treated me some lambs."
Trisha stayed silent. It was too much to process.
And she was not the only one in this condition. Xavier was not an exception. Never had he ever imagined that Eulene would twist the story as such. But he praised her inwardly. After all, he had been an author once.
And the love he felt from her eyes was real. He knew that it was the love she had for battles. He had witnessed it with his own eyes more than once.
Trisha finally took in a deep breath and composed herself. "I really envy you. They say we are the couple of the town, but it\'s only because nobody knows of you."
After a couple of minutes of chattering, Xavier said, "we should leave now."
"Now?" Trisha knitted her brows. "I have yet to even present a cup of tea. Pardon me as the maids are on leave."
"Matters little," Xavier said. "Witnessing your beauty is more than enough."
"Oh my!" Trisha laughed. "You better watch your smooth mouth before your partner."
Sure enough, Eulene transmitted a snort to his mind. [If you are done, shall we finish the job?]
Xavier\'s lips slightly curved to a smile as he looked right into Trisha\'s emerald eyes. He jolted his hand and a deck of cards appeared out of nowhere in it. "Would you mind if I end our meeting with a small show of magic?"
Trisha gasped in surprise. "You are a physician, researcher, marriage counsellor, and now a magician too?"
Xavier got off from his sofa and knelt on one knee just in front of Trisha, showing her the cards. "Calling me a magician would be an exaggeration for such slight tricks." Xavier shuffled the cards with breakneck speed and compelling tricks, grabbing all of Trisha\'s attention. "Just calling me a \'showman\' would suffice."
While all of Trisha\'s attention was on the cards, Xavier used lumomancy to further hide Eulene from Trisha\'s focus.
[Now.] He transmitted.
Eulene put her palms together and closed her eyes before beginning to chant something.
Soon, her third eye opened.