" What did you say ?...", Lather asks unsure that he had heard right.
" How much more times do I have to spell it out for you..... I. Don't. Want. To. Reincarnate.", Jacob said in voice that sounded final.
" Then, what do you want ?...", Lather said while clenching his hands in anger.
' Patience. Patience. Patience', Lather reminded himself.
Hearing his question, the mortal thinks for a minute and said,
" Let me go back to Earth."
" That isn't possible.... you can't reincarnate into the same world more than once.", Lather said, his anger rising every passing second.
But along with that anger, curiosity followed behind as well.
What was this mortal's past ?
The mortal seemed to want to return to his dimension.... does he have some sort of attachment left there ?
The mortal started to speak again, but Lather felt that they would just be going in circles if he didn't know why the mortal was refusing to reincarnate so passionately.
Lather flicks the mortal's mind and the view changes for the both of them.
~~~~
Jacob looks at the familiar room,
" Why are we here ?", he asks Lather who stood beside him watching the boy who was sobbing quietly on the bed.
The boy had brown hair and black eyes from which fat tears were falling down. The voices of two people arguing could be heard from outside the room.
" We're inside your memories...… I want to know the reason for your refusal."
Hearing Lather's reasoning, Jacob shows no visible reaction and stares blankly at the crying boy.
" So, what's happening here ?", Lather asks curiously.
Jacob doesn't speak for a minute, but starts talking feeling Lather's glare on him.
" My father..... he was a little unstable. He used to hit mom a lot and I could do nothing else but watch untill it was too late..."
' That's pretty cliché', Lather thinks while hearing Jacob out.
" So, he killed your mother then ?", Lather asks wanting to speed things up.
Jacob shakes his head and said,
" She ran away leaving me all alone..... but I don't blame her for that."
'Children get abandoned every day, get over it.', Lather thinks impatiently.
The scene changes once again and now the duo were in a classroom filled with students . The boy looked older now... about sixteen or fifteen. He sat near the window seat, blankly looking at the blue sky.
Lather could see the bruises on his body, even though the boy did try his best to cover them up.
'So, he was abused as well.', Lather thinks while pitying the young boy. Before ascending to godhood, Lather had abusive parents as well... so he could empathize with this young boy.
All the chatter in the classroom dies down as the teacher enters the classroom with a file in her hand. She greets the student and said in monotonous voice,
" We have a new transfer this semester, please treat her well."
After saying this, she gives some kind of signal and a girl that seemed about the young boy's age entered the classroom.
She had brown hair similar to the boy, but her eyes were of a hazel hue. The boy doesn't even turn around to look at the girl and continues staring at the sky with that blank expression on his face.
" Introduce yourself.", the teacher requests the girl.
Now, the boy turns around and sees her for the first time.
Rays of sunlight cover her face, but the brightness of the rays of light paled in comparison to the smile on her face.
" My name is Katrina Lock, nice to meet you all !"
The boy's eyes widen at seeing the girl.
" Beautiful.."
The entire class looks at the boy.
Realizing that he had unintentionally said his thoughts out loud, the boy blushes and puts his head down on the table, to get away from his classmates gazes. Laughter soon follows his proclamation.
Katrina blushes as well.
After the commotion dies down, the boy sitting beside him gives him a pat on the shoulder and said,
" Better luck next time, pal. haven't you heard of the 'Lock Enterprises', she's the chairman's only daughter... she's way out of our league."
The boy keeps his eyes fixed on Katrina and said,
" Is that so ?..."
~~~~
The boy and Katrina were in rooftop of their school.
The boy was lying down on her lap while Katrina gently stroked his hair, the duo was talking about random things.
They looked a little older as well.
Seeing how close they were, it was obvious that they were in a relationship.
Lather felt sick while watching their love blossom, during his lifetime he was too focused on getting stronger, so he had no experience in that particular area. By the time he ascended it was way too late.
The fact that he was a 1000+ year old virgin was a secret he would take to his grave.
Still watching the young duo fall in love slowly was kind of heartwarming. Lather had forgotten about his previous impatience and was immersed in this stupid mortal's life.
" When did it go wrong ?", Lather asks Jacob.
Even though Lather hadn't seen the mortal's memories, he did see the sins committed by him. It included grave sins like mass murder, poisoning and some others as well.
So, Lather knew that the happiness that he was seeing right now was only temporary. Something was going to go wrong. It always did.
" Soon.", Jacob answers back to Lather's question.
Lather focuses on the duo's conversation.
" Say, what about if we went to your house after school today.", Katrina asks with a little hesitation in her voice.
As soon as the boy hears her words, a frown forms on his face.
Seeing his frown, Katrina said,
" I know you said that the situation at your home wasn't that good but I've never even been to the place... and you've met my folks as well...."
Seeing that frown on his face wasn't going away, Katrina sighed and said,
" Sorry....", a small pout forms on her face showing that she was a little angry.
The boy lets out a little chuckle and pinches her cheeks,
" Oww, what was that for ?!"
The boy appeared to think for a moment and finally said,
" Alright... I'll take you to my home."
Hearing him, Katrina becomes excited and jumps up, throwing the boy out of her lap.
Seeing the boy massaging his head with a frown on his face, Katrina lets out a little chuckle and said,
" Sorry."
Lather smiles at their exchange and turns towards Jacob to say something but stops when he sees the expression on the mortal's face. It was one laden with regret...
'Guess this is where things started going wrong, huh ?', Lather thinks.
He continues to watch the bickering duo with a slightly heavy heart.
~~~~