Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

If Jeslyn had done the same thing he did with Vera, the guy would have long forgotten he once lived on earth.

"I want a Piggyback, my legs are aching." Jeslyn only wanted to test him. She thought he would rather carry her bridal style than lower himself in front of her. Much to her amazement, he stopped walking and went down for her to get on his back.

This was too realistically unrealistic! She couldn’t believe that Maverick of all people would be this lovely towards his woman. Jeslyn was happy, so happy that her joy rubbed on Maverick and he set aside his worries for a while.

"Sugar plum, I’d be extremely happy to have our baby but not right now," she kissed his head.

Maverick was dazed for a moment. Not because of what she said but because of what she called him– sugar plum. Little Rossa used to call him that because he gave her lots of sugar plums back then on the island.

Vera also called him that on that first night. Although he was heavily drugged and wasn’t in his right senses, he knew he slept with a young lady. She was desperate, just like him and she called him Sugar plum several times throughout their ordeal.

However, when morning came, Vera was beside him, naked. He asked her to call him the name again but Vera couldn’t. She said she didn’t remember calling him that.

"Sugar plum?" He asked.

"Ah, that... I’ll call you that from now on." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Why?"

"Why not? They are sweet, and so are you."

Maverick smiled. Rossa did say that too. ’Why not? They are sweet, and so are you.’

"You are too... candy floss."

Jeslyn laughed out loud after hearing that. "Really? Can Mr. Maverick say such things too? You’ll be laughed at if you call me pet names in front of your friends."

"You like it?"

"Of course, they are sweet too... It means I’m sweet, right?"

"More."

"Hahaha... You can’t go back on your words in the future."

"Mn"

The two continued to make the atmosphere around them cozy until they got to the shore.

...

Lying under the shade as they watched the wave of the sea sweep back and font, Jeslyn’s mind drifted off and faint images flickered a few times in front of her eyes before they stopped.

The images appeared like when one was quickly sliding through their gallery while searching for a particular picture.

Like the memory her mind was searching for had been found, blurry images of a boy and girl holding hands appeared in front of her.

The two children were walking by the bank of the sea on an island. Jeslyn remembered that island to be the same island that disappeared.

"Sugar plum, we need to return, my mommy will soon be back. She’ll be mad if she doesn’t meet me on my bed." The girl said.

Although she couldn’t see the girl clearly, Jeslyn could tell that was her.

"There’s still thirty minutes before your mom gets back. Let’s play a little."

"Hmmm... ok, for only ten minutes." She raised ten tiny little fingers.

"That’s fine," the boy answered and they started walking again.

Before Jeslyn could fully understand what she was seeing, the boy spoke;

"Rossa"

"Mn?"

The little girl answered and the boy pointed at Jeslyn’s direction.

Little Rossa looked in Jeslyn’s direction. However, at the next moment, Rossa started to fade away.

"No!"

"No!"

Both Jeslyn and the little boy screamed at once with their hands stretched out.

"No!"

Jeslyn jerked up from Maverick’s lap and looked around. Only Maverick was beside her.

"A nightmare?" She heard him ask.

She slowly nodded when she also just realized it was a nightmare. She smuggled into Maverick and hugged him tightly.

She was scared. She didn’t like the idea of the fading child. Even though she couldn’t see them clearly, she was sure the little boy was as hurt as she was.

"Maverick, you said there was only one girl child on the island, right?"

It took Maverick a few seconds to understand what she meant. "Mn,"

"Was that girl me?" She asked in all seriousness. This was way beyond coincidence and she wasn’t going to believe it was a coincidence anymore.

"Mn," Maverick answered while brushing her long hair with his fingers.

"Wh– what name did I call you?"

"Sugar plum."

Jeslyn’s head went from silence to buzzing. How was that possible?! How could she forget such things?! What is going on?!

"I – I don’t understand."

"You are my Rossa," he declared. Seeing confusion written all over her face, he wrapped her in an embrace and kissed the middle of her head. "Something must have happened to make you get selective memory loss. It happens, don’t be scared."

Jeslyn nodded then shook her head. "I’m convinced this is deliberate."

"Why?"

"Because... because I only seem to have forgotten all the important event in my life. I don’t remember meeting you on the island, I don’t remember what happened on my birthday and the two years after it. I don’t know anything. I feel there’s an important thing I’m missing in the space of those two years."

Maverick remembered what Pink told him and asked; "have you ever seen weird dreams and hallucinations that looked real?"

Jeslyn nodded; "my eighteenth birthday."

"What happened?" He asked with interest.

"I saw myself attending my eighteenth birthday with my friends from school. They forced me to drink and then took me to a room where a waitress brought me hangover soup. Before I could take it, I saw two men barge in and took us away." She stopped talking because the other part was uncomfortable to tell.

"Go on, it’s just a dream." He premed her hair, egging her on.

Jeslyn gained confidence from his words; ’it’s just a dream’ and continued.

"The room I followed them to was dark and when the eighteen-year-old me was thrown to the bed, someone else seemed to be there and the person was a strong man. He groaned like a beast when the eighteen-year-old me touched him and he pinned... he pinned her to the bed and...ahem..." Jeslyn immediately turned to look at his face and saw him frowning. She hurriedly waved her hands and shook her head.

"Maverick, that wasn’t me, it wasn’t... I was only dreaming... Please believe me..." Jeslyn was scared that he would start seeing her in a different light and she didn’t want that.

"I believe you." Maverick turned her around and mad her sit in between his legs before he hugged her from behind. "Do you remember anything else?"

"Nothing I’m sure... she called the man sugar plum and he called her Candy floss." Jeslyn frowned.