SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Intricacies of the Universe
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Intricacies of the Universe
TO PREVENT questions from the media regarding the whereabouts of Hyacinth, Max used Hyacinth’s medical history as an excuse to tell the press that his wife is undergoing physiotherapy on the Oriental Continent. The Orientals are known for replenishing their body’s lost energies through patience and meditations and shit like that, so Max found it as a cannon-fodder for the press.
Obviously, the media people won’t bother finding Hyacinth to the Orient Seas just to verify his story because it is known worldwide that the wife of the multi-billionaire Bismarck was in a coma and lost some of her motor functions. That had been partially true. Hyacinth forgot how to tie her shoelaces and required most of his help sometimes.
Because of that, Max was also forced to visit the Oriental Continents every month for publicity. He doesn’t want another rumor to arise for his lack of concern for his wife when the media people dubbed their marriage as the “modern fairytale”, for Hyacinth Sinclair, a former janitress, married a powerful billionaire.
If only they knew that Hyacinth was never meant to happen in his life. If only they knew that the fairytale happened because Max was desperate to not let her daughter disappear into non-existence.
If only they knew how shamelessly he begged Hyacinth to alter their threads...to permanently link their fates.
The fairytale story--as the media called it--wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. It included life-altering decisions, mysteries that are unexplainable and unseen to the naked eye, firm resolve to every choice they make, hope for the betterment of every outcome...even despair for the consequences of their actions.
Even though a few months have already passed since Hyacinth and Erin left, Max couldn’t fill the hollowness that the two left in his heart. If what he’s feeling right now is not despair, then he doesn’t know what is.
At least, his longing was somewhat remedied by the baby Erin in his arms. At least he knew that a part of Hyacinth is with him...that Erin will be safe because of Hyacinth’s sacrifice.
It just occurred to him that Hyacinth never left without a reason, after all. She needed to guide her daughter to the most crucial part of discovering their abilities. She never left her daughter’s side. She never turned her back on her responsibilities.
The love inside his heart blossomed and expanded inside his chest. It is a feeling of hopefulness that no matter what happens, Hyacinth will do everything just to go back into his arms; to finally fulfill her promise of a kiss when she had whispered her goodbyes that cloudy afternoon of Erin’s 2nd birthday.
The baby cooed and kissed his cheek. “Da-da!”
His eyes widened. “You just called me Da-da!”
Oh, his body was filled with warmth that continuously glowed inside of him as the baby with brilliant blue eyes giggled at his reaction. “Da-da!”
The old man sitting beside him chuckled at Erin’s blabbering. “They grow up so fast, don’t they?” the stranger had asked with its ghastly voice that almost sounded like he has pneumonia or tuberculosis or something.
“Yes, they do.” His eyes moistened, anyway, still caught off-guard by Erin’s first word. “And they sometimes change our fate into something extraordinary.”
The old man chuckled and coughed at the same time. Max was momentarily worried about the lung condition of the stranger beside him. “Your red string glows like fire. You’ll have a passionate life ahead of you. Full of love and fulfillment.”
His brows clashed. The red string of fate?
Strings? Does he mean ‘threads’ of fate?
“You idiotic man.” The guy beside him began to talk to interrupt his thinking. “You think I don’t know about threads? That daughter of yours is a time traveler.”
Max faced the old man. “You mean there’s more of your kind? Like my wife?”
The old man sighed. “Oh, yes.” He sighed wistfully. “I’m your grandson. Mama has sent me here to have my final wish.”
Good god. His daughter had had a son!
“Where is Erin? Is she here?”
The old man shook his head. “She mastered her ability, Sir. She sent me here to fulfill my wish on seeing you one last time before I depart.”
Max regarded his grandson with a quizzical glare. “How old are you?”
“I’m ninety-five years old, Sir.”
What the fuck?
“I’m her firstborn, Sir. I can see the red string that is attached to a person’s back, but, the thing is, it connects all the way to their soulmate’s thread—like the string telephone!” his wrinkled face glowed. “Grammy and Mama could see them as plain white but I can see it as red, Sir. And if I’m lucky enough to see soulmates in the same place, then I can see their strings as a single line with each end on their backs. The red string also extends for meters and meters and it doesn’t snap because its purpose is to hold souls together—to make sure that soulmates will always find each other. I can’t read them, though, even if I touch them.” The man released another cough that almost sounded like a powerful explosion. A lot of prying eyes looked in their direction and Max heard murmuring.
“It turns out that a thread reader can produce a string of firstborns with peculiar abilities regarding the threads of fate. My firstborn can read thoughts through the threads, Sir. A beneficial ability for the family empire, by the way.”
The old man took the baby Erin and cradled the baby in his arms. Max was still puzzled by everything that his grandson relayed.
“At least I had a fun childhood. I teased my friends or schoolmates if I see their threads attached to a stranger, or to someone they hated. It is fun to play cupid once in a while.”
The old man cradled the baby Erin in his arms and lulled a song. “Mama, thank you for letting me see Grandpop one last time.”
The baby giggled and squished the wrinkled skin of the old man. “Ba-ba!”
“Oh, good job, Mama. I’m your baby boy.”
Maximillian has a lot of questions about the future, but he kept his mouth zipped. He promised his wife that he’ll never alter the threads anymore. He’ll wake up every day with the freedom to choose and let fate run its course. If it means meeting his grandson from the future, then he’ll gladly take the opportunity without interfering with anything that is bound to happen.
The old man smiled at him with a smile that resembled Hyacinth’s. “Grammy said that you should open her box inside the cabinet and that she admires you for being patient when you’re the exact opposite as soon as she returned after a decade.”
Max exhaled, relieving the doubts inside his chest. His eyes stung and produced unwelcome tears.
She’ll return. That thought brought a new wave of strength to his spirits.
“Our bloodline is a rare occurrence in this world, Sir. A product of the slight chaos in the intricacies of the universe. There are several dimensions, Sir, where our kind could access and we could either tamper with it, see it, alter it, or nothing. The dimensions of the universe are where the past, present, and future exist simultaneously and the possibilities or outcomes are endless. The fifth dimension is where thoughts, dreams, nightmares, lost souls, and hopes exist. It is why sometimes a dead man’s soul gets in contact with a living person through a dream. It is why dreams sometimes predict likely occurrences in the future. It is why there are fortune-tellers. Some souls are deeply connected to the fifth dimension, some are connected to a dimension higher than that. The Sinclairs, Sir, could somehow connect to those higher dimensions.”
Max nodded, taking note of every piece of information. It may seem like a word vomit from a stranger but Max clearly understood the eccentricities of his family and how odd they could sound when they’re discussing their knowledge about their abilities. Max experienced it firsthand when Hyacinth casually declared that a strange kid that looked exactly like him is his daughter from the future.
For the Sinclairs, the discussion about their abilities is like general knowledge among them. Considering that Max is the “grandpop” of this much older guy, he figured out that the man could’ve simply discussed the matter with him because he’s family.
The old man continued. “Those dimensions exist, Sir. It is just that our science didn’t grasp the truth of it that most people are still oblivious of the truth that is already inside of us... a part of each one of us.” The old man chuckled. “It just happened that our bloodline can somewhat transcend that multi-dimensional space and reach those dimensions.”
That explains everything, then. Hyacinth’s abilities. Erin’s abilities. Even his future grandson’s sudden appearance in his present.
If these dimensions are true, then the Sinclairs would be the end of this world...or its salvation.
The thought scared him.
“But I thought only first-born females can inherit this peculiar ability?”
The old man shrugged. “Who knows? The dimensions don’t prefer genders. It only gives access to every firstborn of the bloodline. Maybe because we are the first to connect our threads with our parents. It’s really complicated, Sir, but it doesn’t matter if you ignore it.”
The old man started coughing. The flight attendant, who happened to be passing by, asked if the man is fine or if he was having trouble breathing.
Max gently took the baby Erin from his grandson and he has this instinct to do anything just to stop his coughing.
“But I do know that each firstborn accessed the dimension differently. Maybe there’s someone in the future who altered the course of genealogy and only allowed firstborns to access the dimension. We don’t know. Maybe someone in the future altered something and only allowed Grammy’s family to access this gift. Maybe the Sinclairs harnessed this ability to save mankind a million years ago. Maybe, it allowed mankind to survive. One thing that our reality here has in common with the dimensions is that uncertainties and certainties both exist and that choices can lead to outcomes, like toppling a line of dominoes by pushing a small piece.”
The old guy’s breathing weakened and his eyes closed in a peaceful sleep. Max has this immediate concern for the man so he checked his pulse by putting his index finger on the wrinkled, pulsating skin on the side of his throat. Max heaved a sigh of relief when his finger felt a throb of a pulse from the man.
“Did I distract you from missing Grammy?”
Max chuckled and shook his head at his grandson. “No. Your Grammy will always torment me even if she’s far away.”
The guy’s wrinkled face went pale and Max straightened his spine to watch over his grandson’s breathing. The man sounded like he’s gonna run out of breath anytime soon.
“Grandpop, it hurts right now when Grammy’s not around but you’ll have to be patient,” the old man whispered with his eyes close.
Maximillian’s heart ached inside his ribs. It is like someone finally recognized his yearning. For the past few months, Max had been hiding every emotion just to not give the media something to speculate about.
“But I have to admit...” The old man chuckled and coughed like he was about to faint and that agitated the other passengers on the plane. “Your impatience and persistence are the main reason why you’ve found such great love.” And then, the old man sighed. “I’ve never seen a string so red like yours that it almost feels like it’s gonna burn or scald something. It’s such a fiery love. The truest red string I ever saw. The string connects to another dimension, the afterlife as they call it, which meant that your and Grammy’s souls are connected and will always find one another after you reincarnate. Which also means that you and grammy were and always had been destined to be together ever since your souls existed.”
Max didn’t quite understand some of the things that his grandson was talking about, but he decided only to listen.
He’ll not be curious about the future anymore. He’ll let it come into his life and wait for it to unfold as it comes.
Max will be patient from now on. So, he regarded his grandson with a smile, casually ignoring his rising curiosity about the dimensions. “Where are you staying after this? After you visit here, I mean.”
The old man lifted a hand. “Don’t worry, Grandpop. You won’t see me after this encounter. You know, Mama never lets her kids stay in the past for so long as she did before, afraid of—”
“Afraid of altering the threads.” Max smiled. “Well, then, it’s nice to meet you.” He offered his hand for a brief handshake and the old man accepted it with a smile while its eyes are still closed as if monitoring his own breathing.
After the plane landed and the passengers are one by one walking in line towards the exit of the aircraft, Max was busy cradling his daughter in his arms. As soon as he lifted his head to ask if his grandson from the future will be staying in the Oriental Continent with him, he realized that the seat next to him is empty.
Max looked around to find his grandson but it seems like the old man disappeared while Max was busy with his daughter.
“Sweetie, you did a great job being a mother to a wise man.” Max nuzzled the tip of his nose to the baby’s forehead. “And he smiles just like your Mom, hmm?”
The baby smiled in her sleep.