Invisible Crown

Chapter Sixty

The sound of buzzing blaring next to my ears, making me mentally want to shut it off. After a few minutes, it finally went away and I was drifting back to sleep when it went off again. The bed next to me stirred around, clearly being bothered by the sound too.

My eyes finally peeked open and mindlessly turned to reach the phone. Sparing a glance at the caller, I cursed under my breath before answering. "What the fuck Lily?" I scolded above whisper.

"Damn it, why does it take you so long to pick up my phone?" She grumbled.

"Because it's freaking six am on a Saturday morning." I hissed. "And why the hell are you still awake? Isn't it like three in the morning over there?"

I heard a deep sigh over the phone. "Alia, do you have any clue to why mom showed up on my door in the middle of the night?"

My brain took a moment to process anything she just said, until it hit me. "Oh shit." I blurted out loudly, momentarily scolding myself for being too loud. "Wait she's there already? I thought she wouldn't land until noon."

Carefully removing myself from the sheets, I made my way out to the terrace. "Oh so you knew, huh?" She said. "And you didn't bother to give me a heads up."

"Because I knew you'd freak out Lily, or you'd do anything to avoid seeing her." I sighed, leaning against the balcony. "It's been years since you guys' talked to each other, and I'm tired of stucking in the middle whenever something happens in the family."

"Goddamn it Al." I could see her annoyed face just by hearing her voice.

"So what happened? Did you guys...talk?" I nervously bit my lip, even though I knew Lily hasn't given up on our mother, but with her hot-headed temper, anything could have happened.

I heard she let out a loud breath. "We did, unfortunately." My insides were flooding with joy but I tried to held it in, staying in silence as a remind for her to explain further. She groaned. "I mean, what exactly do you expect? Slamming the door to the woman's face and left her standing there in the middle of the night?"

"Well, I've thought of that scenario, not gonna lie."

"I was surprised at seeing her, obviously. But at the same time, I wasn't. Because I knew sooner or later we'd have to sit down and talk about everything, it's just a matter who comes to who first. So that what we did, I let her explain everything and let her listen to all I have to say. About how she was a disappointment to me, how they tried to make our lives theirs, how he treated us and how the family fell apart right before their eyes without them even noticed." She said flatly, a bit nonchalant.

I hummed lowly in response, not really have anything to say because she was too right. "How did she take it?"

"Better than I expected. God knows how many pep talks she's given to herself before she decide to knock on my door." She let out a small laugh, which soon died out and silence filled in the atmosphere. "She said sorry. And she asked for my forgiveness after everything." Lily finally said.

"Did you? Forgive her?"

She took a moment before speaking up. "You did, didn't you?" Lily said instead. "I knew you would, you're too kind to people to say otherwise."

I lowered my gaze to my fidgeting hand. "It was a hard decision." I mumbled.

"It's okay, I'm glad you find it in yourself to do it. That took courage." She said, I could hear her smile. "I don't have it enough in me to say the word though, not yet." A ruffling sound came on her end. "I understand and know everything she suffered, but still, I think I'll need more time to be able to let go of everything. And she needs to try harder to prove herself too. Thus, she's still stay with him, anything can happen."