Sonata of The Shattered | Book I

Family Discussion

25 July 2022

The death of Melissa brought sadness into the house of Kingsley as they became family for sixteen years already. Almost seventeen. Not even one of them received the news of her cancer but Claudius. For years, the arrangement between Clayton and Melissa became a secret that nobody knows in the family but Claudius, again. The man knew almost everything that happened in his life because Claudius was the eldest and the wisest amongst all.

"Clayton, so what are you going to do next? Do you plan to go back to the US?" asked David as he continued his meal alongside his wife. "I heard that you actually move here because of her work but now, since we know what happened to her, are you staying or leaving?""

Clayton nodded and sighed. "I actually have a confession regarding Melissa and me. The past sixteen years, we both have been in love with someone else prior to our marriage. So we never loved each other, but we supported each other in finding our own happiness. Melissa and his lover stayed together until the rest of her life, far before our marriage. And I..." he paused for a few seconds. "I've always been in love with Fransesca, as you know. I'm all alone all through those years of marriage. Melissa and I only put an act in front of you so you, ma, wouldn't be disappointed over the matchmaking process that you did in the past. We're forced to marry each other and I'm grateful to have her as a best friend instead of a wife."

The sudden confession that Clayton made shocked his parents; both David and Gertrude. She put down her cutleries and stopped herself from continuing her meal. "You are such a disappointing liar, Clayton. I've never thought Melissa would do the same to me. You both are traitors and disgraces to this family!" she cried as she looked at him in disbelief.

Clayton sighed. "I'm old enough to decide and choose what's the best for myself and what's not. I simply have the right to make my own decision, with or without your permission. I'm past half a century old, so I don't think I should do every single thing that you wanted me to do, ma."

"Clayton!" Gertrude looked at him in anger.

Meanwhile, David only nodded his head as he knew that things won't ever be okay between the two. He knew that from the start, both parties weren't in love with each other. They're just mainly friends and he could see it crystal clear that nothing between them for the past sixteen years indicate any kind of feelings more than a friendship.

David knew how much Gertrude put their second son in a hard position, as Claudius's wife in the past passed away from a car accident and decided not to remarry. Instead, he adopted a child who turns out to be Claudius's past girlfriend's son, prior to his marriage. Not his son, just a mere son of his ex, as they were on good terms. The youngest, Henry—whom David had with another woman due to an infidelity, and which Gertrude also took care of, decided not to get close to the old woman. Henry expressed his fear of becoming just like Clayton several times to his dad so he decided to stay with her biological mother instead.

"Fransesca had a daughter and she's also my daughter. She hid the fact that she's pregnant when I left the country and gave birth to our daughter by herself, with no one's help. Her family kicked her out because she wanted to protect me from her father. She works all day and night to provide our daughter with what she needs. I'm not going anywhere and I'm staying here because in my whole life, I never got to hold her after her birth. I never got to see her babbling or learning to walk. I never got to be there when they both needed me the most."

The second sudden surprise and blow made the woman speechless. Never once she thought that Clayton would be in touch with that woman she hates the most again. "So? After all these times, she decided to find you and to be with you? Don't you remember how hard you've been to yourself because of that ungrateful bitch?"