The Beauty Underneath

Chapter Fourteen: The Housekeeper's Story

“Who is this woman?”

“I don’t know. Rachel never gave me some details. I just know it was a woman. Anyway, after a month, the money was gone and the woman came back to have her money back. Rachel told her she doesn’t have any yet, but she promised she would pay back. The woman got angry and cursed her child to be ugly. She didn’t know whether to believe this woman or not. She thought magic and all those nonsense aren’t real. But when she gave birth to Winston, she… she realized the woman was saying the truth.”

I frowned, not getting the story at all. “I-I don’t get it,” I stammered. “Winston’s cursed? Like all those bad people in fairy tales, books and movies?”

Josephine sighed. “I don’t know too, but that’s what Rachel told me. The only person who could break his curse if somebody would love him for who he is and then kiss him.”

“Excuse me?”

“The curse would break if somebody would kiss him.”

“This is getting weird,” I decided and stood up from my seat. I handed her Rachel’s photograph back. “This was a mistake. I think I should just go back to my room.”

Josephine stood up from her seat too. She didn’t take her photo and gave me a cold look. “You might think I’m talking nonsense, Erin. I also thought Rachel had gone crazy when she told me this story. But I believed her, because she’s my friend. If you have seen Winston’s face, then you would know no illness could cause that! You would know that he’s cursed, not sick!”

“But he won’t let me see his face! How am I supposed to believe this?” I demanded.

“Then you should just trust me,” she said, narrowing her eyes. She then sat down on her seat once again. “Sit down if you want to know more. But if you truly don’t want to know what happened next, then leave.”

Reluctantly, I sat down on my seat again.

“For weeks, Winston thought that you are going to be the one who will uplift his curse,” Josephine continued. “I can’t blame him. I thought you’re going to be the one too, because you’re the only person who knows him. That’s why he kissed you, because he thought his curse would be gone.”

“But it didn’t,” I deadpanned.

She nodded. “It means you’re not the one.”

“I’m not?” I can’t help but feel disappointed, like I have failed Winston.

“No,” she agreed. “Anyway, Rachel died when Winston was ten years old. Mrs. Andrews was devastated, naturally. But she didn’t want anything to do with her grandson who is sickeningly angry. She planned to bring him to an orphanage but Rachel found out about that when she was in the hospital. She immediately told me that if she dies, I have to take Winston to her special room in the house and keep him there forever. I agreed to her plan, even though I knew it was absurd. While suffering in her cancer, Rachel sewed the mask Winston is wearing right now. It was her final gift for him. She died, and then Mrs. Andrews sold the house, forgetting about her grandson.”

“She’s a cold-hearted woman,” I muttered.

Josephine nodded. “True. That’s when I started to take care of Winston inside Rachel’s secret room. When Mrs. Andrews sold the house, a lot of people wanted to buy it. But they were driven away by Winston’s voice to leave. They thought the house was haunted.”

“Wow.”

“So I guess that’s the whole story,” Josephine said and exhaled deeply. “Thank goodness I let that out. I never told anyone about that story. Winston knows about his history, his mother have told him. But I never got the chance to tell a living person about this big secret that I’m keeping.”