Scars To Your Beautiful : A Modern Beauty and the Beast retelling ✔

31. Emotional healing

★★★

The directions Reneé gave her led Callie to a very quaint house. Once she rang the door bell, a masculine voice roared from the other side. "I'm coming."

The door swept open and a brown eyed man stood at the other end. "Do I know you?"

The man was anything, but small. He stood like a mighty tree, his lofty height stood well over 6 and a half feet. His brown hair had wild streaks of grey tresses tousled to the mid of his forehead. She had a strong feeling he was Byron Phelps, Mrs. Esther's son and Reneé's fiancé that everyone always talked about. It was nice to finally meet him in person. He looked older than she expected—Mrs. Esther must have had him pretty young, but he was still a good looking man with curiosity shimmering in his eyes.

She fiddled with her thumb. "Hi, I'm Callie. I work with—"

Byron's wide eyes broadened. "Oh yeah, I know you. You're the one who saved my mom. Come in. I'm completely indebted to you."

Callie blushed. She didn't feel like she did much. She was just overflowing with fear and tried to do everything in her power to make sure Mrs. Esther didn't end up like her mom.

Byron led her through a narrow hallway that spilled into a well designed living room with Mrs. Esther sitting on a couch, wearing an absent look in her eyes. Nando sat on the floor, craning his head to the cartoon blaring on the T.V screen, clearly unconcerned about the things happening around him. "Guess who's here, mom?"

The glowing smile Mrs. Esther usually wore, lit up her face the moment she spotted Callie in the house. "Oh, sweetie. You came."

Callie couldn't resist smiling back. "Sorry, I took so long to visit. I should have seen how you were, but I'm not too fond of hospitals." The last time she had been to a hospital, was also the last time she saw her mother. It had been hard going to any, since then.

Mrs. Esther snorted. "Please. The last thing I needed was for anyone to see me looking like a crazy old lady in my blue hospital gown. I'm happy you came at this moment. Please sit down."

"Thank you, ma'am." Callie eased her weight on the soft lime couch. "So how's your health? I still don't know the details of what happened."

"Nothing happened. Everything is just blown out of proportion." She called lazily, her words dragging out. 

Byron seethed from his corner. An eyebrow arched. "Nothing happened? Onset dementia isn't nothing, mom." He turned his head to Callie. "When she collapsed in the kitchen, she had a damn heart attack too and she's making it seem like nothing. This is serious and I hate when she downplays important things like this."

Callie's eyes widened. A heart attack? Onset dementia? Now it made sense why Mrs. Esther had been forgetting things a lot lately. Callie had just assumed it was a general thing attached to old age, but having dementia was much scarier.

Mrs. Esther rolled her eyes. It didn't seem like she cared about the extent of her illness. "It's nothing. I'm fine. There's nothing special about it."

"It's not nothing." The stern tone in Callie's voice rose, sending chills even to herself when she spoke. "My mom died of a heart related problem. You shouldn't take it so lightly. You could have died. I actually thought you died."

Mrs. Esther puckered his brows into a frown of deep thoughts and Bryon's response was a swift grunt. After some moments, the older woman sobered up. "You're right. I should have taken it more seriously. I just hate thinking about the worst case scenario. It's scary how everything's happening so fast. Now, my memories are fading away and I'll turn to a senile old woman. I'm just trying to make light of the situation because the thought of having dementia is tearing me apart."

Her son's face fell. "Don't say that. Your meds are there to help you."

She squeezed his hands lovingly, with a hopeful smile on her lips. "You're a sweetheart, honey. Thank you." Byron returned her smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Something in the vulnerable way he looked at Mrs. Esther showed how worried he was about her.

The older woman's bright blue eyes glistened at Callie with warmth pooling around them. "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life. I'm so sorry you ended up losing your mother. When Byron's dad died, I was furious at myself for years for not being a perfect person for my late husband. But I learnt to eventually let it go. Some things are not easy to get over but someday, you eventually would. It's the cruel principle of life."

Callie's lips twitched into a grimace. "I did what anyone would have done. At least, I got to save one person in my life."

"You're a wonderful person. Never forget that." Mrs. Esther reached for the young girl's hands. A habit of hers to give comfort to those who needed it. Callie's eyes watered at her words. "So how's work, so far?"

"Larkin's relieved you're alive. Everyone's thrilled about your recovery. So, please get better." Callie chortled, holding back any form of sadness building within her.

With a firm nod of her head, Mrs. Esther requested with a lingering look in her blue eyes. "Just promise me one thing. I need you and Leona to take my place at work. You have to add more days to your schedule because I don't think I can ever come back to work." Callie stared at her, not finding the right words to say at her request. "Can you do it for me?"

Callie loved working at the Manor but she didn't think it'd be a frequent thing. It was really hard to refuse the words of this sweet old lady and the response she said next, startled even herself. "Yes, I will."

*****
I have been hearing a few complains from people about seeing glitches and repeated sentences on this book. If you're having this issue, please tell me so I can tell you the guidelines to avoid any more occurrence.
Xoxo
Jasmine