Mirage | 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣

Chapter 22

Michael has been quiet for a while now, playing with his fingers as I ended the call with Mrs. King. He was sitting in the couch like a little child. The way he was biting his lip nervously made me smile.

"What did you say her name was?", he asked me, once again. I saw his puffy eyes and I could only guess mine were looking the same.

"Esther King", I replied, taking out what Bill has found and given me to find her here. "She has a daughter, she's around six or seven years younger than you..."

Michael froze, looking at the papers and then at me. "That means...?"

"I haven't touched that topic with her, but Mr. Whitfield assumed she was also your father's daughter", I nodded, sighing and watching how hard it was for Michael to digest all of this. "Her name is Janet... she's one of a kind", I smiled, remembering her.

"So, you told me Bill told you all of this the night I had been admitted to the hospital, the same time Jonathan died and in his will he had admitted that my mother wasn't dead, but that he sent her to exile, faking her death—", he stopped talking, his head aching as much as his heart did. "I don't understand it"

I softly put a hand on his shoulder, trying to give him moral support. "I think that the only one that can give you the answers you need, is your mother"

He had a look on his face that left me heartbroken. "But why did she left without me?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what was going on at that time, so I couldn't truly say anything about it. "Sometimes, life is just... you know, Michael... hard to understand", I said, hugging myself and looking somewhere else. "I lost my parents and my best friend, the man I was going to marry", I said, but didn't want to make him uncomfortable. 

However, Michael didn't seem to be upset or uncomfortable as I thought he'd be.

"You're right", he said and then sighed, patting the couch, inviting me to seat next to him. 

As I sat on the soft red couch, Michael hugged me by the shoulder and made my head lean on him. This felt extremely comforting as I felt his warmth. I had missed him. Even though he was controlling and scary to others, to me, he had always been someone I could relate to. Someone that had lost everything, yet, fought to live one more day.

"Even if I can't show my feelings all at once, you don't have to hide yours", Michael said and the softness in his voice made me realize that he cared about me. It made me feel fuzzy inside, reminding me of how I had felt before, when someone you're really attracted to or someone you really care about is letting you in. He softly kissed my head and then sighed. "What happened before has nothing to do with you... or me, even... it's just that I think I need some closure"

I smiled and looked up to him, proud. "Everyone needs some closure", I nodded.

"I'm happy that my mother is alive and well, but also terrified because of all the terrible things I've done to avenge her... has it all been in vain?", Michael said and his eyes were lost, looking at one thing in particular. 

"You can start over and be better, it's never too late to apologize", I said and he looked at me. "The most noble thing to do is to accept your mistakes and do your best to be a better person", Michael kept looking at me in mild awe as I blushed and looked away from him, a little bit embarrassed. "What?", I asked, laughing.

"Sometimes I don't even think I deserve you", he sighed sadly and then proceeded to kiss me softly. "But I pray every day to George for him to look after you... and even me, I know sometimes I tend to... misbehave"

The way he said it made me chuckle as he kissed my cheek loudly. "You're so pretty! I missed seeing you and making you bring me some useless stuff so I can see your face", he confessed and I laughed.