The Secrets of Confessions ✔️

Chapter 25: Red Handed

 I've been emailing Arjun for the past several weeks. Sometimes, it's not even about the case. We just like to talk about random things. Sometimes, when Mason isn't home, and when I'm not working at the internship, I get on call with him. We talk about our random opinions, joke around, and I'd be happy to say that we've gotten a lot closer over the past couple of weeks if it wasn't for one thing. 

Fear. 

Mason would absolutely slaughter me if he found out I was talking with Arjun like that. He'd hang me out by the window and lecture me for a solid three hours. Initially, with each call and email, a tad bit of guilt would start to eat me up a little bit. Initially, I felt like I was betraying Mason because of the fact that they hate each other and that if you were to lock each other in a room together with a fork, it would end up lodged in either of them with lots of blood around. 

But, when it comes to the reasoning behind the hatred, that guilt seems to dissolve. I wasn't betraying Mason. I wasn't doing anything to betray Mason. He's the one who fed me lies about the hatred towards Arjun. He painted him as a terrible father and one that left his wife when he found out she was pregnant. 

The latter was true, but the circumstances were all lies. He was the reason in which I couldn't see my real dad growing up, and he is like the weed killer that prevented Arjun and I's relationship from blooming into what it is now. Now, it's my turn to try to build up that relationship into the best that I can before Mason catches me and then skewers me. 

 On top of talking with Arjun for the case and all that jazz, I have something else that I have to look for. Any YouTube videos in regards to the case. There must have been something on YouTube covering the case. YouTube is something where you can find anything if you look hard enough. Well, except for anything blatantly against the law, but I wouldn't know about that. 

The internet is filled with lots of dark things, and there's always a dark side to everything. In my mom's case, everything seems to be dark, and it doesn't look like it's going to lighten up any time soon. Which makes it harder for me to investigate without feeling disgusted or really sad.

"Ashmita, can you taste this? I want to see if it has enough salt," Mason hands me a spoon with a little bit of sauce. I take the spoon, blow on it, and then taste it a little bit. Surely enough, the salt is perfect, but it just needs a little bit of a kick. 

"The salt is good. Just add more pepper. In terms of spice, it's kind of lame," I say, to which he lets out a little chuckle. 

"Damn, brutal. Alright," he says, as he grinds in some black pepper. He stirs around the pepper a little bit, and then puts the lid on top of the pot. 

He turns towards me, wipes a little bit of sweat off, and then puts his hands on the countertop. "So, what's been going on at the internship? Learning new stuff, having tons of coffee, wanting to strangle your boss?" I roll my eyes. 

"Mason, not all bosses suck. I know you had a boss that sucked horse balls, but mine's actually really cool. He'll let me off early if I need to, like when I need to go for an emergency. Thankfully, that hasn't happened, but I have a feeling that Nathan is going to get injured somehow and then I'm going to have to run down to his school to tend to him." 

Mason raises an eyebrow. "The most severe thing that has happened to him was that he almost broke his ankle. That's it. He's not as accident prone as you were when growing up. I had to disinfect your wounds every couple of days. I don't know, it confuses me." 

I jump off of the countertop, making sure I don't hit anything hot. "That explains my high pain tolerance. Unlike Nathan, who screams bloody murder if he's out in the sun too long." Mason rolls his eyes, and then places a hand on my shoulder.