Avenues of the Diamond (University Series #4)

24

"Uh..." I went closer to get her attention, not knowing what to say. She immediately stood up and gave me a small smile when she turned in my direction. "Good... evening, Ma'am." It wasn't fully evening yet. "Clyden's on his duty." 

"Hello, Sam," she greeted. "I'm not here for Clyden. To tell you the truth, he's... He's actually not talking to us at the moment." 

My brows furrowed in confusion. Was it because he became too busy to even talk to his family? His parents would understand because they were all in the same field, but his mom looked lonely. 

"Do you want to come inside?" I asked while putting my car keys inside my bag. I stopped when she talked. 

"No, I wouldn't stay long."

I looked at her and pursed my lips. Something was making me nervous, but I didn't know what it was. Clyden's mother was kind. I knew that already when I first met her. However, not because she was kind, it would automatically mean that she was a good mother to the three. She let her children fight... But I also couldn't judge her with that. Maybe she was also having a hard time with those three. 

"Clyden stopped talking to us ever since his dad tried to force him to cancel the engagement," she told me. 

My lips parted in shock, not knowing what to say. Clyden... He never said anything about that. I got that he was too busy with his clerkship, but he had the chance to tell me that when we went out on a date. He didn't, so he really just didn't want to tell me. 

"You probably already know what's going on with your family. My husband is worried about our business. We are in the medical field, and it is also political. People are trusting their lives on us, and being with your family can be critical for us. We want nothing to do with your family anymore, Samantha. I hope you understand," she said, trying so hard to make it sound less painful for me. 

"Of course," I whispered, looking down. 

I understood where she was coming from. Even I hated my family. Even I hated where I came from. I knew it would affect their family as well, and the thing with me was that I didn't want other people to suffer because of me. I didn't want to bring them down with me and my family as well. My parents had affected so many lives already just by stealing money. Enough was enough. 

"But Clyden was still stubborn about it." Her mom sighed heavily. "So his dad used the inheritance against him. He said he didn't care, but I didn't want him to lose it just because of this. That kid has a bright future ahead of him. I also don't want him to get caught up in this issue. If only we knew... We wouldn't have forced him to say yes to this engagement. I'm so sorry to bother both of you." 

'I'm not having a hard time? You don't know a thing'. His words suddenly came back to me. To think that I told him that without knowing how he was ready to give up on his family for me. I didn't know what to feel. Just when I was about to think that everything would be alright, another problem came up. 

"Did you know that he agreed to this engagement because he didn't want you to get married to Charles?"