Playlist:
Beautiful - Crush (Goblin OST)
Alison/Sapphire
Creak
Creak
The chair continued to creak as I rocked on it, staring at the photographs on my lap. The photographs that have sent my mind into a frenzy. The threat to my children and me was long thrown out of the window. The only thing in my mind right now was the photographs.
The photographs of Ian and a lady in white who is definitely not Ashley. It was clear that the woman was Ian's first wife, Alison. I still remember the day Mr.Brown first saw me and burst into tears. Ian explained that it was because I look like his daughter. Till now I had no idea that we look this alike but then how can someone be so similar? Is she really my look alike or is this me?
But I don't think everyone around me will lie about such a thing. They all knew how much my past means to me and finding that out is the only thing in the world that I want the most. They won't do such a cruel thing to me.
I flipped to the next photo and saw the complete picture of the image I saw on the internet when I googled Alison Cullen. The girl that was cut out of the picture was her, my lookalike, or me... all of this thinking is beginning to give me a headache.
That's it! I'm not going to sit here anymore and think about it any longer. Thinking will lead me to more questions and more questions mean an intensive headache, which I'm not thrilled to entertain right now.
Instead of forming questions I'm going to go and ask them and the only person that can give me the answers was Ian. So I stood up from my rocking chair and was walking towards Ian's room. The door to his room was ajar so I didn't bother to knock before pushing the door open. I came in with an angry face and determination to get some answers, but all that vanished when my eyes landed on Ian's sleeping figure on his bed.
He was still dressed in his Armani and his shoes were still on, that means he threw himself on the bed; face first, as soon as he entered his room. A low chuckle escaped my lips before I started to remove his shoes and socks. I also removed his blazer and undid few buttons on his shirt. Removing the belt was too intimate for me so I let it be. I pulled the white sheet over his form before taking few steps back and looking at his peacefully sleeping face.
Now that I think of it, whenever I see Ian he always tend to have a worried crease on his face but now, while he was asleep there were no creases. I wonder what happened after Ian left the house! Did they manage to find Mr.Brown's whereabouts? I'll ask him first thing in the morning.
After seeing the photographs I didn't have the courage to face Ian. I was afraid that I'll lash out at him even before he has the chance to explain so I asked Aiden to accompany me to the doctor who was happy to do so. When I asked him about the photos his expression changed faster than a flash of light. He just told me that he isn't the right person to tell me about it, after that he didn't utter a single word.
I puffed out my cheeks and decided to let Ian sleep and get some sleep myself. Suddenly Ian started murmuring something in his sleep. I was too far so I couldn't listen properly so I leaned down a little. All I could understand was he was continuously apologizing to someone. Later I realized that the someone is Alison.
Feeling like I was invading someone's privacy I stood up and walked out of the room and into mine. Seems like I won't be getting any answers tonight.
*
"Where is Ian?" was the first thing I asked as soon as I entered the dining hall. "Drake came in earlier and dragged him out dear, do you want something?" Marie asked whilst pouring a glass of milk to the kids. I sighed in disappointment and shook my head at her. "Morning!" I greeted the kids with a gentle kiss on their foreheads. "Morning!" they replied in sync.
"I'll be going to the grocery store, will you and the kids be okay?" Marie asked me. I gulped down the piece of pancake and nodded my head at her. "We'll be fine. Take your time." I replied. It was a Sunday morning anyway. I was planning to spend the entire day at home and spend some time with the kids. It's been so long I have heard them rant about the events in their school.
"Okay, kids! go to your room and play for a while. Mommy will be there after she finish doing the dishes." I said. The kids yelled happily and ran upstairs while I began the chore. After completing my task I walked towards the kid's room but was interrupted by the ring of my phone. I entered my room and picked up the phone from my bed. A frown made its way on my forehead when I saw an unknown number. I answered it and kept it to my ear. "Hello?" I asked
"Oh! Hey, I'm Emily" a feminine voice answered me. After thinking for a few moment I realized who it is. "Ah! Emily. How are you?" I asked and resumed my walk towards the kid's room. The kids were sprawled on the floor racing with paper fishes. "No! I'm going to die of boredom!" She sighed heavily. A chuckle escaped my lips at that. "Is that the reason why you called me?" I asked. "Yes! Drake's gone out with the boys to have a boys day out. Why do they call it a boys day out anyway? All of them are men, two of them are even fathers. Men, I tell you!" she sighed again. "Anyway, as I was saying, I'm getting bored and I fear that I'll die of boredom even before I remove this boy from my tummy. So can you please come here so we can have a girls day out," she said.
"I actually have to watch over the kids," I said sounding apologetic. "Don't worry, bring the kids too. They can play with Sienna, she'll too have a sister to play with now." She said the last line in a low voice that I was unable to catch her words.
"What was that?" I asked. "Nothing! Come by 10:30. Bye!" She chirped and disconnected the call before I could protest. When I saw the time on my phone, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Currently, the time was 10:26 and she was expecting me to be there in four minutes.
"Okay kids! We are going to aunt Emily's house." I announced with a clap of my hand. Raine and Ryker looked confused at the name while Nathan's face instantly brightened up. "Emily aunt?" He asked and started bouncing up and down. "Yes! Now go wear your jackets, it's chilly." I said.
"Aunt Emily is mommy's friend. There you will meet another girl your age. You can be friends." I told the twins. Their frown disappeared and a smile replaced it. "Okay, mommy!" They replied and ran to get their jackets. I walked into my room and took my coat after wearing some sneakers over my socks and tied up my brunette hair in a messy bun. I shoved my wallet and phone in the pocket of my coat and walked downstairs with the kids running ahead of me.
We ended up hiring a cab that dropped us to the penthouse of the hotel Emily's husband owned. It felt like déjà vu as I rode up the private elevator towards the penthouse. The only difference was that last time I had Caleb with me and now there are three heirs of Satan who wouldn't stop fidgeting with the buttons.
After stopping at all the floors we finally reached the topmost. "Finally!" I couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"You're late!" Her voice greeted me as soon as I stepped my foot on the tiled floor. "Seriously? You asked me at 10:26, do you really expect me to be here in four minutes and that too with this three..." I got cut off mid-sentence when I saw Ryker almost dropped the vase placed beside the huge plasma TV.
"Ryker!" I yelled angrily. "It's alright. Nathan take the twins and go to Sienna's room to play. She's waiting for you." Emily said. Ryker just gave me an apologetic look and dashed out of the room before I could scold him.
"What am I going to do with this boy?" I exhaled heavily before following Emily towards the couch. Her belly was grown from the last time I saw her. It looked like it's going to pop any second now.
"You look..." I trailed off trying to find an appropriate word. I had no intentions of handling a hormonal pregnant woman right now. "Huge?" Emily offered. "Well yeah.." I looked at her like she was a ticking time bomb that was about to burst any moment now.
"I can't wait to get him out. Don't get me wrong I already love him but this-" she gestured towards her protruding belly "-is sick." She made a disgusted face in the end.
"Tell me about it! Carrying the twins was much worse than this." I said. "True!" Emily had a relief face on as if she was grateful for carrying only one. I was about to speak but was cut off by the ding of the elevator. Emily and I turned our heads towards the direction of the elevator to find a blonde man walking in, dressed in a white button up that had few buttons undone along with dark blue dress pants and the same color blazer resting on his arms.
He looked exactly like the woman by my side so I knew they were related.
"Fatty!" He grinned at Emily who was scowling at him. Her expression clearly said that she didn't like his presence, existence for that matter. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a disgusting expression. "Aww! It's good to see you too sister. Glad you didn't pop without me." He smirked at her. Emily almost got up to attack him but I held her down. "Relax!" I said trying my best to hide my amusement.
I could clearly see the future of my kids in them.
As soon as I spoke the man's eyes landed on me. All the playfulness disappeared from his eyes, a blank look masked his features which made me confused. Then it clicked. Whenever he sees me, he's reminded of Alison. Maybe that's why he shut himself off.
"Sapphire! I don't think you've met my brother, Jacob! Jake, this is Sapphire, my friend." She introduced us, I almost missed the way she stressed on my name a little more than necessary. Nevertheless, I put on a smile and looked at Emily's twin. "It's nice to meet you."
He just looked at my outstretched hand and then at me and flashed a quick-fake-smile and nodded his head. "Let's go to the cafe." He said and quickly began to walk towards the elevator as he was expecting us to follow him. Beside me, Emily sighed before looking at me apologetically. "This is how he is. I would've said I'm sorry but he should be the one saying it." Emily shrugged her shoulders before smiling brightly at me. "Let's go!" She exclaimed and began to stand up.
"When I was in my trimester. I never left the couch." I said while helping her to walk towards the elevator. "That's exactly why we are best friends." She answered. "I mean, that's why we should be best friends." She rephrased but I already caught it. All these things just adds up to my doubts. Now only a certain blue-eyed person is left to confirm them.
But, why do I believe that he'll answer my questions truthfully?
*
The cafe was filled with hustle as people came in to celebrate the last day of their weekend. The waiter brought our orders, more like Emily's order. She ordered for all three of us, assuming that we'll want that. Jake and I didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise so that's the reason I was scowling at my cappuccino with whipped cream and a cherry on the top. I was trying my best to hide my scowl while Jake didn't make any attempts to do so. Well, mine is better than his at least considering he was being served with a cup of green tea with whipped cream.
He raised his eyes and looked at me. Together, our heads turned towards Emily who was calmly sipping on her black coffee and licking the frosting off her cake.
Jake looked back at me and motioned me to exchange our drinks. I quickly picked my cup and sipped on it. If possible Jake scowled deepened. I licked the cream on my upper lip while Jake slumped in his seat and pouted angrily.
"Now why are you being pouty?" Emily asked, still with her eyes on her cake as she continued to lick the frosting.
"I know you did it on purpose," Jake whined. "Then I'm sure you know the purpose too." Emily looked at him with a winning smirk. By the look on Jake's face, it was clear that he knew the purpose. I, the clueless person sat there, staring at Jake who was stubbornly sitting in his chair and then at Emily who was staring at Jake in triumph. Finally, I understood what the purpose was when Jake sighed heavily and apologized to me for acting rudely earlier.
"It's fine!" I smiled at him. He just looked at my face for few moments before smiling back at me. Emily once satisfied summoned the waiter and asked us to order our drinks. I settled on a strawberry shake while Jake ordered a blueberry smoothie.
We sat there in a fall afternoon and chatted about everything and anything.
They asked me about myself and I said everything and that's when I realized how dull my life sounded. The only thing I had to tell them was my cafe that was burnt to the ground and my two kids whom I love the most. I didn't miss Caleb out. Although I don't regret any moment. But I do wish I could have my own adventures to tell. Like Jake who ranted about his trips to abroad and Emily who retold her love story and the change in her life after she met him, but me? I just sat there listening to their tales with a pang of jealousy in my heart.
As talks were exchanged, Jake grew comfortable around me. I'm thankful for it or else I wouldn't have been able to see his cheerful and funny side.
A shriek was heard in the cafe making us snap our head in the direction of it. A lady dressed in a short skin fitting black dress was looking towards the ground in horror. She swept her auburn hair behind her shoulder and picked up a cat, which I assume is her pet and started dabbing her black fur with tissues.
"Can't you see?" She yelled in her annoying high pitch voice. "I-I'm sorry ma'am." The waiter stammered and knelt down to pick up the broken pieces of glass. Poor man! By the looks on his face I can tell he is new, at least he is new in this situation where he dropped the glass filled with water on a cat.
"So sad! How's your püssy?" Jake asked from our table. My eyes widened at his question and turned to glare at him. Glad to see I wasn't the only one as the entire cafe was now looking at Jake but soon their eyes were shifted to the girl, I on the other hand almost choked after her answer.
"She's wet!" Either this girl is dumb or she really didn't get the innuendo.
I was too quick in my judgment because soon she froze. Slowly she lifted her head to glare hard at Jake who was busy laughing like a dying hyena. She kept her pus- I mean cat - down and started stalking towards him. Instead of stopping his laugh Jake began to laugh louder.
"You, son of a-" she cursed through clenched teeth. I was quick on my feet to stand in front of her and Jake before she could get her hands on him. "Relax! He is gay. Don't take his comment so seriously. I apologize." I said with my hands raised in front of me showing that we meant no harm.
As soon as she realized Jake is not straight, she stopped but her face was still red from anger. "You should be." She said before walking out of the cafe with her pet cat and her other belongings.
I heaved a relief sigh before looking at the people staring at us. "What? Go back to your lives." I yelled. And just like that, the drama for today was over, or so I thought.
When I was back in my seat I noticed two pairs of eyes were still on me. "What?" I asked the siblings.
"How do you know I was gay?" Jake asked. I opened my mouth to reply but I, myself don't know how. It was like I knew already but that's not possible. "You might have said it when you were talking about yourself," I replied. "No! I'm very cautious about this." He said and looked at me with narrowed eyes.
I was about to argue but a feminine gasp stopped us both. We looked at Emily who had a look of horror and excitement mixed on her face and her mouth was wide open.
"What is it?" Jake and I asked at the same time.
"I think.. my water just broke."
******
Hey guys! First of all, I'm extremely sorry for the late update. I was not so well but here's another update and I'll try to have the next update by the end of this week. I hope you guys are doing well and also don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts related to the chapter. I may not reply to your comments but I do read them all.
Also, I just finished watching my first k-drama and it was effing fantastic. I'm literally in love with it. Although it made me cry buckets and question my lack of love life it's worth watching hundred times. The name of the drama is 'Goblin - The Lonely and Great God.' It's a fantasy romance and I do recommend you guys to watch it at least once. Any Goblin fans here??
Have a great day people,
Toodles!