1| Ophelia

16

-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-
OPHELIA
•

“Go go go,” I nearly screamed at Elijah who looked at me funnily as he drove away from the closed steel gates.

“Why are you acting like Julia Roberts from Runaway Bride,” Elijah mused at me, but I didn't acknowledge his joke. Instead I simply replied, “I’m not in the mood to see any of my brothers.” Elijah’s amused expression turned into a serious one, “Why… What happened? Is everything okay?” 

I looked at him as his eyes travelled from me to the road continuously. Did he know? Of course he did. He’s been around your brothers since forever. 

“Nico told me a few things about… my real parents,” I briefly answered. A knowing look passed his face, “Ah. That must’ve been…” He didn’t finish his sentence. I wouldn’t either if I was in his place.

My mind was exhausted. 

So far I had discovered that my family had lied about giving me up to the orphanage. They had lied to me about my life here with them. They haven’t shared an ounce of memory from my first three years living in that monstrous mansion and now I’m finding out that my estranged father who didn’t even come to see me is living in New Zealand away from humanity and that one way or another, I was the reason for my mother’s death. 

And my gut told me that I had barely scratched the surface.

I was afraid, I realized.

I was afraid of what I was beginning to feel about my estranged brothers. I was afraid of what would happen if I discovered the mystery my family was. And I was afraid I was going to lose them. Again. I'd already lost Myra, it still felt weird to call her Mom, and even though my brothers hadn’t given much effort to even spend time with me. 

I understood that they all had their lives, but I still felt… ignored. I couldn’t even begin to think about Myra. What was she like? Did she enjoy her life? How much had she loved my father? How much had she loved her children? Did she love me, for the only ten minutes she had known me?

I didn’t feel the car had stop or that the passenger door had opened until I felt Elijah kneeling by my side, wiping my cheeks with his thumb. It was only then I realized I had been crying. He didn’t have pity in his eyes, or sympathy, it was understanding. 

“I lost my Mom too,” he spoke after a few minutes. I looked at me with shocked eyes, “Wha-“ He cut me off, “No, she isn’t dead. She’s very much alive. But, she left us a month after Ethan was born.” I sniffed, “Why did she leave?” 

He gave me a sad smile, “I don’t know. Truthfully speaking, I didn’t even know her and Dad were having problems in their marriage. I didn’t notice it until it was too late. Before, I could only see her smiles and laughs and the excitement she had during the time she was about to give birth. But now that I had time to think about it, I realized she was much sadder than I had thought.” 

“She never told you why she left,” I asked softly. He shook his head, “No. At least not yet. But, I’m not expecting an explanation from her anytime soon.”

“But… you deserve an explanation," I argued but he simply smiled again, “I do. But I also thought about this from her point of view. There’s always two sides to a story Lia. You have to understand the other person’s perspective, or at least try to. No one does anything without any reason.”