The Dancing Girl in The Painting ** (Camren)

Chapter 80: Who's Lucy?

Camila's POV

It was the end of Autumn. Lauren crossed my mind sometimes, but it was not as often as before. I was neither sad nor angry anymore. I had learned to let her go, and I was moving on. Did I still miss her? I wasn't going to lie. I did, sometimes. Did I still love her? I did not know how to answer it. I probably still loved her. If I remembered what she did, I would say I did not want to love her anymore. I still cared about her as she was a good person, and she once dragged me out of the dark and brought me back to life. She brought love back to my life, but she also hurt my heart.

When I saw her kissing Selena that day, I was so furious and heartbroken. A week before she left, I took my time. I did not want to believe she was cheating on me. She was kissing Selena. Indeed, she did. I did not hear from her, but I heard it from Emma. She indeed told Emma that she made a mistake kissing Selena. She even told Emma that she was distracted by Selena. Emma said that there was a time when Lauren felt that she did not deserve me and I deserved someone better in which she never told me anything about it.

I had no idea people were talking about us. I knew it from Emma as well. Lauren told Emma everything that she never told me. It was one thing that I disliked about her. She did not want to make me worried, but she did it wrongly. We were girlfriends. We should have shared both good and bad things. I told her almost everything, except Jason's jobs, but she always had something to hide from me.

Probably it was the best that she left and we were not together. I could not imagine I had to live my life with someone who always hid things from me. I knew she loved me and regretted it. I could tell from her voice messages. However, she chose to leave, and she did not even want to meet me in person when I bought that painting from the auction. If she did not want to meet me, I would not find her as well. I might still love her, but I would not beg someone to love me in return. A relationship was not a one-way street. If it was, I did not want that kind of relationship.

I had put everything she gave me away, except Leo. He spent more time with Sofia than me, and he was innocent anyway, so it was fine. I distracted myself with work and self-care. It worked out well so far, as I did not think of her too often anymore. I could see Leo without thinking of her now. I would think of her when I saw the full moon, but slowly I was doing good with it. It took time, but I knew I could do it. I was determined.

Leaving behind Lauren, my life seemed to get more complicated. I got more urgent things to take care of now. I had heard and known from Emma's side, and I was considering flying to England to meet Mr. Solomon myself, but I had not decided yet. Jason had come up with the updates that I had asked him to investigate further. The first was about Matthew. He still had a good relationship with my step-uncle, Javier. Javier was asking for his support since I had kept my distance from my uncle. He wanted to regain my trust that I would never give it to him. I knew he had a hidden agenda.

I got a lot of information about him from Uncle Coop, Jason, Mrs. Harris, Emma, Ally, and others who knew him better than me. Lauren knew a lot of things about him, but she barely told me. I was not surprised it was Lauren. I could not keep my eyes closed, and I had to know things since I was no longer a teenager who had my parents protecting me. Now, I was an adult and had many responsibilities to carry. I also had to take care of Sofia. I urged them to tell me the truth and everything they knew. I did not just trust what they said, but I looked further into it.

Matthew wanted to court me. I made sure it was only in his fantasy that would never come true. I loathed him so much if I remembered how he was. I found out his parents knew my mother. They were once business partners, and my mother seemed to like them. Javier met Matthew and his family thorugh my mother. I was questioning why my mother was so easy to trust Javier when my father could not trust him at all.