𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘- a labyrinth sequel

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓. Standing there, like she'd wondered why she'd even bothered to come, she looked almost hesitant. For a moment, Nicolas assumed she'd come here to yell at him, to tell him that he was a horrible person for breaking up with her daughter. Whatever she came here to say to him, he would take it. Because chances are, he'd thought one of those things himself over the last week. All he could think every single time he thought about it was idiot, idiot, idiot. 

"Hi," Nicolas greeted politely, leaning against the door frame. This whole week, the person he'd missed the most was Aurelia, but Celia Clairmont had been a close second. After he'd lost his mother all those years ago, he had almost forgotten what it was like to be cared for, to have someone looking out for him. He'd been dreading seeing the woman, in fear that she'd hate him after everything he did. The last thing he needed was yet another person being disappointed in him. 

"Is your father home?" She asked nervously, glancing around like she was expecting him to pop out from somewhere. Donnelly shook his head slowly, and she seemed to relax a bit. Aurelia must have told her the truth, then. Now there was yet another person who pitied him. Excellent. "Do you mind if I come in? I was hoping to talk to you."

"Oh, uh, sure," he replied hesitantly, opening the door wider to let her inside the house. This whole situation was weird. He wasn't sure how to react to his ex-girlfriend's mother showing up at his house unannounced. "Is everything okay? Is Lia-"

"Lia's fine," she interrupted with a knowing smirk. "Well, she's been a little down in the dumps lately, but I'm sure you know all about that." There it was. The recurring guilt he felt every time he heard her name, or thought about her. Which was basically all the time. She had been the first good thing in his life in five years, and he had pushed her out and slammed the door in her face. "But I'm not here to talk about Lia."

"You're not?" Lia's mother shook her head slowly, and took a seat on the couch, crossing her legs and looking at him with a maternal expression. She sighed and ran a hand over the pendant on her necklace, the same thing that Aurelia did whenever she was nervous. She thought she'd been subtle about it, but Donnelly had always noticed. It was easy to pick up on when her hand drifted to her neck whenever she was around him. 

"Nicolas, I've been debating all week if I should even show up here," she admitted. "If it was appropriate. If you'd even want to talk to me." Celia inhaled a shaky breath, and he twisted a ring on his finger, because deep down, he think he knew why she was here. "Now, while I can't say I know the entire story, I think I know enough to make an educated guess," she started with a pointed glance in his direction. "And I'm not going to force you to talk about it with me if you don't want to."

"I'm sure Aurelia already told you," he shrugged. So what if the cat was out of the bag now? He'd never had anything to hide in the first place. He was just humiliated at the fact that he'd stayed here and took it for so long. Celia shook her head slowly, and Nicolas tried to hide his surprise. "Lia hasn't said a word about it. To me or her father." The last part felt intentional, and the pit in his gut grew even bigger. As if she noticed the distraught expression on his face, she smiled at him. Aurelia had been telling the truth, and he'd assumed that she had told her father in some attempt to try and save him. Maybe he should have known that she wouldn't have betrayed his trust like that. He really was an idiot for acting so harshly and leaving like that. He'd doubted that she'd even want to look at him now, let alone speak to him. "Oh," was all he could muster.