Dorothy stood still on the stage, holding a fine-wrapped gift and placed it at her back, and seemed unable to move from there and thought, (Why can’t I move? I’m just giving her this gift and yet something is stopping me…)
Then, a familiar voice emerged from behind and whispered her ears, “Give it to her, Miss Impostor.”
She held her breath and asked, (Ian?)
The voice was close; as she was about to turn around, a hand landed a pat on her head, stopping her from looking at the back, and said “Don’t turn around. Otherwise, they’ll notice.”
At that time, she was sure that the voice was Ian’s and asked, “How did you?”
Ian snuck a touch on the gift she was holding, and then uttered words with a mischievous smirk, “That book and my soul are bound together as one. It’s a vessel that stored my life and memories of my love for Evon…”
A sudden frown was drawn on Dorothy’s face. Wanting to say her feelings so eagerly to him, she preferred to remain silent. Instead, she asked him one thing.
“What if another woman loved you, would things turn out the other way?”
Ian pondered on her question. As their conversation proceeded, Evon and the others saw it and thought that she was talking with a ghost.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with her?” Evon mumbled. Several minutes later as their conversation proceeded, Ian took notice of the glare that the people were giving to Dorothy, coughed out and said, “Hey, they’re totally looking at you right now.”
His presence at that time faded away, and then Dorothy snapped out from being idle, reached for the microphone stand and grabbed the microphone. She excused herself and resumed the program. As the celebration continued, she wondered about one thing.
“What could be his answer to that question?” she whispered. While her niece sat alone on her debut throne, she approached her and gave her the gift. The debutant embraced her with delight and asked, “What happened to you a while ago, auntie twin?”
Evon closed her eyes in anticipation, waiting for Dorothy to scold her for calling her an aunt. However, Dorothy looked so calm as her arms reached for Evon to hug her and said, “Happy 18th Birthday, Evon. Here’s a present from me and a friend.”
Evon impatiently shook the gift and wondered what’s inside.
“Open it later when we reach home, okay?” suggested Evon. An hour later, when the program reached its end, the people slowly left the premises by batch. As everything were settled that night, Evon and her family went home and called it a day.
Upon reaching home, Dorothy accompanied Evon and brought the gifts inside her bedroom. She looked almost eccentric in her excitement to open the one her aunt gave and asked, “Can’t you give me a clue about what’s inside, auntie?”
Dorothy tried holding back her emotions, but as her heart tightened to the point where she could almost not breathe, she hurried outside the room and held the doorknob so that Evon couldn’t see her crying. Curious with why her aunt was crying, Evon called her, “Auntie twin?”
She could hear her cry softly. However, she also held her emotions and became silent as her aunt said, “Open the gift already. It’s getting late, you know?”
Then, she ripped the gift wrapping with excitement, noticed it was a book, and then read the cover, “18th Birthday…”
What struck her most was the name of the author.
“Ian Williams…” she quietly sat down, leaned her back on the door, and began reading the book. Dorothy felt the silence, released the door knob, sat down just like her niece did, and smiled as she said, (Finally… The truth will be known to her…)
“Did this happen to him?” Evon asked as she read the book thoroughly, reminiscing every moment she had with Ian. Tears streamed down from her eyes each time she read things Ian did that she didn’t know, and realized how blind she was about it. She reached the part where Ian’s sacrifice was written, and asked “He’s the heart donor?”
She couldn’t help her self but burst into more tears and all she could say was, “I’m sorry… Ian… I’m sorry…”
Dorothy heard her outside, sympathized to her agony, and mumbled, “Losing him, knowing what he has done… And… Losing him, not knowing a single thing… Which hurts more?”
She decided to leave her alone and went to her own bedroom. As she was about to lie down, a copy of the book on her desk caught her attention, walked closely to it and sat on the chair. Then, she opened a random page and read a line that brought her to tears as well.
“Don’t cry… That face will look uglier…”
Several hours later, it was already dawn when Evon finished reading the book. Shocked and devastated by all the revelations that had been written in it, she decided to take a peek at her parents’ room. They were sound asleep while she kept on weeping.
“Ian is…” she muttered as she embraced the book tightly. Dorothy on the other hand, also kept crying the entire time until she fell asleep.
The story seemed to last a lifetime. But as every story ends, we are brought back to a place where the truth really belongs to reality.
YOU ARE READING
18th Birthday
RomanceThis tells a story of a man's struggle in saving his best friend's mother as his birthday gift for her.
