RC.

Ch9 .... D

I'm not sure I should continue this conversation.

R:"My mother hide it from us, of course ... She put a brave face on it, her priority was always to preserve us."

R:"My dad's mother ended up feeling guilty and convinced her husband to take Jenny and me in their care."

R:"In retrospect, I think that that woman was totally crushed by her husband, like everybody else around him ..."

R:"He gave in, we were the same blood ... And their cruelty didn't go as far as separating us, with Jenny."

I almost feel like I'm listening to one of those terrible tales that our parents tell us when we're children, huddled up and warm in their arms.

R:"Needless to say that love and tenderness were alien to them. Jenny suffered much more than I did from it."

I look down. It could explain a lot of things about her ... She can only trust one person: her brother.

Between father who abandons her and unloving adoptive grandparents ... Can I really blame her?

I stare at the waves. I feel bad for Jenny, but at the same time, the fact that she's suffered doesn't justify her behavior towards me.

Other people can't be blamed for her misfortunes, and what's more, she didn't give me a chance to prove it to her.

R:"We got very strict education, a traditional one. The good side of it was that I attended the best schools in the country and that I became mature much faster than the other boys of my age."

 (There is a time for everything ...)

T:"Your Grand ... Uh ... Didn't they ever apologise?"

He grins as if the mere idea of it was totally absurd.

It was a bit silly of me to say ... How could anyone capable of leaving family in such a situation come to apologise ...? I should really stop being so naive.

Yet, I just believe in human kindness. I don't think humans are fundamentally bad. And I think even the worst of people repent one day or another.

R:"When they died, I inherited everything. Grandfather had left me a letter underlining his great generosity in bequeathing all his fortune to me..."

His eyes delve into mine and the pain I read deep inside them tears my heart out.

R:"As if his money could buy everything!"

He looks back at the waves, his face is still tense.

R:"I will never forgive him."

I'm beginning to understand how Ryan work. He has far too many principles to ever forgive such a thing. And it's true that cetrain things are unforgivable.

R:"Anyway ... At least their death served some purpose."

R:"With the money, I had the funds I needed to create my own company. I vowed to build an empire and give help to the poor."

T:"So that other children don't go through what you did?"

He stays silent.

I feel bad. So bad for him.

T:"I'm sure that... your mother would be very proud of the man you have became..."

R:"Oh, you're talking about the multi-billionaire asshole who takes women to be merchandise?"

The mischievous sparkle in his eyes is back. It's never very far away! And it announces the end of our heart to heart.

T:"I won't go back on my words, they were deserved."

R:"You're right, I don't feel anything."

He said this through closed lips. His head turned toward the horizon.

My eyes fall on his beautiful profile. There's Ryan's flaw. The one that's eating him up and preventing him from moving on: to open yourself to feelings is to risk being hurt again and again.

He takes his hand away from mine and runs it through his hair.

R:"I've seen what money does to people. It makes them cold, inhuman. The power they get from it makes them forget what's really important. And sometimes I know I could cross the line ... "

R:"Seeing the disappointment in your eyes that night ... it was ..."

(I reassure him.)

T:"Ryan ... You're nothing like them ..."

I take his big hand in my tiny hands.

T:"You're a good man. You have... an emotional flow. I have one too. We all have."

He looks at me without saying a word.

T:"No doubt that... you should forgive your father's parents, not for them but for you, you bear too heavy a burden, Ryan."

R:"Forgive...? It's impossible!"

We remain silent for a moment. Then we start walking again, hand in hand.