Painful Honesty
Tonight, dinner was served on the veranda outdoors. The candlelit dinner by the sea with the wind
blowing in my face and hair reminded me of the dinner I had on the stargazing tower with Edward. The
romantic atmosphere wasn’t the only reason that I was reminded of that night Edward told me about
the fact that he saved me all those years ago in the forest. I felt that tonight, I wille to learn of
some important hidden truth that will change the course of my life once again.
Lucien didn’t beat around the bush, thankfully so. After the maids left us alone, Lucien started talking
immediately as I sat opposite him. Simr to the dinner I had with Edward that time, the food tasted like
dry sand on my tongue.
“Can you tell me what it was like living with your mother? You know, before I met you two…” Lucien
asked slightly hesitantly.
“Why are you asking after all this time? I thought my mother probably told you everything already,” I
replied, thinking that it was unusual for him to bring this up. What good will asking about my childhood
do?
“She did tell me, but I want to hear your version of the story more,” Lucien replied firmly.
“What do you want to know…specifically?” I asked him without bothering to hide my suspicion.
“Your living conditions. How did you two get by? Did your mother work? What type of school did you go
to? All the general stuff. Just tell me whateveres to mind,” Lucien replied.
“I don’t know why you’re asking me this and I was quite young back then. Anyways, my mother and I
lived alone. It was just the two of us. My mother didn’t have a fulltime job. She worked on whatever job
she was offered or sometimes she didn’t work at all. We always lived alone, and we moved ces
quite often…probably once every few months. Whenever that happened, I had to move school if the
new ce was too far from the old one. I didn’t have any close friends and my mother didn’t seem to
have many friends either…so it wasrgely just the two of us,” I replied with an honest view of how I
remembered my life from back then.
“So…it was always just the two of you?” Lucien asked a little surprised. I couldn’t quite understand why
he was surprised.
“Yes, there was never anyone else,” I replied tly. If Lucien wondered if my mother had a boyfriend of
some sort on the side; then he can rest assured that she didn’t. However, if she did, I had never heard
of or seen him before.
“What do you know…about your father?” Lucien asked seriously.
“What am I supposed to know? My mother never talked about him…except for that he left her after
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finding out that she was pregnant with me. She’s never seen or heard from him since. I don’t know his
face or his name and, just as my mother advised, we think of him as better off dead,” I replied
emotionlessly. I hated my father for leaving us, yet I didn’t quite hate him. It’s hard to hate someone you
don’t know anything about at all.
“I see…” Lucien answered as he seemed deep in his own thoughts.
“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“No reason…” Lucien replied in a low whisper.
The candlelight flickering in his green eyes made it seem like his eyes were wavering with hesitation.
Lucien would never ask questions like these without a logical reason which meant that there was
something he wanted to confirm. Depending on my answer, he may or may not tell me something…but
what was he going to tell me?
“Lucien…if there’s something you wanted to tell me…” I started to say before I was interrupted by
another question.
“Do you remember how your mother died?” Lucien asked too directly for my frail heart to handle.
Of course, I remember. I remember everything about the day she died as if it had happened yesterday.
Although, there wasn’t much to be remembered at all.
“Yes, I do…” I replied in a small voice as I tried to keep back my tears.
“Tell me…what happened…” Lucien instructed slowly yet firmly.
“I think you know this better than I do…my mother died in a car ident. I got a call from you telling me
that she was in an ident and that she was at the hospital. However, when I arrived, she was
already…gone…” I replied with my version of that day before stopping when my voice started to crack
with sorrow.
That day, when I arrived at the hospital, my mother was already dead. I never made it in time to bid her
farewell. Thinking back, I never got to see her face for thest time. When I grew up, I figured out that
her body was probably not in the condition to be viewed by rtives, let alone a minor.
“The truth is…I didn’t make it in time either. When I arrived, your mother was already gone,” Lucien
stated sadly.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s gone…she’s noting back,” I replied with clenched teeth.
“I want to tell you so many things, Natalia. All those things, you will find to be shocking and so, I
honestly don’t know where to start or what to tell you. Perhaps, because of that you’ve been in so much
pain…” Lucien confessed truthfully as he looked away towards the dark ocean.
“What do you mean…?” I asked.
Lucien was silent as he thought over his words. I could tell that he was very conflicted about what he
was going to tell me. The suspense and sense of foreboding was killing me.
“Lucien…please…” I pleaded as I took his hand in mine and squeezed it.
“It’s going to hurt you…more than it has been hurting me all these years,” Lucien stated as he nced
back at me.
“I’ll take it…please tell me,” I said firmly.
“I see. Maybe you’ve grown to be much stronger than before. Natalia, your dear mother…was
murdered,” Lucien stated in a painful voice.
My mother…was killed?!
That can’t be, I thought as I felt tears running down my face…
--To be continued…