As for me, I could neither stand nor clap my hands. My brother reached out to me and embraced me. I leaned on his chest and for the first time, I cried in front of him. I cried for a lot of things, but mostly, I cried… for being me.
Because my daughter was wrong. The things my daughter said had made me feel all the more insufficient. If I did my best like she said, then she wouldn’t have noticed all those things. Demi wouldn’t have been worried, and she wouldn’t have cried like that.
It took me a while before I managed to calm myself down. I wiped my tears and stood up.
“Sis-“
“I’ll just go to the rest room, don’t worry,” I told him.
But I didn’t head towards the rest room. I headed out of the auditorium. I lowered my head and walked as fast as I could, my vision was blurry from the tears that’s why I accidentally bumped onto someone.
When I looked up, I saw Jeremiah’s worried face. That was also how he looked at me on the day of my wedding.
That was exactly the reason why I tried to avoid even my best friend before, and why I could not meet his gaze. Because he was the witness of all my miseries, he was a reminder of my abandoned dreams.
Each time I see Jeremiah, I feel weak, and my defenses crumble. Because I couldn’t help but remember the past. And then I would feel vulnerable all over again.
I suddenly remembered the last conversation I had with mom. That was the day everything in my life had fallen apart.
‘Alison, where are you going?’ she asked.
‘Something must have happened to him, ‘Ma. I know Alexandros. He would never leave me,’ I answered hysterically while staring at my phone.
He hadn’t answered any of my calls yet. I was about to throw the phone on the wall but I changed my mind. I couldn’t afford to lose that one thing that could connect me to Alexandros in case he wanted to contact me. Because I was sure he would call me or show up right at our doorstep and explain his self.
Alexandros didn’t even need to explain. He just had to show up and I’d still accept him right away. That was the reason why even if it had been a couple of hours since we returned to our mansion, I still couldn’t manage to take the wedding gown off me.
Alexandros said that it was his dream to see me on a wedding dress. And I wouldn’t ruin that dream of his despite what took place at the church.
‘Alison-‘
‘I’ll go to his house again, Ma. Nathan could be there already. I’m sure he knows where his cousin is. I need to talk to him,’ I said before I ran out of the house.
But just when I was about to get in my car, dad quickly snatched the key from me.
‘Alison, that’s enough!’ he yelled. ‘I don’t know what the hell happened but there are pictures of Alexandros circulating all over the social media. He’s abroad and with another woman. They were caught kissing! Some people are saying that they saw Alexandros at the airport last night together with that woman. If you keep doing this, you’ll end up as everyone’s laughingstock!’
‘I don’t care! Those people don’t know the truth! But I do!’ I yelled back. ‘The pictures and the woman you were talking about? Those were lies! Alexandros loves me. He would never betray me. If you don’t want me to use the car, fine! I can manage on my own!’
I ran out of the gate, running and searching for a cab. After a few minutes, I heard my mom scream my name but I didn’t look back.
‘Alison!’
Before I knew it, somebody already pushed me away. I fell on the gutter. And then I heard a noise. When I opened my eyes, I saw mom’s body in the middle of the road. There was so much blood coming from her head…
I closed my eyes upon the painful memory. My knees wobbled and my throat hurt because I was struggling not to cry.
My mother saved me that night. Because of what she did, she also saved the baby in my womb but she failed to save herself. She was hit and she almost died because of me. She had been revived but she was still in coma.
The one who bumped onto her suddenly disappeared along with the car. There were no CCTV in that part of the road that’s why we couldn’t file a report to the cops but I was sure it was because of the supernatural beings again. Only those supernatural beings could do that to me or the people around me.
My father tried his best to stand as the head of our family but we suffered countless of losses. The investors pulled out until we had to declare bankruptcy. Dad’s trusted secretary took all the money in his vault and ran away. We’d never him since them.
Dad had to sell our mansion to pay our debts but he had become depressed. He locked himself up in his room and hung himself.
And for some unknown reason, despite the good records I had while I was managing our hotel, I kept failing to get a decent job. At that time, we accumulated more debts because of mom’s hospitalization. I sold all of my jewelries to help with the expenses.
Jeremiah also offered me to work in their aviation company but I was too ashamed to take it because I already owed him a lot since he was the one who shouldered the expenses when I gave birth since it was through caesarian method.
Jeremiah also shouldered my plane ticket to New York a few months after I gave birth. At that time, I heard Alexandros was there.