"What's that?" Fred asked Lucy, noticing her confused state and puzzled look.
"I'm confused" she confessed openly tilting her head up
"I'm really confused" she said again, tears had welled in her eyes. Doris turned to her when she repeated the statement and she was surprised and terrified at the tears that welled in her eyes
"Oh God! What's it Lucy?" She asked restlessly as she stood up to sit on the armchair beside her
"What's wrong Lucy?" She asked again placing her hand on her shoulder to draw her near a bit. Fred had stood up and was sitting beside her on the two-seater's couch.
"Who's this?" She suddenly asked pointing at the person standing besides Doris in the picture,Doris was resting her head on the guy's shoulder and smiling sweetly while the guy's hand was on her waist. They looked good together and one would undoubtedly tell that they're more than friends.
Doris turned and diverted her attention to the picture, she seems speechless as she couldn't reply Lucy's question. Her hand lightly dropped from Lucy's shoulder.
"I don't know this picture is here" she muttered silently but Lucy and Fred could hear her.
"So?" Lucy snapped
"You wouldn't have let us see the album?"
Doris shook her head slowly and dramatically, she couldn't utter any word as she stood to sit back on the couch.
"Lucy I'm..."
"Just tell me its Dad right?" She cut in
"I'm sorry Lucy" Doris muttered again and her gaze slowly diverted to Fred's, "It's your Dad" she slowly confessed
"It's Chris" she added again and this time tears had welled in her eyes, she almost broke down when she finished the statement but she acted strong and rubbed away the tears
"Mom why? Why Mom?" Lucy queried again, hurt and bitterness were written on her face and could be noted from her voice.
"I'm sorry Lucy" Doris muttered again hiding her own hurt
"No you're not Mom" Lucy backed. Right here, right now, she couldn't believe she's so selfish not to take regard of her mom's emotion but she can't just help it
"I'm twenty two Mom. I mean goddamn twenty two but I know nothing of my Dad and I've never met him. Fine! He's dead but I should know something about him, what am I saying?" She chuckled sadly and sarcastically
"I should know everything about my Dad, Mom" her voice was high now and she could see Doris bit her lower lip, something she seems to inherit from her which she does when she's angry, worried or sad
"I'm sorry Lucy" she said again and Lucy just sighed heavily and turned her head away. She's beginning to feel guilty, truthfully she was hurt but whatever it is she understand that her Mom is more hurt. She'd been grieving on an issue alone not willing to pour it out. Though she doesn't know anything about the story to how hurt it could be but she knew her Mom must have been keeping it for a reason.
"It's true you should know about it but you should also know that not letting you know about it is for a reason, it's for your safety. I just want to see you grow up happily and living a life of your own..."
"And running away from what might still come to kill us? Running away from danger?" Fred question interrupted her
"You're making us live a life of our own Mom, but not a free life" he added and stood up from beside Lucy and went to sit on the armchair beside Doris
"It's time Mom. It's time you let us know of whatever happened to our Dad, whatever the story is behind it. I want to know about my Dad or is that a sin?" Fred asked and paused
"I can't live a life of my own if I don't know my dad's story" he confessed plainly and Doris looked up and their gaze met, then he shook his head again in a way that meant 'I cant'
Doris sighed and her head's dropped, she nodded as if understanding and ready to tell them, then she started "The story is a bit far from my knowledge too, everything, all the incidents, they were connected from different angles but what I know is that Chris shouldn't die, he shouldn't have" she sniffed and was about wiped her eyes.
"Chris was a twin and here" she pointed at the guy standing at the right end in the picture
"is his twin brother, Charles. Well, they're orphans so they grew up with their uncle and in regard of what he did for them they has this dream to work together and build a charitable organization to help people like them. Chris and I started dating during our fourth year in high school but Linda and Charles has been dating before that, I think it was the third year..."
"Linda?" Lucy cuts in unbelievably
"Is that not Arthur's Mom?" She asked and Doris nodded lightly then she pointed out at Linda who was standing beside Charles, they were both in a side tight hug while Charles' left hand was crossing Linda's waist, the right one was folded tight with Linda's hand before them and she was happy, smiling so bright. She does not look too different but Lucy had concentrated her attention so much on his Dad and his twin that her mind had skipped that whoever is between them.
"She was the one dating dad's twin?" Fred asked suspiciously and Doris nodded
"Then she must have be the reason his heart was broken" he said and Doris instantly turned her head to him
"How do you know that?"
"Well, I do grab some lines of their conversation whenever we went for visit and they're discussing in the living room. Dad tried countless times to persuade him to find another girl but he refused saying he still love the girl and he's finding it hard to move on" he said and when Doris gave a 'kind of' look to him, he almost chuckle and replied "I might be a kid but I wasn't stupid"
Doris giggled and Lucy was happy her mood is lightening, maybe this is all she need, maybe this is all they need.
"I felt bad for Charles though, they'd started too long for Linda to just decided that they can't go on again. Though it wasn't her fault, Linda's Dad's business was going down seriously and they need to merge it with a big and successful one which happened to be High fantasy tech. Asides, the owner of High fantasy tech, Mr Bernard and Linda's Dad were best of friends from high school so merging their company together automatically came with Mr Bernard's son, Anderson getting married to Linda, Mr William's daughter"
"But that's stupid Mom, I don't think Mrs Linda love Dad's twin then" Lucy frowned
"No my dear, you just don't understand how it works and how bad Linda felt after knowing that'll be her fate, she loves Charles to the core but she couldn't successfully argue it out with her parents. She understood how badly the company was falling and they were going bankrupt, it was not easy with her parents and they were getting weak day by day facing different challenges coming due to the state of the company, from customers, banks and all that and when the only solution came, Mrs Williams doesn't have any choice but to persuade her daughter to do it and help them out. Mrs Williams is so nice and wouldn't want to hurt her daughter or make her unhappy but they had no choice since she was the only child and daughter and that's the only solution"
"But how do you know all these so well Mom?" Lucy asked
"Cause I lived with them" Doris replied and could notice the confused look from Lucy so she continued "Linda and I are not just best of friends, we're like sisters and we grew up together. My Dad worked as a chauffeur for Mr Williams but due to Mrs Williams' kindness and generosity, she took me in after my mom's death when I was three and since then I've been living with her."
"What caused her death?" Fred asked
"She died of labour, with the baby" Doris replied and Lucy winced
"But what of your Dad and Linda's parent's Mom? Where are they?" Lucy asked and her question was meant with another silence.
To be continued...
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