by J. A. Delese
“Yes,” she said,
He felt happy. She said she liked it! Suddenly all those worries disappeared. She said she liked it! What more could he expect than this! He smiled.
“Would you like to try it on?” he asked.
She hesitated for a second, but nodded. He took it out from the box and moved to the other side of the table. He stood behind her and put the necklace around her neck. He felt happy but guilty at the same time. He was supposed to give her a ring, not a necklace. He was supposed to kneel down now.
She looked at herself through the window reflection. The diamonds of the necklace sparkled in the light. He touched the necklace and touched her neck. She looked so beautiful now. He wanted to kiss her, so he bent his back, but the door opened and a waiter brought more food in. He cleared his throat softly and went back to his seat. The waiter poured more wine in his glass and also hers, but he accidentally spilled the wine on the table as well as her skirt. She flinched away from the table. The waiter put down the wine bottle and tried to wipe her skirt, but the bottle fell down on the table again and more wine spilled on the floor.
“What are you DOING?” He stood up from his seat and yelled at him.
“I’m…I’m terribly sorry, your grace! I’m so sorry, Madam!”
“It’s okay,” she answered. “I think I’d better wash my hands first.”
She stood from the chair with her hands wet.
“Sure,” he said.
He opened the door for her. She walked out to the restroom, and the manager came in and saw the spilled wine. Tom complained to the manager about what happened. The waiter apologized again and the manager also apologized, but he was still angry.
“He poured the wine on my wife’s dress!”
“I’m terribly sorry, your grace. We will pay back for the dress. Sincerely apologize—”
The manager continued to talk, but he wasn’t listening. He felt shocked at what he had said. He said my wife. He checked the manager’s face, but it seemed the manager didn’t really notice or care about what he said. He breathed out a secret sigh of relief.
“We would like to compensate for the dress,” the manager said politely.
“No need for that. Leave, if you are done,” he said coldly.
The staff apologized one more time before leaving the room. He just waved a hand in acknowledgement. When the staff closed the door behind him, he closed his eyes and leaned back on the chair. He couldn’t believe he said that.
What is going on….
He didn’t like this. He was totally losing control of what he said.
This is not good.
He shook his head. He didn’t like what was happening today. This should be a beautiful day for them. She should be happy to be his wife and finally she should open her heart to him. Instead she was….
What is taking her so long?
He turned his head and looked at the door. It was taking longer than it was supposed to. He felt something was wrong. He walked out of the room and found her on the other side of the hallway. She was smiling to a stranger.
What the….
He walked toward them. It was just a short distance, but he felt like he was walking for more than ten minutes. It seemed like a man was saying something to her and she was happy to hear it. She was even smiling at this guy. Truly, he didn’t like it.
Why is she smiling? Who is that man? Is she planning to escape again?
So many questions popped up in his head as he was walking.
I should have put the guards inside of the restaurant, not outside!
Since this restaurant had only one entrance, he put the guards near the entrance. Actually, he didn’t even feel it was necessary to put guards on tonight, because he would be with her every single second for tonight. He, however, was wrong. Here she found a chance to talk to an outsider and smile at him in a way that he hadn’t seen since the night of the opera. He couldn’t tell which one made him angrier.
He almost ran to her and grabbed her wrist. She looked shocked and looked up at him, but he didn’t care. What he minded was that she was smiling at another man. He looked fiercely at the guy who was talking to her.
“Oh! I just fell down beside this lady!” the man said kindly.
He didn’t even say anything back to the guy. He just dragged her back to the room and slammed the door behind him.
“Who is that man?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“What did you tell him?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she answered, but her voice shook with fear.
He moved closer to her and grabbed her neck.
“Did you tell him who you are?”
“No, I didn’t,” she squeezed her voice out to answer. He looked at her dark eyes. He wanted to know what she was thinking now. To be honest, he wanted to ask something else. He wanted to ask why it was so difficult for him to see her smile. She even smiled to a stranger! Why was it so difficult for him to see it? He wanted to ask why don’t you ever smile at me, but before he could speak, someone knocked on the door. He loosened his hand. She coughed several times behind him, but he turned his body toward the door and saw the manager come in. He brought food to serve in person, but Tom wasn’t in the mood to eat here more.
“No need for that. We are leaving now,” he said and grabbed her arm to walk out. They walked out of the restaurant and got in the car to go back home. He didn’t want it to be this way, but it just wasn’t the day for them. He chose a wrong day. He hit the car door with his fist, but realized that she was scared beside him. So he controlled himself a bit.
“You know what I’m going to do, if you do anything stupid,” he said.
“I know,” she answered right away.
She turned her head and looked outside of the window, but he kept looking at her. He looked at her until they reached at his house.
Nate
He came back to the office and checked his email. It seemed his boss also liked what he had written, so he could add it to next week’s article. He informed his colleagues and walked through the corridor to meet with the photographers.
“Hey! Nate!”
He turned back to see the person who called his name. It was his colleague, Eliot.
“Hey! How have you been?” he said cheerfully.
“Fine! How about you?” Eliot asked.
“Fine, too!”
“Good for you, huh. You know, hmm, I met your brother yesterday.”
“Oh! How’s is he doing?” Nate asked causally.
“Well, fine, I guess? I couldn’t really tell because I didn’t exactly meet him, I guess. I think I should say I saw him.”
Nate frowned. What was he talking about?
“What does that mean?” Nate asked.
“I bumped into a girl and fell down, so I was saying sorry to her and suddenly your brother showed up and snatched her away,” Eliot said a little incredulously.
“What?”
“Yeah! So I couldn’t even say hello to him. Though, he obviously didn’t remember me. You know, last time I saw him, I was about to say hello and suddenly Jeff asked me to help, so I couldn’t—” Eliot kept talking, but Nate wasn’t listening.
He was with a girl.
It’d been a long time since he’d heard his brother was in a relationship. It was normal for Tom to go out with a girl, but what he heard from Rebecca still bugged him.
“What did the girl look like?” Nate asked.
“Huh?” Eliot asked back as if he didn’t understand the question.
“Describe her, please,” Nate answered right away.
“Well…she was…she was Asian and quite tall and slim. Pretty, I can say. She was wearing a black dress—”
Again, Eliot continued to talk, but Nate wasn’t listening. Only the word Asian echoed in his ears. He was with Asian girl and Catherine was Asian!
No way. He shook his head. Maybe it’s somebody else. Catherine is not the only Asian in this world. This
doesn’t mean anything. This doesn’t mean he is a monster! It cannot be her. Why would he do that to her? He can have any girls he wants! He won’t do that!
He tried to convince himself, but he remembered the day he introduced Tom to her. He felt strange at the moment. Tom had never asked to be introduced to a stranger. Seriously, that was the first time, and after they were introduced, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Nate even felt he had a crush on her.
“Nate? Hey, Nate?” Eliot was waving his hands in front of Nate’s face and calling him.
“Is everything okay?” Eliot asked.
“Yeah, I need to go and check something.”
“Okay. Then would you tell your brother what exactly happened. I think he misunderstood what I was doing. Maybe he thought I was hitting on her—”
“Yes, I will make sure he understands,” Nate snapped and walked out of the office.
Should I call him? No, he won’t tell me the truth.
He remembered the night he called Tom after drinking several bottles of beer. He was drunk, but he clearly remembered the talk they had over the phone.
“Please tell me you are not related to this.”
“No, I’m not.” he said.
He said he’s not! HE SAID HE’S NOT! He shouted back in his head. How could you lie to me, Tom! How could you do this!
Nate wanted to call him and talk to him, so he pulled his phone out from his pocket.
I’d better see with my own eyes!
He made sure he had his phone and rushed to Tom’s house.
When he arrived at the entrance, there were guards as he expected. They stopped him and told him that no one can go into the house without permission. Nate tried his best to act normal, and Susan opened the door at the right moment.
“See? My brother already called her. What’s wrong with you, guys? If you don’t trust what I’m saying, you can call him and ask him about this,” he said and walked into the house as naturally as he could. As soon as the door closed behind him, he rushed to the living room and looked around to find her.
She’s not here!
He felt relieved. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe the girl Eliot saw was not Catherine. Yeah, there were so many Asian girls in this world. It couldn’t be Catherine. He smiled and turned back, but Susan was there. Her face looked worried. Nate could feel that she was trying to say something. He felt anxious and asked, “Is she…here?”
She nodded. Nate dropped his mouth open. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t believe it. So, Catherine was here all this time?
“Where is she?” he asked again.
Susan lifted her finger and pointed at the door at the corner. Nate walked closer to the door and knocked, but there was no response. He thought of waiting, but he knew there wasn’t enough time, so he just opened the door.
God no….
She was there. She was crouched beside the window and looking at him. Her face showed surprise, but she looked a bit different. She was different from the girl he knew. She looked skinnier and…
Lifeless.
It wasn’t the Catherine he knows before—the girl who was always so confident and lively. This girl looked totally different. She looked like a patient who had suffered from an illness for a long time. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. Was this really her?
“Catherine?” he called her name.
“Hello, Nate,” she smiled and said.
He didn’t know why, but his eyes filled with tears. He couldn’t believe what was happening. So, for more than a year, Patrick had been telling the truth. His brother abducted Catherine and locked her up in his house like a pet. Tears fell from his eyes.
“I didn’t know you were here,” he said.
She didn’t say anything back. She just turned her head back to the window.
“Catherine,” he called her name again. He approached her and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Is he keeping you here…?” he asked, but he can’t finish the words. She still didn’t say anything back, just stared at his eyes. Nate felt that she was hesitant to answer to his question.
“Against your will?” he completed his question. He could tell that her eyes darkened at what he said.
This is ridiculous.
He thought he knew his brother. He thought his brother wouldn’t do such a thing. He thought Tom was a very moral man. He was so proud of his elder brother.
I was wrong. I was an idiot.
Nate shook his head and clenched his fists.
“Let’s go, Cathy. You don’t need to be here.” he said. He grabbed her wrist and walked out of the room with her, but when they walked into the living room, the guards were there, blocking them.
“Sorry, sir. She is not allowed to leave,” one of the guard said.
“Move,” Nate answered shortly.
“We won’t, sir. Only you are allowed to leave this house.”
“Who told you that? Tom? Did he ask you to LOCK HER UP HERE?” he asked in anger.
“Sir, if you don’t leave now, you’ll be forced to leave,” the guard said firmly.
Nate was about to say something back, but he felt Catherine trembling. He turned back and looked at her. She was trying to tug her hand away from him.
“Cathy…?”
He really didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t even believe what he was seeing now. What the hell did he do to her? Why was this happening in his family?
“Sir,” the guard asked again.
The guards took several steps closer to them, and Nate quickly thought about what was the best way out of this. He didn’t want to, but it seemed like he should take a long detour to solve this problem. He looked at the guys straight.
“Alright,” he answered.
He turned back to Catherine and grabbed her arms.
“I’ll be back again. I promise you, Cathy. I’ll make sure you go back home safely,” he said in a firm tone, looking at her eyes, but still, she didn’t say anything back to him.
Tom
He came out of the meeting room. These days, the meetings last longer than they’re supposed to. He checked his phone. He saw several missed calls from Mr. Macson. He knew something was wrong, so he called Mr. Macson right away.
“There has been an incident. Your brother visited the house and tried to release her.”
He opened his eyes wide and eventually closed them.
Finally Nate found out….
He knew this would happen, so he was neither shocked nor angry. Instead, he felt scared. He felt the time was coming—the time he had to let her go.
He hung up the phone and stood still in the middle of the corridor. He was thinking about what he should do. Should he convince Nate? Can he be convinced about this?
No, it won’t be easy.
Then, should he fight with Nate?
Then what? Are you going to kill your own brother?
He breathed out heavily and got in the elevator. When the elevator door opened, he could see a young man with dark blonde hair. The secretaries were standing there and studying his face. It was Nate. Honestly, he felt embarrassed that Nate visited him in the office, but he didn’t show how he felt now.
“Hello, Nate,” he said normally.
Nate turned back and stared at him fiercely.
“Come in,” he said, opening the door.
“Let’s talk inside.”
Nate quietly followed behind him. He was about to say what he had heard, but Nate grabbed him by the collar abruptly and pushed him to the door.
“You son of bitch!” Nate shouted.
“Don’t say that. We have the same mother,” he said as he violently shook Nate’s hands off.
“Send her back,” Nate said.
“To where?”
“To anywhere she wants to go. ARE YOU OUT OF YOU MIND?”
Yes, I am, Tom answered in his head.
“If not? Are you going to report it to the police? I will make her say that she volunteered to stay with me.
No one’s going to believe what you are saying.”
“I got one better than that,” Nate answered back. “Let her go. Otherwise I’m going to write about this, and the whole world will see your true face.”
“Really? Then how about father and mother? Huh? Do you think they’ll be fine after that? We are a family, so you should trust me for—”
“I don’t fucking trust you anymore. You’d better take what I’m saying seriously. Send her back now or you’ll see your face all over the newspaper by tomorrow morning,” Nate snapped and walked out of his office.
After Nate left the office, Tom stood there for a while. He rubbed his face with both hands and sat in his chair. He leaned back in his seat. He struggled to calm himself and think things through, but he failed. He pounded the desk with his fist.
Why is this so difficult? Why does it have to be in this way? He asked the same questions that he had asked himself more than a hundred times already. Of course, he couldn’t find the answer as usual. He had never seen Nate that angry before.
Would he really do it? He asked himself.
Given what he said, yes. Tom thought Nate would do it.
He doesn’t understand me.
Of course, he doesn’t. How could he? Nate was far younger than them and he didn’t really remember his older sister. Nate would never understand why he was so obsessed with her. Nate probably thought he was doing this for fun, but the truth was, it was not fun at all. Even he was in pain doing this. He leaned back in the seat.
Let her go.
He closed his eyes and imagined his life without her. He imagined the bed without her. The days without her would have no difference. He hadn’t seen her during the daytime, even on the weekends for a long time, but the night without her…that would be a totally different story. He wouldn’t touch her soft skin. He wouldn’t feel her warmth whenever he slept. He wouldn’t hear her sweet voice near his ears.
And the endless nightmare will start all over again….
He shook his head roughly. He didn’t want to go back to what he used to be—every night waking up from nightmares. He had to either drink alcohol or take sleeping pills to avoid them for the past twenty years, but ever since she came to his house, he didn’t have to do any of these and could sleep without nightmares.