Adrian
Adrian
"You should let her be. She cannot run away from this. None of them can." Grandmother said gently.
Mrs King didn't think so. She looked at her husband for his backing but he simply nodded to what his mother had said. "Chloe can take care of herself."
"But—" Mrs King was about to protest but Grandmother gave her no chance to.
"Just let her be. I already spoke with Maria a few days ago. Everything is going to be fine. Now, over to you two—"
"What do you think about Leo's woman?" She asked, looking pointedly at her son and daughter in law.
"We do not know much about her. The guests all have to leave first before we make a decision." Mr King said calmly while his wife nodded in agreement.
"Make a decision? She is a nice girl. Sweet and shy. If Leo likes her, we should let them be. You know all he has been through—"
"Mother... we cannot just let anyone into our family just like that. There are a lot of ladies who would kill to have an opportunity like this and we wouldn't want that to happen or for a gold digger to approach him and leave him broken just like that witch did. And I won't lie to you and tell you I am pleased with what you did by organising this party before you told us about it." Mrs King said with a displeased look while her husband touched her hand to keep her from speaking further.
"This is my family. This is my home and he is my grandson. If I want to throw a party for my grandson, I'll do just that because I am happy for him and I'll support my family no matter what." She placed a hand on her daughter in-law's shoulder gently.
"My grandkids share the same DNA with me so they are closer to me than you are to me. So do not expect me to take permission from you before I do things." She gave her a smile before walking away from their presence.
Mrs King's hands balled as she stood there and stared blankly.
"It's fine." Her husband said softly.
"Nothing is fine! Your mother keeps treating me that way! She has no regard for me at all—"
"My sister is coming this way." He warned quickly.
Automatically, a smile formed on Mrs King's face.
"Hello Tracy!" She said with a smile which perfectly concealed how pissed she was.
*******
"When was the last time I saw you? Seven years? You have grown to be a beauty." Mrs Wesley said to Chloe with a gentle smile.
Chloe couldn't smile back no matter how hard she tried to. At this point, she wished she had her mother's talent to always fake a smile no matter what was wrong with her.
"Mrs Wesley." She managed to greet with a curt bow.
"It's fine. You can call me Maria. How have you been child?" She asked sweetly. Chloe couldn't tell whether she was genuinely asking her or just faking it.
"I'm... sorry Mrs— Maria." Chloe looked down guiltily.
Maria smiled. "Enough of that dear. I saw you from across the room and almost didn't recognize you. You look so pretty. I have always imagined you were going to be pretty when you grew older but this.... blew me away." She complimented.
"I... really do... not know what... to... say." She sniffed. She could feel tears already stinging her eyes.
Maria was quiet for a while before she spoke..
"I wanted to apologize to you Chloe." She took Chloe's hand and squeezed it gently.
Chloe's head shot up and she gave her a confused look. Apologize? Why?
"I treated you badly. I shouldn't have. You were such a fragile girl and I should have considered your feelings but I was blinded and treated you the way I did. I was wrong."
Chloe could tell she meant it. Her eyes were glistening with tears and she looked so sincere which broke Chloe's heart. Maria's hand went to Chloe's face to clean off the tears which had escaped Chloe's eyes without her knowing.
"I am sorry dear. I'm sure Adrian must have been pissed at me for the way I treated you."
Chloe shook her head stubbornly. "It was my fault. It had nothing to do with you. I caused everythi—"
"Shhhh... accidents do happen Chloe. You didn't give him foot cramps when he was swimming."
Chloe finally burst into tears as she remembered that day.
"I... shouldn't have... asked him to go... with me."
Seeing how Chloe could no longer stop her tears, Maria hugged her.
Adrian, an only child, had been the nicest person Chloe knew. Her childhood friend who always followed her about and promised her he would marry her. It had gotten to a point where she really believed they would both get married in the future. He was really soft, just like Jeremy was. Jeremy reminded her of him.
Adrian always cared for people. Whenever he saw anyone who was sick, he always led them to her family's hospital and asked his parents to pay the bills. It was the same with animals. His dream had been to own an animal shelter one day. Chloe had thought he was silly for being the way he was.
When his father died, he had been so devastated. He cried for long and she had been there to console him but when she could no longer handle his gloominess, she had invited him to swim with her in their pool since she knew how much he loved swimming even though he wasn't a very good swimmer.
He had flatly refused but she forced him to her house. When he was still reluctant to swim because he was very tired and hungry, she pushed him into the pool and laughed when she frowned at her. It didn't take long for him to relax and begin to swim.
She had told him she was going to go make him something to eat and had refused to stay with him when he begged her to. She thought after swimming and eating, he was going to be fine.
But by the time she returned....
The CCTV had showed how he was struggling in the water and they found out he had a foot cramp after she left.
In two weeks, Maria lost her husband and her son. Her only family.
She had taken her anger out on Chloe and forbade her from coming to his funeral or anywhere close to her.
In school, Chloe heard a lot of whispers around talking about how she killed a boy. It had been too much for her that her parents had to move her to another school.
She had been carrying that guilt with her for seven full years. She tried to do the things Adrian liked, out of guilt. She didn't care about people but she had to start caring for the weak and sick people and even animals because she believed Adrian would have done it had he been alive. She didn't celebrate her birthdays because Adrain was not alive to celebrate his. It was also difficult being close to people because she feared something bad may also happen to them because of her.
Even when she dated David, the guilt had still been there with her. When his family went bankrupt and his father died, something told her it was probably her bad luck. It was another reason she had continued to help David out.
Her life was a mess. But she was thankful for her family and Amara. Amara never left her and continued to be her friend despite everything.
"At a young age, you got to see your best friend that way and instead of living like other teenagers and having fun, you got to blame yourself for it. That was unfair." Maria said with a sad sigh.
"Adrian's supposed to turn 24 next week. I was thinking about doing a little remembrance for him and invite his friends. And.. I would like you to come." She pulled away from the hug to look at Chloe's teary face. Maria also had tears in her eyes.
"I always thought you were going to be my daughter in-law. I hope you still see me as a mother despite all I did and said to you?"
Chloe nodded.
"Thank you. And thank you for forgiving me Chloe. I hope from now, you no longer bear the burden and blame yourself for it. Accidents do happen."
Chloe wished she could think that way. But she couldn't. She still dreamt about that day and she knew it was her fault no matter what anyone said. She was going to carry this burden for the rest of her life. It was her punishment.