Her Fake Lover

Chapter 42

"Do you really love Darren?" Emmeline asked.

Lea looked at her seriously. "Of course. I've told you that many times. I really love him."

Emmeline tried to smile, though stiffly. "Um—okay. Calm down. I'm just asking. And I want to know too. What can you tolerate from Darren? What about him can you forgive, and what can you not forgive?"

Lea looked at Emmeline while furrowing her brows. "Why do you ask like that?"

"Aren't we here to talk to each other? It's okay isn't it, if I ask like that? That way you can also analyze your own feelings."

Lea was silent. She lowered her head for a moment. Her gaze then began to wander after that as she said, "A lot of things. I don't know, Emmy. But what I feel right now is that I love him very much. Maybe with this feeling, I will be able to tolerate a lot of things from him. The most important thing is that he is by my side and loves me. That's enough for me."

Emmeline gasped for a moment as she looked at Lea. Her eyes suddenly felt heavy. Emmy really had a tight feeling in her chest. "Then ask him if he loves you," Emmeline said later.

Lea looked at Emmeline carefully. "Is that necessary?"

"Didn't you just say what matters most to you is he loves you? You might need to confirm." Emmeline met Lea's eyes. Lea's gaze turned to Emmeline seriously. Emmeline looked at her seriously too.

Emmy's gaze seemed to enter Lea's mind, far beyond the reach of her physical senses, and Lea seemed to want to understand the meaning of Emmeline's words seriously by reading Emmeline's emotions through her eyes.

Emmeline withdrew her gaze. "It's late, Lea. Go to sleep."

Emmeline turned her back to Lea for a moment—which she did on purpose, but Lea's words stopped her again. "You haven't answered my question. What did Darren tell you when he saw you this morning?"

Emmeline stopped her movements, stunned for a moment at the question. It lasted for a few seconds. Emmy then closed her eyes for a moment firmly to stop any trajectory of emotion that was taking over her. She put a smile on her face, and turned back to face Lea. "He's talking about the slanted news," said Emmeline with a smile.

Lea took a quick breath. "Oh, it makes sense that he would feel guilty about that. It has an impact on your image."

Emmeline's hand grabbed Lea's head. She stroked Lea's hair for a moment. "It's late, Lea. Get some rest!" it practically stopped Lea's words, or her desire to say more. Lea smiled.

"Okay. You're right. Good night. Oh, Emmy! Tomorrow when you meet Corbin at Brilfaxa, please give him my regards. Tell him to come back to Elderville-Bryxton soon. That would be very nice."

Emmeline was silent for a moment. But then smiled after that. "Okay."

Lea said goodnight again and left Emmeline's room.

Emmeline, left inside with mixed feelings.

Morning was approaching. It was time for Emmeline to take Annaliese back to Paris, to collect some of her belongings as well as finish some business before going home and having a few days vacation in Brilfaxa.

Emmeline and Anna also took a little time to visit several places in Paris, as well as to take advantage of their time together. Having had enough with all the preparations, it was only on the second day after they were in Paris that they began to leave France for Italy.

"I told Auntie that we were leaving today," said Anna.

"Really? Then what did Aunt Aude say?"

"She said she was happy. She was waiting for us," answered Anna.

Emmeline smiled.

Time went on. Switch from hour to hour. Emmeline and Annaliese, had traveled enough, to bring them into the city of Brilfaxa. Anna began to tell many things as they greeted the streets of the city, heading towards Mrs. Aude Altieri's house. Emmeline, listen to it with pleasure.

"We'll be there soon, Miss Karfis," said Anna. They were still in the taxi. Emmeline felt a little nervous for a moment, and she didn't know why.

Only about ten minutes later, since Anna said that, they actually arrived at a house that Anna introduced as her home.

"Come on, Miss, let's go in."

"This is your new house?"

Annaliese smiled cheerfully. "Apparently you remember when I said Corbin built a house for Aunt. Yes, it is. But our old house still stands on the same plot of land. Look!" Anna pointed to another corner above the vast land. Apparently true. Emmy saw another house standing there, with a more classic model. One thing that caught Emmy's attention, was a small building, resembling a simple little house, which was on the side of the old house. For a moment Emmeline remembered Corbin's story about his brother's humble cottage near the house.

"Oh," breathed Emmeline. Felt began to recognize what she saw. But she didn't get enough chance to pay attention to the small building. Her hand had been pulled by Annaliese at that time.

It only took a minute to actually reach the door of the house. Emmeline took a deep breath as if getting ready, while Annaliese was still gibberish saying many things that ended in the sentence, "My aunt must have missed me a lot, because I miss her too much."

Annaliese's eyes widened, seeing that the door to the house had been opened before she could do anything. Someone came out from inside.

A woman who was no longer young. However, her face was bright and cheerful. Her body was ideally slim and well-built. Her hair was short in a slightly masculine style, which was almost entirely bleached. Her laugh was crisp, and covered her entire face. That's what it looked like when she welcomed her favorite niece. She said she was just opening the door just in case Anna would come soon, not knowing that her young girl was already right at the door. Anna did contact her a while ago, that's why Aude had prepared.

Emmeline, was standing on the other side then. It wouldn't be seen immediately if Aude's focus was only on someone at the door. But of course it didn't take long. After a few seconds of hugging Annaliese while saying expressions of joy and telling each other that they missed each other, Aude's attention quickly turned to someone accompanying her niece back home. Someone that Aude also really wanted to meet. Someone who silenced Aude for a while, her eyes seemed to convey a thought that was difficult to understand, and it was only after a few seconds of silence that she began to draw closer to Emmeline.

"Auntie, this is Miss Emmeline Karfis. You must have recognized her face. She came here to fulfill Aunty's request," said Anna. Aude, however, had been lost in her own feelings. Her cheerful laugh that had come out lightly when she greeted Anna, now seemed to be trapped by a certain feeling. She smiled at Emmeline, clasped her hands together and caressed Emmeline's cheeks. "You, Miss Karfis?"

Emmeline smiled too. "Yes, Mrs Altieri. I—"

"Ah, can you just call me aunty? Aunt Aude, like how Anna and Corbin call me," Aude interrupted, her hand still caressing Emmeline's cheek.

"Oh," Emmeline was slightly taken aback by the impressive hospitality, and it made her smile. "All right, Aunt Aude. I'm Emmeline Karfis."

"Oh, my God. I'm glad you're here now."

Unbeknownst to them, someone was standing a few steps away from all of them, watching what was happening, and everyone there only realized his whereabouts after he called his aunt, "Aunt Aude."

Everyone suddenly turned to him. "Corbin!" cried Anna. The girl rushed to her older brother and hugged him tightly. Emmeline smiled at her.

"Anna, didn't your brother just come from Paris a while ago? You're acting like you haven't seen your broter in years," Aude commented, but Annaliese didn't seem to care.

Corbin, accepted his sister's embrace, but his eyes were fixed on Emmeline. They looked at each other in silence.

Anna let go of her arms after a while. "I'm home, Corbin. I did what you asked."

"Hmm." Corbin nodded his head.

Corbin then looked back at Emmeline, and then walked towards Emmeline. "I'll bring your suitcase."

Emmeline was silent and just obeyed. Aude immediately withdrew her hand and said, "Come on, honey. We're going in."

Emmeline was still staring at Corbin for a few steps when Aude pulled her in, before then averting her eyes due to the growing distance. From inside the house she heard Anna tease her brother, "Enough of staring at each other. Let's go inside, Corbin!"

In her heart, Emmeline was still wondering, how could Aude Altieri be so friendly to her. That was their first time meeting. But as if to Aude, she was entertaining one of her relatives.

***