Chapter 3
1601 Words
Ava's POV
I wondered if I was being followed ...
"Ava." I heard a familiar voice say, so I tried squinting my eyes to see the person in front of me.
He walked up to me and I could finally see his face. "Since when do you drink?" He continued.
It was Ethan, Neil's friend. I was surprised. He is the last person I expected to see, though he was one of the few people who knew about my marriage to Neil.
"Ethan?, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, I guessed you were going to need a ride home, so I decided to come take you home."
"Thanks for worrying about me, Ethan, but I do not want to go home. I want to get away from all this, so I'll just go find a hotel to stay for the night."
"I won't let you do that, especially not now that you're about to get yourself drunk." He said and he was right. "Hop in, let's get you home."
"But I just said that I….." I was talking but he interrupted.
"We're going to my place, okay" he said.
" Your house?" I asked. But what if Neil……"
"..... Come on Ava, can you forget about Neil for a sec and get in the car!" He exclaimed and he was right again. I should stop thinking about Neil.
I got into the car...
We soon got to his apartment. It is a huge and magnificent mansion just like Neil's'. The marbled walls were what I marveled at. It was so beautiful. He parked his SUV and got down to help me out of the car.
I did not regret coming to Ethan's place. For a while, I felt happy. I almost did not remember what had happened. We soon had dinner, and he served a few drinks, which was just what I needed. Then we even started watching a movie. The movie was so long that I started to doze off.
I yawned." I need to go to bed…. Can you please show me to my room, or I could use the navigation map." I teased, grinning.
"About that…. My room is actually the only tidy room in the house" he said, smiling dryly. "You know I haven't hired a new housekeeper."
"Uh...ok. So I guess I'll just crash on the couch." I yawned again.
"Of course not. I cannot let you do that. You're the guest, so you should be in the master bedroom. I'll manage here, besides I'm not done with the movie.
"Are you sure about this?". I asked to confirm
"Yh. Absolutely." He said, smiling.
He led the way to his room on the second floor. The door was large and enormous.
"Here we are." He said, slowly opening the door. "Have a good night's rest Ava." He said as he left.
I did not have the time to admire the room because I was feeling so sleepy and my eyes were so heavy. But I did not drink as much. I wondered. I retired to bed, and soon I started to drift away reaching for oblivion….
I woke up with a splitting headache. Surprisingly, I was well tucked in bed. I did not remember tucking myself in or even taking my shoes off. Or was it Ethan? I gasped. I quickly checked under the sheets to be sure that he had not helped with changing my clothes either.
"Phew" I breathed in relief.
Knock knock!. I heard a sound at the door. I rushed to make the bed and get myself ready to go immediately. I walked slowly to open the door.
"What took you so long?" Ethan said as I opened the door. He was holding some clothes. "I got you these clothes so you could change." He said, raising the clothes.
"Uh...thanks. But you do not have to, I'll manage"
"Really, you know you still reek of alcohol." Then he gave me that look that I could not refuse. "Just take it and go get change." He said, giving me the clothes. "And be down in five minutes so we can get going." He said as he left.
*******
I insisted that he shouldn't have to drive me home, so he drove me to the nearest bus stop. As I sat in the bus stand waiting for a bus, I thought about where I would go and after a while I decided to go to my parents'. To see my dad.
I soon got to my house. At first, I was happy, but what I did not know was what was coming to me…
"Hi Ms Meredith. How are you doing?." I greeted our housekeeper and nanny who was busy in the small garden we had on the porch.
"So good to see you, Mrs. Adams." Ms.Merideth responded.
Ms. Meridith was Scarlett's childhood nanny, but she took good care of me too. My mom would often scold her, telling her to focus only on Scarlett. She still found time for me and did not make me feel left out. We exchanged pleasantries as I went inside.
I hoped I wouldn't have any argument with my mom, but I did not know she was waiting for my return.
"You still have the guts to show your ugly face here, after the scene you caused yesterday?" My mom said as I entered.
"Mom, please I do not want any trouble and are you not supposed to be worried that I have not shown up since yesterday?. What if something bad happened to me?" I said.
My dad came into the sitting room when he heard my voice.
"Well, I'll be grateful it would have been a dream come true." My mom responded dryly.
"What dream?". I asked
"My dream of finally getting rid of you." My mom yelled. She looked drunk. "I regret ever letting you into my life." She continued.
"Uh… Ava, don't mind what your mom says. You know she's drunk." I heard my father say from behind.
Something sounds off. I thought. Were they hiding something from me? I was annoyed. "What are you trying to say mom!.... Why did you regret giving birth to me? Is it because I was born with a little scar on my face!.... Tell me!! Why?!" I exclaimed, yelling back at my mom.
My mom suddenly burst into laughter. "Ha ha ha…. I can never give birth to a piece of trash like you."
"What do you mean? So am I some bastard you found on the street?" I asked, already looking confused.
"Elizabeth! That's enough!" My dad said to her.
"C'mon Martin, I think it's time we told her the truth so she can stop bugging our lives with her bad luck." Elizabeth said..
"We already talked about this so please stop." My dad begged her. They kept arguing as I stood there speechless.
I froze, no longer attentive to what they were saying. I was overwhelmed and confused. What were my parents talking about? As I tried to process it, I felt a lump in my throat. This was the first time I had seen my mom drunk but all the things she had been saying to me, I wondered if they were true.
"Can you both stop!" I yelled with the remaining strength I had in me. There was a pin-drop silence. I slowly turned to look at my dad. He gave me that same look he had given yesterday, at the wedding. He looked at me with pity.
Realization had just dawned on me. I was not treated as part of the family because I was never a part to begin with!....
SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA
"Lionel! I need you to see this video", Marilyn said to her husband as he came out of the bathroom.
"Darling what is it?" Lionel asked as he came to see the video Marilyn was showing to him." He checked the video,
"What about it?" Lionel asked.
"The girl in that video looks a lot like Bethany. Can't you see that?" she said.
He paused for a while and went ahead to start getting dressed. "We talked about this already, Marilyn. We have to move on, remember. We have to accept the fact that Beth is not coming back."
"It's been twenty years, Lionel and the girl in that viral wedding video look about Bethany's age and the scar looks almost alike too," Marilyn explained, trying to convince him.
" We've seen similar faces and the same scar. So how will she be any different?" he said.
"I can just try one more time. After all, a DNA test is all we need, even if it would cost a billion dollars to get this one done, it is not a big deal." She replied.
"I'm not so sure about this, and I don't want you to get upset again when you find out she's not the one."
"Don't worry, my love, I won't, and I promise this will be the last" she said, adjusting his tie.
He scoffed. "You said that the last time". They both chuckled.
"Okay, yeah I know I did, but I have a really good feeling about her this time" she looked up at him smiling.
"Fine. You can go ahead and do it, but don't think about it too much. I don't want you to have another session with the
doctor just because of this."
"Sure," Marilyn said excitedly. "I'd better call Aaron now so he can get me the information I'll need. We will be going to New York soon.
- Writer
