Chapter 46

Ethan

No matter how forward you move on, your past will catch up to you at some point in life.

The secrets would never stay hidden forever. One's past will grasp you and pull you back as you run away from it. And that happens especially when you are living the peak moments in the present. How off-putting that fact is.

Who would've thought I would meet that one person from my past when I was living my best life with my family and friends?

"Olivia." I greeted looking at the woman who stood in front of me dressed in some type of summer dress. She looked the same without any major changes as if she hadn't aged a day since our college.

Lauren glanced between us with a frown while playing with her handbag strap. I took her hand in mine as I could see her nervousness creeping up. Lauren gets nervous in front of strangers.

"Ethan, how are you?" Olivia's lips pulled into a wide smile with genuine surprise in her eyes.

Now, this is new.

Olivia never smiles. A genuine smile at that...okay?

I met Olivia in high school and we started dating in our college. She is a pretty girl with long legs and flawless face. She used to be the prettiest girl with her personality that has less words and more plotting all the time.

She has her friends and she hangs out only with them. When she isn't with them she hangs out with me and Chris. Ryan never liked her so he avoided her for the most part while Chris didn't even cared about her presence. I, on the other hand, liked the thought of the pretty girl clinging to my arm all the time. So, I agreed to be in a relationship when she confessed her feelings to me. Well later when I realized how she played with me and Chris, I never looked back at her. Till now.

"Good." I gave her a curt nod and when she faced Lauren, I stepped up introducing her although I wanted to do the exact opposite.

"And this is my wife, Lauren." I spoke turning towards the woman beside me.

At the mention of the word wife, Olivia's eyes widened but she quickly composed herself giving us another smile.

"Nice meeting you, Lauren. I'm Olivia." Lauren shook her hand and I'm surprised Olivia hadn't shown her bitchy attitude yet.

"Do you live here?" she asked me curiously, the smile still on her face. Olivia looks good when she smiles but Lauren is just whole another world. Her smile can light up the whole city but Olivia's never did before.

"Here? No. In a house? Yes." I spoke looking around the restaurant I'm in.

I and Lauren agreed to meet grandpa as it has been a long time since we last visited him. As grandpa loves the food from this restaurant, I decided to buy some food from here, so here we are. I would have expected anything before coming here but meeting Olivia wasn't one.

"You've changed." she announced looking at me curiously. Lauren hid her frown pretty well but now I know her well enough to gauge the hidden reaction.

"Changed how?" I asked not even curious to listen to Olivia's answer but I played along for now.

"I only knew cold, arrogant Ethan in the past. This sarcastic, witty Ethan is new for me." She answered with a small smile and I guess I have to credit Lauren for that change in me.

"People change, Olivia." I replied nonchalantly and Olivia nodded at me shifting her big blue eyes back and forth between Lauren and me.

"I know. I did too." She gave me a small smile and Lauren gave her a smile. It was a small smile but not a tightlipped one or fake.

"Good for you." I spoke and she nodded her head.

We stayed silent for a moment and just when I shifted to leave clutching Lauren's hand in mine, Olivia stopped us.

"I'm sorry for everything I did in the past, Ethan. I still feel bad about what I did to this day. I regretted what I did and that was why I disappeared from here. From all of your lives. But just know that I'm really sorry for everything." she spoke looking down as if she is ashamed of everything she did in the past.

Maybe she is or she is just pretending. I can't trust her. She is a snake who sheds her skin all the time.

What she did was unforgiving.

The way she dated me and tried sleeping with Chris at the same time. Maybe she was drunk or high, but the fact remains she was ready to cheat on me. With my best friend at that, the audacity of  her baffles me. Her actions brought a few differences between me and Chris in the past.

"Hmm."

"You must be having plans. How about we catch up some other time?" She asked with hope evident in her eyes.

"No thanks." I gave a fake smile making sure its fake enough for her.

"Ethan..."

"No, Olivia. And we are busy." I spoke glancing at her for a final time before walking out along with Lauren.

Far away from Olivia.

Far away From my past.

***

"I missed you, grandpa." I watched as Lauren hugged the old man tightly for a moment before releasing him from her clutches with a light giggle while grandpa chuckled at her actions.

"I highly doubt it given you never came back here after your wedding." Grandpa playfully glared at Lauren while she tried giving him her puppy eyes to which he glared even more.

"I agree I didn't come here since then but I called you regularly, grandpa." Lauren spoke taking his hand in hers while I stood behind them. I'm pretty sure I'm invisible at this point. Lauren has a way of snatching the spotlight around the people she loves and I'm glad that she loves my grandpa just like hers.

"I can forgive you for that, I think." Grandpa glanced at her for a moment and a big grin crawled up on his face looking at Lauren's big smile on her pretty face. My heart swelled looking at that angelic face of hers. And that shine in her eyes with that beautiful smile just made me want to pause the time and look at her like this forever. Nothing else except us.

"Thank you, grandpa." Lauren hugged him again and after a moment of embrace his eyes finally fell on me. Hmm, I think my invisibility cloak is finally losing its charm.

"How are you Grandpa?" I asked him stepping up towards him. He smiled at me and patted my shoulder with so much love that I can feel it in my bones. I looked down at the old man who had so much importance in my life. He was a father figure in my life after after I lost my father. He has always been there for me in one way or the other. I guess, I have to thank him for what I am in my life right now. If it wasn't for him, I would have never met a woman that I adore with all my heart, let alone marry her.

"12989." He spoke making a frown on his face and I pulled my eyebrows together looking at him.

"What?" Lauren asked the question before I could. Grandpa rounded his eyes at her before returning them back to me.

"This is the 12989th time you called me Grandpa even though I've told you billion times to call me James." He glared at me and I couldn't roll my eyes anymore than I did now. He is dramatic in that way.

"Fine, James. How are you?" I played along with a smile on my face.

"See, that wasn't so hard."

Lauren chuckled at grandpa's words and I shook my head lightly at them.

"I'm good, son." he answered.

"I heard that you refuse to take your medicines if Sam doesn't give you a slice of cake." I glared at him and he had a sheepish look on his face similar to the way Milo looks at me when we catch him chewing on the carpet.

Sam is grandpa's helper and takes care of him in the house.

"That idiot told you, already. I bribed him not to tell you with extra money but he wouldn't shut up even if his life is depended on it." Grandpa muttered under his breath but I can hear him loud and clear. A soft smile wanted to come out looking at his adorable actions but I had to stay stern for his own health.

"You can't do that, grandpa. He has to look after you and let him. Don't eat food that is unhealthy for you." I spoke sternly and grandpa pouted at my words with a loud sigh. Lauren looked at grandpa with a frown before looking back at me and I knew what she's going to say.

"No, Lauren."

"But, I didn't say anything." She complained defensively.

"I knew what you were about to." She looked like she wanted to fight but gave up at the last minute.

"Well, grandpa can't eat unhealthy food regularly. But he can, at least one in a while. Can't he?" She asked me and Grandpa looked happy looking at his spokesperson.

"Yes." Grandpa supported her and I had to glare not at one but at them both.

"No."

I wanted to stand on my word strongly, believe me I wanted to. Metaphorically speaking, if Lauren is my rival in a war, I will gladly stand in front of her and give up my sword getting on my knees. I'm that badly fallen for her. My love for her is just dangerous even for me at this point. And there is also grandpa that I could never say not to.

"Fine. Only once in a while."

"Yay!" Lauren jumped before coming towards me and hugging me and I had that soul out of the body experience at her touch. Not literally of course, just figuratively. Her hugs are my second favourite thing in the world. Well, her kisses takes up the first place unanimously.

Grandpa cleared his throat and my eyes fell on his teasing expression.

"Nice..." He trailed off looking at us both and Lauren stayed silent for a moment.

"Stop smiling, grandpa." Lauren muttered tucking her hair behind her ear standing beside me.

"I can't even smile now? Its a free country Lauren. I can smile whenever I want."

"I don't think you will smile anymore if I said I beat your score in Candycrush."

Lately, grandpa has a habit of playing this some sort of bursting candies game in his tab. And Lauren started playing the game just for grandpa and they started this sort of contest of beating each other's scores. This started since the begin of our marriage where we stayed here for a day after our wedding.

"No way. I was leading last night. When did that change?" grandpa spoke as if he lost a property of his.

"It changed and I beat you already." Lauren smirked at grandpa.

"Why don't we play now and let's see who will win this time." Grandpa was ready to bet everything.

"I just know I'm going to win." Lauren shrugged triumphantly.

"We'll see."

"Stop being childish, grandpa." I had to intervene at this point.

"For the final time. Its James, Ethan." He sighed dramatically.

He has always been like this. He hates it when I call him grandpa and not his name. He says he feels young when I call him with his name and although I agree he has told me a thousand times to not call him grandpa, I always do the opposite. Well, part of me does that to just annoy him but other part of me loves calling him grandpa. Calling him that used to make me feel less lonely in the past. It helped me in coping the fact that I am not all alone and weak against the world. But it was in the past and for some reason I don't feel void or numb like I used to.

I feel things now. I don't feel numb anymore. I used to feel anger and disappointment whenever I accidentally meet my mother and that's it. Those were the only emotions I gave in to and they were oddly comfortable for me. Only with Ryan or Chris, I didn't feel my existence as a burden. Other times, I wasn't any different from AI robots or machines.

Feeling everything can be overwhelming but not many talks about not feeling anything. Numbness is cancer that spreads slowly inside and consumes you wholly without your knowledge. The feeling of nothingness didn't start right after my father's death. It slowly started after I lost my father, my mother, my sister and everyone I know. And it spread like wildfire after knowing that I'm partly responsible for my loneliness. I pushed everyone away and I can't even complain about it. To cope with my own feelings, I temporarily turned deaf for my feelings and I didn't realize I froze my heart along the way till I couldn't feel anything anymore. Just numb. Eternal nothingness.

It stayed like that till I met Lauren and everything slowly changed since then. It felt like I'm gaining everything back I lost once. I am happy for now but there was something empty at one corner of my heart. Longing for someone.

I am gaining everything back but what about my mother. Can I ever forget everything and just talk to my mom ever again. The longing I feel, the wistful look I have every time I see Lauren coming after meeting my mom or just talking to her whenever she wants feels like tight slap on my face.

I want to meet her too. I want to talk to her too. I want to see her too. I want to be with her too. But will I ever?

But the fact that remains is my mother reminds me of my father's death. My mother is that weight that pulls me down whenever I try to climb out of the valley called past. She is that wall that pulls me back to the past where it all started whenever I wanted to move on.

And if she is that weight that pulls me back all the time then it's better to not carry it anymore and cut ties with it forever and ever.

Isn't it?

***

Lauren's POV

I was with Ethan and grandpa while they both were talking to each other about business and all other things.

I laughed at the way grandpa glared at Ethan when he joked about the way his tooth set falls out whenever he laughed too much.

A sudden beep sound from my phone brought me out of my thoughts and I looked down at my phone where a text message has appeared from an unknown number.

Unknown number? I frowned.

Still with a frown plastered on my face, I unlocked my phone and opened the text message.

Unknown number : Did you know someone betrayed Ethan's father driving him to the point of suicide.

What?

What the hell?

A chill ran down my spine looking at the message and my frown deepened and I trying to not gain attention from anyone.

Me : What do you mean? Who are you?

Unknown number : Patience, Lauren. Come and meet me soon.

Me : Excuse me? I'm not meeting anyone.

Unknown number : You will. If you want to know the traitor.

Me : Shut up. I'm blocking your number.

I wanted to just block his number and get over this bizarre encounter but for some reason I took his bait. What if there is some truth in it. I wanted to know who betrayed Ethan's father.

Unknown number : I know you're just bluffing but just for fun, I'll tell you something more. What if I say this truth has enough potential to destroy your perfect happy marriage.

Me : Stop this. Who are you?

Unknown number : I'm in a good mood so I'll just reveal the truth. How about I tell you about the traitor. The man who broke Ethan's father's trust and betrayed him.

Me : Who is it?

My palms sweated and my heart thudded violently against in my chest as if it had some difficulty in breathing.

No amount of oxygen kept the nervousness at bay and the slight tremble of my legs were hard to mask at this point. My eyes jumped between Ethan and my phone and I prayed to whoever exists above to not let Ethan see the change in me.

For some reason, I feel like I'm doing something I shouldn't. But I had to know this for my own sanity. I wanted to know who was the reason for Elena's suffering the past few years. The reason for Ethan's issues and problems. The reason for every existing problem in our lives.

Deep breath, Lauren.

Inhale...

Exhale...

Inhale...

Exhal—

Unknown number : Your father.

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