Chapter 141
1487words
"Ember?" Jean asked, sounding confused, "pardon me if I sound unhappy to hear from you, but why are you calling so early? Is something the matter?" he asked, and genuinely sounded worried.
True. I never really called this early.
I chuckled lightly and tried to reassure him,
"Nothing terribly worrisome. It's just that I went to a banquet yesterday and I noticed something I'd like to talk to you about,"
"a banquet? What banquet? you didn't tell me about no banquets."
"no no, I didn't tell you about the banquet, because it was all of a sudden," I said, and tried to figure out a way to tell him I attended a banquet by Luna Lara, without him getting triggered.
"so, are you going to tell me about the banquet?" he asked and I sighed
"yeah. It was Paris's mother's. Well, technically, she organized it for his sister…but I'm sure you understand the picture." I said and bit my lip in worry at the silence that ensued.,
"Now, why would you do that?" he finally asked, and I slowly sighed.
"I know I had no business being there. But she sent me an invitation letter, and I knew it was to spite me. And because she obviously did not expect me to respond to the invite, I went, in hopes that maybe I could spite her in return. Or at the very least, prove to her that she didn't faze me."
I heard him heave out a breath, and anxiously awaited his reply,
"you should know better than giving in to that woman in such a manner. She isn't worth it.” Jean said, sounding very diplomatic and practical.
“I know , Jean. Believe me, I know. I guess I just wanted to fight fire with fire… this one time.”
“Those who fight fire with fire only get burned, Ember.” He said, sounding reasonable, “But nevertheless, did you at least piss her off a little?" he asked, and my smile came quickly,
"More than a little. She hated the sight of me." I said, oddly happy about the fact,
"both good and bad I suppose," he said,
"Yeah… Explain?”
“Well, it’s good,since you got the woman angry enough to regret her choices. Bad, because I worry that she might want to make you her target once again.”
“I’m not scared of being that woman’s target. I’m scared of the day I won’t stand up to her as I ought to.” I said , sounding as angry Luna Lara made me feel,
“I understand where your anger is coming from, arm. I don’t. And I think it right now, I am just glad it all worked out.” Jean said sounding relieved.
“Yes, me too.”
"so.. what is it you wanted to tell me about?"
"right." I said, remembering why I had called, "It's about Kate."
"Is it?" he asked, sounding interested, "well then. Let's have it."
"Well, you know how I've already concluded in my mind that she was the one responsible for the three men that attacked me, right?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, a part of me had chosen not to dwell too deeply on it.. Until last night. I needed air from the party at some point last night and took myself outside. Then Kate appeared. The thing was, she hadn't been coming from the party, but from within the forest. At first, I decided that it wasn't any of my concern, because, really thought. It wasn't. but then when William and I were leaving, we found her, sitting on a bench that was close to the forest. She looked very lost and very bothered about something. I believe she had gone to meet someone out there in the forest. I don't think It can be anything good though." I said.
"I'll get back to the fact that you were out with William and not me soon enough. This isn't jealousy, just a man trying to understand something. But, about Kate. What was she like the first time you saw her? When she first got out of the forest?"
I thought for a moment. That had been when she had irritated me and called me out on trying to take Paris from her.
"mean. She had been mean. Typical Kate, not the one who seemed to be actually sorry the last time. She was totally herself this time around."
"and the second time?" he asked,
"lost." I thought for a moment, "contemplative. Like a woman with the world on her shoulders. I almost felt sorry for her. I doubt she had even enjoyed the party. What do you think?"
I waited while he thought, and then he finally spoke, "Personally, just like you, I feel like she's up to something. Paris made an awful mistake by letting her stay in that house. Just like you, I believe she was out there in the forest communicating with someone. I will have to look into that though." he said, and I nodded,
"alright. Alright. Thank you. I feel better already just telling you." I said and sighed,
"Now, explain to me why you didn't tell me about this banquet.. but told William? Even so much as went with him," he said with a deceptively amused tone, and I decided that it would be wisdom to choose my words wisely,
"I have a good reason for that," I said, quickly
"Let's have it then."
"William and I haven't spoken to each other for ages. He's been busy, I've been busy. So busy that we haven't even spoken about my divorce even. So when the letter came in, and then his call, and I told him about going, he thought it was toxic too, but being the good friend that he is, he offered to go with me. Did you expect me to turn him down?"
"Might have done a bit of soothing to my ego if you had done just that. But no. I don't think turning him down would have been the way to go about it. In any case, I'm glad you had someone with you while you had to deal with that woman."
"Yes, me too. And thank you for understanding ."
"Yeah, of course. And since we are talking about Paris. You should know that I'm going to call him up about all of this. Don't worry, I won't bring up the part about your encounter with Kate. Or that you saw her looking despondent." he said.
I didn't know how to reply to that though, because just the mention of Paris's name reminded me of what had happened in the bathroom. Reminded me that I still wasn't over him and that I wasn't over him, I did not know how I could possibly have a good relationship with him. Or anyone for that matter.
"Ember?" I heard him call my name when I had been quiet for too long, and I heaved out a sigh,
"I'm here. I'm here."
"Are you okay?"
"yeah, of course."
"Because you spaced out at the mention of Paris's name. Is this about me giving him a call?"
"what? Og no no no. I just…I thought of something just now …that's all. Of course, you can give Paris a call. Let me know what he thinks. I think I want to be a part of this. At least, from the outside looking in, with all of the information you can provide me." I said, trying to sound as upbeat as I could manage.
"you meant that? "he asked, sounding uncertain,
"yeah…just, don't let Paris know. And now that we're still on him, I want to see how well I can forge on cutting ties with him permanently. " I said firmly, "I know I've talked about it countless times, but I would really like to move on with my life."
And hopefully, this would be the last time I made this effort. Hopefully, this time I will be successful.
I had been avoiding Christina since her release, because of that whole brooch fiasco. And she made it easy, because she hadn’t really sought me out.
But I knew I could only avoid her for so long. She hadn’t looked for me during the party. To be honest, no one had . And for the first time in forever, I was content with being forgotten. It gave me time to think about the night I was having.
I had taken it out on Ember, and yet still I didn’t feel better.
Someone had to deal with that uncle of mine . Because he was truly becoming a problem.
I couldn’t turn to Paris, because to turn to Paris was to confess a whole lot of things I wasn’t ready to talk about.
So I was going to have to deal with this one alone.
But I knew by the time I was done, heads were surely going to roll.
