69: C69 Chapter 69

C69 Chapter 69

RENO2

Knowing how my mother passed away and who caused her death left me heartbroken. This was the most emotional part of my life. I never met my mother. She passed away when I was just a three-month-old baby. However, through her picture I was gazing at, I could see how much her love for me and how hard her life was. Her smile tried to mask all the pains she endured due to her husband's betrayal. From her diary, she divulged how her husband was with that woman attending the painting exhibition whereas he told my mother that he would not come. How shattered my mother's heart to see they kissed in her house.

Finding out the fact that my stepmother was the culprit behind the accident, not only rendered my heart poignantly, the news also burned me. I clenched my hands and gnashed my teeth, striving not to explode out the rage.

Gripping my jacket and the car's key, I barged out of my apartment. Going down with lift, I ran toward my car. I ignited the key and drove off. The only destination which came up to my mind was the pub, my friend had taken me to. Despite living in the US with the freedom I could access, it was just the second time I went to the pub. I was too introverted, American life did not affect me at all. Commuting to and from campus, seminars, library, or bookstore was the only activity I did during my college life. Even after I completed my master's degree in business administration, Alice was the only girl I had dated.

Before my father's death two years ago, I inherited his company. That was not my top priority at that time. I had a dream to establish my own company. It surely started with a small business. I just knew that my stepmother goaded him to change his testament before he died because of a heart attack. Kevin was the only heir of my father's properties.

I planned to go back to my country. However, Every time my stepmother's face emerged in my mind, I felt a knife stab me. I still remembered how she locked me in my room and forbade the maids to send the food to my room. My hunger forced me to escape from the house. Because my money could only afford a taxi fare, I asked Ilana to pay me for the food. That girl was the only reason why I survived my stepmother's bad manner. She was the one I would search for when I came back to my country later.

My car halted before a big pub, the biggest in New York. I doubtfully walked in and headed to the busy bartender serving the visitors. One person was standing before him whom I recognized. It was unmistakably one of my friends. It was James. We were not that close. I met him at a charity event in the summer last year. Then, we bumped into a seminar last fall. And tonight was the third time I saw him. James was older than me, about thirty. He had a good-looking face with a brown complexion, a sharp nose, and brown eyes. His curly hair reached his shoulder.

"Orange juice, please." James burst out laughing as I was ordering a juice.

"Come on! You mean it when you say juice?" He teased me. "This is a pub. You can order vodka, beer, tequila, whiskey instead of juice."

"Just give me a glass of orange juice, please!" I ignored him.

"Wait!" That tall young man furrowed his eyebrows. Then, he processed my order. Before he served the drink, I had an urge to have a pee. I told him that I would be back in few minutes. I went to the restroom immediately without waiting for his answer. I had to pass the dark tunnel to get to the restroom.

I saw a girl familiar walking out of the women's toilet. She looked like Alice. I did not care and just got into the men's toilet. Less than ten minutes, I had been back to the bar where the bartender had served me a glass of juice. I sat at the stool drinking my juice.

I did not enjoy the juice since there were so many things piling up in my mind, my mother's death, Ilana's disappearance, and the fact about my stepmother. I sucked the orange juice until the last drop.

The visitors who approached the bartender leered at me in weird. It was unusual to have juice in a pub. I was not a kid after all. However, I never drank alcoholic beverages even at my age, twenty-seven. It was because Ilana's words always noosed in my head every time I would touch those alcoholic drinks. The people she hated the most were drunkards. Her father always got home drunk and tortured her and her mother. Alcohol would always remind her of the scars painted on her body and engraved in her heart.

I had finished my juice and about to go out. It was almost midnight. Nothing I did in the pub, just listening to music. I just came here for running away from the problem and sorrows. It was not the place I should have headed to when suffering or hardship hit me. That was what Ilana once said. Nudging the glass to the bartender, I got up. I got dizzy and sleepy, my head spinning.

I kept moving to reach the door with my tottering body. Someone caught my hand when I almost fell. My sight blurred that I could not see who she was. It was a girl who helped me get to my car. She assisted me to sit at the passenger seat. In the half-conscious state, that girl slid into my car and steered the car. The car drove off and all turned black.

It might be in the morning or day, the light was so bright. I was awake surveying around to ensure that I was in my bedroom. The white color covered the wall. Just after observing myself, I realized that I was topless with a girl staying beside me, half-naked. It was Alice sleeping with one of her hands on my bare chest.

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