Chapter 69: Endless Loneliness

You’re home? I made dinner.” A familiar female voice suddenly sounded cutting through the sharp silence.

Slowly he raised his head to find a familiar figure. The woman in front of him had a delicate yet sharply arresting appearance.

With large eyes and shining green orbs, her smile was always kind and did more to soften her features whenever she put one on her face.

The woman in front of him used to be his only safe space. The only remaining light in the darkness of his past.

His past…cold and empty as it was, painfully numbing as it was, there was still light, but that light had turned her back on him.

Tristan’s expression hardened, “What are you doing here?”

Genevieve knew that her brother wouldn’t forgive her that easily, even if she had come into his home to cook him dinner, so she didn’t allow the disappointment she felt at how cold he sounded to her just now show on her face. Instead she smiled brightly.

“I came to see you. The guards know who I am so they let me in. I made all your favorite dishes…”

“Leave. I don’t want you here.” He dropped the words harshly with nonchalance in his eyes as he got up, brushed past her and headed upstairs.

If Genevieve didn’t know her brother, she would have felt offended with the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, she might have truly believed that he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. But she knew him well and he was very good at pushing people he cared about away even if he needed them in his life.

Just now when she had heard his footsteps from the kitchen she had come out to find him sitting on the sofa with a distant look in his eyes. He looked quietly tormented and the air of loneliness radiating around him couldn’t be mistaken.

He always made himself believe that he was better off alone, that he needed no one, he constantly denied the truth to himself. And the truth was that love was a necessary thing in everyone’s lives, companionship. Human beings were never solitary creatures, so how could she watch him condemn himself to such endless loneliness?

That was why she had agreed to her grandmother’s plans, to use his company into getting him in a relationship that would last forever, a kind of relationship that would make him realize what he had been missing all his life.

Genevieve quietly set the table and placed all the dishes beautifully, only then did she turn to leave. She knew that her brother’s anger couldn’t be eradicated in a single day, so she didn’t insist on staying.

But before leaving she stopped for a moment, looking up to the stairs where he had just disappeared to a moment ago.

“I wanted to tell you that I saw a kid who looks just like you in Westwood, he’s cute and small and he reminds me of you.” Genevieve said these to herself knowing Tristan wouldn’t want to sit with her and have such a casual conversation.

That child…if she hadn’t known any better she would have sworn he was related to her brother, but that was absolutely impossible.

She sighed to herself and left the mansion.

By the time Tristan had showered and changed then returned downstairs, his home was empty again, but there was a nice smell drifting over from the dining room.

He walked in to find steaming dishes of different kinds leaving mouth watering aromas floating in the air. As if to confirm if she’d truly left, he glanced around for a moment, the confirmation that his sister was gone should have brought relief, instead there was a quietly disappointed look on his rigid face.

He sat by the table in the silence and ate every familiar bite of his sister’s cooking.

“Always tastes just like Mom’s…” His voice drifted into a quiet echo in the empty dining space.

After dinner, he went back upstairs where a tiny red box was sitting on the dresser, untouched for days.

’Make it official, propose to Erica. Her devotion to you perfectly suits the qualities of the next Blakewood matriarch. Marry her, secure an heir and Grayson Corp is yours again.’

His grandmother’s words rang once more in his head and he quietly grabbed the ring box.

Marriage could last six months before it could be annulled, that was how long he would allow himself be caught in this stupid trap.

He grabbed a coat and shrugged it on and dialled a number on his phone as he walked into his garage downstairs.

“Get Erica to The Paradise Hotel on time.” He said succinctly on the phone and hung up before driving out.

******

“What are you reading Leah?” Natalia sat next to the little girl being cautious enough to keep some distance, that possessive, chubby cat of hers didn’t seem to like it if anyone other than her mother got close to Leah.

“Nothing much, but look at this.” Leah said excitedly as she showed Natalia a picture in the kids magazine she was reading. “Isn’t this outfit boring? And this one, and this one, and this one too. I wonder who styled this.” Leah complained pointing at some styles on the magazine.

Natalia chuckled, feeling amused, “This is a top selling kids fashion brand you find boring Leah.”

“Top selling? Where?” Leah asked looking genuinely horrified. Her adorable little cheeks and incredulous blue eyes was a sight that made Natalia laugh.

“Everywhere in Neville of course.” She replied matter of factly, wondering what the designers and stylists of Mesha fashion house would think if they found out their styles were being criticized by a four year old.

“Then I think the people of Neville have a terrible fashion sense.”

Natalia laughed at the little girl’s words again.

It wasn’t surprising the kid was so versed in fashion with her stylishly adorable pink dresses and outfits she always wore and her mother’s new profession.

Natalia had to admit that Celine’s twins were one of a kind, they had been amusing her with every minute she spent with them.

She was surprised that little Leo actually listened to business news, she had wondered if he had just mistakenly tuned the channels and she would play cartoons instead but before she would return to the living room, she would find the business news channel again, of course she had done what every reasonable adult would do and tuned it back to the cartoon channel but she hadn’t expected the little boy to give her a bland look and say,

“Aren’t you a little too old to be watching kids shows?”

Natalia had been momentarily stunned, unable to find a word to reply for a moment before she had quickly defended herself by saying,

“This isn’t for me to watch, it’s for you.”

He had then gone on to quietly take the remote off her hands.

“Thanks, but don’t bother.” And right before her eyes he had returned it to business news and settled to watch.

She had been so astonished that she decided to sit next to him just to observe if he actually understood what he was watching, and she had heard some terms from the kid that she hadn’t even heard elsewhere before.

Market terms that should be coming from the mouths of men in board rooms not little kids.

At the end of the day, Natalia realized to her astonishment that the kids were little geniuses. They were just too smart and astute, in fact Natalia dared to think that they might be a little smarter than some adults.

Celine emerged from her room fully dressed, she was wearing a nice black dress that looked incredibly eye catching on her form. Her milky white skin glowed against the black making her look like an angel strikingly standing in the dead of night.

She kissed her kids goodbye. “Be good okay? I’ll be back before bedtime and tuck you in for the night.”

“Yes, Mommy.” Leah replied sweetly and Leo nodded indifferently.

As Celine said goodbye to Natalia and walked out of the house getting into the car, she received a call which she instantly picked up after sitting in the car and securing her seatbelt.

“Where? At The Paradise Hotel? Okay, I’ll be there shortly.”

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