"Out of all places, why did you bring me here?" Mary asked.
The place that she and Arion are in right now is the place that they both treasure. It's the place where Arion proposed to her, and it is also the place where she goes whenever she misses Arion after his disappearance.
Now that Arion is right by her side, Mary doesn't know what she should feel right now. Should she feel happy? Angry? Or upset? She wants to express her emotions to him, but she doesn't want him to know that she is happy to have him back.
"I chose this place because this is the only place I can think of for us to talk freely without care for others." Since the place is rarely visited by other people, and at this time around, no other people besides them are coming.
Just the two of them alone, Arion thought that this is a perfect place for Mary to say whatever curses she wants to say to him. He will listen to it all, after all, he already knew that he deserves it. And that he has no right to complain about it.
After sighing deeply, Mary looks at Arion, then asks him a question. "Did you really think that I'm not able to withstand hearing the news about those good-for-nothing parents of mine?" No matter how much she thinks about it, the conclusion she always came up with is that her husband has no confidence in her stabilizing her emotion when the talk is about her blood parents.
As Arion's partner, of course, Mary would feel all sorts of negative emotions if her husband really thinks that's the case for her.
"Mary, of course, I have confidence in you. However, at that time, you've finally got over your traumatic experience with them, and if I tell you about them, I was afraid that you won't able to take it." Arion has many reasons for not Mary about her parents, and what he just said is one of those reasons.
Seeing how he is now, Arion realized that the strong face he put on to show the others are just a facade to hide the cowardly side of him. He felt like he is fake, faking his existence in front of everyone.
"Arion, that is just so unfair for you to decide that," Mary said with full of disappointment towards Arion. "So what if I got that trauma back after hearing those blood parents of mine? None of that matters when it comes to our children. I would rather have my trauma back than not knowing what is really happening."
"I know. I know. I am wrong, and if I am able to go back in time, I will not do the same thing again." If God would give him a chance to change his mistake, he would gladly take that chance without hesitation.
That chance will change everything, his son will not hate him, his daughter will not feel complicated, and his wife won't feel the pain of him disappearing. However, that kind of chance is only a dream, what happened already happened and he can't do anything about it.
All he needs to do now is to show how sorry and sincere he is. He wants to make things right for his family to be whole again.
"Well, we both know that will never happen, so you better do things right for the future. I'll help you with the kids in some ways I can, but everything is on you. I can't help you with everything, Arion." She might be upset with Arion, but she does not want her children to feel the same way towards him.
They have the right to feel that way towards Arion, but Mary doesn't want that because it will also hurt her children even more if they keep pushing Arion further away.
"Really?! Mary, I..."
Arion was about to hug Mary because of the bubbling happiness inside him, however, Mary stopped him right away. "Arion, if you want to make things right between you and me, then do it by action and not just your words. I'm sick of hearing words, I want some actions."
~~~
Early in the morning at Crystal High, the three childhood friends run their way towards the twins who just got down from the van.
"Hey, are you both okay?!" Nathalia asked in a worried tone.
"Huh? Of course, we are fine. Do you really think that we couldn't handle that mission?" Aaron said with a smug look on his face.
"That's not what she's asking, Aaron," Josh spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "We heard from our fathers that someone unexpectedly showed him to you guys yesterday." Knowing what Aaron and Anna really feel about Arion, the trio can't help but worry about them.
"Oh, you're asking if I'm alright after seeing that man?" Hearing the words 'that man' from Aaron's mouth, they could tell that he is not happy and is angry at his father. "Well, I think that answer to that question is quite obvious, you guys."
Since Aaron knows that they are gonna keep talking about his father, he decided to walk away from them after saying his sentence. He does not want to hear anything about his father early in the morning. It will only sour his mood.
"Sorry about that," Anna said, apologizing to how brother just walked away from them.
"Anna, you don't have to apologize, it's understandable why Aaron is acting like that," Zen said as he pats Anna's head. Anna looks the same as always, but he can tell just by looking at Anna's eyes that she is sad and hurting on the inside.
Asking her if she is fine will only damage her because she's obviously gonna lie about what she really feels.
"Hey, Nathalia," Josh called out Nathalia's name.
"What?"
"Follow Aaron, and make sure that he won't do anything stupid."
A big question mark suddenly popped into Nathalia's mind. She has no idea why Josh specifically asked her to do that. "What? Why me? I mean you or Zen can do that instead of me."
Clearly, Nathalia is the only one who doesn't understand Josh's intention, and Anna and Zen can only sigh inwardly for Nathalia being so dense.
"Nathalia, other than me, I think my brother will listen to you. As you can see, I'm not emotionally stable and that might affect my brother if I try to talk to him." Anna said backing up Josh's intention.
After thinking about it for a minute, Nathalia finally agreed and left.
"Seriously? Do you really have to do that in this kind of situation?" Zen said in disbelief.