"Well, all in all, that’s probably what Ethan wants..." Hayden said in summary after his bouts of laughter had died down.
"I guess we’ll find out for sure when we meet him," I replied as I tried my best to stay calm.
In response to my words, Hayden just nodded. It didn’t seem like he had anything more to say nor did he want to discuss this any further. I appreciated the time and effort he put in to tell me the things that he did today and decided not to push him any further. However, Hayden didn’t end up telling me what I wanted to know the most. What I wanted to know the most wasn’t what Ethan wanted.
I wanted to know what Hayden wanted out of all of this.
What did he want for himself? Does the future that he’s thinking of include me at all?
"By the way, when are we meeting Ethan?" I asked after realizing that I didn’t know about the appointment date.
"The day after tomorrow. You don’t need to dress pretty," Hayden replied with an added joke.
It wasn’t like I was intending to dress to impress or anything like that. Still, I found myself smiling a little at Hayden’s attempt at a joke. It was a pleasant surprise that this whole talk didn’t put him in a rotten mood like it used to always did.
"I’ll turn up looking ugly, don’t worry," I replied with a small laugh.
After that, whenever I recalled Hayden’s laughter, I always wondered who would get the last laugh out of all of this. My answers to the questions that Harvey had asked me still eluded me. If I had to make a choice, who would I want to take over Torex? Hayden or his elder brother?
...
The following day marked the end of what I would like to call ’my dark days’ in the isolation facility. Surprisingly, the two brothers were there to help with my move out of the underground room back to my rooms. I was more relieved than excited to regain some part of my territory back. On the other hand, Harvey seemed overly excited for my move.
"I’m excited and so happy for you but it’s kind of sad that I’ll be seeing you less..." Harvey said as he took my arm and pulled me to his side.
"Why don’t we just leave it to Malissa to decide? She can visit me if she wants to, right, Malissa?" Harvey asked as he looked directly at me.
My eyes widened and I halted in my steps when his words thrusted me into the spotlight. I could feel Hayden’s eyes on my face and my body froze. What am I supposed to say right now?
"Umm..." I murmured in hesitation.
"You’ll visit me, right? We can play with Little Hayden together," Harvey said joyously.
"She’s not your playmate," Hayden warned.
"Like I keep telling you, that’s not for you to decide," Harvey spat back.
The two kept on arguing until we reached Harvey’s wing of the mansion. This was an unfamiliar path to me and that made me realize that it only made sense that there is passageway from Harvey’s wing of the mansion to the underground floor. How else could Harvey have visited me otherwise?
"I guess this is where we part ways for today. Don’t forget to come visit me and bring Little Hayden along too," Harvey said with a charming smile.
"I already told you that she won’t be visiting," Hayden readily cut in.
Not knowing what to say, I just smiled at Harvey before turning to Hayden. He gave me a funny look before turning on his heels and headed towards the exit of Harvey’s wing. After leaving Harvey’s wing of the mansion, I would be back to the main part of the mansion where I was used to. Hopefully, this would be the start of getting my old life back.
"Oh, Malissa..." Auntie said, clearly shocked to see me walking around with Hayden in the mansion.
"She’s back," Hayden stated without bothering to explain anything.
--To be continued...