"It must be so tough on you, brother." Seeing her brother being treated like a villain in Anna"s father, Lannie can"t say anything to comfort her brother. The thing between Anna"s father and her brother is none of her business, and she intends to stay out of it.All she can do is to support her brother"s decisions all the way.
"It is. But it"s not fun if there is no challenge, am I right?" Kyle is not upset that Arion is treating him so coldly. He understands why he"s like that. Furthermore, he thinks that Arion is slowly opening up to him. As long as he shows that he is true to Anna, Kyle is confident that Arion will not doubt him anymore.
"True," Lannie replied. Knowing her brother, Kyle is the type of person who doesn"t like to achieve his goal in an easy way. Unlike her, as long as there is a way for her to things in an easy way, she would gladly take that route.
"Anna!" Keila who just arrived suddenly came running towards Anna, then hugs her. "I am so proud of you and Leon!" With her cla.s.s winning the event, Keila felt like she could laugh like a crazy person because of her happiness. "Now, I have something to brag about. Those darn teachers will pay for looking down on me." She said inwardly.
"Teacher Keila, why is she the only one who gets a hug and I don"t?" Leon pouted. He also wants a hug from his beautiful teacher. "I deserve it too, you know?"
"Don"t be such a kid," Keila said, then she pulled Leon towards her and Anna.
While Keil and her two students having their group hug, Arion and Kyle are surprised to see someone who they haven"t seen in a very long time. "K-Keila Jones, is that you?" Mary asked.
Slowly turning around, Keila just realized that she barged in a room where there"s a lot of people. She saw two familiar faces, and her eyes s.h.i.+ned in excitement to see the person she has not seen in so many years. "My goodness! Mary!"
As soon as she said that she ran her way towards Mary, then hugs her tightly. She greatly misses Mary. She regrets not having any contact with her at all. She"s way too focused on climbing her way up towards her career that she forgot to contact her friends.
"I miss you, darling. I can"t believe you"ve changed this much! The shy woman that I"ve known years ago has turned into a matured woman." Years ago, before she and Keila lost contact with each other, Keila was just this shy girl who is afraid to have any contact with other people. But now, looking at her, Mary is proud to see her looking so confident about herself.
"What can I say, I changed for the better." Without asking, Mary knows what Keila meant by that. What happened between her and Alfonso must have affected her greatly. Mary wanted to say something to comfort her, but she decided not to.
"It"s better not to open up old wounds." Mary inwardly said.
"Oh! What"s this? You"ve finally gotten over the break-up between you and Alfonso?" As soon as Mary heard that, something triggered inside of her. She let Keila go, then pushed her husband"s shoulder. The punch was so strong that Arion looks at her with great confusion, "W-What was that for?!"
"You senseless, idiot!" She shouted at him. Her husband is a smart one, but when it comes to other people"s personal feelings, he just can"t take a hint. She truly hopes that her son won"t turn out to be the same exact person as her husband.
"I-It"s alright, Mary. I"m not affected by it anymore." Despite saying that, Mary knows that she is still affected. She loved Alfonso so deeply that it is not easy to forget the past.
Thinking about the relations.h.i.+p between them in the past, Mary still has the same opinion of what happened between them. The one who is at fault is the two of them.
Back then, Alfonso is still not sure of what kind of person he is. He is still questioning himself whether he prefers girls or boys, and Keila knows that. The uncertainty is clear, and yet, Keila still tried to force her love for him.
As for Alfonso at that time, he knows that it"s wrong to continue because the chance of Keila getting hurt in the end is high, and yet, he didn"t have the guts to end it sooner. Things went on between them, and on the day of their college graduation, their relations.h.i.+p ended.
Mary doesn"t know the rest of the details, but there is one thing she is sure of, both Keila and Alfonso were hurt in the end.
"W-What? M-My uncle had a girlfriend before? How come I didn"t know about this? Did you know about this Anna?" Since Anna is much closer to her uncle, Lannie decided to ask her.
"No. I never heard anything about that from uncle Alfonso." If Lannie is shocked to hear that, then so is Anna. Neither in this life or on her past life, Anna never heard anything about her uncle Alfonso having a girlfriend way back then. The most shocking part is that her teacher is her uncle Alfonso"s former lover.
"I knew it! My hunch is right!" Leon suddenly shouted, and based on his expression, it seems like he achieved something great.
"What do you mean by that?" Anna asked.
"I mean, the moment I notice the way our teacher looks at your uncle Alfonso, I noticed that there is something more between them in the past. Who would have thought." He may not guess it right, but he sure is in the right direction.
"Wow. Leon, you sure have a good observation skill." Aaron said. Truthfully, Aaron wants to know more about what happened, but glancing at her mother, it seems like the topic is not something he could ask freely when his teacher Keila is around. "I guess I should ask Mom when she"s not around." He inwardly said.
"Enough talk about this subject." Although Mary said that, she is still afraid that someone will still ask or mention about Keila"s past with Alfonso. In the end, Mary pulled Keila out of the room with her.
"That"s really surprising." Kyle who has been quiet suddenly spoke, and as usual, his expression says that he does not have any interest in anything that just happened. However, deep inside he is as curious as to his sister. He also wants to know more about it, but considering how Anna"s mother reacted, it seems like no one"s going to answer all of his questions. "It"s better to ask my mother about this."
"Brother!" Lannie who is currently staring at her watch suddenly called out her brother in frantic. "We have to go back home! Mom"s gonna kill us!" Both Lannie and Kyle have forgotten that they have a schedule that their mother arranged. As much as they both don"t want to go, they have to or else, there"s going to be consequences.
Without much of a choice, Kyle sighed, then went in front of Anna. "Sorry. I want to spend more time with you, but I only had enough time to watch you walk on the stage." When he told his mother he has to watch Anna walk the stage no matter what, Layla did him a favor and arranged his schedule for later. He is really thankful to his mother for doing that for him.
"It"s alright. I understand." Despite the small time they have together, Anna still appreciates that Kyle took the time to come and watch her. There is nothing more she could have hope or him than to be there for her. Even if it"s only momentarily, it"s enough for her to feel happy.
As Kyle is about to take a step, Anna pulled his face towards her, then kisses his cheek. As she does that, she immediately pushed him out of the room. She does not have the courage to face Kyle after doing that. Even she can"t believe she did that on a whim.
Arion who saw what happened can"t help but feel his heart cracking. His daughter never done that to him, and yet, Kyle, on the other hand, gets a kiss from his daughter just like that. Marcus who is enjoying his son"s reaction only patted Arion as a way to comfort him.
~~~
While everyone is leaving one by one, Anna approached Nathalia and asked, "Is everything ready on your side?"
"Of course. All I that"s missing is the star of the party, Elizabeth." A smirk appeared on Nathalia"s face. She can"t wait to see Elizabeth"s face of defeat. "How about you, Anna?"
"According to my dear brother, he said that every member of the board and my uncle are on their way to the meeting spot." The only thing that Anna hopes right now is that everything should go smoothly once her desire moments comes. "I wish I could be there when you finally get rid of Elizabeth out of your life."
"It"s alright, Anna. We both have things we need to fix in order to have the peace that we want." Nathalia said with a smile.