"But she can"t remember anything! Not even one from her past!" Rio was pus.h.i.+ng his thoughts to Archie.He told him about his encounter with Sherry at the hospital. He chased her when she exited Ethan"s room. When he was able to get a hold of her, he tried to introduce himself but she doesn"t remember anything about him. she only knew him because of his intervention last night.
"She can"t remember anything from her past. She can only remember things from five years ago."
"Didn"t you consider the fact that she might be a different person?" Archie emphasized the word different.
"No, I am positive that she is Cherry Ann, she still has that birthmark in her left back shoulder."
"Then what do you think happened to her?"
"I don"t know. I have to investigate as to why she is with Silver."
"Is she that important than your daughter right now?" Rio pause when he heard him, "Rio, your daughter needs you right now."
"I know."
"Have you already talk to her?"
"No."
"What?!" Archie bellowed. "I thought you went to visit her earlier?"
"I chose to talk to Sherry instead. I didn"t go back after that because I know she doesn"t want to talk to me."
"Rio, what is happening to you?!" Archie howled in annoyance. "Aisha, she is your daughter! She may not be your biological daughter but are you going to end everything just because of that woman?!"
"She"s not just a woman Archie! You know that!"
"Are you saying that the woman who left you is more important than the one who stayed beside you all along?"
"That"s not what I mean. What if it was Silver"s plan all along? To get to the Williams using Sherry? Aisha may be his target too."
"He doesn"t know about you nor Aisha."
"He"s not that stupid to enter a war without planning his strategies. I know him very well. He"s my brother after all."
"Step brother." Archie sighed. "So what do you have in mind?"
"I"ll watch him closely."
"How about Aisha?"
"She"ll understand."
"But you should talk to her. she needs you."
"Ehm. That"ll wait." Rio only nodded.
She drove off to the ancestral mansion. She looked at the pa.s.senger seat.
Eli is sleeping soundly. She remembered her conversation with Eli earlier.
"You"re not my mom! Not my real mom!" she was taken aback. She didn"t know how Eli discovered it.
"Eli, sweetheart, what are you saying?"
"I know you"re not Stacy." He desolately crumbled on his bed. Aisha"s eyes expanded. She covered her mouth with her hands. How the h.e.l.l did he knew? She was dumbstruck.
"E-Eli, How could you say that?" she faked a chuckle.
"I heard you talking to someone over the phone – in the kitchen, before. I heard everything." He tried to hold his tears.
"Besides, Stacy doesn"t care about me." That phrase wrenched Aisha"s heart. She went near Eli.
"Please, don"t leave me and daddy!" Eli started to shed tears. Aisha felt a pang of guilt. She embraced Eli.
"I love you, Eli. Don"t ever forget that okay?" she felt Eli nodded.
"Sweetheart, I have to bring you over to great paps for the meantime so that I could watch over your dad, okay? I promise to visit you as often as I can." she gave an a.s.suring smile when she released him in her embrace.
"Okay." Eli wiped his tears away then he helped Aisha packed his things. "Mom, if you"re not Stacy, then what"s your real name?" she heard Eli but she was not prepared to answer that yet.
"how about this? I"ll tell you and your dad all the truth once he woke up. Is that a deal?" she faked a smile. Eli nodded with a smile.
*** Aisha is in deep thought while driving. If Eli knew about her ident.i.ty, how about Ethan and Master Omni? Do they know the truth? It"s not possible isn"t it? But if they do, then they should have confronted her already.
Once again, she glanced at Eli"s innocent sleeping face. Eli discovered her real ident.i.ty but he wholeheartedly accepted her anyway. The thought of Eli pleading her not to leave them brought her tears. She was happy that Eli didn"t hate her.
How about Ethan and Master Omni? Would they be able to accept her? for all her lies and pretentions? Well, it"s a risk but she needs to tell them anyway. She needs to tell Ethan the truth. He deserves to know it.
She already prepared her next step. She"ll confess the truth to Ethan, then she can leave and face her enemies. She has to get away from Ethan and Eli so they won"t get hurt. This is her fight!
They were able to reach the ancestral house after a few hours" drive.
"Eli? Wake up, were already here." She slowly woke him up."
"Ehm…" Eli stretched his arms as he yawns. He looked outside the car"s window. He saw big men lined up to greet them. They are indeed in the ancestral mansion.
They can see Master Omni coming out to see them. One of the men opened the car doors.
"Great Paps!" Eli greeted.
"Eli sweetheart! It"s good to see you. Come, let"s go inside!" he carried him. he didn"t fail to give a warm smile to Aisha.
"In fact, I have them prepared your favorite meal!" Master Omni excitedly informed Eli.
"Yehey!" Eli was excited. Aisha smiled at the beautiful scene that she is seeing right now. she"ll definitely miss those kinds of moment.
After their late lunch, Eli had been wanting to ride a horse with Aisha so they went to the ranch and spend some hours of happy moments. They went beyond the ranch, Aisha decided to bring Eli in the mountains too. When they reached the peak, Eli was in awe. The ancestral mansion looks so small. It was Eli"s first time to see the vast horizon. Also, he was able to witness the beautiful sunset.
"Mom, it"s so beautiful!" he was dumbfounded.
"Sweetheart, can you see where this horizon ends?" she asked. Eli shook his head.
"Eli, see how wide this horizon is. I want you to remember that my love for you and your dad is beyond this." Eli stared at her with tears beaming in his eyes.
"Mom… I love you too!" he teared up. Aisha embraced him behind.
"Eli, there"s one more thing I have to tell you. You have to know that there"s a time for everything. A time to be happy and a time to be sad. We don"t know what tomorrow brings but we have to treasure and enjoy each moment. We will meet people that will leave footprints in our lives, but there will also be times that we have to let them go."
Eli made a face. "Mom, I don"t understand." He guiltily lowered his head. This made Aisha chuckled.
"I know. But someday you will." She kissed his forehead. "Just remember that whatever life throws at you, be strong but always be kind." Eli giggled.
Eli fell asleep when they were going back to the mansion. One of the men carried Eli and brought him in his room. Aisha followed. She made sure to see Eli on his bed, she bend to kiss his forehead before going out. she took a gla.s.s of wine as she strides towards the veranda. She was looking at the sky while in deep thought.
Unknown to her, Master Omni had been observing her. He went and stood beside her.
"How was your wound?" Master Omni asked.
"It"s fine. I can still feel it, good thing." She chuckled. The Old man stared at her.
"Dear, It"s okay to show some emotion sometimes. Keeping things on your own will kill you slowly."
"Thanks grandpa but I"m fine." She forced a smile then sip a small amount of wine.
"I hope you are."
"Grandpa, I-I will be leaving Eli here, for good. I already packed some of his things. Also, Ethan, I might not be able to see them for the time being. Please watch over them." She uttered.
"What do you mean? Are you planning to leave them? For good?"
Aisha smirked. Is her plan really obvious? d.a.m.n.
"Stacy already left them for good, are you going to repeat the same pain and same miseries that they had experienced before?"
Aisha was dumbfounded. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She accidentally dropped the gla.s.s of wine that she was holding.
"W-What did you just say, G-grand pa?"
"You already heard me. Don"t let me repeat that."
"Y-You ---- H-How?" she stammered as she stepped backwards.