Chapter 35: Why did you do that, Tamara?

Jessie made her way down the flight of stairs, finally looking much better than she was, till she heard her name being called by Charles.
"And what have I done this time?" She asked as she made her way towards Luciana, smiling as she did. "You are here Charles, I had no idea." She lied.
"Ohh... We were just talking about this painting. He seems to find it interesting, so I just told him it was your doing." Luciana informed, smiling at her.
Jessie's face wrinkled a little as she heard that they talked about the picture, and her expression didn't escape Charles's eyes.
Charles made a low chuckle in response, "Yes, I came to see you. As I couldn't make it earlier, I decided to come over here myself if you don't mind."
"It's fine, " Jessie stated, as they moved to seat on a couch, with Luciana leading the way.
"The picture... what was your muse?", Charles inquired, raising his brows to her.
"It's an important part of me. I just love the scenery", Jessie beamed at him lightly.
Trying to dodge more questions about the picture, "So how are you doing? I hope you're done with everything that kept you occupied," Jessie questioned.
"Yes, sure I am," Charles affirmed.
"If you guys will excuse me, I'll just go prepare dinner," Luciana requested smiling, she aimed to give them every space necessary.
"Ohh... It's fine, I will like to step out with Jessie if you don't mind," Charles interrupted with a wave of the hand.
Luciana holding a smile, as she turned to Jessie, "if she agrees, who am I to dispute?", She giggled as she stepped closer to Jessie, "I don't think she has any issue with it"
"Then if that's a yes, I will beg that you follow me, Jessie, I want us to have some alone time," Charles said and Jessie's face colored crimson.
"Aww, she will," Luciana kept on giggling, trying to move Jessie closer to him.
"Luci...," Jessie voiced out in a loud voice.
"You will, I'll take care of the house, be fine," Luciana answered instead, ignoring Jessie's talk.
"Okay, let's go," Jessie said, rising to her feet and made her way out of the Ranez home with Charles following behind.
By the time they were out, the sun had hidden its face from the sky already and had gone behind the surfaces of the atmosphere. What was left was the soft glowing light from the sky caused by the reflection of the Sun's rays from underneath the atmospheric surface.
Jessie's heart raced with different thoughts wondering what exactly was the special thing or was there no special thing because Charles was truly unpredictable.
Charles drove aimlessly going all around the streets of Carlton. The night sky gradually began to appear, giving the sky dark shades. His perturbed mind took unsteady lapses that were quite audible to Jessie's hearing.
In confusion, he brought the car to a halt and stepped down. Jessie followed after him, confused as she made her way to him. Jessie went after Charles as he made his way to the hilly terrain of the road. Right from the time Charles picked her up, he went around driving in confusion and she didn't understand what his intention was. Initially, she felt he had some special place he was taking her to, but it didn't seem so after some time.
The night sky had darkened deeper, and the only visible lights in the area were the lights that came off from the headlights Charles left on and some distant glow that could be seen.
"Charles," Jessie kept on yelling, until she caught up with him, "what is this whole drama?"
Charles stopped at another call and turned to her, "why did you do that, Tamara?" he muttered incoherently, forcing the words out of his breath.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. What is wrong Charles?" Jessie stuttered, confusion running all over her face, "was anything wrong with Charles?" She asked herself internally, "who was Tamara and what was his deal with her?"
"Just answer me?"Charles asked, his hands running up to his hair scratching it vigorously.
The whole attitude Charles was putting on troubled her the more, she watched him looking confused with his emotions displaced. His once arranged hair became ruffled and his eyes felt like he was acting from pain, "stop this, please. Please just stop all of it Charles, "She managed to mumble and moved closer to him, rubbing his back.
"Let us go," Charles finally declared after a long time of Jessie rubbing his back and exhaling a deep breath, making way to the car.
Jessie did not have any idea what just happened but she was glad that he was fine and just as she turned to him to ask about what went on, she heard him utter, "I am sorry. Let's not talk about everything" and she gave a forced smile to him in response. They were a lot of things she had to learn about Charles, so she was just going to take her time.
They went into an eatery and Jessie opted for takeaway arrangements, so they made do with it. She was desperate to know things about him, who Tamara was, who Rebecca was to him, all of those questions that needed answers, and who she was to him.
Making her way into the house, she could still feel the very same warmth that she experienced right from her first day at his house. The same moderate pieces of furniture waiting in rest for her to seat upon and the cool breeze kissing her cheeks. Even as Jessie did not know what home felt like as her stay in the Gibson's home was not so good, Charles's house still gave her that comfort she visualized in a home.
They ate together in the dining room with Charles sparing a few words, before Jessie broke the silence, turning her face to him.
"You know, I have always wondered what life was for you before meeting you, and after so much brain rackings, I still draw the conclusion that I don't know you." She raised her face to him giving off a smile before she continued, "do your family members live here?"
"No, they don't," Charles responded to her, not even raising his eyes from his plate of food that was almost emptied.
"Cool, where do they stay then?" She inquired.
Charles took a long time hesitating, before raising his face to her, "they stay at Ausburg city, that's where the Family mansion is. Although, most of the time, they stay anywhere else but there."
"And your siblings?" She questioned, trying to get a deeper knowledge of him.
"They're fine, nothing much is going with them. Just two younger siblings and they are out of the Country currently," he stated clearly, trying to not run about his family history.
"Wow, you have a pretty interesting life," Jessie paused, pushing the courage left in her to her vocal cords, "even as I think there's a pain you are holding on to. If you don't mind, can you please tell me what it is?"
Charles's gaze that moved randomly fell to the table, and he took his eyes to her, staring intently, trying to search in her thoughts, "what are you trying to do?"
"I don't get you," Jessie stated in confusion.
"Where are you heading to with your questions?" He asked.
"You're acting weird and I don't get you anymore. I'm not trying to do anything, it's a harmless question," Jessie assured him.
"Then, I don't feel like answering it," he declared.
"It's fine if you don't want to," She whispered out, forcing a smile
After they disposed of the paper bags and plastics that came from the takeaway, Charles made his way into the room, and Jessie followed also.
At the Ranez home, Mrs. Ranez made a call and told Luciana that she wasn't going to be around, so Luciana was left to herself, her depressing write-ups and her phone just scrolling through random dark humor memes. The whole house was left staring at her, waiting with her as she wandered about the whole room aimlessly.
Instantly, she jerked and picked up her phone like a thought was just dropped into her brain. She opened the search engine on her device immediately and began to search through her phone, inputting the words, the effects of brain tumor.
She tapped on the first search result that popped in, and a list of things appeared. She kept on scrolling, her racing mind, set for an outburst that just waited for the whistle call. She tucked her hair in the space between her ear and head and continued scrolling. Funnily they had listed out the effects to her countless times but it felt like her mind was still not settled and as though she knew what she was looking for.
Reading through the first one, she saw effects like severe head pains, unexplained nausea, seizures, vision problems, and the rest of them. The tears that were already welling up in her eyes began to streak down in calculated releases dropping on her palms and her phone screen. She kept on inputting different keywords until it came out with what exactly she wanted, "death."