chapter 19: Web Of Lies

Diva's heart was thumping so loudly, she could swear it might jump out of her ribcage any second now, as the voice of her grandma inched closer, until she finally found Diva standing in the middle of the living room with an unfamiliar young man by her side, whom she recognized to be Blaze Hudson.
"Diva Adler!" Emerald Adler exclaimed in fury, raising the cane in her hand, and stepped forward to hit Diva.
Diva yelped and hid behind Blaze, clutching the back of his t-shirt, slightly yanking him back. Blaze let out a squeak at the sudden pull. Diva started mumbling like a chant, "Save me, save me, save me..."
"Save you from whom? That's just a harmless old lady," Blaze replied, peering at Diva over his shoulder.
"You have no idea," she urged.
"There's no point in hiding, Diva!" her grandma proclaimed, waving her walking stick at Diva.
"I'm so dead," Diva let out.
Blaze knitted his brows in confusion. He couldn't comprehend what was wrong with the scene. It was just Diva's grandma coming towards her with her cane, probably for a warm hug. But to Diva, the cane looked like a hammer of death waiting to crush her under its wrath.
As Grandma came near, Diva made a run towards the hallway, making Grandma follow her, without sparing a second glance at Blaze, who was just in disarray by the whole situation.
Blaze let out a sigh in relief as the granddaughter and her grandma left his sight. He sat down on the sofa and massaged his forehead. I don't have to get involved in their family reunion, do I?
Little did he know how wrong he was. Because, a moment later, a blaring plead echoed through his mansion.
"Grandma, I'm sorry!"
Blaze jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise and went to check up on the two, only to find himself dumbstruck.
Diva was standing in the farthest corner of the dining room, wrapped in the white linen curtains, in a failed attempt to hide. Her grandma was standing on the other corner with a chair in her hand.
Blaze finally understood the meaning of crisis strength. Otherwise, how could an old lady in her late-sixties hold up a heavy marble chair in the air? But that wasn't the most important thing at the moment. What the actual hell is going on here?
"Blaze, save me!" Diva cried out.
"Diva, how dare you get married without taking my permission? You should have let me know, at least!" Emerald scolded.
Why did I come here? Blaze wondered. He was caught in their crossfire, and he could see a way out.
"Blaze!" Diva called out again, scooting closer to the corner of the room.
"I dare you to call your husband again, you irresponsible woman. Can't you take responsibility for a single thing you do? Has your mind not grown at all? Are you still a child inside?" Emerald rebuked.
"I said I'm sorry!" Diva whined.
"I told you not to apologize when you don't actually mean it. You need to be taught a lesson," saying that Emerald was about to swing the chair at her granddaughter when Blaze interrupted in an alarming tone.
"Let's talk it out!"
Emerald turned her gaze over to Blaze, who looked like he was about to choke with the tension in the air, and narrowed her eyes, to which Blaze gulped and quickly added, "Instead of throwing things like this, we should talk it over like adults, with a cup of coffee, perhaps?"
Diva nodded quizzically, and Emerald judged the sincerity in his voice and let out a sigh before nodding her head.
����
Just what is going on with this situation? Blaze regretted ever suggesting a talk between them. Because right now, Blaze was sitting beside Diva and across to Emerald Alder. He was hardcore third-wheeling as Emerald was shooting holes with her eyes on Diva's head who didn't dare to raise her head out of fear.
The air was thick with tension. It almost started to strangle Blaze, who wanted nothing more than a relaxing bath on a holiday. Instead, it ended up being a courtroom, where he was the defending advocate, Diva was the accused criminal, and Grandma was the judge.
"So," Blaze started after sucking in a deep breath, knowing Diva would not speak up at all, and he had to do all the talking. It was now or never. "What brings you here, Mrs. Adler?"
"First, you tell me," she deadpanned.
Blaze stiffened. All of a sudden, he remembered the days at school when his homeroom teacher used to glare at him for skipping classes for playing video games.
"As a responsible adult, should you not have informed me, Diva's guardian, before marrying her?" Emerald questioned.
"I'm guessing you got to know about our wedding from the interview?" he told her, and she nodded.
How? I hid the newspaper, Diva wondered.
Blaze chose his words very carefully before speaking up, "As it was mentioned in the interview, we didn't plan to get married that day. It just happened. It was an accident."
"What about before that? Why didn't you inform me before dating her? I can't imagine how much of a coward you were to leave her guardian in the dark when you have been dating her for nine years," Emerald accused.
Blaze glared at Diva sideways, who wanted the earth to swallow her. She felt tiny in front of the two intellectual figures, and her fate was dangling in the hands' of her unreliable friend who might just frame her for the fun of it.
"No, that's not it. I wanted to let you know about our relationship when I was capable of taking her responsibility. I'm sure you wouldn't like an unemployed person as her husband, would you?" Blaze reasoned.
Diva's eyes brimmed with tears as it seemed her friend had no intention to betray her that day, rather he was trying to protect her. Truth be told, Blaze had no idea why he was saving her. Maybe because he just felt like it was the right thing to do.
"That is right," Emerald let out thoughtfully. "Then when were you planning to tell me about your marriage? When you had two or three kids running around the house?" she further interrogated.
How would Blaze answer that? I was the one who was scared to face Grandma. Diva squeezed her eyes shut, hoping for some miracle.
"Absolutely not. In fact, I was planning to pay you a visit today," he let out.
Diva raised her head in surprise, gawking at him with wide eyes. He realized he was actually, really smart.
Emerald raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Really?"
"Yes, of course. I even asked my assistant to bring a bouquet of flowers for you before we left for Seattle. He shall be here soon." Blaze put on a bright smile to make his lie seem more reliable. But on the inside, he couldn't believe he was interacting with a person that much.
Somehow, the tables were turned today. He was talking, and Diva was silent��the power of grandma. Yet he couldn't let the truth be spilled. Because if her grandma got to know the truth, she would definitely reveal it.
"I see. But I would have preferred if you informed me before proposing to Diva," Emerald told him.
"How shall I put it? I kind of felt shy and scared to talk to you. As you might have already noticed, I'm a nervous person. It's the very reason that I didn't want to meet you. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you. I hope you understand."
Diva was shocked. He was taking all the blame on himself, pretending to be someone he was not.
Even so, Emerald found it intriguing. He was lying and that was crystal clear to Emerald. No nervous person would ever admit that they were a nervous wreck, at least not that confidently. She understood that and didn't want to pressurize him, knowing he was trying so hard to protect someone. Emerald already liked him. He was just the type of person she wanted for Diva.
Now it was time to figure out his family background. "I understand. So where does your family live?" Emerald asked.
Blaze felt the tension in the air dissipate as he replied, "In Netherlands."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Yes, a twin brother."
"What does he do?"
"He's in the Ma��" Blaze paused as he was about to blurt out that Vyan was in the Mafia. "��Management field. He's a manager." He wasn't practically lying, though. Vyan managed the Mafia in Italy, so technically he was a manager.
"Manager of what?"
"Of an NGO," he blurted out, which was a big fat lie.
Diva eyed him suspiciously and let out a hopeless sigh, knowing it wasn't his fault. She resolved to step up against her grandma instead of cowering before her.
As Emerald was about to question further, Diva spoke up, "Grandma." Emerald shot her a glare, making Diva cower immediately. Diva gulped the lump in her throat and continued, "I know I don't have any right to speak, but still I am very sorry for hiding the truth that I got married."
Emerald quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything since Diva sounded very sincere.
"But it wasn't because I was ashamed of him or anything," she breathed out.
Blaze narrowed his eyes at her. As if there's anything to be ashamed about me, to begin with, Blaze thought.
"It's just that I wanted to tell you about us when I was sure��"
"It took you nine years?" Emerald cut in.
She's a horrible liar, Blaze secretly rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Why does it matter? The main thing is, we were naive and made a mistake by not telling you. There's no point in giving excuses, is there?"
"He is right," Emerald agreed. "I'm so sorry you have to deal with her, Blaze." She gave a pitiful look to him.
"I know. She can be a pain, sometimes. But it's alright." Blaze didn't fail to play the part of a troubled husband smoothly.
Diva felt concerned. It was as if her husband and grandma teamed up against her.
"Now let's just forget��" Blaze was interrupted by Atlas, who had a bouquet of red roses in his hand that he brought on his boss' order.
"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Atlas asked.
Blaze wanted to shoot Atlas at that moment. "What are those flowers for?" Emerald asked curiously, eyeing the red roses.
"Atlas, that's not the flowers you bring for a respected senior citizen," Blaze told him.
"But you didn't mention that in the text. I thought they were for Mrs. Hudson," Atlas let out, which made Diva face-palm.
As if Blaze would do that for me, Diva thought.
"I probably forgot to mention it yesterday," Blaze emphasized on the last word to make his earlier lies sound more believable.
"Yesterday?" Atlas was clueless as to why his boss was telling such a blatant lie. He received the text half an hour ago. But since it was his duty to just follow, he nodded. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I should have used my brain more and figured it out on my own," Atlas smiled apologetically.
"Don't apologize. It was my mistake, anyway." After all, I'm one who made this web of lies. Blaze waved his hand dismissively and said, "Now go get some other flowers." Atlas ran off to abide by the new order.
On the other hand, Emerald found Blaze to be impressive. Not only was Blaze smart, but he also had the guts to admit his own mistakes, instead of blaming it on someone else. It was something that her own granddaughter never did.
"So where is my room?" Emerald stood up from the chair.
"Oh, we have an empty room in the south side of the��" Blaze stopped midway realizing what the question was. He asked, "You're staying?"
Diva's eyes widened in horror.
"Yes, of course," Emerald responded.
Well, shit.