Chapter 113

Jason's pov :
It was New Year and I needed to buy a good gift for my girlfriend for this New Year. Buying a gift for a girl who didn't like designed clothes or bags or anything that could easily be bought with money wasn't a piece of cake.
I had planned to take her on a date on a boat. My dad was going to leave the next evening so I had arranged everything according to that. We would spend a good evening there and then, we would come back for dinner at home so we could have the last meal together.
The only thing remaining to be done was to choose the best gift for the best girl. I took the keys to my car and drove to the shopping mall that we owned near to my house.
"Hello, sir! How may I help you?" The manager ran to me as soon as I entered the jewellery shop.
"I want you to show me something very special and precious that can touch someone's heart." My mind couldn't decide on a good thing, I was fucking confused.
"We received some special accessories from Paris last morning but we haven't put them on the display yet. I can get you that," he led the way to his office and I followed him.
He ordered someone to bring the jewellery and two girls appeared with two huge boxes. The manager opened them and put the three jewellery boxes on the desk after unloading the packing of those huge boxes.
"These are the three most exclusive designs and the only copy of this design. The designer was told to make only one copy so you would be the only one to own the design you'll choose." He opened the boxes one by one.
The first one was a ring with the shape of a heart surrounded by small diamonds in between, the second one was a beautiful bracelet with three leaves on the sideline.
And I smiled at the last one which was perfect for my girl. A pretty heart-shaped locket with a thin chain, I took it in my hand and touched the locket. On the face of the heart, there was a charming heartbeat designed.
"You have picked a very touchy necklace. This small diamond on the side is the lock to open this locket and you can have two small pictures inside this."
"Wow! It's amazing! I want it to be ready in two hours, I'm sending you two pictures right away."
Nothing could be a more beautiful gift than that locket. In the meantime, I talked to the boat manager to get all the things done there, too. Picking up the gift finally, I left for my home.
"You're home! Lia came and left a gift box for you. She asked me to give it to you." Barbie handed me a box and I excitedly started tearing off the packing paper from the box.
"Wow! A love letter with perfume and rose! She is more romantic than you." My sister started teasing me so I just rolled my eyes in response and strolled to my room.
I was as excited as fuck to read that whole letter. Closing the door, I jumped on my bed and started reading.
As soon as I finished reading that letter, my eyes were wet and my vision was as blurred as my foggy mind which couldn't decide what to do?!
Throwing the letter on the bed, I called her but my heart knew that she wouldn't receive my call so I ran downstairs, taking the keys to my car.
"Woah! What happened? You look so haggard." Barbie yelled out.
"She… she, I need to find her." I stuttered and didn't wait for her response.
Without thinking anything, I drove directly to her home and found Kristen and Ian standing crying. No! This couldn't be true, Ian couldn't cry.
"What did you do to her? Where is she?" Screaming out, I grasped the collar of his shirt but he didn't bother to say anything.
No! No! Fucking no! She couldn't leave the town like that, she couldn't leave me like that.
"I'm sorry! I couldn't take care of anything, I tried to search for her but…" Ian stopped in the middle, crying like a baby.
Releasing his collars, I took Kristen's hands in mine. "I know that you at least care about her. Please, tell me what happened and why did she leave?!"
Kristen didn't say anything, her face was blank, she had dead expressions on her face as if she was standing there but her soul was somewhere else. She was lost, I could decipher it from her face but I needed the answers to my questions.
"I...I'm not...her...real...mother." She uttered in a low voice and a sole tear evaded from her eye.
"What? What are you saying?" I shook her, holding her arms.
"Leave her, please! She can't tell you anything, she is not in the right state." Ian requested and I obeyed him. I just wanted to know everything.
After Ben's wedding, she seemed happy with me and I didn't do anything wrong with her. Why was she breaking up with me like that? At least, I deserved to know the reason.
"Come with me!" Ian announced and started walking upstairs, I followed him without any question.
He opened the cupboard of his room and brought an album. "This is the answer to your question." He handed me the album, I sat on the couch and restlessly opened the first page of the album.
Shocked was an understatement word for the feeling I was having after seeing the first page. I looked at Ian in the expectation that he would say something.
"She is Lia's real mother, Henley! She died while delivering Lia. And Lia heard it when Kristen and I were having arguments so we had to tell her the truth and she left..." He began explaining and I fixed my gaze on the woman who was looking like a twin sister of Lia.
He sighed and continued, "I was love at the first sight for Kristen. One night, when I was drunk, she confessed her love to me and I accepted her proposal. And then she got pregnant with Ben but she didn't tell me because my parents had already fixed my marriage with Henley. It was a contract, forced marriage between two big business corporations."
"I got married to Henley but Kristen never told me that she was pregnant with my child, she was too proud to come to me just for the sake of a child. She wanted me to take a stand for her and show some love to her but I couldn't because I was feeling attracted to Henley. As you can see, she was so beautiful. Lia is a replica of her mother." He wiped the tears off his face and took a small sip of the water.
It was heartbreaking, she must be going through a lot after knowing that. I was feeling so bad after knowing the truth about her real mother, Ian shouldn't have hidden it from her, she had the right to know the truth about her real mom.
"When Henley passed away, I found Kristen working in that hospital and a small kid calling her mom so I thought that Lia needed a mother and Kristen needed a husband so I could give them what they needed by making Kristen, my wife. I didn't want anyone to know the truth because the truth could hurt them so I decided to hide it."
"Then why were you against Ben and Sandra's wedding? Why were you being so cruel to your own children?"
"Because I deserve the hate and I wanted to be hated by them. I couldn't be a good man, I could love neither Henley nor Kristen. I wanted them to know what kind of person they shouldn't be ever. What do you think, I couldn't know about your plan? I'm more powerful than you can imagine."
"If you are, help me with finding Lia and prove that whatever you are guffing, it's not a lie."
"Do you think that I didn't try?"
"Then you're useless to me and I can't just cry like you. My girl needs me, do you even know how much you have hurt her by hiding the truth? No wonder why Kristen always treated her like that!" I spat and ran out of his mansion.
The only person who could tell me where Lia was was Fiona. She must have told at least her best friend, so I immediately drove to her workplace.
"Fiona! Fiona!" I started squealing, I had no patience to ask for her at the reception so I started searching by myself. Two guards ran towards me and held my hands. "Who the fuck you are?!"
Before I could answer them, Fiona came and asked them to leave me. She was about to open her mouth but I held her arms and asked, "Fiona, please, tell me where Lia is?!"
Her eyes widened as if she didn't know anything. "She'll be at her home or maybe at the restaurant." She rolled her eyes. "You should learn to have patience. If she is not picking your calls that doesn't mean she has broken up with you."
"She had. That's why I'm searching for her like a maniac!."
"What? Why? When?"
Her questions reminded me of Lia. She used to ask so many questions at a time so I used to call her a question machine.
"I don't know anything." I removed my grasp from her arms and took a few steps back.
"You, relax! I'm going to take my phone to call Lia. I don't know why she suddenly decided that?!" She uttered and went inside her office.
If she wasn't receiving my call and didn't tell anyone about where she was going, it was certain that she didn't intend to tell anyone and was hiding from everyone.
Ben was the only one to whom I could expect the answer to my question. But I wasn't sure if I should call him or not as he just got married a few days ago, and I didn't want him to get worried after all that mess.
"She isn't picking up my calls." Fiona came back and gave me an apologetic look.
"Should I call Ben or not?"
"I don't think that he would also know about her." It made sense because Ben would never let her be alone, he would have informed me anyhow!.
Without uttering anything to her, I just walked to my car. The only place left to find her was Mary's restaurant. I went there but she said that she didn't even tell her anything.
I had several missed calls from my sister and parents, they were worried for me but I had lost my sense to do or feel anything. All I could think about was Lia and her pain. I was hurt because of the way she had sent me just a letter and broke up with me and disappeared from the town but I knew only one thing that I loved her and I couldn't imagine a life without her.
As I entered my mom's office, she sent all the people outside and ran to me. "What's wrong with you, Jay?" Why couldn't I decipher the concern in her eyes for me before? Maybe because I never let her come close to me, maybe because I never went to her before.
"I'm sorry, mom!" I couldn't bear that pain anymore, I started crying and the river of tears started flowing through my eyes.
"Where is Lia? Did she tell-"
I nodded and her eyes got wet seeing my condition. "She told me how strong my mom is and how foolish I was?! She wrote me a letter and told me everything. That two-year-old boy who didn't know that his parents couldn't afford that expensive toy stopped eating in stubbornness but his mother bought that toy with all her savings for him and at that moment, she decided to work hard to reach the top where her son didn't need to worry about money ever." I started clarifying and she bit her lip to stop trembling.
"That kid grew up and became so selfish that he forgot that his mom was working hard only for him. His mom was paying the price for her son's happiness and all he could do in return was to hurt her, humiliate her, and hate her. Why didn't you ever complain, mom? Why? You should have told me the truth before. I'm feeling so guilty for mistreating you and hurting you." At that moment, I didn't care about the tears that were falling like a stream.
She hugged me tightly and rubbed my back gently. "Don't talk like that! I couldn't be at the hospital that day for you because I was too selfish to overcome my pain."
Why couldn't I realize before that she loved me? If Lia wouldn't have mentioned all these things in that letter, I could never know how fucking asshole I was!
"Jay, you need to be strong, my son! Your dad and I have something more to tell you. But for that, you need to be strong." My mom gently rubbed my hair and smiled with her teary eyes.
The word STRONG reminded me of Lia. She was my strong girl who endured a lot and dealt with so many difficulties but I was lucky because I never needed to be strong until I read that letter.
Perhaps STRONG word existed to make people realize how lucky they were that they didn't need to be strong!. Being strong wasn't something positive or good, it was the most depressing situation but I had no choice rather than being strong to listen to what my parents had to say.