novelraw Chapter 158: How Could You?
Chapter 158: How Could You?
I froze in the doorway, my heart beating so loud and fast inside of my chest. My eyes could see her, but my mind refused to accept that she was here. It just couldn’t be real, she could be here.
Not now, now before Raphael gets here.
"Abigail..." my mother called my name when her eyes landed on me.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at my mother as my eyes were glued to the woman sitting close to her on the livingroom sofa.
Rosabella.
She sat elegantly on the sofa with her legs crossed and a calculating smile on her face. My mother sat close to her, with her face pale and quite stiff.
"Why..." I began asking but the rest of the question wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
My instincts kicked in and I immediately knew the answer to the question that I was about to voice.
"It’s nice of you to join us. I was just here having a little chat with your mother," Rosabella said sweetly.
I thought that she had gone home and had left us alone even if it was just for the day. However, it became extremely clear that Rosabella had other plans. My blood ran cold when I realized that she might have just beaten us to the finish line.
"Why don’t you take a seat and join us?" Rosabella said as she gestured for me to sit down on the sofa.
I had no other choice. Raphael had not yet arrived, so I had to hold the fort until he made his appearance.
"Mother, I..." I began but my voice died in my throat.
The way my mother looked at me told me that it was already too late. There was no point in waiting for Raphael, and no point for me to say anything to her.
Rosabella had said it all. She had beated me to it.
My mother’s eyes felt so cold, distant, and even lifeless as they stared at me blankly. Her gaze made me feel as if she did not recognize me anymore, as if I was no longer her daughter. She was clearly in shock, but there was something much deeper than that in the depths of her eyes.
"I was just here telling your mother about...you know..." Rosabella said before she shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me.
I didn’t have time to focus on her or her games. I knew that she had won this battle by stabbing me in the back.
Rushing me to tell my mother, pressuring me to do everything as I was told. She was trying to control me and get me away from Raphael, and then, she returned first to the mansion to backstab me by telling my mother everything. I didn’t want my mother to learn about the truth this way, and she knew it.
"Abigail, is it true?" my mother finally whispered in a trembling voice that broke my heart to bits.
The world around me slowly shattered until it felt like everything was dissolving away. All the lies and the acts that I have put up. Everything that Raphael and I desperately tried to hide from her, while we waited for the right time to confess to her about everything. Rosabella leaned back against the sofa as her smile turned into a wider smirk. She was enjoying every moment of watching me drown as the wedge between my mother and I seemd to deepen.
I slowly sank down onto the sofa like a young girl who had to confess to her worst crimes in front of her mother. All the words of confessions that I had prepared died along with the hope that I could make things right with my mother on this matter. My mother’s eyes remained locked on me and I felt as if I had turned into a stranger right in front of her.
Rosabella, on the other hand, looked extremely pleased with herself. I watched as she rose slowly and gracefully from the sofa as if she was about to enjoy a pleasant afternoon chat. That probably wasn’t so far from the truth from her perspective, because anything that was hurtful for me must be pleasant to her.
"I think that this conversation is better left between my mother and I," I said stiffly.
I cursed myself when I turned to beg Rosabella with my eyes for her to leave us. To my surprise, Rosabella smiled understandingly. I had no idea if it was an act or not, but Rosabella quietly agreed to leave us alone.
"I’ll leave you two to...talk things out. Hopefully, you two can figure something out," Rosabella said sweetly.
The sound of her heels sounded louder than normal as she walked past me. She never glanced back at us.
"Mum..." I whispered.
"Is it true, Abigail? Oh, please just tell me that it isn’t true," my mother said before her face fell.
I thought that I was prepared to tell her the truth about everything, but when I opened my mouth no words would come out. My mother must have understood my silence for acceptance because her face began to slowly crumble. Her shoulders shook visibly as her hand flew to cover her mouth. Many emotions seemed to cross her face all at once: shock, sadness, disappointment, and something else that I didn’t want to acknowledge.
"I didn’t...it’s not like that. Please just listen to me first," I stammered.
"Just tell me. Did you do it? Yes or no?" my mother pressed me for a definite answer.
"Please, just give me a chance to explain," I pleaded.
"So you admit that you did it? How could you?" my mother asked without hiding her shock.
There was also another look on her face that hurt me more than anything. I’ve disappointed my mother many times in the past; however, I had never seen her make a face like that before. If I had to put a name to it, then I guess it was a look of disgust that came over my mother’s facial features.