Emma
The three of us are standing at the front door as I try to look for anything in particular. My eyes won't stop glancing back and forth onto my phone; wanting to make sure that this is the right address and that we are not lost. That would be trouble for us.
''So, should we knock or something?'' Evelyn asks.
''There's the doorbell,'' Andrea answers from behind which causes me to glance at both of them; seeing that they are busy controlling their laughters which I find confusing for no reason at all. They are acting like kids and yes, it surely is cute, somehow.
''Right. I see that,'' I mutter under my breath.
Within seconds, I am already walking up the stairs before standing near the door; counting to ten before pressing the doorbell but my action is interrupted by the door opening, revealing an unknown man.
My eyebrows furrow in confusion at the figure.
Yet, he looks at me as if he has seen me before.
''I'm sorry,'' I mutter, politely as I stand to the side; letting him pass through but both of his eyes won't stop looking at me—making me look back at him, raising an eyebrow as I glance at my sister-in-law.
The man in front of me continues to stare at me as he eyes my outfit; making me clear my throat but I take my time to eye him too. His light green eyes and dirty blonde hair reminds me of someone, familiar.
''I know you,'' He breathes out, slowly.
''You do?'' I ask, trying to recall any images of him.
He chuckles, revealing his perfectly straight teeth as he keeps on looking at me. Then, he glances at Andrea and Evelyn before looking back at me. He shoves both of his hands into his jeans' pocket, casually.
''You're the current princess of Cambridge, Emma Faye. Clearly, you're Emery's wife,'' He says, stating the obvious in which I can't help but agree. For the past hour, we've been wandering in this city but no one has seemed to notice us at all. Well, especially now because we're in disguise but he notices.
''You're Cole?'' I ask, wanting to know if he is.
''That's me,'' He mutters, both of his eyes focusing.
''May we come in?'' I change the topic, wanting to find a different place to talk so that this conversation can be longer. In fact, if we're talking about his sister, it should be done privately—family matter.
''Absolutely. Come on in,'' He replies, smiling.
I step inside after glancing at Evelyn and Andrea as they quickly follow behind me. As soon as we step inside, we are greeted with a perfectly arranged and designed living room. This room has been organised modernly; leaving traces of a young bachelor.
''Nice place,'' Andrea compliments.
''Thanks,'' He smiles at the three of us, ''I don't mean to be rude or anything but may I ask why the three of you are here? You guys aren't just anybody. Emery's sister and wife are here; it's worth questioning,''
Evelyn and I glance at each other but she shoves it off by smiling at Cole; making her way towards him. Her eyes are piercing deeply into his—leaving him almost bewitched by her gaze, ''We came here to talk,'' She says, stating the truth as she sits down.
Cole confusingly stares at Evelyn and I before glancing at Andrea who has done nothing but stand beside me; protectively. As I make my way towards the sofa, he follows behind me before standing in the middle of Evelyn and I—showing dominance.
''About what, exactly?'' He frowns, slightly.
''Your sister,'' Andrea answers before I can. ''We came to talk about your sister, Hannah. She's not here in Australia, isn't she?'' He looks directly at him, making me shiver slightly at the hardness of his gaze.
I've been dealing with the sweet side of him. The kind of sweetheart that Evelyn has been describing and all of a sudden, he changes into someone who could be investigating or interrogating about something and is feared by everyone. It's like a different character.
''What do you mean? She came to see me last week and she seemed perfectly fine,'' He answers, raising his voice a little. Of course, he would be defending his sister because that's the right thing to do.
''She's in London. Pregnant,'' Evelyn states.
''Excuse me?'' His eyes widen in surprise, showing how he has no idea that any of this is happening.
I can't help but eye his every movement, his every gesture because I want to find the truth. If he doesn't know about his sister's condition and if he's telling the truth then we can trust him but if he's telling another lie, we don't have a choice but to back away.
Then, all of a sudden, he stops moving. His eyes are widening a little more before frowning and muttering curses under his breath as he glances up to look at me to look at my growing stomach. He stays still for a awhile, probably thinking about something.
''She is pregnant,'' He breathes out, ''She told me and she also said that the father is Emery. I told him but he didn't want to believe it,'' He adds, slowly.
''I wouldn't want to believe it either,'' I reply.
''In fact, I don't believe it, now. You see, Cole, I'm pregnant and this unborn baby is Emery's. This is the exact truth. The child that she is carrying does not belong to Emery—I came here to seek the truth about that uncertainty. You must know,'' I continue.
Both of his eyes are looking at me, deep down, I see sympathy and it soothes me slightly. He seems like a different version of Hannah; yes, her sister may have her own schemes but looking at Cole, he seems to be innocent. No matter how hard I seek for lies.
''I can't help you. I'm sorry,'' He mutters.
''Why? Why can't you help?'' I question, again.
Cole continues to look at us and I know that he's still thinking about this. He's probably hesitating whether he should just help us or let her sister ruin my marriage—there's a slight chance that he'll help.
He leans forward, ''What if he's the father? I wouldn't be doing any good to anyone because I'll end up blaming myself. She's my sister and I love her; if she's right, then, she has the right to confront him,''
''How can you be so sure that he's the father?''
''I'm not,'' He says after a few seconds of silence. ''But I'm not going to let you walk out of the door without finding answers. I want to find the truth and by that, I need to help you find the truth too,'' He adds.
Evelyn glances at my direction, realising that we're actually heading towards something. ''So, you'll help us? That's what you're trying to say?'' She asks.
He smiles slightly, ''Yes. I'll help you,''
Without me realising, I've already grabbed onto his hand to show my gratitude. He looks down at our hands before smiling up at me; making me smile back as I stare deeply into his pair of green eyes.
''Thank you. I appreciate it,'' I mutter, slowly.
It seems that Cole really loves his sister. Just by the amount of photographs he has of them, it shows it very clearly—Hannah is a very beautiful woman. She has this sort of charm that could attract anyone. It's not a surprise that Emery did spend some quality time with her when he was still in Melbourne.
I stop walking once I see a photograph of Emery, Cole, Hannah and two other different people. They seemed happy, close even. I begin to realise that Emery had his arm around her waist; showing how they were indeed pretty close together.
Any woman would fall for him, any.
''That was a year ago. We were at a music festival,'' Cole says from behind; surprising me slight as I turn to look at him—seeing him nearing me. ''Everything was actually normal that day. We were really happy and nothing seemed to be getting in our way,''
''I can see that. You looked happy too,'' I reply.
He chuckles, ''Yeah, things were different. Maybe we were just young—now, we've graduated and we're both heading towards different paths,'' He says.
We both look at the photographs, our minds are wandering someplace else—overthinking of the possibilities that things can definitely change.
''I'm sorry for what happened to you and I hope that you'll be strong about it. You'll overcome this as soon as you've found out the truth,'' He continues to speak, making me smile and nod my head. There's nothing wrong about that because he's right.
''Don't worry about me. I'll be fine,'' I mutter.
Our reflections are clear on the frames, showing that he's currently looking at me; in sympathy, concern and confusion. It's funny how my life used to be just the same and not as complicated but now, I'm trying to save my own marriage. The same marriage that I tried to escape from—and escape him.
Evelyn appears shortly, ''Are we all set?'' She asks.
I turn around, ''Yeah. Let's go,'' I answer.
Evelyn, Andrea and I begin to follow Cole as we head down the road; he didn't say where we'll be going but he said we'll start there to find out whether it's true or not. The city of Melbourne is a beautiful place, surrounded by beautiful people—it's a little bit like New York, not going to lie but of course, every country has their own differences and specialities.
We step inside an unknown building and it takes me awhile to realise the amount of people wearing suits. Once we're inside, we waste no time by immediately going to the receptionist but before we can take another step forward, Cole stops us.
''I'll go and speak to the receptionist. Wait here,'' He says, glancing at us before walking towards the receptionist; showing off his perfectly straight teeth as he speaks while the three of us wait as asked.
''I wonder who we're meeting,'' Evelyn breathes.
''Let's just wait and see,'' I reply, slowly.
Within seconds, Cole is already walking towards us but he stops once he hears someone calling out for him. I furrow my brows in confusion but as soon as I realise that I've seen him before, I begin to think. He was in the previous photograph I saw in Cole's apartment—he was there with the rest of them.
''Come on. I want you to meet someone,'' Cole says. Then, they're already closing the distance between us. As soon as the familiar man reaches us with Cole, his eyes are immediately focused on me—brows furrowed but he covers his gesture by smiling and introducing himself, politely in which I respond back.
''Daniel,'' He speaks, glancing at us.
''Emma,'' I reply with a smile before introducing the rest, ''Evelyn and Andrea. It's a pleasure to meet you,'' Both of his eyes won't look away from and I must admit that it's a little bit uncomfortable but I try my best to not lose my composure.
I take my time to study Daniel—Cole must've brought us to see him for a reason and that reason must be worthy enough. He wouldn't just introduce us to someone who does not have anything involved.
''It's a pleasure to meet you too,'' He replies.
Cole stands beside Daniel with a slight smile on his face before patting onto his back, ''It's probably best if we go and grab dinner, right? I'm pretty sure we're all hungry and besides, I know this great restaurant,''
''That'd be nice,'' Andrea agrees as he looks at him.
The five of us just stand awkwardly still as we keep on looking at one another but it doesn't take Cole long to break the silence and make us start walking out of the building and head back down the road.
As soon as we've arrived at the restaurant, we are nicely greeted with the smell of newly-cooked food overwhelming our senses. I had not thought of being hungry; not until seeing myself staring at the food that has been served to almost all of the customers.
Seeing them chat as they patiently wait for their food to be served reminds me of my own restaurant. The people coming in even though they know that the restaurant will always be packed with people during lunch and dinner hours but they never seem to bother looking for a different place to have lunch or dine.
These kind of people are determined to get a taste of their favourite dish and they won't be satisfied, not until they've tasted what they've been craving. Food does bring happiness to almost everyone and it cheers people up—pushes away sadness too.
Yet, it all depends on the taste and the texture.
''Table for five, please.'' Cole smiles at the waitress, seeing her nodding her head and gesturing us to follow her in towards the table in the middle.
Once we're seated, she places five menus; enough for us to look and see what we want to order before she starts to disappear towards the back.
I can't stop looking at Daniel, as if, he has something to hide. The rest are busy looking at the menu and I know that my heart wants to be looking at the menu too before deciding what I'd want for dinner but my mind keeps on repeating that I should not look away from Daniel because he's a bit, questionable.
''Emma, what would you like to order?'' Evelyn asks, interrupting me from my own thoughts as I look up at the waitress and smile; then, I start to clear my throat. The sudden awkwardness could not get any worse.
''Whatever you're having,'' I simply reply.
The waitress smiles down at me before walking towards the back—with our orders. I, on the other hand, looks up at Daniel who has been staring at me for the past few seconds. Then, we just smile awkwardly at each other; wanting to get rid of the sudden feeling surrounding us.
''Uh, I'll be back,'' He says, standing up.
Daniel walks out of the restaurant and it doesn't take me long to follow him—leaving them behind. As I push the door open, I see him walking down the road which causes me to catch onto him; luckily, he walks slow enough for me to be able to keep up.
I stop in front of him, making him look up at me.
''Emma, what are you doing?'' He asks, frowning.
I stare deeply into his eyes, wanting to seek for the truth or something; the reason why he feels anxious or uncomfortable as soon as he saw me. Yet, he does a great job at hiding it—almost fooling me, slightly.
We're standing in the middle of the road with other people passing us; but I don't bother moving away or let him pass because if I do, I might lose my one and only chance to this uncertainty. It's bothering me.
''You're the father, aren't you?'' I ask, hesitating.
Just like that, he begins to clench his jaw.