Gabriella's smile gradually faded after mentioning Lester's name to Hyacinth. When her senses came back, she blinked excessively and forced a laugh. "A-aahm.. nothing. "He's just my brother," she lied, trying to cover up her slip of the tongue.
"I see... So random." Hyacinth smiled, not suspecting anything.
Gabriella turned her face to her side opposite from Hyacinth's direction, and she sighed with relief.
"Uhmm... Gabriella..." Hyacinth called her, so she quickly looked at her again.
"Yes?"
"Can you please tell me about Terry's childhood? She already told me that she came from an orphanage and your uncle adopted her, but I want to know more about her. "
Her eyes widened a little, not expecting that his aloof cousin would tell that particular story to Hyacinth. She knew how private Lester was and, aside from that, seeing the curiosity in Hyacinth's eyes was making her suspicions grow stronger. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, trying to find out the woman's true feelings for her cousin.
"B-because she's my bestfriend."
She was just staring at her, trying to read her intentions. 'Bestfriend? It's obvious that you already like him. She even wanted to roll her eyes, getting a little annoyed.
"Please..." Hyacinth pleaded with puppy eyes, waiting for her to tell Terry's story.
She just sighed in surrender. Who could say no to that beautiful, innocent face? "About my cousin... Hmmm... Let's see. When Terry's still young, she's aloof and a very quiet kid. "
Hyacinth's brow was raised. "Well, because she has a speech disorder, right? What I know is that she developed that disorder in the orphanage she stayed in before."
Gabriella slowly nodded while secretly pinching her leg because she was about to make Lester's secret slip again. She knew she would get Lester in trouble when she happened to say something else that shouldn't be mentioned to Hyacinth.
She immediately smiled. "You're right! She's unable to speak and never smiles at anyone except to my uncle, her foster father. Because he's the only one that makes her happy at that time." She smiled, remembering the first time she saw Lester smile, and that was when he was with his father.
"I'm a year older than her and I already realized that she's a strong person, considering what she went through at such a young age before getting adopted by my uncle. "
(Flashback...)
Gabriella didn't like going to Lara's house, her cousin, even though they lived close to them, because she hated the awful attitude of the young girl, but when her mother told her about his uncle's adopted son, she got curious and went to their house.
She saw Lester sitting on a chair and reading a book on the 2nd floor balcony of the house. She was looking up to him, already admiring how intelligent he looked and how mature his aura seemed.
Starting that day, she always visited their house and watched her new cousin from afar. Her uncle noticed her and was really happy with her interest in his adopted son and let her meet Lester up close.
At first, she was intimidated by him because of his emotionless face and the depth of his stare, as if he was trying to look through her soul.
She even ran away, crying in disappointment when Lester ignored her after she asked him to play with her.
But one day, she saw and heard him giggling like a baby while being tickled by his father. He looked genuinely happy, and she didn't expect how cute his smile would look with his bunny teeth. And that laughter of his resonated in her heart, which created a desire in her to make him laugh again like that.
She always followed Lester around, even if he was just ignoring her, but one time, she found out how Lara bullied him in discreet. She got really agitated and defended Lester from her cousin, which made the latter throw a tantrum. When Lara's mother, Milen, saw her daughter crying, she scolded Lester instead of Gabriella, saying he was influencing Gab to fight with Lara.
Gabriella was so upset after seeing Lester's bruises made by her auntie after what happened.
Thencefort, she always brought Lester to their house to play with her so that he could avoid getting bullied by Lara. They became closer as time passed by.
When they went to high school, they were in the same school but she was a year ahead of him, so they were not in the same class. For three years, she made sure to protect Lester from the bullies. Especially with Lara, who was in the same year and class as Lester.
She didn't want him to be hurt by anyone anymore considering what he had already gone through. And also, Lester hated getting involved in any trouble and wasting his time with nonsensical things, so he just took whatever others did and said to him. She knew that Lester was grateful to her for teaching those people lessons for him.
As they got older, they were already comfortable with each other. Lester scolds her whenever he finds out that she is not eating properly. He really gets upset whenever an important person for him starves or get hungry.
And with all the time they spent with each other, something happened that she couldn't have expected.
She realized that the feelings she was having for him were already beyond the love that she should feel towards a family.
She couldn't accept it, especially since she considered Lester more like a brother. She didn't want to admit that she fell for him because she didn't want to ruin the relationship they already had.
' '
Hyacinth smiled at what she had learned more about Terry from Gabriella.
Of course, Gabriella didn't mention the secret feelings she has for Lester. She just smiled at the woman whose eyes were sparkling, and there was a tingling guilt in her chest for manipulating Lester's story.
She was feeling differently about Hyacinth's relationship with Lester. A relationship she would love to have with him, but she's playing safe, so she knew it would never happen. "Hyacinth, be honest with me. What is Terry for you?" she asked while staring into her eyes, trying to read the truth from her eyes while answering her question.
She wanted to be wrong in her suspicion that Hyacinth had feelings for Lester. She was not that cruel to not care how Hyacinth would be hurt and lonely when the time came that Terry needed to disappear from her life.
Hyacinth looked straight at her. "She's my best friend... and a family." There was a glow in Hyacinth's eyes, which confirmed Gabriella's suspicion about her true feelings.
Hyacinth still liked Terry, even though she knew that the latter was a woman as well.
The painted love in her eyes was like knives, piercing Gabriella's heart.
She couldn't imagine how the lie she asked Lester to do just to help him get the job would get out of hand like this. She clenched her fists and avoided her smiling eyes. She kicked small rocks on the ground with weakness.
She was already thinking that if ever Hyacinth would know about Lester's secret, she would make sure that she would get all the blame because she was the one who made Lester start all these acts and lies.
The two of them became silent when suddenly, her phone rang in her pocket.
She took it from there and looked at who was calling. Her eyes widened and gasped when she saw the caller ID registered there, which made Hyacinth look at her.
She immediately answered the call and then stood up like a spring. "Hello, Sir! Is there any news? "she quickly asked, full of expectations of what the person on the other line would answer her.
"Our long search is over, Ms. Gabriella. I already know where she is now. "
Her eyes widened even more after hearing that, and a wide smile stretched across her lips. "Really? Where?! I'm going to talk to her now. I have a lot to tell her, Sir."
Hyacinth, who was still sitting on the swing, was just looking up at her, watching how excited she was with the news she got. She didn't even mind that the woman could hear her conversation after she set the call on a loud speaker mode.
The person on the other line let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry to tell you about this, but you can't do that anymore."
Gabriella's bright expression turned to a confused one. "Why, Sir? Does she already have a new family? "
"No. She didn't have one... because she passed away a long time ago. Celine Yoso died more than a decade ago."
Those words didn't quickly sync in Gabriella's mind, but she was frozen on her spot.
"Yoso?" Hyacinth sprang up from her seat after hearing Terry's last name.
There, they saw Terry walking towards them... and mixed emotions populated in Gabriella's chest.