Rais Pov
"It's okay, I've got the smelling salts with me," Grace said as she entered the room, Cassidy was at Cassandra's bedside fanning her. As Grace approached her, she moved back a little to give Grace room to reach Cassandra.
Grace began shaking the small piece of cotton soaked in smelling salts to wake Cassandra near her nose.
"There..." she said softly as Cassandra began to come to.
"Give me the glass of water, please," she said to Cassidy, who hurried to hand it to her. Since Cassandra's upper body was supported by a pillow, she took the glass and drank a little before returning it.
Grace asked her if she was feeling better and left after receiving an affirmative answer from Cassandra.
The door closed behind Grace and Cassidy turned to her sister.
"Are you really feeling better?"
"Yes," she said, then straightened up completely to rest her back on the headboard.
Cassidy looked at her sister, who seemed lost in thought.
After a few seconds of silence, she asked her sister,
"Do you think it's true that she didn't want to tell you?"
Cassandra looked at her and said, "And what do you think?"
"I think it's true because when Valérie asked her the reason, she didn't say anything."
"So you think she didn't want to tell me? Really? That's a pretty poor answer," Cassandra said with a raised eyebrow.
"And what do you think?"
"Nothing, I don't think anything," Cassandra replied before gently getting out of bed under Cassidy's watchful eye.
Cassandra looked around a bit before her eyes landed on her bag. She walked over to her bag, opened it, and pulled out her pajamas.
"It looks like what happened tonight didn't affect you. Is that really the case?" said Cassidy, trying to make sense of her sister.
"Of course not." She stood up after picking up her things and turned to Cassidy, "It affects me tremendously, but my mind still can't wrap itself around the idea that the child I thought was dead is actually very much alive. I have mixed feelings... That's why you think I'm fine, but I'm not. Besides, you should be more concerned about this thing with your so-called girlfriend than sticking your nose in my business," Cassandra replied softly at first, before finishing her speech in a more defensive tone, shocking her sister by the way, who then watched her head for the bathroom.
She needed some kind of trigger to finally feel and express her sadness, but it still didn't come, and Cassandra felt as if these emotions were blocked. And her body could no longer take it, as she felt pain at the slightest movement. This caused her to crouch down for a moment to catch her breath.
A good shower would certainly help her relax her muscles and body for a while, she told herself.
Finally, she decided to take that shower.
A few seconds later, just as she was getting up, she heard a knock at the door.
Without thinking too much about who it was, she went to open the door and regretted her choice the moment she saw who it was, "What are you doing here?"
Harmonie looked at her with an expression that was difficult for Cassandra to decipher, then sighed, "We need to talk..." she began softly.
Cassandra looked back at her without saying anything, suddenly feeling the urge to slap her, but violence is never the right choice, she told herself.
Then she saw Harmonie reach for her hand, but Cassandra avoided it.
"Don't touch me."
Harmonie drew her hand back, looked at her hand, then lifted her head and asked in a quiet voice, "Can I at least come in?"
Cassandra looked at her, wondering if this was the right thing to do, but after much thought she decided that they really needed to talk.
She moved away from the door and sat down on one of the chairs in the room.
Harmonie entered and closed the door before sitting down in the chair across from Cassandra. Her head was bowed as she couldn't look her directly in the eyes.
Cassandra, seeing this, had a small mocking smile at the corner of her mouth and said softly, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Harmonie straightened at the sound of her voice, then discreetly wiped the sweat from her hands on her lap.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, all the courage she'd built up all evening evaporating as soon as she found herself face to face with her at the door.
Cassandra, of course, hadn't noticed her oddity. It was difficult for her to formulate sentences, but of course, after so many years of learning, she knew how to control her expressions, but not her emotions.
She knew that somehow she seemed calm to Cassandra, almost as if she didn't care. But it wasn't like that, she just didn't know how to express herself.
She knew that if she made a single misstep, she'd lose everything that kept her sane.
Lying was not an option for her.
She didn't know how to lie anyway.
This may seem strange, especially considering that she'd been doing theater for several years, because for her, theater was a kind of art of lying. She could lie about who she was, she could become someone else. A disguise.
But even though she couldn't lie about how she felt when she was playing a character, it didn't matter how focused she was in her acting, the moment she gets into a role and plays it, she finds herself completely immersed in it, in a way it's no longer her, it's the lie, the character.
Fear, anxiety, anger, etc., she felt it all and became someone else.
Most of the time her emotions were mixed up, she no longer knew what she really felt, who felt what, the line between reality and falsehood sometimes became thin.
It's up to her, and her alone, from the beginning to the end of her performance, to keep her mind as sober as possible, especially in the face of strong emotions. But it's no easy task.
She tells herself that in a way it's the art of lying to herself, which in a very twisted way amounts to telling the truth to others. Who knows?
So yes, it's easier for her to lie for the sake of art. But she's incapable of lying unless it's to play a role.
Of course, this is not to say that she has never lied in her 18 years of existence, but rather that she has found it complicated to pull off.
When she found herself in situations where she felt it was really necessary to lie, she would use a persona to lie, but if the lie concerned her, her body would let her know.
Her whole body would start shaking, of course, she managed to keep it under control, but if she just held out her hand, her facade would be destroyed instantly, and she also had the conviction that her legs could give way at any moment if she didn't sit up. For it was no longer a character who was lying, but herself.
Let's say that this is one of the reasons why she takes up acting: to better control her emotions, or rather to get to know her body better.
But the real reason, and a very simple one at that, behind her desire to do theater... is that she loves it.
Simple, isn't it?
Theater gives her a kind of freedom she can't find anywhere else.
A freedom to express herself not only with words, but with her whole body, her intonation, and her expressions.
As her drama teacher often says: "Stay planted on the ground. The body unblocked, looking out for the slightest movement. But above all, stay rooted to the ground."
So the only time you could see a variety of expressions on her face was on stage.
So she's a bad liar.
But at no point did she consider doing that in front of Cassandra.
On the other hand, that doesn't mean she wanted to tell the whole truth...
... Or maybe she will.
"I wanted to tell you the truth," she began with her head bowed, "when Hazel came to give me the tests to tell me the news, the first thing I had in mind was to tell you everything, because we promised Adélaïde we'd find her mother no matter what. The second, of course, was, not understanding how, even though it somehow turned out to be true."
"Then why didn't you tell me, you had several opportunities throughout the evening?" said Cassandra, frowning.
Harmonie stroked her face, then said after a slight grunt, "I had planned to let you enjoy the party and then take you aside and tell you everything."
She raised her head to look at Cassandra, then quickly lowered her eyes as their gazes met. Her gaze intimidated her.
"How did Hazel know?" asked Cassandra quietly, Harmonie noticed Cassandra's clenched fists and when her eyes met Cassandra's again she felt trapped, she couldn't look away, and she didn't want to.
Cassandra's gaze was so intense, there was such raw sadness that Harmonie felt disoriented. It was she who had made her suffer and was still making her suffer. Then she heard Cassandra speak,
"When did she tell herself that I could be Adélaïde's m-m-mother?" Cassandra said softly, her emotions slowly coming to the surface.
"Your birthmark," Harmonie said simply, lowering her head again to hide her tears.
Cassandra's eyebrows furrowed even more, "How did she know? I'd have to lift my top at least to see it."
Harmonie just pointed at herself without saying anything more, and Cassandra realized that she was the one who knew first.
She didn't know why, but the tears began to well up completely. She didn't understand.
She didn't know what she had done to deserve this.
Tears streamed from her eyes and she began to cry.
She tried to remain silent, but it was impossible for her.
She became pregnant with a child without knowing it.
She lost the child when she finally learned to love the child.
Everything was against her.
Harmonie raised her head at the sound of Cassandra's laughter and looked at her, her tears still flowing.
Cassandra was laughing and crying at the same time, the situation seemed ridiculous to her.
"Do you want to know something?" she asked, trying to smile, but it looked more like a grimace and the tears hadn't stopped flowing.
Without waiting for Harmonie's answer, she suddenly stood up and said sharply,
"I got pregnant without even knowing it." She laughed again.
"I didn't know who knocked me up. My body was raped without any knowledge of it."
She held up the chair and swung it aside.
"I got PREGNANT..." She laughed again, and the sadness was increasingly present in her gestures despite her expressionless smile.
"But you know what, Harmonie..." she said, looking Harmonie straight in the eye despite the tears.
"I've learned to love this being growing inside of me that didn't ask for anything," she said softly, but in an almost aggressive tone.
"You heard me. I FUCKING learned to love it when you left me without a word, only a stupid letter" she said viscerally, pointing at her.
She put her hands over her face, then suddenly lowered her arms, "And you know what, after an exhausting and painful birth, what do I hear..." She turned back to Harmonie, whose head was lowered again.
She lowered herself in front of her, placed her forefinger on her chin, and lifted her head.
Harmonie looked at her and, like Cassandra, her tears hadn't stopped flowing.
Cassandra shook her head slightly, put her hands on Harmonie's cheek, wiped away Harmonie's tears with her thumbs, laid her forehead on Harmonie's, and closed her eyes.
She let out a shaky breath, then moved away from Harmonie to look at her, "They inform me that she's dead," she said in a trembling voice, her hands still on Harmonie's cheeks.
"The little creature I first began to hate, my little princess I then learned to love, the new love of my life I was waiting for, this unexpected child is dead."
She began to cry and lowered her head, "This child who taught me a new taste for life after you were gone..."
She raised her head and looked at Harmonie, "...was gone without me being able to say goodbye, without me being able to hold her in my arms."
Her tears welled up, "The only thing that reminded me that I was pregnant and that this love almost existed in my world was my body, nothing else could make me realize it."
She stood up, "And my body suffered. I couldn't eat, I couldn't stand, I couldn't laugh, all the things I could do before became impossible. I was lost, destroyed, and the many times I tried to end it were too many to count."
She almost fell, Harmonie rose to help her, but stopped when she saw Cassandra leaning against the wall.
Cassandra was out of breath but continued,
"It took me a while to get back on my feet, but I did. And now you've come back to me, and we're back to business as usual, as if everything that happened before was a dream. A figment of our imagination."
She stopped suddenly and stared into space.
"Cassandra..." Harmonie said quietly, trying to get closer to her.
"And I learn tonight..." Hearing Cassandra's voice, Harmonie stopped instantly.
Cassandra rose from the wall, "The child I thought was dead was actually very much alive..."
The tone of her voice dropped to a whisper, "And who was just took out of my life."
Her right hand on her dropped face, her body began to shake, Harmonie reached out to hold her, but stopped halfway.
Cassandra laughed again, she raised her head to the ceiling and laughed more, then stopped.
"3 years... 3 FUCKING YEARS!"
She threw everything she could get her hands on, book, vase, chair, coffee table, lamp... She began throwing everything everywhere, yelling under the watchful gaze of Harmonie, who hadn't moved from where she was, her body motionless, only her head moving to follow Cassandra's movements.
Her tears flowed even more... because she knew.
No matter how angry Cassandra became, at no time did she show any resentment towards Harmonie.
At no point were her eyes filled with hate, only pain.
No matter how hard she threw whatever she could find, at no time were the objects in question more than 2 meters from Harmonie. And at no time were they aimed at Harmonie.
And Harmonie noticed this sad truth, no matter how immense her pain, Cassandra always tried to protect her from everything.
Harmonie's body also began to tremble, and she burst into tears.
She forced her body to move and approached the blurred figure of her love.
She had to stop her. As soon as her foot moved slightly, as if she'd had a sudden burst of energy, she rushed towards Cassandra.
She wrapped her arms around Cassandra's back and trapped her. Cassandra struggled, but Harmonie knew she wouldn't dare make any big moves that might hurt her.
Cassandra's legs weakened and Harmonie supported her to keep her from falling.
...
Harmonie sat on the floor with her legs spread and her back against the edge of the bed, Cassandra curled up in her arms.
Harmonie kissed her hair, then let out a light, trembling sigh.
She felt Cassandra move, then loosened her grip slightly to allow Cassandra to change position.
Cassandra wrapped her arms around Harmonie's waist and positioned her head on the hollow of Harmonie's neck, her legs stretched out over Harmonie's right leg.
Harmonie felt her move again and realized that she wanted to get even closer to her. She tightened her grip again.
She lowered her head and placed her lips on Cassandra's forehead, closing her eyes for a few seconds.
She rested her head on Cassandra's after kissing her forehead.
Cassandra felt Harmonie pull her even closer to her body.
"Do you remember when I told you about my uncle?" Harmonie asked quietly.
Cassandra couldn't understand why she was talking about her uncle, but she hummed in agreement.
"I told you my uncle helped set up a bodyguard agency, but it was more of a multi-function agency, from working with the police to special forces for certain things, right?"
She hummed again and Harmonie sighed. She closed her eyes for a few seconds.
Cassandra, hearing nothing more from her, lifted her head and saw that her eyes were closed.
She took her hand from her waist and placed it on her cheek. Harmonie felt the warmth of her hand, then leaned against it.
Then she lifted her head and opened her eyes. Her eyes fell on Cassandra's worried face.
She suddenly felt a pain in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face.
Harmonie patted Cassandra's lower back lightly, and Cassandra sat down again next to her, and Harmonie took the opportunity to stand up.
Cassandra looked at her, a sad expression on her face.
Harmonie smiled slightly at her expression and held out her hand.
Cassandra didn't hesitate to take it, and with Harmonie's power of attraction, she soon found herself standing face-to-face with Harmonie.
Harmonie, intertwining her fingers with hers, began to move toward the door.
"Wait..." Cassandra said softly, her voice slightly hoarse.
Harmonie looked at her with an expression that asked what was wrong.
Cassandra wanted to release her hand, but Harmonie refused, they looked at each other, and then Cassandra sighed and led Harmonie to the wardrobe.
She opened it and turned to Harmonie.
"Can you get my things from the bathroom?" asked Cassandra. She saw Harmonie frown slightly in disagreement.
She moved closer to her, lowering her head, placing her free hand on her cheek, and planting a kiss on her lips.
She pulled away and heard Harmonie whisper over her lips, "Again," then brought their lips back together for a deeper kiss.
Harmonie placed her free hand on Cassandra's lower back and pulled her even closer.
Feeling the lack of oxygen, Cassandra pulled her lips away from Harmonie's again and rested her forehead on Harmonie's. She tried to calm her breathing and Harmonie was doing the same.
After a few minutes, she lifted her head, looked at Harmonie, and whispered,
"Go now, please..."
Harmonie looked at her dejectedly, then nodded, "All right."
Cassandra smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek.
And Harmonie finally went to get Cassandra's things from the bathroom.
...
"It's a wonder no one came into the room after hearing my screams," Cassandra said in a soft whisper.
They were in the corridor, heading for Harmonie's room.
"The rooms are well soundproofed," Harmonie said as she gently opened her bedroom door with her left hand.
She removed her right hand from Cassandra's and placed the bag with Cassandra's belongings on the armchair.
Harmonie's room was lit by a nightlight. Adélaïde lay in the middle of the bed, a hair cap on her head, a pillow on each side, her pacifier, and her rabbit in her arms.
"If you scream in one of the rooms, they won't necessarily hear you, hence the walkie-talkies in all the rooms. On the other hand, if someone is in the hallway, you can hear them a little, but they can't hear you," Harmonie continued in a quiet tone.
"Whose idea was this?" asked Cassandra, because she had the feeling that there was a story behind it.
"Mine, thanks to Chloé, she likes to show off her opera singing skills..."
Cassandra tried to stop herself from laughing at Harmonie's expression.
"No, seriously, she's got talent," Harmonie said, showing a serious expression, but she failed as a smile formed on her face.
Her expression softened as she watched Cassandra laugh softly. She moved closer to her lover and took her hand. Cassandra stopped laughing, but there was still a smile on her face.
"I love seeing you happy," she whispered, smiling.
Cassandra bit her lip as she smiled, "I love you."
Harmonie's smile deepened, she leaned forward, bringing Cassandra's hand to her lips and kissing her hand. She looked up, the back of Cassandra's hand on her chin, a grin on her face, with a deeper voice, "And I adore you."
Harmonie knew the effect this had on Cassandra and smiled as Cassandra bit her lips again, slight lust in her eyes.
Harmonie stood up, "Let's go take a shower..." she said, holding Cassandra's hand, and Cassandra nodded.
...
Harmonie and Cassandra got ready to lie down on the bed without waking Adélaïde. They were both wearing the same pair of pajamas with white feather patterns on them. Harmonie's were pink and Cassandra's were blue. Harmonie also had a cap on her head.
"Makes a change from your nightgowns," Harmonie remarked as she lay back on the bed, her hands behind her head on the pillow, watching Cassandra finish the last step of her nighttime skincare routine in the free armchair.
Cassandra nodded in agreement with what Harmonie said.
When she was finished, she got up, came to Adélaïde's left side, and lay down as well.
Harmonie turned her head to the left and saw Cassandra stroking Adélaïde's back, her arm forming a triangle to support her head, the palm of her hand on her cheek.
Adélaïde stirred in her sleep and moved closer to Cassandra, ending up in Cassandra's arms. And a small smile formed on her pouty lips.
"She's smiling," Cassandra whispered with so much happiness in her eyes that she felt tears well up in her eyes again. She lifted her head toward the ceiling and slightly blinked a few times.
Harmonie, for her part, had retrieved her phone from the nightstand.
2:30 A.M.
She set up the camera. Fortunately, the light was bright enough to take good pictures, and without warning Cassandra, she pressed the shutter.
Cassandra, who knew nothing, lowered her head, opened her eyes again, and continued to admire Adélaïde. A motherly expression on her face, full of love. It was like a bottomless pool of love.
She felt her heart beat a little faster every time she looked at her daughter. She felt reborn, with the most important people in her life by her side.
She lifted her head to see Harmonie holding the phone, a smile on her face, continuing to take pictures even after she'd noticed.
"Haven't you had enough?" joked Cassandra.
And Harmonie shook her head, "No, never. You and our princess are the most beautiful things I've ever seen in this world.
Cassandra blushed, "What are you talking nonsense about now?" she said, turning her head.
"No, no..." Harmonie quickly put her phone back where it had been and moved closer to Cassandra and Adélaïde. She placed her hand on Cassandra's unoccupied cheek and tapped lightly with her fingers.
Cassandra turned her head toward her, and Harmonie smiled when she saw that she was embarrassed.
"What I'm saying isn't nonsense. Before you, my life was dull. Sure, I had my moments of happiness, but I always felt like something was missing. A void I couldn't fill."
Harmonie stroked Cassandra's cheek and looked her straight in the eye, "But from the moment I met you, that emptiness gradually filled with all the love I have for you, it even overflowed with that love."
Cassandra bit her lip and lowered her eyes, "No, look at me, let me see those beautiful hazel eyes you have."
Harmonie moved a little closer, "Let me see your love for me, let me see it." Harmonie said in an almost pleading tone.
Cassandra raised her eyes and Harmonie smiled tenderly, her eyes full of love, "You filled my emptiness and gave me a new source of joy that saved my life," Harmonie said, looking at Adélaïde, then back at Cassandra, "You saved my life, my love."
They kissed, and Harmonie added, "My oxygen."
And for more than 5 minutes, only the sound of kissing could be heard in Harmonie's room.
They finally parted, breathing heavily, looking at each other and smiling again, then suddenly Harmonie, as if she'd just remembered something, lost her smile.
Despite Cassandra's worried expression, Harmonie didn't try to reassure her. Instead, she sat cross-legged, adjusted her pillow, and rested her back on the headboard.
Cassandra, too, tried to get up without waking her child, adjusting her pillow, her back on the headboard, her legs stretched out since Adelaide had put her arm on her legs after feeling her move.
"Earlier, I briefly mentioned my Uncle Alex's company. Now I'll tell you how I met Adélaïde," she said, her voice cracking at the end.
Cassandra's hands clenched anxiously at what Harmonie was about to tell her.
Harmonie looked straight ahead, as if reliving the moment.
"A year ago... the Organization received a call... a criminal that the Special Forces were looking for had been located in our area of operation, and they needed our help." Harmonie let out a shaky sigh to calm herself.
"They had initially asked the police for cooperation, and the police connected them with us."
"The perpetrator was a man in his fifties who worked in a medical profession and conducted research on victims without their knowledge. His research ranged from the harmless to the completely inhumane. Many lives have been destroyed by this man." Harmonie looked at Cassandra, deep sadness on her face.
Cassandra tried to control the shaking in her hands and asked, "What was his name?"
And Harmonie replied, "Jack."
Then a high-pitched sound made itself heard in Cassandra's ears. And a memory began to take shape in Cassandra's mind.
Flashback
She was completely exhausted from giving birth, her whole body soaked with sweat, but at that moment all she cared about was seeing her newborn, but she unexpectedly fell asleep and finally woke up several hours later. She couldn't understand why they wouldn't let her see the baby.
She just wanted to see her child and no one would tell her what was going on.
Until a nurse with a smile on her face, a younger Valérie, entered the room of the new mother, who was now awake. She was relieved by the smile, and with a heart full of hope, she asked in a hoarse voice.
"Where is my child?"
Cassandra drank the water, returned the glass to Valerie, who placed it on the small table, and then returned to Cassandra's side, just as she opened her mouth to speak, the door opened.
Valérie looked back, Cassandra's eyes watching as three people entered the room, the one in the middle looking a little older than the other two, he gave Cassandra a feeling of mistrust from the moment she saw him.
There was a disturbing, eerie aura about this man. What must have been gorgeous sky-blue eyes gave her chills, bad ones.
Despite the few white streaks in his blonde-brown hair. The man wouldn't have lacked charisma, but the eerie atmosphere around him prevented those looking at him from perceiving that charm.
A false expression of sadness and hypocrisy was painted on his face.
You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but he was the perfect example of judging a book by its cover. And Cassandra's instincts were never wrong.
At the moment, she had the vague impression that she had seen him somewhere, but she didn't know exactly where. She had a feeling it was important.
But no memory so far.
Her eyes fell on the doctor's name, "Jack Smith".
The door opened again and Cassandra saw the family members enter.
But her smile quickly froze as she saw the sad expressions on their faces, but this time, real expressions, not like the hypocrite in front of her, she thought.
Her attention was focused on unnecessary things because she subconsciously knew to expect the worst.
Jack motioned with his head for Nurse Valérie to leave.
As she closed the door, the nurse heard someone calling her,
"Valérie!" The nurse turned around, "Please come and help us!"
The young nurse nodded and went to help them.
Inside the room,
"Due to an infection of unknown origin, your child was not only premature but also stillborn," Jack began calmly, "Unfortunately, we can't give you the body for now to avoid any risk of contamination."
Cassandra began to shake her head, whispering as tears rolled down her cheeks, "No, no, no, no..."
"For safety reasons, we have to analyze the body as research material."
"MY BABY IS NOT RESEARCH MATERIAL..." Cassandra cried, but Jack was not fazed by her reaction.
"Unfortunately it's going to be his job for a while to find the origin of this virus, so I'll leave you to it, I have other patients to attend to."
Cassandra and her family had been so affected by the news of the child's death that they hadn't noticed anything strange in the so-called doctor's speech, only his mean behavior.
And Jack came out of the room, a smile slowly forming on his fake sad face, a vile smile...
End of flashback
Cassandra's eyes finally refocused, she looked at Harmonie, a horrified expression on her face, and whispered slowly,
"Jack Smith? Tall man, blond hair, white streak, blue eyes and a repulsive atmosphere around him?"
Harmonie's eyes widened and she nodded.
"That motherfucker, that fucking bastard," Cassandra whispered aggressively, and she recounted the scene of her child's birth to Harmonie.
And as she told it, Harmonie's face became increasingly grim.