It was already pretty late when Elyse got out of the company building. No employee worked overtime, so the silence was more scary than the usual days she got off. When she exited the company building, her car was already parked in front of the building. The valet and two guards were still outside. They all bowed at Elyse as a sign of respect, and the valet handed her the key to the car. "Have a good night, Ma'am." He gave Elyse a genuine, soft smile.
"Likewise." Elyse pulled out the company card from her sling bag and handed it to one of the guards. "Please use this to buy food for tonight since the company cafeteria just closed earlier. There will be no free food for the whole night, so just charge it to the company card and hand it back to my secretary tomorrow. Then, have a good night as well."
"Thank you, Ma'am. And please, drive safely." They bowed again, and Elyse just waved her hand before she got into her car.
On the way to her penthouse, which is twenty minutes away, Allyson called again. "Elyse! Where are you now? I've been waiting here for what seems like an eternity, you know?"
Elyse laughed while her focus was still on the way. "Don't kid around! It's still pretty early, and dude, I'm still on my way to my home. I'm going to pick some clothes and also buy a gift for Brett."
"Elysee! You should-shsxhxy-"
Elyse slightly frowned, wondering why she was hearing some loud beat of music and even many people talking so loudly that she couldn't hear clearly what Allyson was saying. "What? It's too loud. Did the party already start?"
"Oh yep, wait a minute!" They were the last words Elyse heard from Allyson before everything went silent. She tilted her head. Oh, Allyson probably muted her for a while. "It's noisy, isn't it?" Allyson spoke again on the other line. Her loud background surroundings were silent now. "I'm walking inside the hotel lobby. Our other fellow drunkards have been here since earlier, after I called you. That's why it's so loud outside." She's kind of panting while talking.
"Where are you going?" Elyse asked, but then her phone rang and another person was calling her. "Wait up. Someone's calling me. It's probably my secretary. "
"Okay, just call me if you're already here!"
Elyse immediately answered the caller after her call with Allyson ended. "Hello, Elyse Watson speaking. Who's this?" It was an unknown number and wasn't on her contact list. She also wondered who the caller was since it was her personal number and there was no way many people knew it other than her closest friends and her secretary.
"Can't you remember the voice of your own mother?" A familiar voice was heard from the other line. It's a person she wasn't expecting to receive a call from.
"...Oh, it's you." The only words that came out of Elyse's mouth. It was Amelia. Elyse wasn't surprised that she received Amelia's call, even though Elyse never gave it to her. That's how her family connection works.
"Did you just call me 'you'?" Amelia asked, in disbelief. Out of the blue, Elyse shrugged her shoulder off. Can't Amelia get used to the way Elyse is acting? Every time she calls Elyse for useless things, it's just the same conversation they're having right now. It's always the same.
"You heard it right. So, what's up? It's been probably three months since your last call. Or was it one year ago? I can't seem to remember." She chuckled as if remembering it was funny. "So now, why did you call? Did something happen to the company? To Henry?" Elyse asked directly. Surely, these two are Amelia's only concerns every time she calls Elyse. Amelia would never even ask if she was doing well or what. "There's no way you will waste your time on your 'dog' just to ask her health or how she's doing, right?" She even emphasised the word 'dog' referring to herself, because that's clearly how they were treating her.
Amelia didn't answer for a while. "...You should start fixing how you act towards your own mother. Is that how you grew up?" Elyse can feel in Amelia's tone how mad she is, but who cares though? because Elyse doesn't care.
Elyse gripped the steering wheel of her car. She's mad. Pretty mad. But let's calm down. Nothing good would happen if she screamed and got mad at Amelia. "Oh, please. Stop saying bullshits. You're pretty shameless, aren't you? How could you even say 'this is how I grew up'? You have never been there ever since I was born, so you wouldn't know. Stop acting like you know everything about me when, in fact, I grew up alone. Without you or this goddamn family you have." Elyse's mouth just spoke on its own and ended up saying everything she felt.
"... Goodness, you should be thankful that I gave you life! I should have just aborted you! I never wanted you at all!" Amelia's harsh words slowly pierce Elyse's already broken heart. Amelia never changed. Since Elyse was born, Amelia would always let Elyse remember her regrets for letting Elyse be born in her womb. She would always tell Elyse that she never wanted her in the first place. That Elyse was just an 'accident child'. Born from a one night stand. But is it Elyse's fault? She never pushed Amelia to open her legs and be pregnant, so Elyse could be born.
Elyse stopped her car on the side since she's starting to lose her focus now. She banged her head on the steering wheel to calm her nerves. Elyse wanted to cry, but her tears wouldn't come out. She's probably used to this now after hearing Amelia's voice saying 'abort you' for a million times now. "Thank you so much, then. I'm so grateful that you let me live. Should I say thank you again so you can feel how sincere I am?" Elyse stated sarcastically. She really wanted to cry, scream at her own mother and tell Amelia the regrets she felt for being born into her family.
"You should learn how to stop acting like a kid. I will call you again later." Then the call finally ended.
Elyse lost the grip on her phone and it fell. She suddenly felt weak after having a normal conversation with her mother. She suddenly looked up, stopping her tears from falling. Elyse thought, she really thought she had stopped thinking about the love of her mother that she always wanted. But everything is returning to her like a torn thread in her life.Elyse just wanted to feel loved. Is it hard to love her? How could her own mother be so cruel? Even if she was an accident child, Amelia is still her mother, and Elyse is still her child. After abandoning Elyse like a dog in the street, they took her back after knowing she had some use for the company. Just for that reason?
"God...I goddamn hate this fucking family."