Quinn raised her glass while saying, "I wish I could toast the girl in person," before moving her hand slightly as though performing a toast.
Leif, "..."
He couldn't help but wonder if her face would change colors of she found out she was the one who kissed him and called out mumu after that. How humiliating it was for Leif. Not only had he been kissed but a drunkard but she had also dared call out someone else's name sweetly after doing it.
When the main course arrived Leif who didn't have the habit of talking while eating suddenly found himself unable to hold back and asked,
"That little lamp on your bed... who gave it to you,"
Quinn glanced at him with an expression as though saying 'I don't want to talk about it' and Leif could respect that thus he didn't force it.
But Quinn found that she couldn't keep it inside. In fact, she didn't want to keep it inside but she never had anyone she could trust enough to talk about it with.
She didn't talk about it with her mother because she didn't want to worry her.
"That's is a personal question," she said while averting her gaze, "get me some more wine and I will tell you."
Seeing that she had at least eaten soothing he felt it was okay if she had a glass or two more. Quinn swirled the wine glass her expression serious like that of a wine expert carefully studying the wine.
"It was from someone very special to me," she said and Leif's brow furrowed before he asked,
"What was his name?"
Quinn remained silent for a while as though thinking it through. After two to three bites of her foof she finally said, "Liam... his name was Liam."
Leif could tell her emotional state wasn't right. Coupled with the wine he wouldn't be surprised if she broke down in tears right then and there but he had to know.
"If he was so important then why haven't you been around him. I thought you would at least find him," he said and Quinn compeletly over looked the fact that there was something wrong with his words.
She just answered what was in her heart. "I can't see him anymore because... because he died," she said with a grim smile on her face,"
Leif felt like he had been struck by a powerful lightening charring his chest until there was nothing left. Why on earth would she think that when he was right in front of her alive and well.
"How do you know...?" he asked unable to finish that sentence. From the deep sadness in her eyes he could tell she wasn't making things up or messing with him.
Quinn's chest tightened as the grief of losing someone that special to her sprung up again consuming her very being.
Even the tasty dinner in front of her had become tasteless but she didn't stop talking about it. She had suppressed it enough and in front of this distant person she let it all out. In fact, Leif was the perfect person to talk about this with because he wasn't too distant nor too close.
"I saw it. I was in the car trying to get out but the doors were locked... I remember was screaming and crying asking my grandfather to let me out but he got so angry and threatened to kill Liam," she said her eyes sour as an inexplicable emotion rose up her throat almost choking her.
"I stopped moving. I immediately stopped crying but... Liam was still running after us calling out to me. Before I knew it... he he was run over by my grandfather's bodyguard following behind us. I lost it... I lost my mind and for the first time I hit my grandfather. I hit over and over and over again until he drew his weapon at me," she said her fingers clutching at her pants until her knuckles turned white.
"That cold metal stuck to my temples and I suddenly lost the will to live. I was prepared for it... prepared to die but he called me useless and struck me hard that I passed out...That night... I knew what suffering was. He locked me up for a week after telling me Liam was dead."
Leif appeared calm as he listened to her retelling a tragic past he wasn't aware of but he was seething with inexplicable rage which he couldn't understand why. He knew her grandfather would beat her and he had seen the wounds and bruises from time to time but she never talked about it. She would smile at him with a tough exterior like there was nothing wrong.
He suddenly wanted to dig up the old man's bones and thrush him spiked whip until he was satisfied.
He wanted to comfort her but when he opened his mouth his words changed to anothe question, a question he never thought he would ask. "You said he was important to you bit from what I heard you bullied him all the time. You made him do things for you. He carried you things like a bellhop each time you went out. You forced to eat things an...," he said before Quinn interrupted her.
She raised her heard sharply her eyes red as she said, "I did boss him around that I admit but he wouldn't listen to me if I didn't. He would eat well if I left him alone. If I didn't take him with me he would get beaten by those bigger boys. How would be able to sleep at night knowing that he was beaten black and blue and wouldn't even go to the hospital," her emotions spilling over as she expressed what she had buried deep in her heart.
"Why was it any of your business whether he ate or got beaten like a dog in the street? Why?" asked Leif his gaze burning through her skin.
Quinn completely overlooked how emotional he was while asking her these questions. Her mind was already muddled that she directly ignored the change in his emotions. "Because... he was my only friend. I thought I had friends but those were acquaintance. Even now when I look at it, I never cared for Alison as much as I cared for Liam. He was my only friend," she said her voice growing lower and lower.