Crystal couldn't believe her eyes or ears. Crystal tried long breathing but nothing helped to ease her down.
"Mom, I understand you are sad and distressed but …" Daniel tried reasoning with her but she instead lashed out at him too.
"You are insolent too, you are no good either, You could have driven him or at least taken care of him at the hospital, but you weren't even around. I guess you guys are happy with your careers signed in your father's blood."
Her outrage was plausible. Everyone expected that she was losing it but it was certainly more than that. "Mrs. Alwack, Please calm down. Here is a glass of water for you." Max handed him the glass of water and tried rubbing her back gently.
He looked at Crystal and gestured to sit next to him. He nodded at her as if luring a child into leading disasters." Rebecca relaxed and softened in Maxmillian's embrace. Chloe rubbed Crystal's back.
"Max, you poor thing, You have always been around us. You have looked after me and Thomas like your own parents. If only you were our son" She sobbed and sucked in air. Crystal looked up at Daniel, who clenched his jaw and balled his hands into a fist.
"Mom, we are sorry, but Dad would have been proud-" Crystal tried to talk sense into her mother instead she lashed out.
"Proud? Proud of what? How you abandoned us, instead of listening to his advice? You know how much disrespect he could have faced, if not for Shasha, ohh that poor, may god bless her wherever she is." She said, kissing the photo of her husband.
Daniel walked out of the room, unable to take it any longer.
#
Caleb was sitting with the young woman in his office located in the outyard of his house. She was a stern-faced woman wearing business clothes and looked smart and serious.
"I told you enough times, DON'T VISIT MY HOUSE, MY OFFICE, MY ANYTHING, unannounced," Caleb shouted, clearly angry with her presence.
"Oh, My, my… Is the big boy angry now?" the young woman asked. She stood up to walk towards his way. "Stay right there, you understand I am not good with physical contact. Stay away from me," Caleb scolded her.
She was yet unaffected and continued to walk as she neared him. "Mr. Caleb, tell me, you still can't resist me at all. Can you?" She smirked.
"I don't want to hurt you, Vivian, please understand and back off," Caleb replied with a stern face, looking straight into her eyes.
"How can you? We have a history since when history wasn't even a concept sweetie," she said, seductively, grazing her fingers along his jaws.
Caleb grabbed her hands and pushed her to the walls. "We were never a thing, we would never be a thing in the future. I can never settle with you. You need to understand the thing leading forward."
Vivian was taking long breaths, "Well this is a very adorable compromising position. Sir, please let me go, Someone help! Somebody, please help."
"You are just pathetic," Caleb told her. He was agitated at her and distanced himself. "You need to leave, I can not have a woman as filthy as you around me."
"Relax, relax, relax I'll go now," she smirked. She walked towards the end of the room and turned around, "Trust me this, definitely is not our last meeting sweetheart."
#
Crystal followed her brother, clearly unable to take in the accusation anymore. She found him smoking, and while she couldn't place a point but that hurt her more than the way her mother behaved.
"Daniel…" she managed to say softly, "No wonder why mom is disappointed in you. What is it? Since when..?" her voice trailed off, expecting no response in return.
However, he spoke up.
"Since you left, since Shasha died, since Dad started acting weird since Max was always slouching at our house. Since our mother stopped going to sermons, to spend time with Max, and since… Chloe started cheating on me with someone." Daniel said, clearly hurt by the major changes that happened gradually.
Crystal held his free hand. He threw the cigarette and held her another hand. "Care to go for a stroll?"
They walked silently along the street.
"So do you want to talk about what you said inside?" Crystal asked, searching for answers in his expression. He nodded.
"I have always wanted to talk to you, but a part of me resisted pulling you under the blanket of disdain and hatred." Daniel sighed. "But I felt I would do more harm than good. So I went to Shasha, she was my pen pal, study buddy, and everything. She was so happy until she wasn't. All thanks to our Dad."
"True, he did marry her to that jerk." Crystal gritted her teeth.
"Oh, no not at all, She was married the moment you placed your foot outside the house on your wedding day, and Edward. I personally never had a conversation other than greetings, but they seemed happy. Our Shasha, she seemed happy." Daniel replied.
"But Max entailed me on our way back, how Shasha was depressed and wasn't allowed to visit home. She was tortured by her in-laws and everything." Crystal asked, quizzical.
"Yes, about that, don't mention about my visits to her in-laws. They are the sweetest. Also Max, I know you have certain specific feelings for him, but don't trust him entirely. I have a bad feeling about that man."
Crystal looked up at him perplexed.
"About who?" a voice called out from behind. Both Crystal and Daniel turned to see Max with his hands in his pocket.
"Nothing, we were just talking about our childhood days with our dad," Crystal replied, studying the tension between them. Max followed up and kissed Crystal's forehead. He hugged her and gradually rubbed her back.
"Are you keeping up well?" He asked. She distanced herself from him. "I am. Is my mother any better now?"
"Oh yes, I am sorry about that. You know she is just going through her rough times." Max tried to make sense.
"You make it sound like she is your mother," Crystal replied, which was reflected in her tone. "How about we head back and check on her, Daniel?"
Daniel nodded.
As they retrieved Max looked at them from behind and sighed.
#
At the dinner table in Alwack Mansion, the silence was feeding the crickets in the distant wall.
Crystal was silently looking at the food before her. She waited for everyone to show up. Her mother entered with her cat and sat beside Max.
Chloe entered on the side with her backpack, ready to leave. Crystal nodded and waved her goodbye.
"Wait. Where are your manners, Miss Crystal Beckham Alwack? She stayed with you for an entire day, looked after you and now you don't even invite her for dinner." Rebecca questioned Crystal.
"Uhh,... Sorry Mom," Crystal tried to speak but Chloe covered up for her.
"Ohh Aunty that is fine. Crystal was asking me to stay overnight but I declined. I have a project to complete." Chloe replied politely.
"Just the dinner sweetheart, please come and sit," Rebecca told her.
"Please come Chloe, you don't want to upset Mom," Crystal said, a little agitated.
Chloe walked and sat beside Crystal. Daniel shifted uncomfortably in his place.
"Let's just say grace and start the food," Rebecca said.
Crystal was agonized by her mother's behavior but didn't want to retort.
She stuffed herself with rice and continued to eat without paying attention to what was wrong. "Crysy? Are you okay?" She heard Daniel say.
"Of Course she is, can't you look the way she is stuffing herself with food? As if she already isn't too fat to sign up for castles and farms." Rebecca retorted.
Crystal placed her spoon down clearly, unable to take it any longer, "Mom, tell me what do you want? Why is everyone looking for proof of my innocence and love of humanity? Do you guys understand, I am not a day older than twenty-five and the person dead is also my father and I wasn't even informed about my sister's death."
"You weren't informed?" Rebecca shouted in a shrill voice, "You weren't present. You left us alone Crystal, it was you. You ABANDONED us."
Crystal blustered in a shaky voice and continued through sniffs, "I worked hard all my life to get into College and when that was finally possible, father was marrying me off to some stranger. I was angry at him. I didn't leave, so I would never come back. I left, just to make a point that I could do it all by myself. I went to make myself a name, and I did."
"And the name is Crystal's Publishing." Rebecca shouted, "You wanted to fight against your father or what? Also who keeps that stupid name? I thought you could do better."
"Mom, the business was an extension of my father's work. He worked in the publishing sector which revolved around business and academic acumen. Mine was more connected to a homely and sentimental approach alongside, Entertainment and Fictional Vertical."
"Just when I thought it couldn't be worse." Rebecca snorted.
"MOM!" Crystal raised her voice for the first time in the entire day, "What do you exactly want? What should I do to get my caring, loving mom back to me? Ever Since I have returned, it doesn't seem like you want me here or anywhere close. You have been even more kind to Max and Chloe than to me and Daniel, who just lost their parent, unlike once who didn't have one in the first place."
No sooner did the word leave her mouth, than she bit her tongue.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU CRYSTAL?" Rebecca shouted the air out of her lungs.
"I am sorry guys, I didn't mean it that way. Max, please I am sorry."
Chloe dropped her spoon and stood up. "Crystal, I knew you were always jealous, but I never thought you would stoop down to such a level."
"No, no Chloe, please listen…" Crystal begged for an apology from Chloe, as she walked towards the door. "Chloe please, I am sorry. My mom wasn't remotely thinking about me and Daniel, it pestered me to a limit and I didn't mean a point of what I said about you, You know how much I love you."
"All I hear is excuses, have been hearing them for the past twenty years, You know Crystal, My parents were taken away from me, but you… I guess you never deserved them."
With that, she slammed the door shut and left her.
"Max, Max, I am sorry, You know I don't mean that," Crystal said her face covered in her tears and she sat beside him in the empty chair on the dining table.
"Max, you can hit me if you want but please don't be mad at me, I lost a father, a sister a friend and I can definitely not lose you over a petty mistake." She hugged him.
"You are honestly lucky to have Max, if I were him, I would have hit you really hard …" Rebecca commented.
"It is fine Aunty, Crystal doesn't mean any of this, besides I promised her to be there for her through her every hard phase." He said, tears visible through his eyes.
"I am sorry, Max, I truly am." Crystal repulsed. She sat there silently.
The room was silent. Daniel felt as if something bad was about to happen, just when his mother spoke again. "Just so you know, Crystal. Your father, made me promise him, in his last breaths …."
Before finishing her words she stood beside Max and joined her hands. "I am sorry Max, on behalf of my insolent kids. Also of what I am about to tie you with. Will you…" Rebecca sobbed.
"Will you please marry my Crystal, and fulfill one of the last desires of Thomas?" Rebecca cried.