She averted her eyes for a split second as she was muttering under her breath then it was like a switch flipped when it finally clicked inside her head. I watched as her eyes lit up with realisation in the next moment and anger began to appear on her face.
"Did Xavier tell you this?" She questioned, her voice already filled with blame and accusation as she spoke. She became agitated quickly, grabbing onto my shoulders tightly, and I could even feel her nails digging into my flesh as pain coursed through my body. "He is lying to you! You know that, right? Don't listen to his nonsense! He's trying to ruin our relationship and get in between us," she shouted in a hurry, a flustered look crossed her face for a while before it vanished.
I glared at her as tension thickened in the air between us. Reaching up with both hands, I pried her hands off my shoulders forcefully, not bothering to be careful with her at all.
"You are the one who lied to me, don't even try to twist it and put the blame on him," I snarled, my sharp words cutting through the tension lingering in the air between us. Then, my eyes were narrowed into thin slits as I glared at her with an intense look swirling in my eyes as Xavier's words replayed at the back of my mind. "And let's not forget that you were the one who ruined my relationship with him," I reminded harshly, not holding back even once.
She scoffed loudly as she masked the look on her face with a nonchalant one, unfazed by the hurt and pain in my voice. "I don't know what you are talking about," she said, feigning innocence even though it was painfully obvious that she knew exactly what I was referring to. "I'm your mother. Why would I lie to you?"
A cold chuckle left my lips as I thought about the absurdity of this and how she could so easily lie to my face and try to manipulate me into believing her.
"I have the same question too," I said bitterly, the words leaving a sour taste in my mouth. "So tell me… why did you lie? What was your purpose? What was your motive?!" I spat with malice.
"I didn't lie to you, Aurelia," she insisted, her voice unwavering as she looked at me with certainty that filled her eyes. " You are my daughter, I would never –"
"Don't bother putting on an act," I commented crudely, cutting her off before she could finish her sentnece "I remember everything now. Xavier was my fiance three years ago and we were supposed to get married. Why did you have to go and lie and ruin my marriage?! Tell me!" I demanded.
Recognition flashed past her eyes in an instant as the words that left my mouth reached her ears. She stumbled backwards a couple of steps, clutching onto her chest as her eyes widened to the size of a saucer.
"Your memory… is back?" She stammered nervously, her eyes darting around as disbelief was written all over her face. "You remember everything now?" She asked, her voice dropping to a low hush whisper as if she was afraid that someone would hear her.
"I do, I remember everything," I sneered. "Didn't expect this day to come, did you?" I taunted as I stepped forward, leaning closer towards her with a raised brow.
She laughed this time, her demeanour shifted entirely as a smirk morphed itself onto her lips.
"Fine, you got me," she declared with a smug look that was stretched across her face, her tone filled with arrogance as if she had known it all, that she was the one who knew best.
"But I did it for your own good," she continued, her voice carrying a sharp edge to it as she spoke. "You wouldn't leave that man no matter what I say. He was poor and good for nothing, he would do you no good in the future. So, I had no choice but to take matters into my own hands!" She hissed, spitting the words out like they were poison in her mouth.
A soft gasp of disbelief left my lips.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why couldn't you just leave us alone?! Was it that difficult?" I questioned, my sharp voice piercing through the air as a sour feeling shot up my nose and tears began to glisten in my eyes, threatening to spill out any second. My heart was starting to ache at the thought of the time I lost with the man I loved.
"You knew how much I loved him…" I continued, my voice shaking as I tried my hardest to hold my tears back. "I didn't care that he was poor, he had just started his business back then and he needed me! He needed my support! You have no right to berate him and insult him!" I screamed right back into her face, my voice cracking towards the end of the sentence but she didn't seem to care at all.
"You should be grateful, Aurelia. I didn't want you to end up with a broke man and suffer for the rest of your life. You will never understand the things I do for you until you become a mother yourself, then you will see what I did was for your own good and you will come back to thank me one day."
I inhaled deeply as I blinked my tears away.
"I don't think I ever will," I said after a slight pause, my voice icy and my face remained expressionless. "I don't need you to pretend to be a samaritan. It was never for my own good… When I become a mother, I would never lie or do this to my own child and ruin her happiness."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure approaching us from the corner of my eye.