Having known her Nanny for two lifetimes now, Ayana could plainly see the inner struggles on her aging face. Rather than allowing the elderly woman to inwardly suffer because of the bad news, it was best to just reveal it out in the open.
''Young miss….''
''I am fine, Nanny.'' Ayana looked up to her Nanny with a forced smile. Noting her forlorn expression, she repeated once more. ''I am truly fine Nanny.''
Ayana was actually telling the truth. She was more than fine.
In her past life, she wasn't. But now, she was truly fine. Her parents' death was to be expected after all.
'If only I could have saved them…' Ayana lowered her gaze to her meal with that little regret. If she could have returned earlier….just a few minutes before her parents had stepped out to the Kingston Corporation, she could have saved them and their family from the misery.
'I'm sorry.' Ayana's guilt intensified just at the thought.
There were many things that could have been avoided if her parents had not died an early death. If what she had experienced was truly not a dream, Ayana knew that her parents wouldn't have allowed her to have committed those actions.
She wouldn't have broken her engagement with her fiancé.
She wouldn't have forced her little brother into boarding school.
Her uncle and his family wouldn't have woven their fingers into her life and her family's inheritance.
She also wouldn't have met that hateful man and that woman.
Her parents' being alive would have changed so many things in her unfortunate fate.
But now….they were dead. History was repeating itself once more.
''~Aya!'' Jason's voice attracted her attention and she lifted her gaze towards him. Perhaps meeting her gaze, the one-year old giggled happily with his wide innocent eyes, sparkling like jewels. Tiny smudges of mashed carrots clung to his lips from the feeding.
'Jay….' Her eyes softened at the sight of him. Her cute and precious little brother. Her innocent brother who had died unjustly in her past life.
Out of both of them, he was the most innocent and unfortunate to be involved with her as her only blood-related family.
''You're right about the Master and the Madam, young miss.'' Ayana shifted her gaze to her Nanny who had finally decided to break the news to her.
''They were involved in an unfortunate car accident.'' The elderly woman lowered her eyes in sadness, trying to withhold the tears threatening to fall. ''The Eldest Master decided to hold their funeral in two days, young miss.'' She hoped that her young miss couldn't detect the anger in her voice.
Those words were the orders she had received along with the sad news from that man.
The Eldest Master truly was a greedy man as she had always suspected. He didn't even wait to tell the young master and the young miss himself before taking the decision into his own hands.
''And the corporation, young miss….'' Raising her gaze, Nanny Hilda paused, choosing her words carefully. ''It seemed the Eldest Master wants to take custody of the young miss and the young master till both of you are of age.''
It's best if you are very vigilant around him.
Nanny Hilda almost wanted to say, but she couldn't as her young miss might perceive her words in a different way. She was only related to this family as a Nanny.
Nothing more and Nothing less.
Besides that, the young miss was very close to the Eldest Master's family. They were family after all. Words might reach to the ears of the Eldest Master and she might not be able to watch over the children anymore.
If Ayana could hear the thoughts of her Nanny, she might have shed some grieving tears. Her Nanny was exactly the same as the one in her past life. Always thinking of her well-being and her little brother's.
She would love to tell her Nanny that her worries were for naught. The young miss now was not the immature young miss of the past.
She was the young miss with an unfortunate past life experience. One who had crawled out the gates of death for a sole purpose.
Revenge!
Revenge for her late parents.
Revenge for little brother.
Revenge for her own self!
'Ha!' Ayana sneered inwardly at the words of the elderly woman. It seemed she had truly come back to the life. If not, she wouldn't be hearing the exact same words from her Nanny.
'You truly hid yourself deeply, Uncle.' Ayana lowered her gaze, and continued eating her meal. She hoped that her Nanny wouldn't have seen the deep resentment and grudge she held for her relatives.
They were the people responsible for everything that had happened to her in that life.
In her past life, when she had received the unfortunate news of her parents' deaths. Of course, she had shed tears. They were her parents who had spoiled and cared for her. Even if she had resented them for their utmost attention on her her little brother, she still loved them no matter what.
However…..the sadness she had felt was not more than the happiness and relief she had felt when she heard of her uncle's request to take custody of herself and Jason.
Her immature self had never known that her uncle and his family had always been wearing masks for her to perceive them as a family who would always give her attention, and love.
'You were really fool, Ayana.' Ayana felt very embarrassed for her past and immature self.
First of, it was normal for her parents to pay more attention to her little brother. He was still a baby in need of tender care.
In addition, could her uncle and his wife had loved her more than their own daughter? Sure, she was related to them, but her cousin was their own kin.
Truly, if she had been a bit cautious and dug deeper into her uncle and his family, she would have found somethings amiss.
Like her parents' accident.
If her uncle and his family truly loved her, they would have been the first to break the news and not her Nanny. They would have asked for her own opinion when to hold the funeral and not take the matters into their own hands.
Truly, she had been played like a very big and silly fool.
Her uncle and his family must have laughed at her foolish self for playing in the palm of their hands in her past life.
''Young miss….'' Ayana stared up at the concerned eyes of her Nanny.
''I'm fine, Nanny.'' She smiled for the elderly woman to see. Hopefully, her eyes were like that of an innocent twelve-year-old girl, and not the one of a grown woman with deep resentment.
''~Aya!'' Jason did not forget to announce his presence once more. The one-year-old had finished his mashed carrots, and was just playing with his spoon and tiny plate. The assisting maid had already gone to do her left-over chores.
Ayana chuckled at her little brother's undeniable cuteness. 'I will protect you this time, Jay.' At the same time, she made a deep vow. 'I will protect you, teach you and guide you to be a better a president of the kingston corporation than our parents.'
'….Something that he and mother would have done.' Ayana thought of the faces of her late parents, and immediately stopped the brimming tears by looking down at her half-finished meal.
Last time and this time, her parents' death just couldn't be changed. Perhaps it was the will of the heavens that gave her this chance of going back to the past.
Somethings could never be changed.
She would just have to accept it as the time goes on.
'I will also protect you, Nanny. I will protect every one that was good to me. As for Uncle…' Ayana deliberately halted thoughts. She didn't even want to think of the names and faces of those people responsible for her downfall.
'Either way, I must be different in this life.' She pushed aside that thought and made this deep vow.
A deep vow that she hoped if broken, the heavens would strike her entire being with heavy lightning.