Love is all-consuming...
It's an amalgam of joy and sorrow. It holds the power to damage you or mend you which is equally frightening and yet tantalizing. It's addictive even if it burns your soul.
Love is like an untamed passion.
It's like a hushed but devastating hurricane. And yet you're inclined to bear the typhoon that it brews in your heart; repeating the cycle with the same words... Just one more chance... Just one more breath... Just one last time...
Love for Alfred Lake was just futile and incurable longing. He had seen many forms of love around him from ridiculous love to heartwarming ones. From inconvenient love to selfish love. From can't-live-without-you love to consuming love. However, his love was still defined as endless torture of hate and love intertwined together.
He drove back to his office with a myriad of thoughts running through his mind. He had gone out to relax but came back exhausted. He felt exhausted of this love that had lived in his heart for years and he equally felt exhausted of the hate that shaped him into who he was today. It was ironic how he couldn't let go of this love or this hate. But it was very painful as well.
*Knock! Knock!*
Alfred Lake lifted his eyes as a knock was heard and soon after, the door was pushed open, and in walked his mother whom he hadn't seen in over a week now. He respectfully stood up and came around to greet his mother.
"Mom," he called out softly. "What brings you to the company at this hour?"
His mother, Sarah Lake had a complex gaze directed towards her son before replying, "My son hasn't been coming home for days. I thought I should pay him a visit myself."
As Alfred Lake sat down with his mother in the sitting space, he showed an apologetic expression before saying, "Sorry! I have been busy with work."
Sarah Lake hummed in understanding. How could she not know why her son hadn't been coming home? She knew very well how her son was trying to work himself to death.
"Did you have dinner?" Before Alfred Lake could make an excuse, she went on, "I knew it." She waved her hand and someone brought the dinner she had personally brought from home to eat with her son. "I know you have a habit of forgetting to eat. So, I asked the kitchen staff to cook everything according to your liking and personally brought it here."
Alfred Lake looked at the table full of a piping hot meal and the coldness on his face thawed a little. He would only show this softened expression to his family members. "You didn't have to."
Sarah Lake shook her head and personally served the meal to her son saying, "If I don't do this, how else would I get to enjoy a meal with my only son?"
Alfred Lake couldn't refute those words so he chose to silently eat the food before him. He hadn't eaten a home cooked meal in days.
Seeing her son eat with gusto, Sarah Lake's eyes showed a gentleness. She still couldn't believe the change she had seen in her son over the years. Once, her son was like a warm and lively person. Even though he grew up in an affluent family, he had always been a humble person. But he was arrogant when it came to his love. And he was also impulsive for that love.
It was a pity that that love eventually trampled on his arrogance. That love asked him for great sacrifices which he didn't hesitate from and yet he got nothing in return except for a harsh slap of reality. He and everyone around him had to pay a hefty price for his love. At that time, he didn't want to inherit his family business but when everything was about to slip away from their hands, he finally chose to shed his youthful naivety and vowed to become the perfect heir.
He put all his time and energy into his career and became the strong and powerful person that he was today. But Sarah Lake had seen how he had treated himself the harshest in the previous years as if he was punishing himself for everything his family had to face because of his love.
Sarah Lake's heart hurt seeing her son like this.
"Mom, why are you looking at me like this?" asked Alfred Lake when he noticed how his mother's food was untouched. "Aren't you hungry?"
Sarah Lake nodded her head and took a bite before saying, "You know, you don't have to work so hard anymore."
Alfred Lake pressed his thin lips, "I don't think I have anything else to do." He gave a bitter smile to his mother and continued to eat. How could he not see his mother's worries? It was very clear to him. Even though he possessed everything now, his heart still felt the bitterness and unwillingness to accept which welled up in dark and lonely nights.
Sarah Lake took a moment to contemplate, "What do you think about getting married?"
"Again?" retorted Alfred Lake in surprise. "As if I have any good memories from the first time."
"So what are you planning? Are you gonna spend the rest of your life alone?"
Alfred Lake stayed silent in reply.
"I've never questioned your decisions and I have never tried to force you into anything. I just always wanted to see you happy. And even now, I only want to see you happy."
Alfred Lake felt complicated listening to his mother's words. He knew he had lived his life willfully. He always did everything that he felt was right. In the process, he hurt and disappointed his parents, plenty of times. Even now when he thought he was working hard for the honor of his family, he was just lying to himself. He was just trying to atone for his sins by burying himself in work like this.
Listening to his mother, he realized one thing...
"If you have someone you like and you want me to marry her, let me know."
Sarah Lake was startled. "Are you serious?"
Alfred Lake nodded his head, "Yes. I'm very serious.