Chapter 35 — He Is Back

“It’s been a long time since I met him,” I told Joseph, and he gave me a soft smile. I was going to my father-in-law’s house. I had never visited Henry’s mansion before. I was going to see the place where he used to live when he was a child. And I was super excited to visit there and meet Daniel, Henry's father after a long time.

“He left me a message to take you there because he is missing you,” Joseph said, glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

I smiled. I hardly knew Mr. Daniel Robinson, but he felt like a family. “I’m also missing him,” I mumbled while looking out through the window.

After thirty minutes, we arrived there. He pulled the car through the large iron gate and parked across the garden. I got out and Joseph followed me. The house looked like a cut-out from Architects Today magazine. It was beautiful and big enough to double the size of our house. I walked to the door and rang the bell and in a few seconds, the butler answered the door.

“Hello, ma’am.” He greeted me while bowing down. “I’m Shine, the butler of this house.” He introduced himself with a smile.

We entered the house. “My lord wants to see you in the library. Let me know what you would like to take: tea, coffee, black coffee, and espresso?” I opened my mouth to say something, but he continued. “Or cookies, snacks? Or a cold drink, wine…?”

“Shine!” Joseph glared at him. “Can’t you keep your mouth shut for a few minutes?”

“Oh, sorry.” Shine apologized.

“No, no, it’s okay,” I said with a small smile. “I like to listen to you.”

“Oh.” He laughed shyly and led us along the way. “Why didn’t you bring young Robinson?” Was he talking about Henry? Young Robinson suits him well? “It’s been a long time since I last saw him. Especially his handsome face.”

I noticed the pink blot visible to his cheeks. He was blushing. I cleared my throat. “Next time I’ll try my best to bring him here.”

We walked in the hallway, passing through several rooms. “The house has six bedrooms, a library, study, a game room, a conservatory, a gym and a wine cellar plus a spacious living room, an impressive kitchen, and a small breakfast room,” Shine continued, “I’ve been living here for over twelve years and I like when…”

Before he could complete himself, Joseph interrupted him. "My dear Shine, will you please shut your mouth because we are not coming here to learn the history and geography of the house? Keep your mouth zip and do your work quietly."

“Big Bro, you are always like this. You say nothing. At least I could entertain my guest,” Shine snapped.

“Is he your brother?” I asked quickly, surprised. I glanced between both of them before fixing my gaze on Joseph. That’s why Shine looked familiar and I was such stupid that I didn’t notice their resemblance. They had the same green eyes and light brown hair. But bodily they were quite different: Joseph was tall and bulgy and Shine was short and thin.

Shine nodded. “He is my big brother.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, Joseph?”

“I thought it was not so important,” he said, “can we go now?”

“Yeah.”

I looked around the house. It was painted in pure white color. It had red tulips designed. The white marble flooring matched the house color. Branded furniture, accessories, airy and spacious, everything was perfect. The house was amazing, but something was missing here. Something was lost. I realized that this was the place where Henry’s mother and sister lost their lives. This was the place where Henry used to play with his loving sister. “This is our young Robinson’s room.” Shine’s voice echoed in my ears, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned to the room and saw the closing door. The first thought popped into my head when I saw his room. I wanted to go there and know everything about him. “Here you go.” Shine said, motioning to the other door.

I entered the library and found Daniel. He was sitting on an armchair across a large window, looking out over the beautiful garden. He had a newspaper on the table, but he wasn’t reading it. His eyes were gazing out absentmindedly, and something was bothering him.

I cleared my throat to grab his attention. “How can I help you overcome your sadness?”

“Oh, Alice, sorry,” he said and stood up and hugged me warmly. “You’ve already done a lot to me and I’m not sad, anyway.”

“So, why the long face, huh?”

“I was looking out of the garden, enjoying the memories of Henry and Kelvin when they used to play together there.” He pointed to the garden. “Just leave it.”

I gave him a cheerful smile. “The house is so beautiful.” I glanced around the library.

“You want me to show you around?” he asked.

“Sounds good,” I said excitedly.

“Then, let’s go.”

I followed him and the first room was Henry’s across from the library. “This is Henry’s room,” he said and opened the door with a creaking sound. “He liked the books, so he kept his room near the library.”

I nodded at him and looked around, studying the room. Even though no one was living here, it was spotlessly clean, without any sort of smell. I turned my head to the wall, which was decorated with photographs. The first photo I saw was a boy; he was looking around six years old with a big grin. I brushed the frame and dust particles stained my fingers.

“He is Henry when he went to school for the first time. He was five.” He approached me and showed me the next photo. “This one when he won the trophy in martial arts.”

The next photo was a boy that grew a little and wore a sort of white dress showing off his trophy with his wide smile. “When he was seven, he started taking an interest in martial arts.” He touched the frame gently, his eyes devouring the memories of those days. “He had a dream to be in the army.”

His statement stunned me. “W-what? The army? But he’s a fashion designer.”

He stared at me with gloomy eyes. “Fashion design was his sister’s dream. Kelvin had a dream to be a fashion designer. She was crazy about dress, jewelry, and decoration. Designing was her passion or life. She was so crazy that she used to ask our new neighbors to decorate their houses.” He laughed sadly.

The sadness drained through me as I watched him. “And What about Henry’s dream?” I asked.

He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. “He just followed what his sister wanted. He pursued Kelvin’s dream instead of his own. Even though he didn’t know a single thing about fashion designing, he tried hard. He tried again and again so that he could achieve his sister’s dream.”

“But how could he do this? I mean it wasn’t his interest…then how could it be possible?”

“‘Skills are built not born,’ were the words he followed in his life, and he made them true,” he said.

“I knew he loved his sister, but I didn’t realize how much,” I said while studying other things in the room. I followed the photographs in his martial arts, a group photo of a football team, and the last picture of a girl, and I knew who she was, Kelvin. She had dark brown curly hair and hazel-green eyes. She was dressed in a pink tank top with a pink skirt looking like a barbie doll. “She was so beautiful.”

“Like her mother.” I could feel the pain in his voice. “Alice, I want to tell you something.”

I watched the side of his face, seeing the despair on his expression. “Yeah,” I said. I didn’t have an idea what he was going to tell me.

“He is back.” He clutched the frame between his hands, anger clear on his face. “KT, Kian Taylor, is back. He was released from prison a month ago.”

I was frozen and shocked. Kian Taylor, the murderer of Henry’s mother and sister. “Released what?”

“Kian Taylor was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment, but now he is free.” He sighed in despair. “I-I don’t understand what to do. How can I…?”

I took a long, deep breath to confront the truth. “Everything is going to be fine. You don’t need to worry about it.” I didn’t know if I was convincing him or myself.

“How could you, Alice? He has attacked you two times. He has threatened me that he would kill Henry.”

It stunned me. I couldn’t form a single word. He was the man who had been threatening me. Oh, my God.

“If Henry gets the information about KT. If he comes to know who had killed his mother and sister. He would go for revenge.” His chest rose and fell due to heavy breathing. “You don’t know, Alice, what things he has done to find his sister’s murderer. But I always wiped off the evidence of KT. But now I’m tired! I’m tired of doing all this again and again.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Nothing would happen to him, nothing would happen to you, and nothing would happen to me. Everything is fine and will be fine. Henry is not an eight-year-old boy, he is twenty-eight, he knows very well how to protect his family. I think you should tell him everything.”

“No! Alice, you don’t know about KT. He is very dangerous. The man who didn’t think twice about ripping out an eleven-year-old girl’s throat could not be a human. He is a man you would not have imagined. If Henry learns about him, he will seek revenge, and I know the result. Once again KT is going to destroy my family. He has everything from weapons to highly skilled men. But we have nothing to fight against him. How can we win over him? I don’t want to lose my only son. I can give him my life, but not yours and my sons.”

*****

I set my fork on the plate as I suddenly lacked an appetite. I was thinking about the conversation that afternoon. Did he want to kill me and Henry? How could a man like KT exist in this world, someone who just wanted to kill people to serve his interests? What would happen if he killed my husband? I quickly brushed away this thought because it made me feel sick.

“I think something is bothering you?” I heard a masculine voice from behind me. I turned around to see Henry standing behind my chair, towering over with his tall height.

“Um, nothing.” I smiled forcefully. “How was your day? You’re early from work?” I quickly asked him before he could ask me anything.

He raised his brows together and took a seat beside me. “Do you believe me if I tell you I was missing you?”

I held his gaze for a few seconds. Was he missing me? “Yes, if you are.”

“Okay, so how was your day? You went to my old house. How did you feel there?”

“It was amazing. I mean the decoration of the house. It is stunningly beautiful.”

He rested his hand on the table and looked down. “My sister had done all those decorations.”

It was the first time he talked about his sister. “She had exceptional talent.” I placed my hand on his.

He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. “Okay, so I want to tell you something very important.” He quickly changed the subject.

“Okay.”

“I want to take you somewhere.”

Take me somewhere? “Where?” I asked.

“Norway.”

My mouth dropped open in amazement. “You want to take me to Norway?”

He nodded, and a small smile tugged at his lips.

“Norway is my dream place.” I gasped and hugged him. I couldn’t believe he was going to take me to Norway.

“I know Norway is your dream place.”