Chapter 98

Helene.

I heard a knock on my door and I hurriedly opened up and when I did, my eyes grew wide when I saw who it was that was standing in front of my bedroom door.

"Did you perhaps miss your way and knock on the wrong door?" I asked, not wanting to get my hopes up that he had come here to see me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he responded with a question.

"Do you not get the reason behind my question? I mean, you and I have barely spoken to each other in quite a while and I wasn't expecting you to show up in front of me anytime soon so I need to confirm if you're here to see me or if you knocked on the wrong door by mistake," I responded, trying not to sound petty.

The last time I saw Hunter was the day that Dre and I went to the training ground and even after that day, he still made no attempt to talk to me. I just suddenly made up my mind to stop trying too hard because my pride just could no longer take it.

"It seems you're forgetting that every room in this place belongs to me and I wouldn't knock on a door accidentally without knowing who the room belongs to," he reminded me and I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.

"You could have easily just said you came here to see me instead of trying to remind me but I'm nothing but a freeloader," I hissed at him and he sighed.

"I didn't come all the way here to pick a fight with you, Helene and if what I said sounded offensive to you then forgive me because it wasn't my intention to offend you," he responded and something about his tone did not sit well with me.

I didn't pay attention at first but now that I'm looking closely, I can tell that he's very stressed out and he seems like he has had a lot on his mind and didn't even get any sleep at all.

The look on his face worried me even though I wasn't going to admit it to him and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on that was making him look this dejected.

"Did something happen, Hunter?" I asked, hoping that it wasn't anything too serious and that I was just reading the meaning of the look on his face for no reason.

"We need to talk, Helene, and we need to talk right now," he replied.

I'm confused. "D...did something happen? What's going on?" I asked, not liking this one bit.

"I don't want us to talk here so come with me and I'll explain everything to you," he replied but his response wasn't satisfactory.

"Whatever it is that you want to talk to me about, is it something really bad? Does it directly involve me or are you just looking to vent to me?" I questioned.

"It directly involves you and it's a matter that I should have pressed on about a long time ago but I took too long and now it's time we have that necessary conversation," he responded and I was even more confused and nervous.

"Give me a minute," I told him before proceeding back to my room, picking up my jacket and changing from my flip-flops to comfortable shoes.

"Let's go," I said to him when I came back out and he led the way, whilst I followed behind him.

***

"I'm pretty sure you don't remember coming here but this is the first place you stayed before I sent you to prison," Hunter informed, referring to the cottage in front of us.

The sudden memory of how he suddenly made me switch from a peaceful-looking room to a prison cell did not sit well with me but I didn't bother reprimanding him for reminding me.

"Oh wow! It looks really old compared to how the inside looked," I pointed out, remembering that the room didn't look as shabby as the place looked on the outside.

"The cottage has been around for much longer than I have so that explains why it's old but my mum loved this place so she made sure to take care of it," he explained and for the first time since I've known Hunter, he mentioned something about his mother.

I realized only recently that I didn't know anything about him or his family and he has never actually mentioned them to me.

"You do realize that you just spoke about your mother to me, right? Cause I've never heard you talk about her," I stated and he smiled. A sad smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"My father was the one who told me how much my mother loved the place because I never got to meet her. She died after giving birth to my sister and me," he responded and I didn't know how to react.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry to hear that," I muttered a response, on sure of what else to say since I'm not very good at consoling people.

"It's okay. It's been years so I'm already fine with it," he assured with another sad smile.

"You just mentioned that you have a sister but why haven't you ever mentioned her or why haven't I seen her around?" I asked.

"She died alongside my mother," he answered and my stomach fell.

"Shit, I shouldn't have asked," I blurted out, regretting the fact that I asked without thinking.

"Oh, it's fine, Helene. I was going to share it with you anyway," he replied to dismiss my apology and I was starting to find this weird.

It's not very normal that Hunter would just show up in front of my door, and ask me to come with him, only for him to start talking about his family which is something that he never used to do.

"As much as I like the fact that you're talking about your family with me, I can't help but find it strange and I'm just wondering why all of a sudden you are deciding to share all of this with me," I said and he sighed.

"Let's go inside," he replied, urging me to come with him, and even though I was still feeling weirded out about the way he was acting, I decided to follow him to find out the reason behind his strange behavior.

We arrived inside the place and just as I suspected, it looked nothing like how the exterior would have made you think it looked and I was impressed by how well-kept the place was, especially since it's old.

"Would you like something to drink?" Hunter offered suddenly.

"What do you have?" I asked.

"Mostly alcohol to be honest," he answered and I chuckled.

"I'll take a glass," I said.

"Are you sure about that? Have you ever drank alcohol before?" he asked.

"Just once to be honest and it didn't end well but I'm willing to try again. This time, I'll be slow with it," I responded and he chuckled before pouring both of us a glass and heading back to where I had seated in the living room.

I took a small sip at first and the bitter taste filled my mouth, making me feel the urge to gag.

"I'll never understand what makes people drink this so often because it's bitter and nothing is exciting about it," I spat out in disgust and Hunter chuckled.

"Sounds like something a child would say," he said and I frowned.

"I thought we agreed that you were going to stop calling me a child? Just because I don't enjoy alcohol does not automatically make me a child," I commented.

He smirked. "Then why don't you tell me how old you are so that I can stop thinking you're a child?" he requested.

I didn't realize that I still haven't told him my age because I already told Mia and Dre and I thought I told him as well but I guess it slipped my mind.

"My bad, I should have mentioned this a while ago. I'm twenty-one years old," I replied and although I wasn't expecting a grand reaction, I still expected him to react in some sort of way but he had no reaction at all.

"My guess was right then," he blurted.

"You guessed that I was twenty-one?" I asked.

"Well, I was thinking about how I didn't know your age a while ago so I just assumed that you wouldn't be anything more than 21 and my guess was right," he replied and I nodded in understanding.

"So now, are we going to get to the reason you brought me out here or are you going to keep stalling?" I asked.

He sighed. "I'm not stalling, sweetie. I'm only starting with the easy questions before moving to the more difficult ones," he explained.

"So what exactly are these difficult questions? What is it exactly that you want to know?" I asked, already having a strong feeling that I wouldn't like where this conversation was headed.

"I brought you out here because I want to hear the truth from you, Helene. I know you and I haven't been on good terms for a while and I also know that we agreed to keep to each other concerning certain aspects of our lives but I think it's time we forget all that and have a serious conversation concerning who you are and where you're from," he mentioned and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't taken aback.

"Why is this conversation coming up all of a sudden?" I asked, genuinely wondering why he was asking this when he and I already agreed we weren't going to bother each other concerning things that we didn't want to talk about.

"It's coming up because it's important and I wouldn't be asking this way if I didn't feel the need to hear your story. So tell me Helene, who are you and where are you from?" he asked and I temporarily went mute.