Undecided

"Who else if not you? Listen, I know that all this time you've thought that you were the leader here. But just so you know, the way we used to be is different from who we are now. I don't want you to think that you can control us like it used to be!" Aiden said as he left. He felt that this reunion was annoying because Henry kept ruining the atmosphere because of his overly high ego and revenge.

"Damn you, are you challenging me, Aiden?" Henry's emotions were getting out of control. Among them, Aiden was the most unpredictable in his thoughts. They can never read what's really inside his head.

"Go ahead! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

"Tch, damn it!"

Aiden walked away after he said what he had to say. Damian looked at Aiden's back which was getting further away from his eyes. He thought back to a mysterious figure named Levi whose traces and whereabouts had entered into the target of his search.

"Levi? I think I'll find you soon."

***

Ruby was still pensive even though she was now trying to calm herself. She sat on the edge of the lake with all the bad prejudices in her head about her mother and all the parts of her past that she could never remember even though she tried hard to remember them.

"What actually happened to me? Did I die? That's impossible. I'm sure it's impossible because mom never told me anything at all." She thought. She thought very hard and she still couldn't find the answer.

"Ruby?" Jacob called her. She felt uneasy about letting Ruby ponder alone in this place.

"Jake? Aren't you home yet?"

"Damian and Henry aren't home yet, they're still at your house!"

"Aiden?"

"It looks like he's really gone. Did you know? Aiden and Henry almost never get along and agree."

"That's right, I feel bad because I made them argue."

"It's not your fault, it's just the two of them who are a little stubborn." Jacob said as he took his place beside Ruby.

The atmosphere became silent for a few moments, even though he had a lot to say. But Jacob didn't know where to start.

"Hmm... are you going to stay here?" He asked after gathering all the courage he had.

"I don't know, my dad is no longer here even though my purpose in coming to this city was to fix my relationship with him. It's been 10 years since I lost contact with him because my mother forbade me to have contact with my dad anymore. There are many things I want to ask him about who is my real mother?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"What's that?"

"Do you really not know who your mother is?"

"I don't know, every time I think that I already know something about her and about me, I mysteriously start to lose everything in my mind."

"Haven't you ever thought that there was a possibility that your mother brainwashed you?"

"Brainwashing me? What does that mean?"

"It's like a doctrine that is continuously being said so that slowly belief in something that is continuously being said slowly begins to grow. I also don't know what really happened, but I feel that the accusation that has long been leveled at you is true that your mother is a witch."

Ruby was silent, she didn't know how to react to what Jacob said. Even though he had thought several times that her mother was a witch, remembering how her mother always tried to deny it made her afraid to think about it again.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She tried to stay calm even though her chest was starting to feel tight as if there was a large stone squeezing her chest.

"Ruby? Are you okay?" Jacob asked when she felt something was wrong.

"I'm fine, Jake. I understand, maybe you're right. Actually, I don't know who my real mother is and why she's always the center of everyone's hatred."

"When I was little I felt very sorry for my mother. The relationship between my dad and mom was so bad that I often saw my dad physically violent towards my mom. He hit, kicked and even tried to kill my mom every time he was drunk. He always shouted calling my mom as the witch girl. I thought it was just an expression of him unreasonable hatred, but the more time I went on, the more I felt that the relationship between the two of them was very strange. There was never any love between them, even though they had lived together for many years, they looked like two people strangers who are forced to live together."

"Have you ever tried asking your mother?"

"I asked her very often, about why she wanted to marry and live with my dad? But my mom told me that in fact they were never officially married. They just fell in love and decided to live together without any ties. Doesn't that sound strange? I know that there are many couples out there who decide to live together and have children without getting married, but couples like that definitely love each other, I'm sure that they never loved each other from the start, it was just a forced relationship."

***