Chapter 101 CHAPTER 101

Chapter 101 CHAPTER 101
Andrew’s POV

“You missed dinner,” mom says as she remains at the door. If this keeps up, I might really go crazy. I try to smile, knowing I have to remain calm.

“Dad talked to me about it already. I couldn’t join everyone because I was exhausted. I’m sorry for not being there. End of story,” I say, hoping this would end her enquiry. Ironically, I might have started it rather than end it.

She steps into my room and sits down on the bed. I remain standing, looking at her. It reminds me of what happened in the hospital with Aurora.

“Did something happen?” Mother asks. “You can confide in me, do you know that?”

I clean my ears to check if I can still hear properly. That was entirely out of character for my mother. I mean, both of us were at loggerheads, almost all the time. Now she wants me to confide in her?

“Did I hear you right?” I ask.

“You did,” she replies naturally. “Did I say something so bad?”

I think about it for some time. Has my mother finally realized she should be protecting me rather than fighting me? She didn’t kidnap Jayden even though she could have… does that mean she has changed? Maybe I should give her the benefit of doubt.

“Confiding in you isn’t so bad. However, can you tell me the reason?” I ask calmly. She looks away from me, acting remorseful. I feel bad now. It seems my mother has changed, I should no longer doubt her.

“According to The Art of War by Sun Tzu… sorry, this might not be from the book,” she mutters, her head still low. “To defeat your enemy, you must know what is going on in his head.”

“Yes?” I ask, urging her to go further. She doesn’t and simply stares at me. That’s when I realized what she meant to say. I ask gently, “Do you mean to understand what is in my head by making me confide in you?”

She doesn’t answer and I rephrase my question, “Do you see me as your enemy, mother?”

“I don’t, not really,” she answers with a smile on her face. “I like to think of it in a more refined way. We are sparing partners. We can fight and hurt each other in the ring but they will never do irreparable damage to each other. When we fight, we learn from each other and we grow… we become better and build up experience, valuable to defeat other enemies.”

“A mother and son as sparing partners does not sound refined to me,” I tell her honestly.

“Of course, you’re not as realistic as I am. How could I expect you to understand?” she says casually. “You can consider this another lesson from me. Your enemy will want to know what’s going on in your head and unlike me, they won’t tell you their real aim. If you want to survive out there, you will need to carefully filter your enemies from your allies.”

“It is advice I am grateful for,” I tell her dismissively. “Can you leave now? I want to sleep.”

She stands up and I add, “Refrain from sending another person in. One more person and I might actually go crazy.”

“Too late. Cassie will want to see you,” mother cuts in. “I saw her hanging around even before I entered. Just talk to the girl for a few minutes, it won’t hurt.”

I sigh, exhausted. She steps out and as expected, I hear a knock afterwards.

“The door is open, come in,” I say and Cassie’s head peeks inside. She enters slowly and closes the door after.

“Andrew,” she calls.

“I hope you are not here to ask me why I skipped dinner? If you are, it is because I am…” I begin to say.

“No, that’s not it,” she tells me, shaking her head. “I just wanted to check up on you. Everyone says you have never missed a family dinner with your father and that made them really worried. You look fine though.”

“Yes, I am fine. I must have worried everyone,” I mutter.

“That’s what you get for acting out of character,” she says. She comes near me and touches my face gently. With her frown on her face, she asks, “Why is this part of your face a bit swollen? Did you get into a fight?”

I push her away slightly and check the mirror for myself. She is right, there is a little bit of swelling.

“You are the first person who noticed,” I mutter. “I guess it wasn’t really visible.”

Cassie blushes wildly as she says, “I have your handsome face stored in my head. One simple change and I will notice. As for others, they might have as well but chose not to tell you.”

“Maybe,” I mutter, moving away from the mirror.

She holds me by my shoulders and looks into my eyes, “Be honest with me. Did you fight with someone? Why is your face swollen? Don’t you know it’s the best part of your body?”

“It’s nothing,” I mutter.

“This is something!” she replies, her voice firm.

“Alright, I fought with someone,” I admit.

“What! Who is the person? Who dares to inflict a wound on you?” Cassie asks, literally ranting right now.

“Callum,” I replied. “But don’t worry, I made him bleed. Apart from this little swelling which will disappear soon, I am not wounded. As for Callum, he definitely has it worse than me.”

“Both of you are adults. Why would you fight to the point of injuring yourselves? It’s not as if both of you are teenagers!” Cassie exclaims.

“It’s not my fault. The person who caused this is…” I stop talking and then look into her eyes as I ask, “Why am I explaining this to you?”

She clears her throat nervously.

“Maybe it’s because you should,” she replies, keeping eye
contact with me. “If you can’t tell me things like this, who would you tell?”