CHAPTER 84

"Do you blame yourself for why that girl was imprisoned? Well, she surrendered willingly-”

"And I'm the reason why she turned herself in to the police, Hen." Staying outside of the police station, I did not move to pass through my car on the other side of the road. "I was guilty because... I was also the reason why she committed that sin. My idea is to blame Imelda for the food poisoning that will happen to Tanya. In return for giving her restaurant a bad reputation, Dianne did that."

"All because of me!" It was as if my legs suddenly felt weak, I lost the strength to stay standing. "I am the reason why she committed a crime. And now... I'm the reason why she's giving up on herself. Where on Earth could I find peace of mind now?!”

I was so upset and with the weight of what I was carrying, I washed my hands from my face and wiped away the tears by myself. While Hen joined me sitting like crazy outside the station while his other arm tried to comfort the hopeless me.

"Kris, don't look for a reason for every problem. Problems may have their own causes behind those occurrences, but you also have to put aside the search for those reasons."

“It won't solve the dilemma. Instead of looking for a reason, why not find a solution to the problem you should understand?" Henrix gave a short sigh. "Try to solve the problem while not allowing yourself to be disturbed by the reason why it has happened. Make sure of that, Kris.”

I was left stunned on the road and thought. Because it's not that easy. It is inevitable that a person with a problem will first think about the cause of the problem before thinking of a way to solve it. Not the thing I should take easily.

"There is only one solution to all of this, Hen." I met his gaze upon me. “I will not let Dianne suffer alone in jail. The two people who should be in the cell with her are still left here, wandering around."

"That's the solution I want you to think of and plan an action about." He gave me an encouraging smile as he stood first, and in a few moments his hand was stretched out in front of me. "Put them behind bars, Kris. If you can't do it alone, you don't have to worry. I'm always here for you."

Hen didn't wait for me to voluntarily reach for his hand. He took my hand without asking for my permission, he made sure to pull me upright. We crossed the road together to take me home… back to my daughter.

I don't know how to hold these things firm. My brain is not in the right state to think. Even if there is a plan for me to put Lucile and Imelda in jail, I don't have it. Not even a step to cross the steps towards the justice sought, I have nothing ready.

"Still had no plans in mind, didn't you?" Henrix caught my attention not because he spoke, but because I felt the touch of his hand to mine. "You don't need to be worried if you don't have a plan yet. Besides, the real battle has been settled to start…” The smile he wears doesn't seem to be fake. "Only now."

Hen left my brows raised. I don't even seem to have a plan right now, maybe the people on my side… do.

*****

"You're still clinging to my daughter to this day?" Henrix and I were greeted by a familiar woman—Hen's mother who had returned home from Thailand. "And you have the guts to let my son be the father of a child that isn't even his daughter, huh!”

"Mom, you didn't say you were going home. Is dad with you?”

"He will follow." She answered Hen but she kept looking at me. “Gwen, don't you have any skin shame left? Until now, you and my son still haven't divorced?!"

"Mom, why are we breaking up-"

"Are you really going to go blind?!" 

It's good that Hen's mom met us just outside the hospital, so it wouldn't be too embarrassing for them to yell at each other.

"All those girls cheated on you, you still don't divorce them! Why do you have to support that woman and her child, and that child is not yours!”

Henrix and I both seemed surprised. Neither of us said anything to them. Me, I haven't spoken yet because I'm not ready to tell Henrix's parents the truth. I couldn't introduce myself to them as Gwen's twin; it's because... I know it's not the time for that.

"You have a child with Maui, Henrix. Maui should be your responsibility. Maui is yours to take care of. You owe it to yourself, divorce your flirtatious wife!”

I can no longer bear the weight that is burdened by layers on my body. Without waiting for the conversation to end, I left them outside. It's up to them to argue there. If Hen has a paper to give me later, and he's begging me to sign that, I won't hesitate. Because his mother's right. He has no responsibility to me to stay tied to the marriage... I'm not even his bride.

I think the dead end is here. If just now Hen bathed me in the hope that maybe we could still be... that we could still make a way for us to be together in the end, at this time it is true... but because of his mother's arrival, I think all those fantasies I had in mind would be better to stay as fictional.

“Just one bite, Audrey. So, that your stomach can be full-”

"I don't want to eat!"

I rarely see my daughter screaming, and when I tried to sneak a peek inside her room, Liam was sitting on the floor to clean up the spilled porridge... and I would really hate it if I knew Audrey did the thing I was thinking of as of now. I never really saw her being rude like this.

"I like you for being a good doctor, Doc Liam. I was nice to you at our first meeting because you seem like a nice doctor. I like your profession alone, but…”

I remained still peeking outside and quietly listened to them first.

"To be my real father? I can not do it!"

"Even if I come from your sperm, you still can't force me to accept you! So, stop being nice! You are kind in my eyes, but the fact that you hurt my mother to be her reason for leaving you is enough for me to hate you until I die!"

Audrey started to lose herself inside as she tossed the pillow towards Liam. “So, go away! I don't want to see your face anymore! I don't care what other things you did just to show me your generosity. That won't change the fact."

"So, go to hell!" And my daughter even showed her middle finger to Liam.

I didn't let myself stay outside any longer, I immediately went into the room because my daughter's rudeness had crossed the boundary.

"Audrey!" I approached her bed, and I sat on the side. "Have some manners, can you?! I didn't raise you to be rude like that! Maybe you're forgetting your father is the one you're advocating for?!”

"Show him your middle finger for all you want, that doesn't change the fact, as well, that he's your father!"