“I am sorry. He is no more” After saying that, Aunt Milly burst into tears.
“WHAT?” Uncle Levi shouted from the top of his lungs.
“I tried everything I could but I was unable to save him” Aunt Milly said between sobs and hiccups.
Levi passed his hand through his hair. A tear fell on his cheek. He composed himself before he broke down. That was not the right time to reveal it in front of everyone.
On the other hand, Rose who was standing outside the bathroom, covered her mouth in shock. She never imagined this would happen. That she was not going to see Uncle Pete again.
She never really liked him but she didn’t expect him to die so soon.
She knew Elijah was responsible for his death. Before she can blame him, her heart reminds her that he was just trying to protect himself. She reminded herself of the truth.
No matter how much she hated him, deep inside, she still felt bad for Uncle Pete’s sudden death.
“Tell me about the rest?” She heard Uncle Levi’s demanding voice after a while.
“Umm.. David..” Aunt Milly was stuttering again.
“Just say it, Milly!” Uncle Levi sounded beyond frustrated now.
“He also passed away last night. I tried calling you but you didn’t answer your phone, brother Levi” Aunt Milly said crying again.
“What? That r*scal dog killed two of my members?” Uncle Levi was fuming with anger.
‘Well, you tried to kill him first. He was just protecting himself’ She had no idea why she was trying to defend Elijah so bad. She didn’t even know him that well while he killed one of her family members. She was in turmoil about what to think anymore.
“How’s Joseph and James doing?” Levi asked not being able to keep his emotions in check.
“They are okay. Just a little bit burnt and scratches here and there but out of danger” Aunt Milly replied trying to hold her sobs.
Rose got the information she wanted but her feet were still glued to the ground. She was in shock. She wasn’t expecting that she would attend funerals on this trip. Not only that she will be witnessing a murder right in front of her eyes.
Suddenly, a hand covered her own hand on her mouth, another hand sneaked around her waist and she was pulled backward against a hard chest.
She was about to scream when the perpetrator turned her towards himself.
“Oli….”
……………
Rose’s POV:
“Oli….” I was about to speak but Oliver covered my mouth again with his big hand.
I was calm because it was Oliver, after all, he can’t hurt me, right?
He kept his forefinger on his own mouth to hush me and I nodded.
In the next moment, he was dragging me away from the corridor, towards the back of the house.
He pushed me against the wall and held my shoulders tightly. I felt a bit weird, honestly.
“Oliver..” I was still taken aback by his actions.
“Are you still angry with me?” Opposite to his actions his tone was calm and gentle towards me.
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
No, I wasn’t and I honestly have no time to think about that small thing now after the big news.
I bet my eyes were still wide. My brain was still trying to process the news.
“You heard him?” I asked, looking at Oliver with hope that what I heard was wrong.
Oliver understood what I was trying to convey and nodded his head.
“How??…” I asked.
“Rose that..” Oliver’s hand came in contact with my shoulder, clearly, he was trying to convince me but somehow something unexpected left my mouth before I could even process it.
“They were the one.. who attacked.. how can they…”
“Attacked whom? What did you see last night, Rose?” Oliver asked, looking at his expression I could tell, my response shocked him more than the news itself.
The moment he asked those queries I got my senses back and I regretted opening my mouth.
‘Sh*t! Damn blabber mouth’
I composed myself with a calm expression on my face before replying casually,
“Um, nothing”
I was not ready to trust anyone after what I saw last night.
I don’t know why but I am sure that Oliver is hiding something about our family. There is no way that the elder’s favorite child, Oliver Blue, doesn’t know anything about our uncle’s heinous task. The worse, his own father was also involved in this.
A part of my brain even doubted that the trip to the waterfall was planned to keep us all away from home and nearby areas so that their parents could do their job properly, which was killing innocent Elijah.
My heart started to race against my chest the moment Elijah’s name echoed in my head.
‘Can Oliver really do that? Come on, Rose, you have known him all your life’ My conscious contradicted with myself.
One second thought, I was the one who always thought that my uncles were not even capable of killing a mosquito.
‘Maybe I am wrong about everyone. Maybe I don’t know him too!’ I came to the conclusion and my heart was breaking by the realization.
Even though my brain was completely sure about the scenarios that I made up in my mind, my heart was not ready to accept them.
“Rosey, what are you hiding?” He asked, grabbing my shoulders a bit too tightly that it started to hurt.
“Ouch, Oliver. You are hurting me” I said, trying to remove his hands from my shoulders but his grip was too tight.
“I am hurting more Rose” He said, his voice breaking in the end.
I looked up in his hazel green eyes which were filled with mixed emotions. There was hurt, guilt, and betrayal in his eyes.
“Leave me, Oliver” I said in a low voice.
“I thought we trusted each other more than anything! Why are you hiding something from me? You know every single dirty secret about my life!” Oliver said accusingly.
‘I am only hiding it because it is not about me. I am hiding it because you are not telling me the entire truth either’ I thought but kept my mouth shut staring blankly at him.
One of Oliver’s hands went up to the side of my cheek and he gently caressed it.
I didn’t feel the way I thought I would feel. It didn’t feel right.
I tried to take a step back but my back hit the wall behind me and I was trapped between him and the wall.
“Why are you doing this to me, Rosey? I trust you more than anyone” Oliver was staring into my eyes demanding answers.
I felt bad for hiding it from Oliver but I was helpless. There is no way I can tell him about Elijah, who is not even a human being.
“Oliver… I…” I replied, my voice was barely a whisper.
His other hand also came in contact with my other cheek and cupped my face. He bent his body a little and now, we were face to face.
‘Is he going to….?’ I thought and swallowed hard.
He moved closer to me. Our faces were just inches apart. He closed his eyes. His warm breath was falling on my face.
To my surprise, rather than feeling thrilled or excited, I felt disgusted. I wanted to push him and run away from him as far as possible. Like it wasn’t Oliver whom I had a crush on for literally years.
‘Isn’t this what I wanted all this time? Didn’t I want him to make the first move? I was hoping this day would come for years, then what is the problem now? Why am I hesitating now?’ I asked myself but I was actually loathing inside.
My palms were sweaty. My body was urging me to move away. I don’t know what was wrong with me.
Then….. just then…. A picture of a handsome man smirking deviously at me flashed in front of my eyes….. And it was none other than Elijah Smith!
The more Oliver was coming closer to me, the more I felt like I was betraying Elijah. I seriously had no relationship with him but I still felt like I was cheating on him.
My body was reacting in a powerful way the moment thoughts of Elijah filled my mind.
‘Why am I behaving like this? I just saved his life last night and that’s it, he doesn’t hold any importance in my life’ I was trying to reason in my head my whole body was conflicting with that single thought.
Oliver’s closeness was making me angry. His touch was disgusting me and I wanted to puke. My body was strongly rejecting his touch.
All I could think about was being touched by Elijah this way.
‘But why? I don’t even know him! He is nothing to me!’ I screamed inside my head.
‘Is it? Do I really feel nothing to him?’ just the thought of him made my heart race like crazy’ My mind was in a fight with contradicting thoughts.
Oliver’s face was just inches apart. I just couldn’t gather the courage to continue, so I removed his hand and lightly pushed him away which shocked him to his very core.
His eyes snapped open and he looked at me with ‘Hurt’ and ‘Betrayal’ written all over his face.
Before he could utter a word, or I could explain, I heard a familiar voice thundering in our direction,
“What the hell do you think you are doing?”