I couldn’t believe what she had just said. For a moment, I thought that my ears were ringing. I blinked multiple times to clear my vision and to find any hint of humour on her face but she was looking very serious.
“I didn’t get you?” I managed to utter it, my mind racing to comprehend what she had just confessed.
I literally stopped breathing for those moments. When I heard Ansell’s father say that he was not the one who killed William, I thought that he himself must have killed him. I just wanted to make sure with Desy but I didn’t known that she would tell me something that would give me a 440_volt electric shock.
“You heard it right, it was me who killed your brother”
I could see small tears in her eyes as she confessed her crime. The way her whole body was shaking, I am sure she wasn’t lying and I am also sure I am the first person with whom she is sharing this information.
“It wasn’t my brother but it was me who shot him dead”
A loud gasp escaped my lips as my eyes widened. The pieces of the puzzle I thought I had started to assemble were shattering into a million fragments.
How many more truths are there for me to discover?
The more I tired to go deeper into the case, the more twists and surprises I got in my way.
My brain stopped working momentarily as I kept staring at Desy, who was looking down as if she were guilty of her deeds. She was not ready to meet her gaze with mine, and a heavy silence engulfed us for those moments.
Though I should have been enraged and angry knowing that the murderer of my brother was sitting beside me, the one who was the reason that my brother was not with us, I was not. I was not feeling anything anymore.
I could completely feel her. If what she has told me about wiliam is right, then I don’t think that she has done anything wrong. A few hours ago, fueled by fear and desperation, I was also ready to kill Ansell and actually, I almost killed him only if the gun was loaded with bullets.
She has also gone through the same and even worse, where the lines between right and wrong blurred in the face of survival. Any girl would get ready to do anything in her self defense and I believe it should be legal in such cases.
But somewhere, I still wanted to hear the side of William that I couldn’t. It is a very bitter pill to swallow.
Instead of pushing her to more answers, I chose to give her the space she needed. I knew that she was ready to tell me everything, all I needed was to have patience at the moment, and as expected, she soon broke the silence as she started with her story.
“Your elder brother, William, and I, as well as my twin brother, Ansell, used to be in the same class in college, as I already told you”
She gulped.
“You never saw me before, partially because most of the time your focus was on Ansell. And I was also among those who didn’t like attention. Most of the time, I used to stay in the library. The things that my father did to my mother in childhood in front of our eyes were like trauma to me”
She visibly shuddered as she recalled those painful moments. It was evident that their father had mistreated their mother terribly. I saw the devil in him at out first meeting. A kind of man whom I would never like to meet again in my life.
“I barely had any friends because of that. Ansell was also like that but he had the ability to hide his emotions behind his smiling face. He didn’t like the idea of me calling his sister in college because he didn’t want me to be put into trouble just in case people find out that we belong to a mafia family ”
The way Ansell was loves his sister, I know that as much as he is cruel, he is capable of giving an abundance of love and care to someone.
She took a deep audible breath and blinked multiple times as if she was trying to forget about that painful past. I placed my palm over hers squeezing it gently.
“William used to like me” she continued.
I still couldn’t believe that wiliam used to like her, because I knew the girl he used to like. Her name is Mia. She visited us after his death and she is still waiting for William even when his parents are forcing her to move on and marry someone.
I have seen love in his eyes for Mia so why did he do something like that to Desy?
“But I couldn’t reciprocate his feelings. I was aware of his his involvement with the mafia m, and I didn’t want to be drawn into that world again. I wanted someone involved in the legal and normal profession, someone with whom I could build a peaceful life” I could clearly see the desire in her eyes.
But what caught my attention was the fact that she told me my brother was in the mafia. This also came as a surprise to me. Ansell also said the same thing once.
I don’t know in which world I was staying until now; I was unaware of so many things about my own family.
“Mafia?” My eyebrows came together.
Yes, my brother has been making a lot of money in recent years, but he has never told us where he gets his money. We were sure that he was doing something different because no company could pay him so much. But we didn’t know that he was into illegal activities.
“Yes, he was in one of the mafia groups, but it was not ours” she told me.
I blinked as she gave me time to discern words.
“I refused his offer politely and thought that he would stop pursuing me after college but it didn’t happen.
She paused. Her gaze shifted away from me as if she were replying those past encounters in her mind.
“He never stopped me after college. Though he never came to the house he used to stop me on my way whenever I went out. Whether it was social gathering or parties, he always managed to be there, which made me stop there as well. He was sending me messages, letters, flowers sending other things which I never liked. I told him in various ways that I don’t like him and I don’t want him in my life but didn’t stop.
She drew a deep breath. I was listening to her with all my ears. Though my mind was processing each word she was saying, my heart could not accept it. Her words were painting a different picture of wiliam, one that was difficult to reconcile with the person I knew. My mind grappled with the stark contrast between the brother I grew up with and the actions she described. My brother was the kind of person who might make fun of his female friends and could pull their to tease them but he could never do these things.
“Why didn’t you tell this to Ansell?” I asked.
If could take blame for William’s murder on himself, then I am sure he could do anything to project his sister if he knew that. Her eyes flicked to me as if the question had come unexpectedly. She hesitated a bit before replying.
“Ansell used to stay with his stuff and his father was already forcing him to take up the mafia. He didn’t want it: he started drinking and used to stay in so much tension that I didn’t think it was fair to bother him any longer. I tried once but I could not muster enough courage”
She blinked but was not ready to meet my gaze.
“I thought I could handle William on my own; after all, he was Ansell’s best friend, so I was confident he would not cross his limits. I thought that when he himself had a sister, he would understand me, respect me as a girl, and think about his sinister before doing anything. But I was mistaken, because William made my life a living hell. He changed into a complete psycho”
She let out a sigh, and tears welled up in my eyes. I can’t believe she is talking about my brother, even after she tells me everything with her own mouth.
“Once, when he sent me a letter written from his blo, I became so scared that I thought of sharing my problem with my brother but I got too late in that”
She lowered her gaze to her hands. My hand moved up squeeze her shoulder gently. For the first time, she sobbed, softly.
“I was looking for the right time to talk to my brother when, one day, on my way back from the market, he stopped me in the middle of the road and asked me to marry him. That day when I refused him once again, he kidnapped me…”
No!
I still can’t believe this.