Chapter 1914 Confidant
After dropping her back at Imperial Garden, Stephen drove off. Alerted by the sound of the engine, Maya greeted her sister at the door in her pajamas. “You’re back, Nina!”
“You’re still up?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.” Nina was taken aback. “What for? It’s not like we share a bed.” “I want to listen to a story. I don’t mind snuggling up against you!”
“I’m not a storyteller. You should be asking Wilbur for bedtime stories.” “What are you talking about? I’m not going to share a bed with him before marriage! I will not let him take advantage of me before the wedding.”
Nina gazed at her sister in surprise. What century are you living in?
“What are you looking at me like that for? I waited up for you to hear about Chris. Stephen must have discovered something for him to return, hasn’t he? What did he tell you?”
Nina nodded, her words stuck in her throat.
“Why are you so interested in his cause of death?”
“I’ve always liked him. Such a shame about what happened to him. He almost became my brother-in-law. Why shouldn’t I show my concern for him? I’m not made of stone, you know!”
Nina said nothing as she strode into her own room. Mystified, Maya followed suit.
“He must have told you, Nina,” Maya tried again. “You’ll feel better after confiding in me.”
“Let me take a shower first.”
Nina opened her wardrobe and took a set of pajamas in with her to the shower before turning the lock shut.
“Hey, what’s with the door locking?” Maya exclaimed as she kept her gaze fixed upon the frosted glass of the shower. “I’m not going to look at you.”
Standing underneath the showerhead, Nina abandoned her pretense of stoicism and allowed her grief to engulf her. With an unexplainable feeling of despair, she felt the need to gain a sense of closure from her past with Chris.
It’s an old chapter of my life that no good would come from revisiting. I need to pull myself together and dust all of these feelings under a forgotten corner of my heart, so I have the courage to face my future. A new beginning with Stephen. After everything we’ve been through, I did not even get the chance to be with Chris. Instead, I ended up with the person who got his heart. Is this what you want, Chris?
“What’s going on in there, Nina?” shouted Maya as she rapped on the door. “Hurry up!”
With a start, Nina pulled herself together. “Can’t I take a shower in peace?” she called back.
“What are you talking about?” came Maya’s confused voice. “You haven’t even turned on the shower!”
Nina gazed at the frosted window and reached out to turn the knob, savoring the hot, powerful stream on her skin.
Soon, the bathroom filled with steam. Nina stood beneath the torrent in a vain attempt to wash off the sadness from her.
Upon emerging from the shower, she saw Maya seated on her bed in wait for her.
“Finally!” Maya exclaimed as her sister appeared. “Come sit over here; I’ll help you dry your hair.”
Glad for another opportunity to remain passive, Nina handed her hairdryer to her sister before sitting down as instructed.
It only took several minutes for her hair to be blown dry. After her usual skincare routine, Nina snuggled under the sheets next to Maya as she repeated what Stephen had told her earlier that evening.
“Now you know,” Nina concluded at last with a small tremor in her voice. “He really did take his own life.”
Maya did not appear shocked. “He had already arranged for Stephen to receive his heart before his death. That must mean that he had foreseen his end. But why? I don’t understand why he did not even try to save himself.”
“It was a fate he couldn’t avoid,” explained Nina sadly. “Maybe he was destined for this, Maya.”
Despite having her sister go over the entire story again, Maya did not understand what kind of a reason was good enough to push a man over the edge to embrace death.
