The rooms of the walls were painted lavender for as long as I remembered.
There were no windows just a giant picture of my parents' marriage hung on the wall .
A pair of golden chains dangled from the celing to the floor with a cradle hung . There were baby dolls lying on it .
It used to be my nursery. Back then there were more furnitures than am antique dressing table , a bed and the cradles . During the bankruptcy of our company everything else was sold off .
My mother sat on the floor with drawing papers .
Seeing her there twisted my heart into a knot .
" Mother ?," she looked up at me .
For a moment, I remembered running around the room as a child . So she would place the drawing papers on the floor with some colors to lure me to her .
Iimagined her saying ," There are colors , come sit here."
She however did not look up this time . She was too immersed in her papers .
" Home sweet home ," said my father and handed his coat to one of his men . He was wearing a white shirt and tie underneath , " I had not been here forever ."
My father used to like to sleep in an apartment closest to his office . It was also a place where he could comfortably bring in women and friends .
It was also the last bit of mercy he had shown me in exchange of my marriage. That he would leave my mother unbothered in the home as long as I behaved .
I ran towards my mother , taking her hands into mine . She was startled and asked me ," An angel ?"
I knew better than to argue with her logic . It was hopeless of me to even hold a conversation with this woman who had lost her mind a long time ago .
" How is our Adele doing ?," my father asked .
La Adele - that was my mother's stage name when she used to sing abroad . My father always praised her singing career although he was the one to ruin it after their marriage.
My mother wasn't bothered . Her eyes were empty , as if her soul was long gone . Only her body was left .
Father pulled a chair to sit before us ," Isn't it nice that we are here like this as a family ?"
I clutched onto my mother's dress. She fliched , trying to struggle out of my grip. To her , everyone was the same - even me , her daughter and the monster who broke her to the point of no return .
" Autumn ,darling , you should have let me know if your brother was back in town ," his voice was soft , like a slithering snake ," You know how much I hated when he ignores his studies . Now , you know that it will take me just a day to find about his whereabouts. So why don't you take the initiative to call him so that we can make up nicely among us ?"
I knew that there would be nothing pleasant about Jasper meeting our father . My voice trembled as I asked ," How did you find out? How long have you been following us ?"
" Since you were not giving an explanation to the scandal , I took the initiative to look upon your dating rumour myself. A couple of pictures were enough for me to recognise my own blood . But searching for him is tiring in bustling urban City where those morons don't maintain any rules and there are no security cameras. So I had people waiting around your house. The call came in the morning. I was overjoyed to meet my children and followed you guys there ."
I was surprised that he was being so detailed and cooperative with his answers . It was not like replying to me would make him gain something. I realised that he was being patient with me .
That damn brother of mine . He might be smarter than I thought .
" You are bluffing ," I smirked ," You could not way find Jasper . It made you desparate enough to follow us , yes ?"
" Well , there can be some minor change in the details," he shrugged ," I assumed that he would be home soon since he had no financial support but -"
He stopped ," Did you give him your card , Julia ?"
The card that he had no access to since it was maintained by Sunshine corporation?
" Yes ," I noded .
" Here is what we are going to do ," he stood up ," You are going to tell me about the places your brother might be staying these days ."
" I don't know ," I lied .
He bent down and snatched my purse away .
I watched as he brought out the phone and dialed my password.
I did not even have Jasper's name saved under his name . It was saved as ' Jewel Anderson ' , a name my father would not be dead caught dialing , anyway.
" What is his contact info ?"
" I don't know ...he calls from whatever phone he can get his hands on ," I said .
" Don't lie to me ," his voice got dangerously low .
" I am not lying ," I mumbled , my heart beat like a drum . I knew that he knew already that I was lying to him.
" Fine , I will give one one last chance ," he dropped my phone on the floor ," Call police and say your card has been stolen . The authority can track him down then ."
I looked up at his smiling face . With my mother in the room , he knew how weak I was to the threat .
I looked at my mother's face , like a happy child she was too busy with her crayons again.
' I am so sorry, but you are the one who told me to protect Jasper ', I apologized to the soul inside her , hoping she would understand my betrayal.
" No ," I said .
My father placed his foot on my phone . I could allready hear it cracking to break ," Think again."
" No ," I said .
.
" COME IN !," my father's voice booked loudly as two men entered and grabbed me , dragging me away from my mother .
" No ,no ,no ,no ,"I pleaded.
" You decided to abondon your mother ," father clicked his tongue as he grabbed my mother's hair into a fist .
As the cane hit my mother , her piercing cry turned my world into a colour of red .