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“So, you’re telling me that if none of this came out then his daughter would never even know what happened to her father?” Lenanee asked, looking up into Hayden’s eyes and when his met hers, she knew that he understood what his father had done, and he had weighed it pretty accurately. He shook his head and blew breath through puffed cheeks.
“I knew. For a long time after that, it was everything that I would think about. It was the only thing that occupied my mind, and no matter how much I tried to shake it, I can’t deny the fact that what my father did was unforgivable but…”
“You want to keep him from going to prison,” Lenanee said, and Hayden shrugged.
“I don’t even think that is possible now,” he said, clenching his teeth.
“The best I can hope for is…the best I can hope for is to reduce the sentence that he will be given,” Hayden said.
Lenanee went to sit beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“You weren’t a part of this. Hayden. You only did what your father told you to do, and you were a kid. It’s not your fault,” she said.
“No, I deserve what is happening to me at this time. I grew up with my father while that girl had nothing. I guess I always had this coming,” he said, and she shook her head but said nothing for a while.
“I…wish there was something that I could tell you that would…I’m so sorry, Hayden,” she said. She could feel the weight that had settled in the man sitting next to her, and he just grumbled in his throat and continued walking. She turned to watch him, her eyes following him quietly. This was guilt that she couldn’t do anything about.
AUSTIN’S POV
“Are you done with your book?” Nicole asked him, jolting him out of his thoughts and he slowly turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed as if he wasn’t seeing her clearly then he raised an eyebrow, indicating that she repeat what she had just said.
“I am not done,” he asked just as she was about to begin talking then she nodded with a half-smile.
“I would like you to go out with me tonight,” he said. Nicole looked at him with wide eyes then she smiled.
“I see,” she said. He didn’t say anything for a while as he watched the wall. He didn’t even know why he was doing it but the only thing they he did know was that he wanted to go out and he wanted it to be with her.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“It is a yes,” she said.
On the drive, the only thing that Austin could think of was Hayden’s face when he came to see him and he clenched his teeth, wondering why he still felt the remorse that wanted to destroy him, the remorse that almost drove him against what he knew he had to do but then again, it was beyond his power now.
“Are you okay?” Nicole asked and he turned to look at her. He saw that she was looking up at him, concern in her eyes and he shook his head.
“There are just things I must do and there is a part of me that doesn’t want me to do these things. This part of me is one that I have listened to for a long time and now that I am unable to listen to it, now that I have decided to go against it… I find myself battling within me. I find that it is utterly difficult for me to do the things I have already set my mind to and I am conflicted,” he said.
“Is this about Ike and Hayden?” she asked, and he nodded slowly then blew breath through puffed cheeks.
“Didn’t you think about it before you decided?” she asked him, and he shook his head with a small laugh.
”I did think long and hard about it and I did decide that this is the best course of action but the truth is that I am not even sure,” he said and stopped the car.
“We’re here?” she asked. He laughed a little then got out of the car and walked to the other side and then he opened the door for her. He walked in and she followed. She watched as they checked him in off the list and he then took off his hat and turned to wink at her. She couldn’t believe that he had taken her to an art gallery of all places.
They walked in the large corridors amidst men with women clinging to their elbows and parents with their children.
“I didn’t think…”
“You didn’t think that I am the sort of man to come to this sort of place? I imagined you’d say that” he said and she laughed a little.
“The truth is that it doesn’t matter much. I don’t want to be a certain kind of man. If I am fascinated by something, I try my best to go for it,” he said.
“Is there any particular thing that you want to show me? Any piece of art that brought you to this place?” Nicole asked. Austin nodded.
“Yes, actually. After reading about Norse mythology, I went online and found out about this artist, Kelvin Bjornson, who is obsessed by it, and it represents mostly the subject in his work. That is why I am here and that is why I have brought you with me to observe it,” He said.
“What piece of art is this exactly?” she asked, and he shrugged.
