AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Now you’re the one ruining the surprise, I had no idea you were planning on it.” We laughed some more but my thoughts kept drifting down to the test sitting at the bottom of Virgo’s bathroom trash can and what we had created.
Chapter 16
Taylor
I got dressed that morning in one of my older formal suits. It was traditional black and white, the kind you would wear to a wedding or a funeral. I felt like I was getting ready for a funeral. I made sure everything about me was immaculate. Today I would be seeing my mother face to face. I knew, somewhere inside me, that this would be the last time I would ever see her. I wanted there to be nothing to regret about the meeting.
Lydia also got dressed very simply. She wore a long, dark purple dress and over it wore a heavy coat to face the Chicago winter winds. She and I silently got ready; the air heavy between us. I knew she would support me through anything, but I knew how this must look to her. She must have seen this as me hurting myself. She might have been right. I just knew I would carry the heaviness over me for the rest of my life if I didn’t do this.
When we got into the car, I gripped the steering wheel for a few moments before starting the car.
“Are you ready?” Lydia asked. She’d been asking the same question in different forms ever since I told her what I planned to do.
My answer was always the same too. “Maybe.”
My mother lived in one of the nicest apartment buildings in Chicago. She had never worked her entire life, just lived off of the Hirano fortune. I had asked my grandfather when a good time would be to see her. Asking in a vague enough way that he couldn’t warn her.
We took the elevator up to her penthouse apartment. Through the clear glass we could see all of the city, dark in the early cloudy morning. A few traces of sunlight gleaming off some of the tallest skyscrapers.
When we reached her door, I brought myself to knock before I could change my mind. After several moments, the door opened and there stood my mom. She was wrapped in furs and wore a silk dressing gown. When her eyes saw me, I couldn’t read what was in them. When she glanced at Lydia however, there was a flash of something. Anger maybe? Hate, more likely.
“I need to speak to you, Hana.” I wouldn’t call her mother ever again.
“Come in, son.” She let us in and shut the door behind us.
Lydia kept true to her word. She didn’t say anything, but the presence of her hand on my back steadied me. I wasn’t sure why, but I could tell my mother wasn’t moving on me like she had in my home. She kept glancing at Lydia. I would’ve wanted to know more, but after this I was done with thinking about her if I could help it.
“Hana,” I said. “Do you have anything to tell me?” I waited as she hesitated. I wanted to know if she would even bother to apologize.
“I want you to stop this,” she said, her voice harsher than I remembered as a kid. “You never visit. You never ask how I am.”
I was worried last night, as I laid awake, unsleeping, that I would panic or lose myself, but instead I felt a different emotion: anger. “Why do you think that is Hana? Do you think I shouldjust forget?”
“It was years ago. I’m getting older…”
I interrupted her with a harsh laugh. She was probably afraid of dying alone with no husband and no child. “You haven’t changed. But I have.” I felt Lydia grab onto the back of my suit. “I will never come back here Hana. And I never want to see you again. I’m going to tell both my father and my grandfather what you did to me.”
“No,” she cried and lunged forward.
Lydia stepped between us pushing her back away from me. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“And I will tell them I never want you near me again. I don’t want to get the courts involved but if I ever catch you on my property or at Hirano Enterprises, I will get a restraining order. It will be your lawyer against mine. And I’ll be CEO soon. I won’t keep funneling a stipend to you like grandfather had been doing for years.” I had learned about that a few years back and kept quiet. “Let’s go,” I turned and said to Lydia. She nodded and followed me towards the door.
“Taylor Hirano.” My mother called and I turned slightly, giving her one last chance before I left forever. She didn’t deserve it. “You are ruining my life.” Her voice was so full of venom. I couldn’t bring myself to summon the anger I had before, I almost pitied her.
“You raped me.” I said. I finally said the word I had always hesitated to use.
Without saying goodbye, I opened the door and Lydia and I left.
We walked down to the car in silence. Once inside and buckled, I was about to start the car, but my hands trembled. The shaking took over my entire body and soon I let tears fall from my eyes.
“Taylor,” Lydia murmured softly, rubbing circles into my palm. “You are so brave.”
I didn’t feel that way. But I was right, I did feel like something hanging over me was gone forever. Mrs. Tupp often said that healing was a lifelong process that never truly ended or ever went one direction. I used to see that as discouraging. I always thought that meant I would never be complete, that I’d always be broken. Now I was looking forward to a life of getting better with Lydia.
My crying slowly came to a stop. I wiped my eyes and started the car.
“What are we doing next?” Lydia asked.
