Chapter 81. Irene. (6/7)

“It’s as I suspected, Ran. You live alone after all. Where are your parents? Did you run away from home? Are you squatting here or something?”

“No, I do live here. I pay rent by myself and everything.”

“Your parents?”

“One dead mother at 12, the other abandoned me at birth.”

“I… see… so it was something like that.”

“Now that your curiosity has been satiated, can you please leave?”

“The eyes you looked at me outside with… they weren’t the sort of eyes a child at your age should have.”

“Well, sorry for being born with such eyes.”

“They’re the same sort of eyes I see when I look in a mirror. We’re honestly... not that different… you and I.” She made such a claim.

“...” I remained silent, unsure of what she expected me to say.

“We both have the eyes of irreparably damaged goods. Maybe that’s why I’m fond of you and feel closer to you than the others I see on a daily basis.”

“Haaaah.” I let out a sigh.

“I met my husband Alexander while working as a hostess when I was only 16. I was lying about my age and pretending to be older than I really was back then so I could work there. It’s my second job I still do to this day. One where we serve patrons drinks and chat with them. We only listen to their problems, we don’t provide any sketch services. But all sorts of people come in. Some to talk, others to ogle and look at women with lecherous gazes to their heart's content.”

“One day I met him as a patron I attended to. He fell in love at first sight and proposed to me on the spot. I naturally coldly rejected him right away, but he was persistent and continued to pursue me every single day for three months straight. Eventually, his persistence and devotion got through to me. He reached my heart.”

“We ended up together and got married. He was three years older than me. I was only at the tender age of sixteen when I got pregnant with Alicia. My beloved daughter whom I love to death to this day. I had my precious son when I was nineteen. Alexander was a loving good father, but his life was cut short in a car accident on a snowy night exactly like this two years ago. When I received the call, I was devastated. Broken-hearted and destroyed. I sunk into a dark world. I despaired.”

“I mourned over his death for a long time. I cried and cried in secret, in complete silence, without letting out a single sob. Breaking down further with each passing day. But I couldn’t stop moving forward. I had two children to raise. I didn’t want to move from the home Alexander and I lived together, so I started working three jobs to be able to afford our home and raise our two children. For my children, I will do anything. They are the only things left for me to love in this world.”

I don’t know why she was telling me all this. I had nothing to do with any of this.

“The happiness of my children is the only happiness I have left.”

Was she just here to flaunt her happiness in my face? I don’t get it.

“But in the end, even when I have them, even if I put up an act, it doesn’t change the fact that I am broken. Just the same way you are.”

“So what? What was the point in telling me all this?”

“There was no point. I just felt like opening up and telling you.”

“What? You expect me to do the same?”

“No. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I don’t expect anything.”

“Haaaaah. I really don’t understand you at all.” I let out a sigh and told her that.

“Hey, you’ve been having thoughts of breaking up with your girlfriend, haven’t you?”

“Am I that easy to read?”

“No, it was just women's intuition.”

“I really hate that cursed thing with a passion.”

“Haha, I’m sure you do.”

“Why did you suddenly bring that topic up of a sudden though?”

“Well, you’re looking for a reason to break up, but you don’t have one, right?”

“That is… true. If I try to break up, I'd want to give her a proper reason for doing so.”

“I can help provide you with a reason, but I’ll want something in exchange.”

“Something in exchange? What exactly?”

“I’d like for you to spend the rest of winter break together with my family and Rosa at my place. If you do so, you’ll be able to break up with Rosa with minimal difficulty.”

“How exactly?”

“You’ll only find out if you come over.”

“I see.”

“So, would you be a good boy and follow me home?”

“Fine. If it will let me bring an end to this little game of house.”

She led me by the hand back to where her car was parked. She brought me back to her place where I was confronted by Alicia and Rosa again. They seemed to be doing just fine.

There was a warm meal waiting for us when we arrived. Everybody ate together while chatting happily among themselves while I maintained my silence. The four of them looked like a happy family. Two sisters, a younger brother, and their mother. As for me, I couldn’t see myself as part of that happy family. It was a foreign sight to me.

I was given the free room to use for myself while Rosa slept together with Alicia in her room. As soon as I hit the bed, I fell asleep. In the end, I hadn’t figured out what Irene meant and it seemed she wouldn’t tell me anytime soon with the aloof way she’d acted when we arrived. She’d kept her distance from me the entire time.

Women were impossible to understand. One moment they were friendly with you, the next they were cold.

...

It only happened when it was the middle of the night when everyone had already gone to bed. I heard a light knock on my door which woke me from my slumber.

When I stood up and unlocked it, I was greeted by Irene. She had a short skirt on and a silk top that revealed quite a bit of her skin.

“Do you mind if I come in?” She said with a strangely alluring smile. Completely different from the way she’d acted when we arrived at her place together.

“Uh… sure… but should you really be paying a visit to me at such a late hour? Doesn’t this look kind of bad?”

“Oh? Does it? Don’t you think it looks bad for my daughter and your girlfriend to spend the entire night out together with you? You seem to be doing a bit better than you were before after sleeping it off a bit.”

“Sorry.” It was an apology for both things.

“You know, I still haven’t completely forgiven you for that. I was worried to death.” That? Which one? Her daughter or my grouchy mood?

“Again, I sincerely apologize.” Like she’d said, my head had cooled down a bit by now after having slept off the rut I’d been in. My mood yesterday may have in part been due to being tired. It was just one of those days where you felt like shit.

“Hmm, that’s really not going to cut it, a simple apology that is.”

“A simple apology?” I raised a brow and clarified, “you mean there’s a way that you’ll forgive me?”

“Hmm… there might be.”

She raised her dainty hand and stroked the side of my cheek.

“How exactly?”

“Well… how about you help me relieve some pent-up stress I built up from worrying about my daughter all night yesterday. It will take something major for me to forgive you.” She looked at me in a suggestive manner.

“Pent up stress? Uh… how exactly?” Something inside me stirred seeing this woman at this late hour. She was a truly experienced vixen, a hostess, one that knew exactly how to rile a man up with a single glance. At some point, she’d found a way to sneak into my heart without me even being aware of it. Had it been a result of the story she told me about her husband? Did I feel a sort of connection to her now after she opened up to me?

“Well… let’s see, how indeed?”