I thought for a moment and said, "Can I not say? She entrusted the child to me and she didn't want the child's father to know about the child's existence."
"You went to Ucrebury and came back looking so desolated because of this?" He asked casually as the car came to a stop. We had arrived at the graphic design company.
I got out of the car and asked, "Will there be many people at the banquet tonight?"
"Everybody who's anybody in Jarold City, along with reporters, will be there!" He motioned for me to go in and smoothly tossed the car keys into my bag.
I pursed my lips and sighed helplessly, "Where did you learn to put your car keys into a girl's bag?"
He shrugged. "Yana mentioned that only relatives and lovers could do such intimate things with each other."
I didn't know what to say in response.
I thought about Yana...the elegant girl I saw in Ucrebury?
I didn't bother responding to him and asked instead, "So, after this banquet, will everyone in Jarold City know?"
He nodded. "Everyone in the country will know!"
I smiled faintly. "Not bad, Uncle Charles!"
To put it bluntly, onlookers or those from the sidelines were not the ones experiencing this pain head on. So, of course it would be easy for them to talk about forgiving and tolerating others.
These people were nothing more than spectators. Since they were all-seeing, they could very well distinguish between right and wrong, but their conclusion in the end almost always disregards the victim's feelings.
He stopped and looked at me, confliction paired with compassion on his face. "Arianna, I'll always support you no matter what you want to do, but I hope that you won't regret it. Life is too short. It's up to you to decide how you want to live. It's okay to hold grudges, but I hope that for the rest of your days, you can empty your heart and appreciate the sun, the insects, the birds, the rivers, and the animals. I hope you can properly cherish the ones you love and the ones who love you!"
I was taken aback by what he said. I never thought that such words would ever come out of his mouth. I stared at him and felt like he wasn't the Aaron that I knew.
But after thinking about it, I understood why he told me that. Back then, he too had struggled in a world of resentment and could not get out of it no matter how hard he tried. After he had done so many things to hurt others, he inevitably left.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: My Pretty Sweetheart (Arianna)
How do you save these stories so you can pick up where you stopped...