~The Next Day~
After sedating Susan to stop her from overthinking about what Amelia told her, she got better and before she knew it, she was discharged.
Only Amelia stood with her throughout her stay in the hospital. James couldn’t go home either because he couldn’t let her be all by herself.
He wasn’t going to let anything happen to her again. ‘I have lost her once, and that would never respect itself anymore.’ He told himself.
Susan was taken to James' house after he got discharged. She was driven home in his car.
She asked that Amelia let her call Tonia and explain what was going on so that she wouldn’t get too worried about her.
Tonia told her she would find a time to visit her before the end of the week. She also was eager to know more about Susan, since she never caught a glimpse of her past life when she was still with her.
Getting to the mansion, before they entered the house at all, the aroma of roasted chicken filled their nostrils. James smiled faintly and looked at Amelia.
“Looks like we’re going to be having a feast tonight. That is mother’s roasted chicken. I can never get it wrong.”
Susan and Amelia chuckled to his statement and headed into the house. The living room’s air was graced with the aroma from the kitchen, and not only that, some slight obvious decorations and cleaning.
“Hmmm… am I the only one noticing the change, or this is because I’ve been away from the house for sometime?”
James chuckled and looked at her face. “There are truly slight differences. I asked them to change the arrangements of the chairs, replace the center table and throw pillows, change the dining sets, and…”
“Why?” She butted in.
“Because you’re back home, Amelia! Because I didn’t have to mourn over you. I couldn’t just act like it’s a normal thing, this is just to show how happy everyone is that you’re back, and not just you, but your mother too. Please accept this token from the bottom of my heart.”
Amelia smiled and moved closer to him. Without saying any words, she embraced him and planted a soft kiss on his lips.
“Thank you for this, James. Thank you for all you do.” She mumbled and rested her head on his rigid chest.
“You should go and freshen up now. The both of you. The gathering will begin in an hour. Everyone from our family definitely has something to say, so we would do all that at dinner today.”
Amelia bounced her head and slowly withdrew from James. She looked at Susan who seemed numb and let out a wide smile.
“Come with me, mom. Let me show you to your room. I hope you’ll like it.” She uttered, holding her hand.
“I should like it.” She responded and they both giggled.
They got into the room and Amelia went into the bathroom to prepare a warm bath for her. While doing that, Susan got rid of her clothes and tied the towel she saw around her waist.
She walked into the bathroom with her upper part bare and stood in front of Amelia.
“Amelia.” She called her, and Amelia raised her head. Her eyes fell on Susan’s body before she could say any words.
On the left side of her belly was a large scar from the surgery she did after getting shot. It was a pretty big scar that made Amelia wonder how many bullets were removed from her belly.
“Does it still hurt?” Amelia worriedly asked. She stood up from the side of the bathtub where she squatted, and approached her.
She stood in front of her and lowered her head to take a closer look at the scar.
“It doesn’t. But…” she took a pause and Amelia raised her head to look at her.
“But what?”
“It hurts to know Stanley was killed that night too.”
Amelia gasped and stood upright. “You remember what happened that night now?” She asked when Susan bounced her head.
“Yes. I saw a scene from that night. We were in the living room, watching a movie, when all of a sudden, some men barged into our home, with masks and guns. I was so scared, so I hurriedly pulled you into my arms. Stanley did the same to me, like he was protecting us. Suddenly, they took you away from us and made you sit far away from us. Without telling us the reason for barging in, they pulled the trigger on us.”
Susan was unaware of the stream of tears that rolled down her cheeks as she narrated what she had remembered.
Amelia clasped her lips and dropped her head in sadness too.
She couldn’t control her emotions at this point because fortunately or unfortunately, she could remember every part of her mother’s narration, even though she was so young back then.
She wished she had forgotten it back then, but it kept living with her. Kept tormenting her.
“Do you know we did that to us, Amelia?” Susan’s voice shivered as she spoke.
“Yes. They have been put behind bars. I did it, mother. I made them pay.” Amelia tried to let out a smile as she spoke.
“Who were they? Those men?”
“I didn’t care about the men that pulled the trigger, mom. I went after those that sent those men.”
“And who sent them? And how did they pay for what they did to our family?”
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