Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ipass the first floor and halt on the second one. It looks like an exact copy of my hallway and I wonder how I’m going to find his room when each door looks the same and I’ve never been there before.
I halt mid-step, am I really going to a man’s bedroom? At Anima, no male would ever let me into their room, but this is different. Aramis is different. Besides, I just want to bring back his sweater. That’s all. Yet the corners of my mouth tip upwards at the thought of seeing him.
Let’s hope I won’t have to knock on every single door to find him. That would be a little awkward. I take a deep breath and walk through the hallway.
As expected, there isn’t a sign with his name on, yet, when I pass the second to last door on my left, something tugs near my heart and I halt. This door belongs to him. This is Aramis’ room. I’m certain.
When I take a closer look, I notice some carved leaves and snowflakes along the edge of the door. I trace the little figures with my finger and I can’t contain a smile.
I knock and wait.
The door remains closed.
“Aramis?” I knock again, a little harder this time, just in case he didn’t hear me. It’s possible he isn’t even here, or the other more painful option is that he’s ignoring me. Which would be fair since I was the one who previously walked out on him.
Knocking a third time makes me a little desperate, so I turn around, ready to return to my room when I hear a soft click.
The door is open. Seeing it as an invitation, I push it open a little more, wondering if Aramis is actually here.
If I wouldn’t have been fully aware of the fact that I am standing inside the main building and just entered a bedroom, I would’ve mistaken it for entering a rainforest. His room is full of lush green plants and exotic flowers.
It even smells like rain here. His enormous bed is neatly made and looks very inviting.
“Aramis?”
I take a few hesitant steps forward, not wanting to intrude, but too curious to not take a closer look. He’s not here. I should leave, or…maybe I should wait a couple of minutes before I leave. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.
I sit down on the corner of the bed, looking around in wonder. My eyes land on the nightstand, seeing his glasses and a frame with a photo in it. Whoever is on it must be very important if it is set next to his bed. Again, too curious for my own good, I pick up the frame.
Aramis must be thirteen or so, the two people behind him are probably his parents, and the girl standing next to him has to be his sister. The resemblance is impossible to ignore and I can’t help but feel a little sad as I see what a beautiful family they form.
The colour and wavy hair texture Aramis has, comes from his mother who has more of a tighter curl, but the green eyes and face structure are without a doubt his fathers.
His sister looks like the perfect combination of her parents, with hair as dark as the night and blue eyes that seem to pierce straight through my soul.
I’ve only seen eyes like this once before and those belonged to —
Muffled voices sound from the hall, the volume going louder the closer they get. One voice I recognise immediately, the other is less of a rumble. I put down the frame and wait for him to open the door.
“…shouldn’t be here right now.”
“I can’t delay…Aramis…hurts…too…had to come back.”
The other voice is definitely female and sounds so familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.
What if he is dating this woman and I’ve actually misread the signs?
It is all new to me, but wouldn’t he have said so if that was the case?
It’s not like we’re dating or anything, but is it normal for a male to act this way with one girl and do maybe even more with another?
I’m getting nervous for a whole different reason now.
“I understand, believe me. I do. But please, I’m begging you, return to mom, stay with one of your friends. Moons, I don’t know, Ams, but this isn’t the right time.”
Would you send your girlfriend back to your parents? It could be. Or it’s the girl from the picture - his sister - he’s talking to, that would make a lot more sense.
“There will never be a right time, you know that too.”
The voice tickles my brain in a way I can’t explain. It’s on the tip of my tongue, I know who this is. I’m so sure. Maybe I’ve seen his sister around here, guess I’m about to find out.
The door gets pushed open and a confused looking Aramis stands in the entrance. The light from the hallway puts a faint halo around his blond waves, making him appear ethereal. And as he finally sees me sitting on his bed, his expression shifts from confusion, to surprise, to frantic panic.
Oh, I shouldn’t be here. This was a bad idea. I stand up, ready to excuse myself and hurry out of this situation before it gets awkward, when he rushes to me and holds up a hand.
“No, please! You can’t…you won’t —”
His reaction confuses me and I step aside, right about to ask him what’s wrong when I remember the other person who is standing in the doorway. A hood hides her features, but she is tall and even the baggy clothes she is wearing can’t hide her lean figure.
“Mai, let me explain.”
But what is there to explain? I turn to him, seeing how his body is nearly shaking from barely contained tension. He is petrified. Is it normal to be this scared of your sister? So instead of answering him, I focus my gaze on the female in the doorway.
“Hi there! I’m so sorry to intrude, I wanted to talk about something with Aramis, but I see this isn’t a good time. I will come back later.” I turn to Aramis. “I also wanted to return your sweater, so…” The female now stiffens too.
What is going on here? Are they worried I’m about to explode? But that doesn’t make any sense, I’m not cruel, and mean or anger are two words I don’t have in my dictionary.
The female releases a breath, but it sounds more like a whimper. I take a small step towards her at the same moment she does, pulling back her hood and the ground sweeps from under my feet.
“Hi Mai.”
There is no way.
This isn’t real.
But how can I say that when the proof is standing right in front of me? Aquamarine eyes meet mine, eyes that are wet with unshed tears. Eyes that I know better than my own. After all, I’ve looked at them a thousand times. But those eyes never cried, not once in…five years.
My knees buckle and I fall to the ground, my pulse pounding loudly in my ears. I feel Aramis’ presence close to me, but I don’t register anything he’s saying. I think I hear him call out my name, but I block out all the sounds.
Because the person falling to her knees in front of me can’t be here right now. It is impossible because I saw her in a puddle of blood. I held her until she stopped breathing. She died in my arms. Yet, here she is, sitting in front of me.
“This isn’t real.”
I reach out a shaky hand, just to be sure, slowly moving towards her cheek. She closes her eyes as my fingers touch the soft skin of her cheek, a silent tear rolling over them.
I shrivel back, putting as much distance between us as I possibly can. My hands clench into fists, fingernails digging into my palms. Sadness, relief and maybe even a little happiness form a tight ball in my stomach, but now anger simmers closely underneath my skin.
“How?” My voice cracks at the little word. “You’re dead. You died. How is this even real?”
Tears pour down her cheeks. “I am so, so, so sorry, Mai. I know this is all very confusing, I didn’t wish for any of it to happen, but please, let me explain.”
I’ve never seen her like this, so…broken. Her lip trembles and I know she means what she’s saying. But that doesn’t make things right.
“Explain? How will you explain that I was covered in your blood, felt you die in my arms, was blamed for murdering you. Yet somehow, somehow you sit here in perfect health in front of me, looking even better than ever.”
She sighs, closing her eyes. “Where do I even begin…”
“Think before you speak, Ami.”
She throws a vicious glare in his direction. “Shut it, brother, this is between us.”
Brother?
I’ve seen Ami’s face so many times before. If I were a skilled artist, I could draw her out of my memory. And when I look at Aramis… I see her in him, or at least now I do. I think I always did, but my mind pushed the thought, the possibility, away.
He reminds me of her.
But of course he does, they are twins.
“Please — please — tell me you didn’t know she was alive. Tell me you thought she was dead too. Tell me you didn’t know that I was in agony by the death of your sister.”
But when I look at him, the complete desperation written all over his face, I know he can’t say that.
It feels like someone has their hands around my neck, squeezing tight. They might’ve done just that, maybe it would hurt less.
“I would have told you if I could. I had no choice, Maily,” Aramis eventually says, his voice full of desperation.
“There is always a choice. Who would let a friend suffer, because of a lie?” I turn back to Amira. “I mourned you, cried and screamed and nearly ripped my own heart out. Because how could I ever live without you?”
I’m crying now too, but I furiously wipe the tears away. I keep looking between them. Brother and sister, how could I be so blind? It is nearly impossible not to see they are related.
“You have to believe me, Maily, there was nothing I could do.”
“Believe you? How can I ever trust you again when you have been continuously lying to me from the first moment we met more than a month ago?”
I let both of them in my heart. Aramis broke down my walls with so much ease.
He was a balm for the pain of losing a friend that felt more like family, and maybe even filled the gap a little.
And after knowing Amira for five years, I wasn’t expecting her to do something like this, fake her own death. Why would you do that to a friend?
The distance between us feels like an ocean. I rise on shaky legs, wrapping my arms around myself, as if that might help to hold all my broken pieces together. And when I look at them both standing next to each other, I can’t believe I was so blind while the evidence is so obvious.
“I…I’m sorry, I can’t…”
I storm past them through the door, hearing them call out my name, but no one follows me.