“Feeling better?” I asked her, as I slowly massaged her hair. She was stressed and kept on pressing her forehead the entire time she was in this study. I couldn’t help but get distracted as I saw her struggling. 

“Yeah.” She moaned again. Her voice gave me goosebumps, and I cleared my throat.

“Do you need me to call Dima?” I inquired, worried whether this was not enough.

“No, I’m good.” She said as she placed her hand on my hand, stopping me.

“Are you alright?” She asked out of nowhere. I shook my head and realized she had her eyes closed and hummed. 

“I’m still processing,” I spoke up honestly. Suddenly, she turned her chair around to face me. I stood there, not knowing what else to say.

“You don’t have to pretend that you are alright.” She whispered, and I sighed, gently picking her up. She stood in front of me and I touched her shoulder, turning her back and facing me. 

“What are you doing?” She asked, and I replied, “I’m just doing what would make me feel better.” 

“What?” She looked surprised, and I just buried my face in the crook of her neck, holding her closer to my body. I interlocked both my hands around her waist and drew her immensely closer to me, inhaling her scent. 

The mere feeling of her this close to me was so soothing. 

“I love you...” I whispered abruptly, without even realizing it. My sanity was not at bay and I was emotionally drained. I stood there unmoving, waiting for her to react, but after a minute or two when I didn’t find any movement, I shook my head dejectedly. 

“Do you think you can talk to your mother regarding her connection with the Luchellies?” She whispered, and I felt the vibration as I practically glued my body to her. 

“I think I should,” I said and kissed her ear, exhaling the tension that built in my chest. 

I realized I love this woman and that hurt me. I was not ready to go deeper into thinking about someone, but this woman somehow pierced through the barrier and it worried me. I was not comfortable with this kind of overwhelming feeling. I didn’t even know if this was love or what I felt toward her. 

“Barak Luchellies is your father.” Liara pushed me as she elbowed me hard in my stomach when we both heard my mom walking inside her study. 

“You know you should learn how to knock.” I glared at her angrily, but Liara cut me off.

“It’s completely alright. I will give you space to talk. I have to go check on Dima if she had her medications.” Liara scurried to leave, and I held her hand before she could walk any further. 

“You are not going anywhere,” I told, looking at her. She furrowed her eyes and glared at me, trying to break free, but I wasn’t letting her go. 

“You are staying and that’s final.” I deadpanned. 

“Zearo!” my mother yelled at me and Liara tried to break free from my hold, but I would not let go that easily. I knew how important she was to me, and I would not let my mother speak to her like that. 

“Stay.” My mother spoke and then Liara stopped struggling around my hold and walked behind me. 

“Please sit.” She said to my mother. It irritated me how rude my mother was to her to date and was going to ask her someday but now was not the right time. 

“I will not hear any excuses. You’ve jeopardized my life and your past is affecting my people’s life. It will not be easy if I realized you lied to me.” I said through gritted teeth. 

“Don’t threaten your mother, alright? I know what I’m doing.” She said, unaffected by my words. 

“Can you not glare at me like that? I’m finding it hard to concentrate.” My mother confessed, and I felt a pinch on my waist. I looked at Liara and she glared at me too. 

“Alright,” I said, rolling my eyes. 

“Okay so, I used to work as a surgeon in the city hospital back when I was in my twenties.” She started. I realized this was going to be a long one.

“I will keep it short for you before you get irritated.” She spoke, and I blinked at how she knew what was in my brain.

“Son, I could tell by the way you are swaying your legs impatiently.” She pointed, and I glared at her.

“Can you focus on your story and not on my legs, for god’s sake?” I asked furiously. It felt so uncomfortable as I’ve never had a proper family conversation with anyone. It was to kill someone or destroy a business. 

“I worked as a surgeon for years and Barrack was one of my patients. I operated on him because he met with a serious accident once and we operated on his elbow and legs. Well, let’s not go into details. The Luchellies were powerful back then as well, and I had to go to their house and do his dressing regularly.” She sighed. 

“So that’s how we fell in love. Well, it was all me, perhaps. Later, I came to know that they chose me to be their surgeon because they wanted to get a hold of the research copy my team was working on.” She concluded. 

“It was all an act?” I asked. He fucking manipulated my mom.

“Yes, he was already married, and I didn’t know about it. My higher-ups also didn’t tell me about his family and motives. When I knew about how deep I went into the hell, well, it was too late.” She wiped a tear, and I felt a push behind me. I glared at Liara and she mouthed, go. This woman was just going to be the death of me. 

I scooted closer to my mom and hesitantly held her hand. She smiled weakly at my gesture and then spoke. 

“Why were they so desperate for the research papers you worked on?” Liara asked. My mom took a deep breath and then explained, “I found some unknown substance in the body of some of my patients. I tried to research it and found out that they used to take drugs and this was a new variant in the market that left its remanent on the patient’s body. Later it got collected in some part of their body and causes cancer.” I heeded every single piece of information she gave. 

“This cancer was incurable, and I worked on the antidote to this drug.” She clarified.

“Barack used to stay high on drugs and later I came to know that Luchellies were the ones who manufactured that and, without proper authorization, sold it in the black market. Barack was one of those drug addicts at that time.” She shook her head.

“He begged me to stay in his life and that he would marry me by divorcing his wife. And I was a fool to believe that. I worked on the antidote at a faster pace and continued to do the trials, even if I failed eight times.” She laughed, and I stared at her.

“When I had the last dose of the antidote, he volunteered, and I was certain that this was going to work, and it did.” She said, looking out the window.

“As soon as I cured him, I heard the news that his wife was pregnant, and he never intended to keep his word as he went back to do the drugs. It frustrated me, as they wanted me to keep on working on that antidote and they escalated the supply of the drugs. It was chaos.” I stood up and wrapped my hand around her shoulder, unable to bear the look on their face.

“I was on the verge of breaking down when I tried to report it to the health ministry and some renowned politicians who were gentlemen. But Barack knew about my plan and tortured my parents in front of me, giving them slow and painful death.” She hid her face and cried.

“His wife helped me escape from their hold and I ran away from New York with all the proofs I collected. They searched and searched and searched, but I hid in an orphanage near California. Old granny used to take care of us when I realized I was four months pregnant with you.” 

“Old granny? Wimber’s hut?” Liara interrupted.

“Yes, where I left my son, along with the proof around his neck. I ran because they found me and I had to hide somewhere. But when I came back after six years, the orphanage was demolished.” She said.

“No way,” Liara said, and I looked at her, confused.

“Yeah, now you understood why I don’t like you?” My mom asked her and I looked at the confused.

“That has nothing to do with me,” Liara spoke up dejectedly.

“Your grandma crushed the home for many children and built what? A cottage for you to chill in? And you think that has nothing to do with you?” She asked. Cottage? 

“Grandma bought that orphanage because no one was ready to take the responsibility for that many orphans. She built a much more beautiful orphanage in New York and shifted the orphans from Cali to SAMS orphanage.” Liara explained with a pained expression.

“Then why didn’t my son stay in New York with other orphans? Why was he left behind to fend for himself at six?” she asked, raising her voice. 

“The Mafia gang adopted me in Italy and I stayed thereafter,” I said because that’s what I remembered. 

“What?” my mom exclaimed. I realized I had just spilled the beans. 

“That’s the story for another time. Finish yours first.” I spoke, changing the topic. She glared at me, and I stared at the wall beside me.

“So, I hid and changed my identity and fell into a trap of leaches. The loan suckers take ten folds. I wanted to give my son a better life so, the loan amount was also high. But when I came back and saw that you were not there, I couldn’t handle it and... And wasted all the money I had.” 

“And that’s how I was still trying to repay those loan sharks by working under them and snatching extra money from these kinds of business people.” She concluded, pointing at Liara.

“After Moris, Liara was my last raid because I wanted to take revenge, as I thought you were dead.” She said and shook her head.

“Thankfully, I had my research team work on the antidote even when I was under so much debt and we could complete it in three months, but I had to change my identity and place because of the work I did under those loan sharks.” She said, and that explained why she used to change her identity every three months.

“I’m so sorry, son.” She apologized. I walked in front of her and sat, “You shouldn’t be sorry because, from what I have learned, you also suffered a lot.” I tried to make sense of all the events that happened in her life. 

“I have to say you have to apologize to Liara. Your behavior is unacceptable as she was not the one who caused our falling apart. You must see how large and beautiful SAMs are. I’m sure you will understand how wrong you’ve treated her.” I explained. Liara shook her head, but I just shrug my shoulder. She had to understand that treating Liara like this won’t end up good for the three of us. 

“I will check the records of SAMs and confirm, and that’s not the only reason I dislike you.” She said, pointing at Liara. 

“I’ve seen your history, and it’s chaos. You’ve done so many bad things and ruined so many lives to climb the stage you are on right now.” She retorted.

“And I don’t deny that. Or rather, am I for what I did? I was just doing my business.” Liara said, looking straight into my mom’s eyes.

“Mom, your son has done way more bad things than Liara ever could. You need to understand who she is rather than dwell on the past. You don’t know how much she has struggled.” I tried to make amends between them both. 

‘’I’m not buying it. Diya told me about her mother and all about it but that doesn’t give her the right to hurt poor people." She said, and I was done with their conversation.

“I wish you would have married that angel.” She whispered and I could see how Liara tensed by that. 

“Let’s not go there. And I still need time to process it all.” I confessed as I felt it better to change the direction of the discussion towards me.

“I know it’s difficult to take everything in just a couple of minutes. I will give you time to think and understand why I couldn’t find you. I will wait for my son with wide arms.” She said and walked out of the room, giving me a headache. 

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