Quote of the day : To cure a broken heart they say you need time. Time heals.

   Curled up on the couch, Ashley sat there with a gloomy expression, that particular expression that refused to leave her for three days now. Its been three days since Greg found out about who she was, three days since she had been patiently waiting for judgment; the judgment that seemed to be tarrying. For her its been three days of pure torture, she hadn't been able to get a good sleep because of the nightmares that came back in full force, now Cassandra's image didn't leave her memory. Images of Cassandra, Greg, and her father kept appearing to her, and she always woke up with those three words, you disgust me.

    Chloe had been very supportive, never leaving her side at night, but even with that, once she closes her eyes the nightmares comes back. So she's been doing a lot of vigil lately, the act of sleeping seemed too scary to her. And for the past three days as she had expected, Greg hadn't made a move concerning getting her behind bars or something, she had always been filled with fear whenever she heard the doorbell ringing. She dreaded opening her doors, she felt if she opens it, it would be the police standing there. But there's been nothing like that, and it makes her wonder what Greg was actually going to do.

    Nothing has interested her for these three days, her face had shrunken so much, there were dark circles underneath her eyes, and she had gotten relatively slimmer. Her auburn hair had gone back into curls since she hadn't been very attentive to it, the curls were wilder now. Chloe was always scared of leaving her home alone when going to work, but she has to go.

    The sound of the doorbell cut through the silence in the  house, shaking her up, a shiver ran through her at the thought of who could possibly be there. She stood up gently and made her way towards the door quite too slowly, the doorbell rang again, this would show that the person there was definitely impatient. Could it be what she was thinking?
  
  She opened the door and was deeply surprised at who she saw standing on her front porch, it wasn't the police, it was Nora. Guilt washed through her as she realized how broken Nora could be from finding out what she had done, she looked a little bit troubled too, like she hadn't been getting much sleep. Her blue eyes were particularly dull. Not knowing how to react she stood there looking at the girl standing before her.

     "Hi," Nora said, in a quiet tone. She was expecting something colder than this, but it doesn't seem like she had any hatred for her. "Can I come in?"

    "Sure, yes...come in," she stuttered out, opening the door wider to let her in. Nora walked into the house and sat herself down on one of the old couches, she also took her seat, further from her. She really was clueless on how to act around Nora.

     "How is your wrist healing?" She asked looking pointedly at her broken wrist that was still in the cast.

     "Fine...its fine," she said. And she was beginning to get sweaty just looking at the girl.

     "I heard abou..."

      "I'm sorry." She cut her off before she could say anymore, tears burned her eyes as she bent her head, not wanting to meet Nora's eyes.

   There was silence in the room for some minutes before she heard Nora standing up, she dared not raising her head for she knew not what Nora was about to do. She found herself raising her head slowly when she felt soft hands on hers, she looked up to meet Nora's blue eyes staring deep into her soul. The girl sat beside her and started beating a rhythmic pattern on her cast with her fingers, and she sat there looking at her with mouth agape.

       "I know what you did Ashley," she said breaking the silence. Her heart clenched as she heard her voice say those words, "but I also know there is definitely a reason for it, I've thought about it, and I ended up realizing that the Ashley I know wouldn't do that. I don't know how it really happened but I know you are sorry for it, and I don't hate you, I want to badly hate you, but I can't. I want to blame you for taking my mum away from me, but I know she would have died eventually, because she had cancer. You see there are a lot of reasons to hate you, and a single reason not to. Because you showed me how love is, I can't bring myself to see you that way, you are someone I'm really grateful for."

     "Nora..."

    "I'm just worried for Greg," she said, her face scrunched up with a worried look that instance. "He has buried himself into work so much, he is barely home, and barely sleeps. He leaves home very early, arrives very late. And even when he's back, he is either working out till the little hours of the morning before he goes back to work, or he is in his study, staring endlessly at...at your engagement ring."

   Her breath hitched in her throat as Nora said this, it reminded her of how she had also lost her chance at actually been truly happy with him, forever. She had really ruined things.

      "Things are quite bearable since Dad is now staying with us."

   Her heart pounded in her chest as she mentioned Mr Marshall, "does he know?"  She knew he must have found out also, and he must deeply hate her too.

     "Yes he does. He said the real issue is between you and Greg, as for him, he has no grudges against you." Nora said. She was shocked at this, she had killed his wife, he should hold hatred for her in his heart.

     "What!  How can that be I..."

   "He was greatly pissed at first, hurt even, but I don't know, he just changed his mind and now he is just concerned about Greg." Nora closed her eyes a bit and then opened it, "I just want everything to go back to normal, is that too much to ask for."

   Guilt kept on nipping at her heart as she stared continuously at Nora, she knew she had to fix things. She had to do something, and she knew what to do. She knew her restless heart will know no peace, and that guilt would continue reaping her to shreds just as it had done for two years if she doesn't do this. She had to do this for herself, for Greg, and for that Lady. 
   

__________________________

  "Gregory Kane Marshall!" Davis yelled although he was just seated right in front of him, "how long are you going to ignore me for?"

   He had no answer to that question, all he knew was that this particular object he was twirling underneath his desk was burning holes into his fingers, he wondered why he hadn't thrown it away that night. He had formed the habit of unconsciously looking at it, or playing with it, his mind was really fucked up, he had no idea what he was doing again.

     "Greg I leave for Spain in a few days, I really don't like the idea of leaving you in this situation, or Nora whom you have been paying great attention to lately." He ended the sentence with a tone of sarcasm, "but thankfully your father is now with you guys, and we both know Castello won't run itself."

     He kept on staring blankly at his desk, still ignoring Davis, anything that wasn't work related couldn't get his attention now. He needed something that would take up his time, and unfortunately for him,  lately there hasn't been that much work to tend to in the company, since the launch was over. Hence the reason why he had time to condone Davis talks, he really didn't care if he went to Spain. He had been feeling numb lately, he still hasn't gotten over the shock of finding out that Ashley was the girl from that night, damn, he doesn't even want to accept it. So, he was trying hard to block it all out, he was torn between loving her, and hating her.

      "You know you're gonna have to forgive her sooner, or later."

  He raised his head up instantly as he heard Davis say this, he shot him a hard glare, not quite believing his ears. "Why would I do that?"

    "Because you love her, and remember God gave us his only son because of love." Davis finished saying this in a matter of fact tone.

    "So, you're a preacher now?" He asked cocking a brow.

     "No, do I look like one, I'm just trying to remind you of what we learnt when we were younger."

   He went right back to ignoring him, for him forgiving Ashley wasn't an option. The fact that all this while she pretended to be a saint when she was actually a devil, he couldn't bear it. He wished he never met her, and he wished so much that he would just stop loving her. It was too hard to bear, the thought of her alone sparked several emotions in him. Hatred, pain, anger, disgust, and the most prominent of all, love.

    "Listen Greg, to err is human, to forgive is divine." He smiled at the end, and he really wanted to smack his brains out. "And moreover, you will just keep on hurting yourself with so much hatred."

   He thought about what Davis said, but he really couldn't bring himself to think of Ashley. Just then he heard a knock on his door, and few seconds later his temp entered his office. The sight of the lady pissed him off to no end, he doesn't like seeing her, it wasn't that she was bad at her work, or offended him. It was the fact that he doesn't like seeing her seated on Ashley's seat.

      "What is it?" He asked coldly.

    "A Miss Wells is here to see you sir."

   His heart beat picked up speed at the mention of that name, he had questions, he wondered why she would come looking for him at his office. She must really have guts, she was indeed the true daughter of her father. "Send her away! I don't understand why you need to tell me this since she doesn't have an appointment."

    "Sorry sir..."

   "Let her in," Davis cut her off.

   "Sir..." She said, looking at the both of them fearfully.

      "Let her in, I assure you, you won't loose your job." Davis said again, but the temp still stood there staring at him.

     "Let her in," he said finally. And the temp hurriedly went out. He turned to Davis with a glare. "Davis, what exactly are you expecting to happen?"

    "Nothing, I just wish to see her."

  Just then the door opened again, his eyes were immediately averted to it, as he watched the lady who got in. She was definitely Ashley, but so different, firstly her hair was all curls and was forced into a messy bun on her head, and she looked sick. There were bags underneath her eyes, and her eyes lacked the usual shine it always had. She was dressed in blue denim jeans, and a black free top, she looked really tired. He wanted to just stand up then and walk up to her, to assure her that everything would be okay, but then a picture of her with the gun standing over his mother's body flashed before his eyes. And that made him grow colder at her entrance.

    "I guess that is my cue to leave." Davis said suddenly standing up.

     "You don't need to do that," he retorted.

     "Oh no, I need to." He walked over to Ashley and gave her a very long hug before leaving, he felt very bitter at how Davis was acting.

  Once Davis was out he stared at Ashley, pain, and anger washed through him at seeing her face. She walked closer to his desk and unconsciously started drawing circles on her cast, he wanted to know if her wrist was any better. He continued staring holes into her, while she kept on staring at her hand with a look of guilt on her face. Soon he got tired of the uncomfortable silence.

     "What do you want? I will give you five minutes to talk, I have work to return to." He said in a cold voice.

    "Why?"

    "Why what?"

     "Why haven't you done anything, like get me arrested or..."

  He wondered why he actually hasn't done anything, for one he still found it hard to accept that it was Ashley.

    "I'm guessing you've got legs," he shot at her. "Looks like it, there is a police station close by, why don't you turn yourself in."

     He knew she wouldn't do that, definitely not. If she had tried so hard to hide it for two years, then she wouldn't be bold enough to turn herself in. The heck she had even let another person die for her crimes, he doesn't know how she managed that, but he knew anyone who could do that, definitely wouldn't turn herself in. He felt disgusted at her at the possibility of what she might have done to hide her crime, he never would have believe her to be capable of such. He watched her face closely, there was pain evident in it, and how badly he wished to comfort her, but another part of him couldn't bear the sight of her.

    "I will do it," she said shocking him. "I will turn myself in, I came here just to tell you that. And also to let you know that I'm sorry, deeply sorry." Her voice grew thicker with tears at this point, he bent his head not wanting to see her crying face. "I never meant for any of that to happen, and I also want you to know that I love you, truly. Loving you is the one truth that I'm happy for in my life." She stopped talking then, he guessed she must be expecting him to talk, "I just hope that maybe one day, you will find it in your heart to forgive me, bye."

   He didn't look up at her until he heard her leave, he looked up then, staring at the empty space that she had once occupied. He felt several emotions wash through him, he knew that her love for him was true, but right now he just couldn't deal with the amount of emotions playing in his heart. He just really wanted to forget everything and act like it never happened, but his mind just won't forget it. He raised his hand up and stared longingly at the ring , he had once wanted to put it on her finger, but now he couldn't stand the mention of her name.

  Chapter fifty three.

  Hope we are still staying tune to it.

Love Mary Aden.