Quote of the day: You are you and nobody else can do better than you, you are good at been yourself, so don't try to be anybody else😘.

     Awestruck is what you would describe Ashley as when she stepped foot into Greg's house... no scratch that, mansion. Like how can a man be living alone in a house this huge. And he had no household employee. Now she feels like she can understand Greg better, it seems he loves his privacy more than anything else in the world.

    Well that was over an hour ago, now she was seated at the foot of Greg's bed, safely tucked into his warm chest, with his arms around her, she listened to his heart beat which she must say had a rhythmic pattern. Greg was awfully quiet, there was silence hovering over the face of the room, they were each lost in their own thoughts.
 
     "Greggy," Ashley called out silently. She heard Greg groan with annoyance, his chest rumbling beneath her. She almost couldn't stop her laughter but she was able to stop it, before it sparked the bipolar side of Greg.

     "Ashley," He called with a tight voice. She could tell that he was trying hard to be gentle with her.

     "You don't seem to be too happy with me," She said trying to hold back a chuckle. She knew he definitely wasn't the least bit happy with her, she had gone from 'Mr Marshall' to 'grumpy Greggy,' but she couldn't help it, she loved teasing him as much as he loved teasing her.

     "What do I have to do to stop you from calling me that?" He asked running his hand through her hair.

     "Nothing, absolutely nothing, Mr Marshall."

     "I still can't tell which of them I like you know, they both irk me...but what can I do its Ashley," he said. It had her laughing and soon he joined in, she stopped then and listened to his laughter, as she had said before his laughter still remains the most beautiful sound she has heard in her twenty three years of existence.

      "Do you really think she can cope with the outside world?" Greg asked and she grew silent. She didn't need to ask who he was talking about, she knew it was Nora. "She had never been able to fit in, it had always been hard for her."

    "Greg, it won't be hard, you will be here, I will be here, and there is Davis and don't forget Chloe, we will all be here for her Greg," and your father.  She wanted to add that, but she didn't, she really wanted Greg to reconcile with his father, the man wasn't to blame, although he made the wrong choice by believing a total stranger over his wife, but still.

    "Aren't you curious about how it all began? You seem not to be as curious as you used to be," Greg said with a quiet voice. He was so damn right, she wasn't curious about how it all happened, because she had heard it all from her father. It might not be the correct information, she knew firsthand that her father was a liar, but some of the things he had said must have truth in them.

    "I just don't want to pressure you," she lied. She could swear at that moment that she felt her heart tighten in her chest, it wasn't the first time she lied to him, but today was different, Greg meant more to her than he did before, and it hurt to lie to him.

     "I watched it all, I saw it all happen, even if I was too young to comprehend things then, my mum explained it all to me when she felt I could take it... It was hard," Greg said.  Ashley could sense what Greg was about to do, she knew he was going to tell her things, things she didn't want him to say, another part of her wanted him to talk, she needed to see things from his own point.

      "Greg, you don't have to tell me anything... If its too hard," she said squeezing his right arm that was wrapped securely around her waist.

     "I want to Ashley, I want to tell you anything and everything, I don't want to hide anything from, you are a part of me now even if I can't understand what that means really," he said. His hands seemed to have tightened around more around her waist.

   Her heart did wonders at that moment, it was breaking and was at the same time rejoicing. She was happy that a man like Greg wanted her to be a part of his life, and it was breaking because she knew she had no right to receive anything from him, her heart hurt so much, it was almost like she was going to die.

     "My mum and dad met when she was interning at a company, at that time my dad was her manager, they fell in love as you must have guessed, mum said she liked his vision, its like he had some kind of force driving him, he had dreams, dreams she was ready to help fulfill, 'Marshall enterprises' was one of it." Greg's voice was quiet it almost sounded like he was trying hard to hold back some emotions.

     "She fell pregnant around the time
he was in desperate need of a promotion. It almost caused a disaster, my dad was scared you know, since it was against the rule to have a relationship between employees. So he denied having anything to do with my mum then. She was broken, but she understood everything he did, she knew he had to save his career, even with her own at stake." Ashley could see how the root of hatred for his father started now.

   Ashley turned in his arms then wanting to face him, she needed to see his face, to see what emotions was being displayed in his green eyes even if she knew it was almost impossible to see anything there. But Greg stopped her, holding her closer to his chest, putting her in place. It seemed like he didn't want her to see him that way. He was definitely broken, she knew how hard it must be to retell such story.

     "My mum left New York for Boston. She started a new life, she was ready to take on the world, ready to do anything for her child. When she had me, she said that it was the most beautiful moment of her life, she had wished so much that my Father was there, but she was okay all the same.  She waded off all attention of different men, wanting to focus all her energy on her son, but you know everybody needs somebody..."

    Ashley knew what was coming next, she knew that this was where her father came into the picture. Greg was going to talk about how his mother had met her father, maybe now she would finally be able to confirm if what her father always said was true.

     "When I was about two I think, I don't really remember much, but she told me the little I know now. She met a guy named Hunt..." Greg said and her heart skipped a bit at this point, he had mentioned her father's name, Hunt Wells. "She said he was the most gentle man she had ever met..." Ashley nearly scoffed out loud at this point, she wanted to tell him that her father was anything but gentle, maybe he was to his mother, she had been his only purpose in life.

    "He was so good to her, and apparently very good to me which I have no memory of. She said he was very fond of me, and she had been ready to go into a relationship with him when he brought it up, for my sake she said. She really didn't feel much for him, but she was ready to be with him if it means he would be nice to me. After a year they decided to get married," Greg's voice was a lot more harder now. He bent his head into her neck sniffing her in, it was almost like he needed to do that, like he needed to take in oxygen.

   Ashley was a little  surprised, she had always wondered how her father had come about almost marrying a woman like Greg's mother. Now it was clear, she had always suspected that the woman never loved her father in return like he claimed, but now he said it confirming the fact that her father had been nothing but delusional.

     Greg gave a low sign and continued talking. "Just when she had agreed to marry him, my father came to her again, apologizing. She felt compassion for him and accepted to go back to him because she still loved him and she wanted her son to grow up with his biological father. After making the decision she told Hunt and he seemed to understand and let her go."

  If only he knew.

  Ashley wanted to tell him that her father hadn't understood anything, the man had gotten drunk and knocked up a slut who happens to be her mother. At least that was what her father always told her. Her father had been anything but understanding, he had gone into a depressive state, and then psychotic, and he never got out of it.

     "So my mum and dad got married, it was the second most happiest day of her life according to her, but for me, I feel it should be recorded as the worst day of her life. At first things were good, dad was trying to set up his company then and was always busy, but he always made time for us, by the time I was six, the company was set and ready to function on its own, dad became extra busy but he still made time you know...but then one day my mum met Hunt again by chance..."

     Ohh it wasn't by chance, Greg.

She wanted to tell him it wasn't by chance. Her father had orchestrated the whole thing, she was barely three then, but she had heard a lot of stories from her father to know that him meeting Greg's mum again wasn't by chance.

     "When they did meet again, Hunt was already married, although his wife died when she birthed his daughter, who was by then three..."

     Ohh what a great lie her father had told...

  Her father hadn't even gotten engaged, neither did he get married. Her mother did die when she birthed her, but her father had been more than glad for it, he never liked any of them from the onset.

     "They got talking and became fast friends, they even made some silly promises to themselves. They decided that since they both couldn't get married to themselves then they would pair up their children, they started planning on how they intend to introduce I and his daughter together..."

    She remembered this, her father had always told her about how his lovely Cassandra had wanted to have her for a daughter in-law.

   "You're worthless you know, just like your mother, I can't believe my Cassie had wanted to have a stupid piece of junk like you for a daughter in-law." 

she felt tears stinging her eyes at this point, her father had never liked her, his only priority in life had been to have a woman that never belonged to him.

     "But at that moment things got worse...someone started feeding my father lies," Greg said. Ashley knew exactly what he would say next, she was aware of everything that had happened. Although she never got to see or meet Greg and his mother until that night two years ago, but her father never failed to let her know about everything he did every time he got drunk. She had gotten used to him preaching hers and her mother's worthlessness to her.

     "Apparently my father received some implicating pictures of my mother and Hunt together, and my father got a whole different idea." Greg seemed to be a lot more angry at this point.

  Ashley remembered it all, her father told her about how he had paid a photographer to take pictures of him and Cassie and send to her husband. She remembered her father telling her of all the lies he fed to the poor man, she had to listen to all of this for twenty one years of her life.

    "My dad was angry, the arguments came in. At this point I knew things were never going to be the same although I was just six. My dad stopped coming home, and whenever he did, he would come with one or two of his numerous mistresses. He would get angry if my mum pointed this out, telling her about how she wasn't a very faithful wife."

    "Greg," Ashley called his name quietly.  She needed him to stop talking, the more he did, the more hurt he got, and the more guilt she felt ripping her heart out.

    "Stop Ashley," he said sternly when her hand went up to his mouth to stop him from talking. Greg held her hand and kissed it lightly putting it back around her waist along with his hands. "Don't stop me, Ashley, don't..."

   And indeed there was no stopping Greg now, he had already gone way too deep now to stop, she didn't know if her heart could take anymore.

  Chapter twenty nine.
Mary Aden.