Chapter 30 - #30

Chapter 30: The Trauma She Caused

"I need to be there because if I don't, she'll be able to do it again and what's worse is she might hurt the people I love. I can't let that happen, Mr. Parker," I said. The trauma is still in me because I felt like someone is choking me until I ran out of breath when I talked about this again. I took a deep breath, not letting a single tear fall out of my eyes.

"Liv, are you okay?" he asked worriedly when he saw my eyes looking very frightened.

"I'm sorry, sir. It just came back to me all of a sudden as if it happened yesterday," I honestly said.

"It's okay, you don't need to talk about it if it makes you panic," he answered.

…

I'm currently inside the bathroom and I tapped my head a bit because I'm disappointed in myself. Why did I act like that in front of Mr. Parker? He just wanted to ask me if I can go. I heavily sighed as I look myself in the mirror.

"You can't be scared of giving justice to what happened to you," I talked to myself. I washed my hand before fixing my hair because it's wavy a little. I got out of the bathroom and I saw Mr. Parker holding his phone beside his ear, talking to someone.

"We'll be there right away," he calmly said before ending the call.

"Is everything okay, Sir?" I asked when I saw his face, it looked bothered.

"Emily's mom came to the hotel. She wants to talk to you," he told me.

…

"You're just telling me that she's not here!" I heard an old woman's voice coming from the entrance of the hotel. The staff was trying to get her out. I walked towards it and I think she's the mother of Emily. She got calm when she saw me with Mr. Parker. "You're Olivia, right?" she hurriedly asked. I didn't even have the chance to answer her when she held my hands. "Please, I'm begging you to not let her go to jail. She's all I've got, Ms."

If I did the same mistake, my mom would also do this and I'm a hundred percent sure of that. But I can't just let what Emily did to me pass away like it wasn't very serious damage to me. I want her to learn her lesson, I want her to suffer and I will never let her near me again.

"Please," she begged.

"You can call me disrespectful, Ma'am, but do you have any idea of what your daughter did to me?" I was holding back my tears. I can't believe she dares to come here and ask me to set Emily free just like that.

"I'm sorry about what she did to you, Ms. I know, I can't bring it back but please, I'll do everything for you to forgive her." She was already crying in front of me, not letting go of my hand.

"Forgive her? She wouldn't even bother to say sorry and even if she did, what will a 'sorry' do to the trauma she gave me?" I couldn't hold my anger back. Why is she tolerating what her daughter did? Now, I have no doubt why Emily grew up like that. What can people do if their mother doesn't teach them to be good? "Your daughter almost killed me. I'm sorry but I won't be an angel this time," I added.

"Ma'am, let's go. If you'll continue what you're doing, you'll end up worse." One of the staff carefully grabbed her arms to get her out.

"Ms. Olivia, please!" She shouted as she was being dragged.

…

Summer and I are having our dinner and what happened earlier won't come out of my mind. Why am I feeling bad about what I did? Emily deserves to be in jail and I don't think there's wrong anything with it but it bothers me a lot. I don't know if I pity her mom or I just realized that I became a different person lately. It's so not me to act like that around people especially the old ones. Did I make a mistake for talking to her like that? I was busy thinking of those things when Summer called me, making me flinch for a second.

"Liv, are you okay? You're like having your head in the clouds," Summer said when she saw looking at nothing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about what Mr. Parker and I are working on," I lied.

"Oh, speaking of your boss, he seems a bit weird when we had an interaction," she told me before drinking a glass of water.

"Really? When?" I asked, slicing the carrot on my plate.

"The day when you got stabbed. We were together at the waiting area when you're inside the emergency room." Oh yeah, I remembered. Mr. Parker also told me that he followed Emily because he saw her driving towards my neighborhood, he assumed that she's planning to find me. I didn't know that Emily still had my resume which made her know where I live.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"He was looking at me for a few seconds like something is wrong with my face. So, I asked him why is he looking at me like that and he said nothing. He didn't talk to me until the last night you were at the hospital, I mean, we don't have anything to talk about but it just seems a bit awkward if someone stared at you and you have no idea if they're judging you or they sense something different in you," she explained. "Am I overreacting?"

"No, Summer. I got your point." Why would Mr. Parker stare at her? Wait, is he attracted to Summer?!

…

I've been wanting to ask Mr. Parker about what Summer told me last night. But I can't find a perfect timing because he looks very serious about picking designs for the new building and I'm helping him right now. We're sitting on the sofa together and the books are on the coffee table in front of us.

"How about this?" I showed him a color palette for a room. He looked at the cardboard I'm holding and I think he doesn't like it.

"I think it's too dark," he said as he looked at the other cardboard on his hands. I looked at other cardboard and I found something lighter than what I suggested so I showed it to him. "Wow, that's perfect. We'll pick that." He was about to get the interior design book on the coffee table when our eyes had contact. He raised a brow at me so I raised mine also.

"Hmm?" I mumbled.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" How did he know?! Well, I'll just grab the chance so I slowly nodded and pursed my lips like a child who's asking for chocolates.

"What is it?" He placed the cardboards on the coffee table to focus on what I'll say.

"I just want to ask you about something not very important," I told him.

"Go ahead," he said, looking at me.

I took a deep breath which I think it's a bit exaggerating because it's just a simple question that I'll ask. "You and Summer met, right?"

"Summer?" His eyebrows furrowed, not knowing who I've mentioned.

"My sister," I said and he finally realized. "She was just curious why you looked at her like that if you know what I mean, sir." I didn't give too much information because I wanted to see if he remembers it and I think he did.

"That night when you were still at the emergency room, right?" he asked and I said yes. I was waiting for him to say something but it's something pulling him to do so.

"Mind me asking, Mr. Parker, but do you like my sister?" I blurted and he looked so shocked.

"What?!" He looked at me like what I said was the most ridiculous thing he heard in his entire life. "Of course not, Liv. Why would I like your sister?" He sounded disgusted. I feel offended as Summer's sister!

"You looked disgusted. Are you saying my sister is ugly?" I questioned. If that's his point, he might have bad taste when it comes to women.

"I didn't say that. I just did not expect you to say such a thing when you know that it's impossible," he said and I raised a brow at him. "What I mean is do I look like a pedophile to you?"

Oh, okay. He's talking about their age difference, makes sense.

"I don't know. I have no idea if you have a thing for young ladies," I answered which made him roll his eyes with a sigh.

"I don't, okay? So, cut it off," he answered, getting irritated on me now.

"So why is it? You haven't answered my question yet… Sir." I have a problem remembering to use honorifics on him.

"It's nothing you need to worry about.. I just thought she was someone I know," he simply explained.