Chapter 208 - One Secret at a Time

Through his reassurance and patience, Scarlet found herself slowly opening up. It was all the minor things at first that she chose to tell him about even though she didn't really think it mattered to anyone else. Not even Alex knew about her little secrets even though they were sisters for a long time. They were sometimes silly things that Scarlet felt guilty about not admitting to. For example, she wanted Edward to know that she wasn't perfect like what everyone else says about her.

"I sometimes will skip on workouts. I actually don't like doing planks or reverse crunches in front of others. I know the personal trainer likes to see me do those because he enjoys seeing me struggle for some reason and I don't like being seen as weak in the eyes of others."

Edward nodded. They'd given up on the silly game and chose to simply talk about it, cuddled on the small couch with rosehip tea in hand. The tea tasted slightly strange for Scarlet but she drank it anyway. Edward didn't have the heart to tell her that she added too much tea into the bag and that it was over-brewed. For her first time, it was still a decent attempt but he would have to teach her how to brew tea and appreciate it as a healthier alternative to coffee. Scarlet might not know this and nobody told him about it but Edward thought that the writer was drinking a little too much coffee in a day as if it was something that she relied on to keep herself going. He wanted to try to cut down her intake and get her to properly rest. How anyone could do so many things with only six hours of sleep every day remained a mystery to him. In his eyes, while she was the perfect role model of a human being, she was still overdoing it. He had a small suspicion that his girlfriend was secretly a workaholic even if she wouldn't admit it.

"You're not weak. You might be small but never weak," he said and earned himself a small nudge with her elbow. It was true. While he couldn't help but tease her, Edward didn't want Scarlet to feel like she needed to work even harder to better herself to the point of constant exhaustion. She was already there and what he thought she needed the most now, was a break.

"I sometimes feel like if I don't do something to keep it up, I will fall behind everyone else. You might already see it but I look very different from my sisters and mother. I've been adopted not from the time I was a baby. Long story short, my biological parents sold me for money in some way. I was a transaction that finally made them happy with my existence. I was never wanted before this and I cannot be more grateful towards Alex and her parents for accepting me into their family. We might have had our disagreements over the years but Alex is still a very dear sister of mine. I could never hate her."

Edward nodded. He knew that already but he didn't know if Scarlet wanted to talk about it. While his girlfriend put it very briefly for him to understand, he was almost certain that there were more complicated feelings beneath that calm exterior. Scarlet knew that she had been sold to a richer family. It certainly couldn't have been easy.

"Do you hate them? Your biological parents, I mean. It didn't sound like they treated you well. You must have suffered greatly."

Scarlet laughed and planted a light kiss on Edward's chin. "No, nothing of that sort. I wasn't exactly abused. Not too much anyway. My last name used to be Liu. I don't remember where I was born but I spent a good amount of my time attending an international school in Malaysia where I first met Alex and Jasper. Alex was my first friend. I had always been a loner before that. How do I say this? My parents didn't want a child and I was a hindrance to their career. The moment I grew old enough, they left me to my own devices and gave me money to get whatever I needed. There were no nannies or babysitters whenever they travelled for work for months at a time. I learned how to take the bus to school, make sandwiches, buy food and clean the house when I wasn't studying. My favourite place to be back then was the library. Books were my only friends before Alex and Jasper came around."

Edward nodded. He knew about her love for reading. However, he didn't know that it was born from loneliness. If only he came to know about this little girl back then, he would never have let her suffer. Then again, thinking about it, Edward didn't think he would have been in a better position. Scarlet was eight or ten back then and at that age, Edward was undergoing rigorous training after he ran away to find his dad and was accepted into the academy where spies were trained. He went on his very first mission at ten and killed his first man at fourteen. His hands were hardly clean but he didn't regret it. If they were to meet back then, he might not have been ready for her.

"Your parents neglected you. That's abuse enough."

Scarlet chuckled. "No, that wasn't the worst. I still recall it sometimes how my mother who never gave me any attention or affection would often drag me out whenever she returned to those social gatherings with the upper class and made me dress up in those expensive but uncomfortable clothes. I was like a doll back then. I couldn't smile or have an opinion, I just stayed there and did as my mother wished. I was told to play nice with the other rich children and there was one time I fought with a boy because he was harassing me. My mother wasn't happy. I was punished badly. It was the first time I was starved, beaten and locked up for a very long time. I remember being so terrified I dreamt of running away but my father was always watching. I couldn't call for help, I couldn't go to school. Nobody would have cared if I died back then because nobody knew me. I think they would have been glad if I was gone too."

Hearing her innermost thoughts, the teen hugged her closer and buried his head into her hair. "I would be sad if you were gone. So don't go anywhere without telling me and don't go anywhere I can't reach. I could take a plane ticket to fly to any country. I could even walk there if I was broke no matter how many years that would take. But don't go somewhere that I cannot find you, it's terrifying."

Scarlet didn't want to cry. Her head was pounding from the tears earlier but Edward was just too good at getting her to bawl her eyes out today. The writer sniffed and clung onto his arm. "I won't promise you anything but I will do my best not to go anywhere without letting you know. If the day should come that I disappear for no reason, won't you come and find me?"

"I will," Edward kissed her hand and wiped her tears. "I will come and find you. I won't let you be alone again. I will find you," he promised.

Scarlet sniffed and laughed. "It's silly, isn't it? I'm crying so much tonight. I think I'm going to look puffy tomorrow at this rate."

Edward pretended to study her face and nodded seriously. "Yes, you're going to be very ugly tomorrow. Your eyes are going to start resembling that one emoji that has lines for eyes instead of dots. I guess that saves you the trouble of using it for the day. You can just take a selfie and send it. Nobody will notice the difference."

Annoyed by his teasing, Scarlet smacked him with a cushion she swiped from the floor. Edward laughed and raised his arm to block it. That gave Scarlet even more reason to attack with all her might until Edward was laughing and begging for mercy. They tumbled around and hit each other with pillows, laughing so hard until they were breathless.

"Truce?" he asked.

"Truce," Scarlet agreed. After telling him some things about her past, Scarlet's heart felt a lot lighter even if her head felt heavier. If this was what a hangover felt like, she was staying off vodka. 

"Ugh," she groaned. "My head hurts. I haven't cried in so long."

Edward smiled fondly. "There's a first for everything. Also, don't worry. I think I'm going to make you cry a lot more when you're with me. In a good way, I hope. If there's something you want to tell me, you can do that anytime. Just let me know beforehand and we can arrange something like this again. No need to go all the way out to arrange a game. I'll always be ready to listen and answer any questions you have about me, about us."

Scarlet blushed. At this moment, she knew for sure that what she felt for this boy could no longer be counted as a crush. She might not know this feeling before when she was acting, writing or reading about it. However, she had fantasised about it for so long that there was no mistaking it.

She loved Edward. It didn't matter what name he went by, she loved this man for who he was.