254 Old Wounds (3)

The next moment, Lily shook her head and declared, "It doesn't matter. You still have to go out with Elise."

Gale's mouth fell open in mindless stupor, but he wasn't the only one shocked. Iris also whipped her head around to look at the little girl. Didn't they talk about easing Gale into the subject? This wasn't what they had planned!

"You're mad," Gale muttered after a moment, but it was clearly not aimed at Lily. His eyes were staring holes into Kyro. "You know I can't do that."

"You need to!" Lily said, pouting at him. If anything, she clearly knew how to win over her brother.

His anger didn't abate, but he forced himself to relax, to not show the emotions that had been about to burst out moments before. "Lily, could you please step out for a moment? You brother needs to do something you shouldn't see."

"No." The girl didn't hesitate for even a moment. Slowly, she sat back down, showing what she thought about the matter of her leaving. "I won't let you bully my friends."

"Bully? Your friends?" Gale gave her an inquisitive look. "You can take Iris away. I only need that traitor by your right."

Lily shook her head. "No. He's a good guy."

Groaning, Gale leaned back against the armchair, the energy going out of him. "You turned my own sister against me," he said with accusation to Kyro. "How hateful is that?"

There was a slight smile playing on Kyro's lips, but he didn't say anything. He was too afraid to steal the spotlight from Lily. Without her, Gale would have already run away, not to be seen for at least a week or more just to avoid talking to him.

For a moment, silence reigned in the room. They all seemed relaxed, but there was an underlying tension in the air. It was clear that Gale was nowhere near close to agreeing to their proposition.

"Why won't you agree?" Lily asked suddenly, raising her head to catch her brother's eyes. "You go out with a different girl every day."

There was no accusation in her voice, but Gale winced nonetheless. He shifted his gaze to the side. "It's an old story... Doesn't matter anymore."

But it wasn't so for Lily. She wanted to understand what was happening. As nice as her brother acted toward her, she knew little about him. He was always smiling and joking around, but then there'd be a moment out of nowhere when he'd just hug her and tell her that he'll do anything for her to have a good life.

Although she couldn't understand where it came from or what it meant, it was obvious that he was hurting inside. She wanted to help, but he never told her anything. Yet right then, she seemed to have caught a thread of something that was making him feel bad.

And she wanted to help him. She didn't want to be happy at the price of his pain.

"Tell me," she said, leaning forward a bit. "You either go out with that woman, or tell me a convincing reason why you can't."

All the adults seemed shocked by her words, and she smiled a little. They didn't understand that she had long ago forgotten how to be a child. In her family, it was something one had to abandon as early as possible.

"Corrupted, you've been corrupted," Gale murmured, trying to avoid the subject, but Lily wouldn't have it.

She picked up her cup with already cold tea and took a sip. "We've got all evening," she told her brother. "You can waste it trying to get out and failing, or just explain yourself and be free."

For the first time then, Gale looked at her fully. "Sometimes, you really remind me of Diana."

He said it lightly, in an offhand manner, but tears began to well up in Lily's eyes. She tried to stop them, to pretend that it didn't hurt, but... Her mother was a psychotic monster, and she was like that?

With tears streaking down her face, she stared back at her brother. That was the real him, the bitter creature that hid itself from her. She didn't want to accept his words, to even entertain the idea of them being true, but a part of her couldn't help nodding in agreement. She was her mother's daughter after all.

"Should I say thanks now?" she asked, her voice surprisingly not shaking. Maybe there really was a lot of her mother in her.

"Lily…" Gale's facade broke, and his face twisted with self-disgust. He rushed to his feet, the hands by his side flexing and relaxing, but he didn't take a step forward. He looked like a fish out of water. "I'm sorry… I didn't mea—"

"Don't," she cut him off. Her voice rose in volume, sounding almost hysterical, but she no longer cared. "You meant it. You did."

And that was what hurt the most. He hadn't wanted to say it, but he had meant it. That sentence was what he truly thought about her.

She wanted to hurt him back, to say that she hated him, but somehow the words didn't come. After all, hadn't he told her the truth? It wouldn't be right to reward him with a lie.

Standing up, she brushed away the tears clouding her vision. "Good that you're not like them then," she threw at him and marched out. Down the corridor, she barely found her room.

It was bright with color and evening's sun, which irritated her. She wanted darkness and gloom, for the world to echo her emotions. Right away, she went to close all the blinds, but they slipped through her fingers, escaping her hold.

Furious, she smashed her fist against the window. It hurt, and even more tears came. For a moment, she just stood there, looking at the beautiful world past the glass partition. Why was everything still going as if nothing had happened? It was like no one cared about her pain.

There were footsteps behind, and she turned around, hoping against hope that it was her brother coming to prove that he really didn't mean it. But no, it was just Iris. Disappointment crashed over Lily like a tidal wave, breaking the last bits of her self-control. She ran to the older woman and bawled her eyes out, whispering how she hated her brother, her parents, her life, and the whole world.

Why was it that whenever she tried to help someone, she always messed it up? Was she really just like her mother? But no. She laughed brokenly. Her mother never messed up. All she had inherited were the bad qualities and none of the good.

She was a failure. Never good enough.

Not to her parents.

And not to her brother either.