Truth Hidden in Lies

Staring at her ice-blue hair that barely reached her back, I felt a cold shiver strike me in shock at her appearance.

Her matching eyes looked like they were frozen.

She was still in the academy uniform.

One of the gate guards walked over to me and whispered, "Young master, she's been here since the morning."

"The morning?" I nearly spat out imagination water from my mouth.

"We didn't kick her out because she just stood there and didn't break any laws," he explained himself, perhaps fearing a deduction in his paycheck.

Another guard chimed in, "Plus she was wearing the same uniform as you so we assumed she was your friend or perhaps an acquaintance and didn't want to offend her."

I waved my hand and excused the two guards who looked like they were about to give a hundred more excuses to explain themselves.

"Jerman, go ahead and put the car away. I'll be fine by myself," I told him.

"Yes, young master."

Diana's eyes were staring at me the whole time I approached her, they continued to remain attached to me.

Because of the agreement, I didn't open my mouth even as I was a few feet away from her.

"Hello," she spoke.

"..."

"I said hello."

Waiting a few seconds first, I asked her, "Am I allowed to speak to you?"

Nodding her head, she explained, "I was the one who approached you first so... forget about the agreement we made."

"Forget it for now or just forget it?"

"Forget it."

"Okay," I responded with a little grin purposely appearing on my face which I quickly "suppressed".

I looked around my surroundings as if looking for something and asked, "Why are you here at my home?" making sure not to sound like I was interrogating her but rather a simple curiosity.

As she was looking at me, I could see that the fear she had of me had disappeared to a certain extent.

Perhaps some of that fear lingered but the difference from the time in the hallway to now felt like the difference of many years, not just a week.

I believe that I'm pretty good at reading emotions especially when I know their character but I could not read her.

All I could see was how complex her emotions were at the moment.

Diana reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope that everyone received this morning.

I could see that it had already been opened.

As if I was experiencing deja vu, she asked me, "Is this true?"

Unlike Peaches who you had to knock out of rhythm, for Diana, it was better to be straightforward.

"It is."

Diana looked at the envelope in her hand and said, "I see," before putting it back into her pocket.

Then came a moment of silence between the two of us as we looked at each other. I was trying to understand what she was thinking while she was contemplating something to the point of almost frowning.

Her mouth opened a few times, no words escaping.

Then as that silence was close to turning awkward, she finally spoke, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Again, deja vu.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth? Why didn't you tell me? Why?"

I really couldn't read her facial expressions at the moment. One moment, I saw anger, the next was sadness, then a split second later, it looked like she wanted to pluck my eyes out.

Before she could spiral into even more madness, I answered, "I didn't want to hurt you anymore."

I saw a shiver in Diana's frozen eyes that showed how flabbergasted she was by my answer.

"How could you possibly hurt me by telling me the truth?" she asked.

I hadn't read the article Maya wrote so I could only assume that it didn't include the part where I answered this exact question to the headmistress.

'Why did Maya exclude this part?'

"I know you hate me," I responded with a sigh. "I thought that if I told you the truth, that hatred would be more complicated for you to place and... I feared your emotions would get tangled up. I... I didn't want you to spiral any further."

Nodding her head as she listened to my explanations, her eyes that were beginning to thaw finally disconnected from me and stared off into the horizon.

I mirrored her and did the same.

"The sunset is beautiful," she said.

I agreed and waited for her to speak again.

"So you like me?" she asked. "Or... liked me."

"I did have a crush on you," I answered, not being bashful about it.

"You don't have a crush on me anymore?"

"I... I don't know. More than anything, I just feel guilty about what I did to you, and when I think about you... the only emotions I have are sadness," I told her.

She didn't turn to me but her eyes did move towards my direction.

For the first time today, I was able to read her facial expressions down to a tee. There was nothing complex about it, nothing to decipher, and the traces of darkness that loomed were mostly gone.

Diana looked sad.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"..."

I pretended to be shocked by the apology and was unable to respond, blinking over and over like a dumbfounded idiot.

"I'm sorry that I can't reciprocate the feelings you have for me. I'm sorry that I can't feel the way that you might want me to feel. I... I can't help it. The hate that I have for you... I can't get rid of it. It's... it's..." she was starting to get choked up.

As if I was a therapist, I told her, "Breathe. Breathe. It's... it's okay. You're okay. I'm okay. Just... breathe."

And breathe she did. Calming herself down, she looked down at the floor as if ashamed of the emotions she was feeling.

"It's just that even after learning everything, hearing about that curse mark on you, the reason behind... it... I still can't come to forgive you. I... I still hate you," she said, afraid to look up at me. "Sorry."

I let out a deep breath, loud enough for her to hear. I wanted her to know that I was trying to keep my calm and suppress my initial reaction.

As she looked up at me with an apologetic look on her face, she was stunned to see that I had a gentle smile on my face.

"How? How can you be smiling after what I just told you?" she asked. "I... I just..."

"It's alright. Diana... it's alright. I... after that night, I never expected to receive your forgiveness or even be able to have a conversation about it with you so, don't be sorry for the hate you still feel for me. I understand where that's coming from and I wouldn't want you to force yourself to pretend or try and change that hate just because... of whatever. I'll... I'll be okay," I told her, expanding the smile on my face as if to show her that I was okay.

She had more to say but continued to hold those words back and eventually, just nodded and said, "Thank you."

Looking at the sunset, she said, "I must get going now. I don't want to worry my family. Goodbye, Bell... and thank you."

"Goodbye Diana," I responded, waving my hand as she walked away.

When she was no longer in my view, the smile on my face vanished and I entered through the gate.

Yawning, I was tired from all the A1 acting that I had been doing the whole day.

The way to the mansion from the gate was ten minutes long and it gave me plenty of time to enjoy the weather and the view that I wouldn't be able to get on Earth.

As I opened the front door, wanting to reach my bedroom already so that I could take a nap, I was taken aback to see three, no four faces greeting me on the other side.

My parents and Cyro were standing there, worried but angry. They had their hands on their hips and although she didn't understand, Rubi was also standing beside them copying their faces and pose.

"We need an explanation from you," said Mother who looked like she had aged since morning when I left for school.

Father and Cyro nodded their head, agreeing with what she just said.

Those two were still supposed to be at work but the fact that they were back early meant that they took an early leave for this.

"I'm home," I said.

Rolling his eyes, Cyro grabbed my wrist and led me to the living room.

"Let me see it," he said, concerned.

Before I took off my shirt, I asked, "Could we get Rubi out of here first?"

Rubi who was still copying the expression on my parents' faces immediately had this shocked and betrayed look on her face.

As Mother took her to her room, she continued to look at me as if I had backstabbed her.

"Sorry," I told her, waving my fingers at her.

"Hmph," she said, looking away from me.

When Mother returned, I finally began to unbutton my shirt. Taking it off, I turned my torso around and allowed them to see the curse mark on my back.

I heard a collective gasp from the three of them.

"When did this happen?" asked Father.

"Over three months ago. Do you remember when I took the trip over to St. Lotus?" I asked him.

According to Bell's memories, he was at St. Lotus to celebrate the birthday of the oldest daughter of his father's close friend but because of the timing and how little Bell was seen by others, it was a pretty good alibi.

"I... I overheard someone talking about weird things happening in this abandoned building so when I went to investigate, in the basement was this demon, Diamesca," I told them.

It was always good to involve some truths when you're lying.

"He trapped me in this strange domain where the two of us fought?"

"How did you win?" asked Cyro. He wasn't doubting my talent or my skills because I had the Agnus blood in me but it was understandable to be confused because no kid my age should be able to defeat a demon on their own regardless of their talent.

"He was already weakened when I got there," I replied.