I Am An Illegitimate Child With A Legitimate Reason For Revenge-Chapter 72: Only to be treated like a criminal all my life
Ariel and Raymond sat opposite Skylar and Paige whose gaze were strictly and gleefully fixed on her.
"Please stop staring." Ariel said, covering her face with her palms. "It’s embarrassing."
"But you’re so pretty that we can’t look away." Paige said.
They were currently at a guest room where no one would hear them.
"Why are you interested in Ariel?" Raymond asked them.
"Because she’s cute." Paige answered.
"No, there has to be a particular reason why you took a liking to her." Raymond insisted and the two turned serious.
"You have an uncanny resemblance to our Aunt." Skylar answered. "Though she was cast out of the family, she was still our Aunt and we loved her."
"So you took a liking to me because I reminded you of your Aunt?" Ariel asked in disbelief. "Is she dead? I mean, does she no longer exist in this world for you to find similarities of her in me?"
The two went silent for a while before sighing.
"Before that, I would like to disclose something." Skylar said and the expression in his face reminded Ariel of a clip she saw on the internet.
"Wait," she raised her hand. "...you’re not going to say something ridiculous like I’m your Aunt’s daughter or anything like that, right? Cause I believe that’s where this is going and it’s definitely hard to believe such a thing."
Such scenarios only happened in books and movies. Though it was too good to be true, it wasn’t impossible and it could happen to anyone.
At the time she saw it, she found herself wondering how her life would change if she became such a girl. A girl who belonged to a very powerful family.
But she quickly shoved that thought aside, telling herself that her life already changed for the better the moment she met Raymond. There was no way for it to change any further.
"Would you please conclude after listening? Please?" Paige requested politely and Ariel stayed silent. "My Aunt, she, she was a really good person. A hopeless romantic too, I’d give you that. She was the type that believed in love." Her voice went down. "And so she met that shitty man and named him the man of her dreams."
"I knew that bastard wasn’t good for her. He was just a piece of junk and I knew it. We all did." Skylar said sadly. "I was seven at the time but I could already smell the dirt on him."
"Where is this going? How does any of this relate to me?" Ariel asked.
"That shitty man," Paige leaned closer. "...The man who deceived our Aunt is your father."
"What?!"
"Yes, and we are certain that your mother was our Aunt."
"How sure are you?" Raymond asked them. "You can’t come up with such a sudden conclusion."
"It’s not a sudden conclusion. We investigated it." Skylar said.
"And?"
"When my Aunt found out he was the kind of scum he was, she was already eight months pregnant... with you. With her heavy belly, she went to confront him." She gritted her teeth. "How could a man who has a wife and a kid go so far with the lies? And he even got her to carry his child. He was such a bastard." She clenched her fists. "She went into premature labor after being pushed by his wife and during labor, she died."
Everywhere suddenly went silent. Such a story...
"Why now?" Ariel asked them, her fists clenched on her dress and her head down. "Why now did you choose to look for me after all these years?"
"We thought you died." Paige said.
"Our grandfather said you died along with our Aunt but recently, after seeing you frequently on the internet and how much resemblance you had to our Aunt, we just had to find out." Skylar explained and looked away in guilt. "Our grandfather, he knew you survived. He knew you were born whereas his daughter died but he did not want to take you in. He threatened your father to take you in."
"Only to be treated like a criminal all my life." Ariel stated with a sarcastic smile. She lost control of her emotions and burst out. "What sort of grandfather is that? Oh, no, it seems I really was the criminal who killed my mother at birth."
Paige reached out to hold her hand.
"No, that’s not... "
"Forget it." Ariel flung her hand off. "I’m done with ’family’ who pretends to care for me. And all because I look like your dead Aunt, you want me to become your family? Do I look like a joke to you?" She scoffed and looked aside with a twisted expression.
They wanted to explain clearly and clear any misunderstanding but Ariel didn’t look like she was open to any explanation.
"Anyway, you thought I was dead before, you can just keep thinking like that. I don’t need to be acknowledged by a family who never knew I existed." With that, she got up and stormed out of there.
Raymond looked at the desperation and hurt in their eyes and knew they were telling the truth but like Ariel, if he was suddenly approached like this, he certainly wouldn’t forgive them easily.
But for their connection, he might’ve given it a thought. But he wasn’t Ariel. She had the right to choose whether to forgive them or not. He could only support her decision.
He got up and started leaving.
"Please." He heard Paige’s voice and stopped. "We came here today because we thought this might be a chance to approach her without startling her."
"You did just that." Raymond said, not turning to look at them.
"Then do us this favor, please have her meet with us some other time."
"That’s not for me to decide." Raymond said, finally looking over his shoulder to meet their gaze. "I will not in any way push Ariel to do what will hurt her."
"Then talk to her. Just put in a good word for us. Please." Skylar’s voice that sounded respectful and needy made Raymond feel there was nothing special about the Winston’s other than their connection.
They were humans too and they had feelings and emotions. He nodded his head and said,
"I’ll try to talk to her. But I’d like to know, what will you do once Ariel agrees to the fact that you’re related?" He asked them and they both exchanged glances before Paige said,
"We’ll take her with us to the Winston family."
