"Are you certain she's the same person as shown in the photograph?" Ryan's mother speaks in the phone, her eyes diluting with an untold emotion.
Ryan, on the other hand, was confused as he stared at her with his brows creased. He wondered who on earth his mother was speaking with, and what photograph was she referring to, is she hiding something he was not aware of?
"Okay, I get it..."That was her undeniable reply before putting the phone away from her ear. As quietly as she had brought her phone out from her bag, she returned it in the same way, too.
For seconds and without batting her eyelids, her intense gaze was on Ryan, who finds her stare uncomfortable.
"What now, mom?" He muttered, suddenly looking elsewhere just to avoid his gaze being locked on hers. No matter how much he tries, he can't win against her-staring without breaking is one of the things she's in most cases good at her.
He sighed heavily in defeat. "I know you are still staring at me, mom." He informed her in a careworn tone. "Cut the endless look, mom, what do you want from me this time?"
"Yeah, right. Where are the divorce papers you asked Ciara to sign?" Her query came out, touchdown so dangerously like a ticking time bomb -the facial expression on her face says it all.
The question hit Ryan so hard as he was forced to snap his neck in reflex towards her direction, he was shocked to his bone marrow, but he managed not to let his emotion reflect on his face.
"I don't know what you are trying to insinuate, Mom..."Ryan bluntly denied her question, wearing a feigned pretence. "What papers are you talking about?"
He did not understand how his mother had gotten to know about it. Could this be that Ciara had him out to his mother? Ryan doubts that. There is no way Ciara might have informed his mother about the divorce issue, but if she did not, then would have done such a thing?
Their divorce, he thought it ought to be a little secret between them without any other person's knowledge aside from Anne, who was not even in good terms with his mother -so there's no way she could have told his mother about it.
'But who could have done so?' His thought were jumbled as he fails to understand the mystery behind how he was easily ratted out.
"Don't pretend like you don't know what I am talking about, son." His mother snapped at him harshly in reply, slicing him off His thoughts. "You and I know what I am talking about, and you should stop pretending -because it did not suit you."
"Why the open allegations, mom?" He queried in an icily tone, wearing a hard expression on his face.
No matter how hard he feigns pretence, he can never outsmart her, and he should know that, but here he is acting like he can. He did not how she managed to read him so easily, but his mother could tell if he was lying and when he was saying the truth -he was forced to realize he shouldn't forget this.
"You asked her to sign those papers so you both can divorce, eh?" His mother's voice was already getting to the peak, and it seemed she would flare up anytime soon if care was not taken.
For her to know she asked Ciara to sign the papers, Ryan knew he had been caught red-handed!
'How far did this woman go to dig secrets about me? Are there other things she knows but pretended not to?' He couldn't help but wondered, however, he was smart enough not to have let his facial expression tell on his thought.
"一what on earth had she done wrong and to crown it all, you did not allow me to have knowledge of it rather, you decided to take the laws into your hands. You went as far as divorcing her when she did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing!"
Ryan kept quiet till she was done, he didn't intend to interrupt her while she was talking since he already knows the repercussion if he does so. How would he even make his mother understand that he did not even love Ciara from the start? She would never accept such from him, not even in her next life.
"Wherever you are getting such awful news from, cut whosoever the person is off. You should not let such petty things." He tried his best to sound cajoling, but it was not just enough.
"You made her sign them even when it was against her wish and then sent her away too." His mother's voice was loud enough to perch his ears. "Is that how I had brought you up, eh?"
Did he even send her away? That is far from the truth. Yeah, he made her sign those documents because he wanted her out of his life, but he is ignorant of wherever she might have gone to, and he is not even concerned about where she is -he cared less about it.
Ryan sat down, boiling with rage and frustrated with his mother's nonstop accusation. He couldn't just sit here and watch her say all these to him, he just couldn't take it anymore.
He stood up, dusting his butt and waiting for his mother's reaction, if she would flare up or react disapprovingly. Seeing that she was less concerned about what he was about to do, he strutted, heading straight towards the door.
"You won't dare walk out on me while I am still talking, Ryan!" His mother warned him sternly, making him to stop on his track. "I am your mother, and you won't act like you have lost your manners when I am still with you, even when it is apparent that you have lost it." "Why should I still sit here?" He questioned in response with his face crumpled down in a deep frowned. "I won't sit here and watch you say all these to me like I mean nothing to you. I can't watch you lay a sorts of allegations on me and trust a stranger over your son."
"You should keep that all to yourself, do you hear me?" His mother muttered roughly as she let out a short hiss. "Whatever the case may be, you have to sit here and listen to me. You can't just walk out on me, you know."
With his face nevertheless frowning, Ryan mumbled a few words audible to him alone, retreating his steps to the same spot he had seated before, this time, he wasn't sitting.
"You can keep frowning, I don't really give a damn about that." His mother cajoled. "You have to listen to whatever I want to say to you."
"What do you still want to tell me again, eh?" Ryan asked. "I've had enough already, and I wish to have some privacy, is that too much to ask for?"
"Not when I am not done with you." His mother replied. "I am still yet talking and for that, I am denying you the privacy you claim to deserve."
"What's left to talk about?" Ryan inquired in a drawling tone, the frustration he felt was reflecting in his voice and facial expression too. "She has signed the divorce papers and left, there's nothing attached to it anymore."
"There is a lot still attached to it if you don't know..."Her mother told him in a sarcastic tone, earning a deep questioning frown at him. "-yeah, there is." She finished off with a curt nod.
He rubbed his temples like he was trying to let the frustration he's having within his disappear at once through his temples. "What's more, Mom, there's absolutely..."
"You must look for her at any means and bring her back to this house." His mother uttered in a stern and sharp tone, cutting him off before he could finish his statement. "I want Ciara back in this house, Ryan -I don't want to know how you go about it."
"Can you just listen to yourself, Mom?" Ryan said in disbelief, his eyes almost widening.
"She had left without traces, mom. Do you expect me to chase after a cloud? All for bringing her back? Where on earth did I know she might have gone to?"
"You can keep on ranting all day, son, I don't care about whatever your thoughts are." His mother cited in reply. "You have just three days to bring her back or else..."With this, she left without even waiting for a response from him.
Ryan knew his mother meant every word she says. She had never for once, gone back on her word, and he did not think she would be doing so now, not even when it is all about Ciara -she's just too obsessed with her, that was Ryan's thought.
Ciara had left, and he had no option on where to start looking for her, not when he knows nothing about her. He could not even fathom where she might have gone to already but now, his mother has threatened him with three days.
Just three days for him to bring her back. He felt his knees go weak instantly, unable to hold on to his weight anymore as he collapsed into the couch.
"Where do I start from...？" He was almost wailing, and his voice was at the verge of breaking. 'Can this ever get better even after Ciara is absent?' That was the distressed question he could not help but ask himself...