Dwayne grabbed Ciara's hand and dragged her with him, not caring about the impact of his action on her. He was overwhelmed with anger and Ciara noticed this too, just at the foot of the staircase, Ciara hijacked her hand from his grip.
"What has gotten into you, Dwayne?" Ciara muttered in questioning, hervoice was low but stern and sharp. "That's improper and very rude of you. You shouldn't have dragged me away like that before, Aunt Elsie."
Dwayne ignored herquestion, bombarding her with his instead. "What is she doing here, Ciara, why did you bring her?" He asked, his anger reflecting in his voice. "Why is she in my house?"
Ciara felt the urge to snicker at her brother's question, but she quickly tamed it, having herself under control. "She's here because I brought her along with me." She replied to her brother with a blunt tone. "Is that even supposed to be a question, Dwayne -and from you?"
Again, he ignored his sister. Neither did the anger in his eyes seem like it will be melting down or disappearing any time soon, nor did he try to conceal the rage he's feeling before his sister. He stared down at herwith his cold eyes that were having invincible glaciers behind them.
"You are asking if that was supposed to be a question from me? Huh, Ciara?" He blurted out sharply, his cold stare still fixated on her.
Ciara was clearly surprised that her brother will be behaving such a way towards him. He has never raised his voice on her nor stared gravely at herwith cold eyes like he was doing at the moment.
(Why is he suddenly acting this way towards her? What changed?' She thought with in herself with her brows creased, but she couldn't get the answer to her brother's sudden misery.
"What's gotten over you, Dwayne?" Ciara requested, her voice was a little shaky. "Why are staring gravely at me with those cold eyes of yours? Is something wrong that I'm not aware of?"
"Every thing is wrong, Ciara, everything is wrong!" He finds himself yelling at his sister, who flinched back in fear. "Why would you bring Aunt Elsie to my house without my consent? And you are asking if something wrong."
Ciara sighed, breathing in slowly. She was shocked at Dwayne's question, that was the least she expected to be thrown her way. Why would her brother flare up because she brought someone into his home? And it's notjust any random person but their aunt!
"I don't understand you, Dwayne. What could possibly go wrong if I had Aunt Elsie come along with me?" She questioned, her tone was demanding. "You can't tell me you don't know who aunt Elsie is!"
"Of course, I do know who she is!" He blurted out, almost yelling his voice at her. "I do know that she is the wife of the same man who had our parents murdered! What else do I need to know about her? Are there more secrets about their hideous plan that I'm yet to know?"
Ciara felt offended, realizing how hurt aunt Elsie will be if she finds out about the reason behind Dwayne's rash action was due to her presence in the house?
"Of course, she is uncle Kent's wife, but that doesn't mean you will take it out on her!" Ciara lilted, returning the same vibe as her brother's. "You can react towards her that way because her husband is a murderer; that doesn't make her one herself."
"Tell me, Ciara! Did she not know about her husband's hideous plan?" Dwayne asked, his voice was low but dangerous and at the same time demanding. "Before the truth came out to the public, did she not know that her husband had our parents killed?"
The question threw her aback. She did not prepare forthis, she did not expect to see Dwayne act this way and to think of asking her such a question. She heaved out a deep and heavy sigh, rubbing her temples continuously as if to wade out an invincible headache -finding it hard to reply to Dwayne's question.
"Look here, Dwayne. It doesn't matter if..."
Dwayne cut her off abruptly, giving her no chance to complete her words. "It does matter, Ciara, it does!" Dwayne yelled out in frustration, he felt as if he was going nuts. "She did know how heavy her husband's crime was but kept it all to herself, if she was a good person as you see her as, she would have blown his cover-up instead of hiding it alongside him."
Ciara tapped her left foot on the floor. "You can't put the blame for someone else's grave crime on her, she did nothing wrong, and it's not herfault that her husband is a bad person." Ciara reasoned, trying to cajole her brother. "She left him years ago, remember? She had to leave because she couldn't keep up with his act and because she finds it hard to tell anyone."
"What's more heart easing than letting the offender get punished fortheir crime?" Dwayne asked, his hard voice a little calmerthan it was at first. "She should have faced the truth instead of running away from him, she should have exposed him for his crimes. It's her fault that our uncles had another chance to hurt us as they did to our parents. Why don't you try to see reason with me?"
"I understand your point, Dwayne." Ciara said with a small sigh. "But I want you to view things from aunt's perspective too, you know how hard this would have been on anyone. You try understanding the fact that I was clouded with revenge that was why I watched uncle Kent die in my presence but don't want to understand that aunt was left with no other choice as well?"
Dwayne shook his head in disapproval. "Yours is different, Ciara!" He told her. "In one way or the other, your actions justify revenge, but in her case, she is self-centered, trying to protect her image through her husband."
Ciara sighed. She knew, no matter how many words she used on her brother, he wouldn't be convinced if he didn't want to. Ciara knew her brotherwas right with his words, but the poor old Lady couldn't be blamed either.
Things would have been much more different if the offenders had escaped their judgement, but the reverse was the case and Ciara was ready to leave everything in the past -even if it hurt deep and had left a huge scar in her heart that's weighing more than a heavy stone itself.
"She wants to stay with me for a while..."Ciara uttered slowly, breaking the awkward silence that was trying to build up between them. "She had no where else to go, she had to sell everything she owned to foot her husband's medicine bills."
"So...?"
"So?" Ciara repeated his question, her left brow raised slightly. "Why so? Is that your reply to what I say?"
"Yes, so!" He insisted on his words. "So, are you planning on accommodating aunt Elsie into your home?"
"I'm surprised that you still need an answerto such a question." She enunciated. "Yes, if that's the reply you want to hear, she'll be staying with me -starting from tonight!"
"You wouldn't dare! She has proved herself to be a two-sided face, are you okay with accepting such a person around you?" Dwayne sounded worried.
"I'm doing this because I'll, Dwayne. No matter what sick words you paint her with, she'll stay with me." Ciara enounced, finality laced in her voice. "This time -I'll be letting her stay foras long as she can..."