I went to find Lucas that afternoon, but he hadn’t been in the Goldstein residence recently. Due to his weak body, he was hospitalized once again after catching a cold from attending a party. When Christopher and I arrived at the hospital, he was flipping through his medical record. Upon seeing me rush in, he frowned. “Did the Goldstein residence catch fire? Why are you in a rush?”
“It’s something even more serious than that.” Seeing that he looked fine, I went straight to the point. “It’s about my mom and… Dad. How much do you know about them? Is there anything that I don’t know?”
Lucas was at a loss for words. A while later, he finally asked, “What do you mean? They are your parents. If you, as their daughter, don’t even know what’s going on, how the hell am I supposed to know? Are you out of your mind? I’m your cousin, not your biological brother.”
“But you grew up in the Goldstein residence, so shouldn’t you know more than me?” I was a bit desperate at that point.
“What do you want to ask?” Lucas asked. He knew I had some questions in my mind and his anxiousness rose when I couldn’t bring myself to voice them after a while.
I began to panic when I recalled hearing weird sounds from Isabelle’s side whenever I called her. Quickly, I turned to Christopher for help.
He patted my back lightly to comfort me before saying in a calm voice, “She wants to ask you about the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein. Are they enamored with each other? Or do they quarrel frequently behind people?”
Hearing that, Lucas cast me a meaningful gaze. “You should at least tell me the reason for asking me that out of the blue, no? Otherwise, I don’t know what I should say.”
I took a deep breath and forced myself to face the issue. “I found some wounds on my mom and I don’t know what happened since I wasn’t home these two nights. Did they fight?”
Despite struggling for so long, I only managed to utter those words. Lucas was amused. “Isn’t it normal for a couple to quarrel? Why are you so nervous? It’s because you and Christopher are still a new couple; that’s why you two have never fought before. Haven’t you heard of the seven-year itch?”
“But Mom is badly injured!” In actuality, I, too, felt strange for asking such questions, yet I couldn’t stop worrying if I didn’t ask.
“Uncle Mark is cruel, but he treats all the women around him fairly well. He’s not interested in women. Your mom is the only woman beside him for years. He was madly in love with your mom when he was young. Now, do you still think that they are on bad terms? Don’t be so paranoid. If Uncle Mark hears about this, he will surely be sad. After all, you’re his daughter.”
He then paused briefly before continuing, “Sometimes, people tend to lose control when they are too stressed out. It’s just once in a while, so don’t worry. I bet he’s even more upset than you are right now. Instead of running your mind wild here, why don’t you go back and take care of Aunt Isabelle?”
The meaningful gleam in Lucas’ eyes went unnoticed as I was too concerned about Isabelle.
“It’s odd to hear such words from you.” I sighed. “Forget it. Perhaps I’m truly overthinking. You’re my friend, so I trust you won’t lie to me.”
I was somewhat relieved at his reassurance. “Get some rest. I’ll go back to take care of my mom then.”
“How heartless! I’m sick and you didn’t even ask me about my wellbeing. And you call yourself a friend? Am I a tool that you can throw away after using it?” A bitter smile crept onto his face as he looked at me.
Ignoring Lucas, I leaned closer to Christopher and exchanged a passionate kiss with him. After that, I walked out of the ward while saying, “I’ll let Chris accompany you for a while. He’s a busy person and his rate is more than a hundred thousand each second. Now that he’s doing it for free, you should feel honored.”
