UNKNOWN | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 4)

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Not long after Draco Malfoy had left the Estoileon Cottage, Aine's home was peaceful again. Everyone had gone back to their rooms to enjoy their little time alone and to rest for the night. It had been a lively busy evening that night after all. The snow continued to pour, gently piling on top of trees and anything it landed on. The owls hoot and took their turns to sing, for their night was finally starting.

Elliot swirls his cup of Firewhisky, the ice cubes cracking onto one another as the alcohol coats the crystallized water. Staring at the open window where the winter breeze blew by, cooling his lungs, he took a sip of his drink and sighed. His eyes slowly drifted over to the small frame next to him, it was a picture of him and his wife. He chuckles dryly, "Your daughter brought back a boy today, Aris," he said to it, stroking the corner of the frame as his dulled golden eyes glistened. A glimmer of amusement in his tone. "It was a surprise at first but I think he's... Good. I honestly wouldn't have expected Aine to go for the son of the person who I share a complicated past with. Gosh, what a twist of events..."

The man took another gulp, seething when the alcohol trickled down his throat, burning it. He went on, "I wasn't sure what to feel at first but after today, I guess my thoughts of him had cleared up a little... He was— different... From his father, that boy. He seems to have some internal conflict with himself and I'm sure that he would continue to fight that struggle of him in the future. But who am I to say that, right? We are all at war, fighting a never-ending battle with ourselves and while some fights may end quickly, others' wars might still be continuing and perhaps some have yet to start... But your daughter was very happy today, she's full of smiles around him and though a part of me has yet to accept the fact that she was growing up to be her own person and to fall in love, I guess if she's happy, then I am happy as well. That's all I could ever ask for, was for her to be happy." Elliot's smile faded a little, and his expression darkened.

His fingers tightened around the short glass cup, "She deserves to be happy after all... After what you've done to her— and after what I have done to her too, now and in the future... Do you think she would come to hate me when I tell her the truth, Aris?" He asks her, gazing at the moving picture of his smiling wife as he hopes for a reply somehow. Just like how it had always been before when she was always there to tell him what his heart desires to do. 

But there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing. But silence...

Looming quietness thickens in the air around him and not even the wind had answered him. 

Figured. Of course, no one would answer him. If there was, he probably would have gone insane to hear someone reply to him. He snickered to himself, drowning himself with another mouthful of the Firewhisky. He could feel the effects of alcohol taking a toll on his mind and body, feeling sleepy and that he has gone babbling nonsense. Then, with a hushed voice, he spoke, trembling as if he were praying, "Please tell me what I should do... What should I do to make the truth hurt her lesser..?" His eyes stared at the picture with a tender and longing gaze. He took another second more to look at his wife whom he had missed dearly, even though his feelings for her had gone cold and how his heart had become empty after hurting for years after she left. He then places the frame back in the hidden compartment on the wall, behind the mirror he was staring at. 

In exchange, he brought out an old box from the wall cavity. It was dusty and rusty but the little metal motifs on the box still reflected well the little light from the dim candle nearby. Elliot poured another glass of Firewhisky into his cup and downed it, needing it to gather up the courage to open the box after decades. He hasn't been able to open it ever since Aris had left, knowing that it had belonged to her. Which made him even more befuddled as to why she had left it behind? It meant a great deal to her since she was the next person to take up the mantle of becoming the One.