Our Lies

Epilogue

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Sera's head popped out from behind the door.

"Sera? You came?" Eric got up. He looked flustered. He did not expect his daughter there.

"I thought it strange when I saw the door ajar when I passed by." Sera stepped inside the room she had not been into in recent years. "Rare to see you coming into mom's room. Are you looking for something?"

"No... well, yeah. I lost something and I thought I might have misplaced it here...." Eric slowly closed the side table's drawer.

"Is that so? Need any help?" Sera offered.

"No, it's alright. Maybe it's not here. I'll try other places." Eric smiled awkwardly as he led her out from the room.

"I brought some cakes for Jean and Amaria. They are in the living room. Mind having tea together? You know, spend some time with us." Sera asked with excitement.

Eric just noticed how much his daughter resembled his late wife. He patted her head. "Okay. Happy now?"

"Dad! You are still treating me like a kid!" Sera frowned.

"You look like your mother."

"Is that a good thing?" Sera asked.

Eric smiled. "Of course. You are beautiful, just like her. Come on, let's meet them."

Just like today, it was a cool spring that day when Eric was first introduced to who would later became Elena Crown, his wife. She was his and Dara's junior. He was aware of her feeling for him but his heart was set only for his former fiancée even after they got married. Eric knew how hard Elena tried to get his attention while he continued ignoring her feeling for years. Her devotion for him never faded even after their children were born and Eric thought they could continue living like this.

His thought went back to how everything started going downwards.

It was just another night when Elena threw tantrum because she found a misplaced photo of Dara in his drawer. He did not even remember how it ended up there. It was just an old photo from their university days. He was angry with her for making a scene just because of a trivial matter. She cried and stormed out of the room and locked herself in her bedroom for days. Their young children blamed him for causing their mother to be in bad mood. Eric too, felt that he might have gone overboard when shouting at her and so he decided to come home early and bought her a gift to apologize the next day.

He soon learned that she had left the house with Egbert that day without informing anyone where they went. He did not think much. Maybe she was just going out to calm herself. The last thing he expected to hear was a call from Egbert that his wife had attempted suicide. He rushed to the hospital to find her crying and begging for forgiveness from him. His wife had unknowingly driven his best friend, the love of his life to death. He was beyond devastated and furious at Elena. Countless of sleepless nights he spent thinking if he should confess to Leo and young Serogia, but when the image of his children appeared in his mind, he found himself could not bring to do so. No matter how much Elena angered him, she was still his wife, his children's mother, and they still needed her. He knew Leo enough that he would not just idly sit by if he learned about this. Leo would crush his family down without mercy no matter how close the two families were in the past.

The diary, Eric recalled what Elena told him years ago. She had written down her confession there. It had totally escaped his mind until Leo suddenly brought up the incident. He wondered where she had kept it. He would dispose it once he found it.

"Dad? Tea or coffee?" Sera asked while holding two pots in her hands.

"Uh... oh... coffee, please. Thank you."

"Something on your mind, Dad? You look lost. Too much work? Not that I'm helping you." Jean grinned at him and got a head smack from Amaria.

Eric chuckled. "Nothing. Just remembering something from the past."

"Here is your coffee and cake, Dad." Sera served the food and her father thanked her.

I will protect this family. Eric vowed in silence and then spooned a mouthful of strawberry cake into his mouth.

Fin.