The Act of Interim #Wattys2018

Chapter 5: The Untold Story

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity."

- Gilda Radner

***

"What's the commotion there?" the librarian asked as she rang the bell on her desk.

Precia was now getting all the books that she had fell on the ground, when she heard the bell. She looked up at the librarian to apologize but she stopped when she saw the person beside
the librarian. She gave Emily a questioning look before she continued getting all the books that she had fell. When she was done, she ran into her with gusto while Emily, on the other hand, was feeling nervous to see her mother in front of her.

"Oh my god! I didn't expect to see you here," Precia exclaimed as she looked at her from head to toe. "What are you doing here? Are you studying here? Anyway, I'm happy to see you."

Emily forced a smile, still feeling nervous. "W-Well, I'm working here a-and I-I'm also happy to see you here."

"I guess, you do know each other," the librarian commented that made their attention focus on her. She was adjusting her eyeglasses while she was watching them.

Precia gave her a lovely smile. "Well, a little. We only met yesterday, Lola."

'Wait, Lola? She's my... aunt?' she thought as she studied her features, and there was no doubt that she is really her aunt.

"Really?" Lola squinted her eyebrows while she was giving them a suspicious look. "I thought you are siblings."

'She's my mom,' Emily thought, trying to suppress her smile.

Precia quirked her brows to what she had heard. "How did you say so?"

Lola looked at Emily's face and to Precia's face, and backed to Emily and again, to Precia. "Your face looks the same as her especially the shape of your face and your lips," she said while she was tapping her lips with her forefinger. "At first, I thought she was you when I saw her with Mr. Schleiden. But later on, I realized that she doesn't have the same eyes as yours and she's more beautiful than you," she pointed out.

Emily chuckled to what Lola said to them. She averted her gaze to Precia, who was now looking at her but with a suspicious look.

"What's wrong?" she asked her mom.

"Are you my daughter, then?" Precia asked her in a dignify tone that made her eyes widen.

"W-What?" was all she could utter. She felt like all her words died to her throat, while her mind turned blank. Her heart was also beating so fast that made her feel more nervous.

'Am I busted?' she thought nervously.

Before she could dig her mind to find some words, she was already stunned to see her mother laughing so hard that she even touch her own tummy. She looked at her surrounding and she felt ashame to see half of them were watching them.

Again, they became the center of attraction.

Her mother just stopped from laughing when Lola rang her bell for the second time.

"Get out! You're too noisy," Lola commented in disgust.

"Well, I'm sorry. I just can't help it," Precia apologized, trying not to laugh again. "She looked priceless and all I could ever do was to laugh." She averted her gaze to Emily, who was still looking flabbergasted because of her. "I'm just kidding, Hannah. Don't take it seriously, okay?"