She's The CEO

10. Winstons Smile, Winstons Lie

Alright, so this book got a good ranking and views increased, thanks to W-R-I-T-E-R for their genuine support.

I felt inspired, so here's a very teeny tiny small chapter. For ya all.
Also, not an American resident so, please forgive me if I messed up the geography a bit.

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"What did you talk about?"

"Mom, I just came here six hours ago and right now Nonna is making lasagna, we just talked about random stuff that's all.", I tell my mom over the phone.

"Fine, I just wanted to know if you guys are catching up good.", mom says with some uneasiness.

She's always on my back but she's even more whenever I visit Nonna, that too alone. I just don't understand why she behaves like this.

"What's the deal mom? Why are you so hyper right now?", I ask her as the aroma of cheese and meat fill my nostrils and I feel my stomach rumble as a reflex.

I stand up and pace myself towards the terrace garden. Warm and cozy wind hits my face and I untie my hair.

"It's just nothing much. I just wanted to know if she's doing fine.", mom says.

"Then call her", I feel a blow and my hair flutter. I close my eyes to relish the short moment and almost forget that mom is on the other line.

"Bi, I mean in real life, like how's she holding up?", my mom says she's just covering up her active nerves. I know.

"She's doing fine. Just some knee pain she's complaining about but it didn't stop her from making her world famous lasagna. She literally told her chef to not enter the kitchen at all.", I tell her.

It was amusing for me. My petite little Nonna glaring at the chef with a knife in her hand telling her off.

I listen to my mother giving out a forced chuckle after which she continues, "Well, then I'll call you later."

Please don't.

"Yeah, bye mom."

"Bye. You know I love you, Bianca. Take care okay."

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, love you too, mom."

I hang up. My eyes drift towards the beach and the tall palm trees, standing valiant far from the shore line.

My family is just so fucked up. We are like the definition of perfection for the world but it's just the reality which hits when one sees what really goes inside the Winstons' lifestyles. Its like everyone has lied at some point and is probably still lying.

Yeah, there is perfection. There are perfect lies, perfect secrets. Some, I don't even know, but it chills my spine to the core as these realizations hit me time and again, that the favoritism of the kids in the family, the conflicts, all of these definitely have a root under them. And there is no doubt the root is too far in the mud, which is very difficult to find unless getting dirt on yourself.

My thoughts come to a hault as the door behind me open up and Nonna comes to me.

Her smile is light and I feel it's sad, "Your mother called?"

I nod, "Yeah, she did. She's just so over the edge when I'm with you. It's like you're gonna say something to me that will combust me instantly."

I chuckle lightly but Nonna's composure tightens, she becomes stiff and then face towards me, "Bi, life is just so complex. I've been through so much myself that it taught to me that sometimes it's good to accept what life throws at you rather than try and conquer it at every step."

"But that's so lame, strong is the one who has the will power to make things their way. To destroy whatever comes as a difficulty. Pain is just a side baggage, we HAVE to deal with it.", I say.

"But, somethings are not conquerable, Bianca. Something's are just simply, done. You can't change it. And as for the pain", she says with a smirk on her face, "Pain demands to be felt."

I couldn't help but laugh, "You quoted The Fault In Our Stars. Really Nonna, when did you read it."

"Was just going through some e-books when I saw it, kinda reminded me of Howard. It was so teenagery though."

"Yeah. Uncle Howard, how was he like?", I ask her. I know a bit about him, he looks so much like dad. Brown hair and blue eyes. But the thing that always resided in his eyes was the chirpiness in them. Almost, like Caleb's.

"The best way to describe Howard is to describe Caleb. It feels like he's Howard, reborn.", her eyes glisten and tears well up.

Yeah.

Sometimes, mom says that god gifted them with another soul even if he took one away from them. Caleb was born the same year when Uncle Howard died. It was almost a blessing for the family to cope up with the loss.

No doubt, he was the favourite of everyone. I don't know what happened with dad, though. I know Caleb had messed up big times when he was sixteen.

"Really?"

"Hmm. The same gentleness, the same passion for the things he love. And the most important, the sacrifices that they both have made."

"Sacrifices?", I ask a bit confused. What sacrifice has Caleb ever made?

Then it hits me. Really really hard.

I look at Nonna, she seems too pensive but I can't control myself, "Nonna, you remember that day when Caleb was sixteen? When he and dad discussed about the family bussiness and stuff? Like if he wanted to take over?"

She looks at me, she becomes stiff again, "What about that?"

"What happened that day?", I ask her. I wanted to know. No one had ever told me about this. In detail.

"I don't know, Bianca. I wasn't there. I don't know much but it isn't my place to tell you either.", she says.

She says she doesn't know.

"Are you lying to me, Nonna?", I ask.

She smiles, that's the smile. The Winston smile, "You're a Winston, Bianca. You'd know better. Anyways, lasagna?", she points towards the house where she might have set the dinner. She moves inside the house.

I stand there.

She lied.