A Girl From the Past

Chapter 33

Lucas stared at the adress and some information written on the screen of his phone. His usually indifferent face seemed to be filled with anticipation as well as a mixed feeling. Sometimes, anxiety and nervousness also meddled within.

He had contacted some people to search for certain informations a few months ago. Now, he finally received the result. Sighing, Lucas checked at his clock. Two hours until the time work ended.

The adress he received wasn't considered nearby nor far from he was right now. Maybe, an hour drive and he would arrive at the place.

From the information. He more or less knew that the name of the couple who raised Sofia was the same. He wasn't sure if it was coincidence or not, but he hoped that it wasn't.

A change of heart. Will it happen or not?

Time ticked by slowly. As the two hours finally ended, Lucas spared no time to loiter around. He swiftly walked out of his room, almost making employees jumped in surprise.

The employees parted to make ways for their boss, whose expression was hard to describe. He was gloomy some time ago, and now, somehow he looked a bit better, even almost excited. Yet, neither of those employees dared to dawdle in front of him.

Lucas took an hour full of driving to arrive at the precise location. Though he took a quarter of hour longer due to asking around about the exact adress. He didn't really familiar with the place.

Right now, Lucas was standing in front of an ordinary looking house. It was small, but looked pretty neat. The walls colored creamy white. The front courtyard was filled with small flowers and green plants.

Lucas tried to calm his nerves. Slowly, he began to walk forward until he arrived at the front door. He knocked the door slowly. His heart was filled with anticipation as well as anxiety.

As none responded to the sound of knockings, Lucas frowned. He knocked the door a few times more. Until, he was startled that the door was opened so abruptly, he almost knocked into the person who opened it.

It was a boy around eight or nine years old standing in front of him, rubbing his eyes as he yawned quietly. Then, he looked up at Lucas with a questioning eyes. He found Lucas unfamiliar.

Lucas was about to open his mouth when suddenly a voice that sounded familiar yet also unfamiliar came from inside the house. "Herald, who is the guest? Don't be rude, bring the guest in."

It was certainly the voice of a woman. Lucas didn't know how he felt at the moment. He could say that the voice was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. There was just a hint of familiarty in it that had been almost completely washed away by the time.

The boy looked at Lucas and blinked. "Mother told you to come in."

Lucas followed the boy inside, sitting in the living room as he waited for the house inhabitants to come to him. The boy had run off somehwere after lead him to the living room.

After a few moments, the voice of a woman finally being heard again in his ears. "Oh, have you been waiting for long? I apologize for the our rudeness of receiving guest."

The voice was followed by a figure of a middle-aged woman strolled into the living room. For a moment, as the woman looked up to check the figure of her guest, a flicker of astonishment flashing across her eyes before she returned to her cordial expression.

"May I ask you what business do you have here, Sir?" The woman sat at the opposite of him. The living room wasn't big, and the sofas was placed near each other.

"Are you Madam Ellia Dawson?" Lucas asked as he scrutinized the woman in front of him in a discreet manner, giving a somehow stiff smile.

The woman was a bit puzzled, then she just nodded.

"Auntie ... it's been long since I call you that." Lucas tried to search some clues from the woman's expression.

But, her expression was even more puzzled. He didn't really remember her, but now that she was in front of him, her face was undeniably a familiar one, albeit she looked much older and her skin had gotten much wrinkles.

"Auntie, I am Lucas Hernandez. The childhood friend of Sofia. I came her to visit an old friend."

The middle-aged woman froze for a moment, not knowing of how to asnwer Lucas' statement.

"Do you remember me, Auntie? I used to play at your family's house since I was little." Lucas explained further.

The middle-aged woman's face somehow grew more ashen. It was as if she was panicking.

"No, I don't remember you!" She quicky got up from her sitting position.

There was an strange expression that made Lucas felt greatly puzzled at the moment. He was a bit surprised by the woman's sudden aggressive exclamation.

"Sir, please leave right now, I just remembered that I have something I urgently need to do. I also think that you have gone into the wrong place. My name isn't Ellia, but Elli." She quickly said to Lucas, trying to kick him out of the house while still tried to be as polite as possible.

Lucas was conflicted, but he didn't insist to stay nonetheless. As soon as he walked out, the door was closed with a bang sound, as if whoever closed it was wary in case Lucas tried to break in the house.

It made Lucas even grew feeling more bewildered of the whole situation. He found that the woman whom he used to call 'Auntie' in the past had became strange and pretended of not recognizing him.

Yet Lucas do not hurriedly leave the place after he was being kicked out. He felt a bit astonished by how the whole thing that played out.

Did something unexpected happened to this family after the long years of not having any contact with his family at all? He was even more puzzled the more he thought about it.

Yet, amidst his confused thoughts, the shadows of trees quickly fading away replaced by the whole spreading darkness. After deciding about it, Lucas finally chose to leave the place. He took one last look at the seemingly ordinary house.

I finished reading the book Pursuit of the Truth by Er Gen, and cried because of the bittersweet ending. And it made me have a sudden urge wanting to finish this book as soon as possible :((