The Truth Untold

39

It was Wednesday. Leo had training, had a shower at home and then came to me immediately. Now he was lying on my bed and dozing while I sat at my desk preparing things for university.

"Is that your dad?" Leo suddenly asked me and my heart seemed to stand still for a second.

I looked up and only noticed now that he was standing behind me pointing to a picture. It was a family photo we took last year.

"No, that's my uncle," I replied coolly and turned my attention to the picture.

"When was the picture taken?" he asked curiously.

"Last year", I murmured uninterestedly.

"Hm," he just said and I hoped he wouldn't address me about the photo anymore.

"Is your father in the photo at all?" he asked now and my hope disappeared.

"Why?" I asked with the same cool tone as before.

"You have a photo of your mum, but none of your dad," he explained, and I put my pen beside.

I had exactly two photos of my family in my room. One of my mum standing on my dessert and the other was the family photo above my desk. I never had the heart to hang one of my father's, because I couldn't bear to look him in the face every day.

"I have my reasons," I said and took the pen back into my hand, my eyes stubbornly fixed on the leaf in front of me, but I couldn't concentrate anymore.

"Which one?" Leo asked further. Didn't he notice that I didn't want to talk about it?

"That's not important," I replied, hoping that he now understood.

"It's not important that your dad doesn't hang anywhere in this room and that you act as if he doesn't exist?"

I banged the pen on the table and looked at Leo, who had sat down on my bed again and looked at me insistently.

"Why is that so important to you," I snorted and returned his sparkling look.

"Kathie, is your dad ... is he like your mum ..." he began, but I interrupted him.

"No, he's not. Please, can we let the subject be," I said and noticed myself how angry I sounded.

"You've never talked about your dad, hardly about your mother. And you never really talk about your past. Why? What happened," he asked and he sounded as if he was really desperate for answers.

"It is not important. My past is not important," I replied and pulled my knee to my chest.

"But, I think the past is important," he said and his gaze became iron, fixed mine.

"Not mine. You don't have to know anything about my past", I snorted again and I noticed how so slowly the anger inside me bubbled. Why was he so stubborn?

"Kathie, you know you can talk to me about anything. No matter what happened', he explained, this time calmer and gentler.

"But you don't have to know, okay. Some things you don't need to know. You don't need to know them and others don't either. Besides, I don't understand that you of all people are asking me to tell you my complete life story," I said and heard my voice grow louder.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, but while my blood was boiling more and more, he still seemed relatively calm.

"When you told me about Yuna, the damage had already been done. Oh wait, you didn't even tell me, that was Tyler," I said hatefully.

"What? That's still a problem for you," he asked without understanding and now I saw the rage flashing in his eyes as well.

"No, it is not. But I don't understand why I should unpack my past if you didn't do it either," I said angrily.