Bad news often comes at a time when we don't expect it.
Around five in the morning, while I was still asleep, Dominic suddenly woke me up. My mind is still buzzing with the effects of alcohol. I raised my eyebrows questioningly and asked him.
"What is going on?"
Dominic was already dressed, looking more hurried than usual. His eyes looked at me with sadness, which made me acutely aware that something was wrong.
"My mother is in critical condition, we need to go to the hospital right away."
I got up immediately and quickly changed my clothes. Early in the morning, the road was not blocked, so it didn't take us long to get to the hospital. I was in an unsettled mood like never before, and inadvertently I bit off a few of my fingernails.
Dominic took my hand and took me to the emergency room, he kept reassuring me to help calm me down but that didn't make me feel good.
During the hour of waiting, I felt like my spirit was being tortured, my head aching and spinning. I try not to think about the worst case scenario for my mother, but I can't.
The smell of hospital disinfectant and the tinkling of metal rods from medical equipment resounded. Everything seemed to signal something bad.
"Who is the relative of patient Rowan Ambar?"
"Me. It's me." I stood up, looking at the doctor with eyes waiting for a miracle to happen.
"I'm sorry."
I was stunned, my lips moved, unable to speak. The doctor walked past me, at this point I came to my senses and panicked, grabbed the doctor's blouse and held it tight.
"Are you kidding? Is my mother awake? I want to see her." My voice trembled.
"I'm sorry, we did our best."
That's all the doctor told me. Whether I cried or pleaded with them, they just repeated the same words: I'm sorry. I don't need their apology, I need them to save my mother.
In an instant, all my hopes were gone, and I sat down on the floor and sobbed like a baby. Dominic put his arm around my shoulders, he was quieter than ever, not sarcastic and teasing me as usual, and didn't say superfluous words of comfort.
I leaned on his lap, crying until I couldn't breathe anymore. There are truths that are hard to accept. But we still have to do it.
Three days later, I held my mother's funeral. This funeral was attended only by me and Dominic Arnold. I think Mom would have expected Mr. Curtis to attend, unfortunately he didn't want that. My mother only loved him all her life, even to death she was faithful to this love.
She was stupid, and pitiful at the same time.
After completing my mother's funeral, I became seriously ill. Surprisingly, Dominic took time off from work to stay at home to look after me, even though I told him he didn't need to. Ruby is a caring maid and she took good care of me. However, Dominic was adamant that he wanted to be with me.
Perhaps he realized my loneliness and emptiness after my mother died.
"I want to go back to my old house."
Dominic agreed to my offer. He personally drove me back to my old house.
This house has been more than a month I have not returned, the furniture in the house is dusty. The house is quite small, my mother saved a lot of money to buy it. The interior is also not very much, mostly old appliances.
"You can wait outside the car, it's a bit messy inside."
"Shouldn't the host give guests tea or coffee instead of sending them out to the car to wait?"
It's rare that Dominic makes fun of me, that's what his personality should be. I feel much more comfortable, smiling slightly after many days of sadness.
"I'm worried you'll feel uncomfortable in this tiny house. After all, you grew up in big mansions and houses." I invited him to sit on the sofa and boil some water to make tea.
"I like new experiences."
"Haven't you been to the corporation these days? You're always busy, aren't you?"
"I hire people to work for me so I don't have to do anything. Sometimes there's a project that requires direct supervision from me, then I'll go to work."
"Oh, is it easy to be a boss?" I put the tea cup in front of him.
"If you have the ability to make people obey your orders, then being a boss is really easy." Dominic picked up his teacup and took a sip, his movements slow, like a prince of aristocracy. "The tea smells so good."
"It's herbal tea. My mother loves this tea, she says it relaxes the body."
Dominic picked up a picture frame. There weren't many pictures in the house, and it was a rare one that I took with my mother.
"She looks like her mother, especially her eyes."
"Really? I feel the same way." I leaned closer to Dominic and looked at the picture with him. "That was the only time I went to the beach. I was 12 years old and my mother took me there."
"Why is this the only time?" Dominic turns his head and looks at me.
I still stare at the photo, slowly reminiscing about that rare trip between me and my mother. Our family is quite poor, and traveling far away is an illusory dream.
"My mother always said: Wait until your father remembers and comes to us, then the whole family will go on a trip. But she can never wait. Even at her funeral, he didn't show up."
I don't know when my voice started to choke and tears flowed. Dominic gave me a tissue, he always kept quiet when he saw me crying.
"Your mother deserves a better man. And you deserve a better family too." Dominic spoke in a soft voice.
"Do you really think so?" I mumbled. Then I got up and started cleaning up. I don't want to continue to wallow in sad memories and let myself be melancholy.
Dominic also helped me, we covered all the furniture with white cloth, cleaned the house, put small items in boxes and put them in the storage.
During the cleaning, Dominic and I chatted. He said his mother also died when he was young, but unlike my family, his father did not marry a new wife. Dominic doesn't show any weakness or sentimentality, but it's through his appreciation that whenever he talks about his mother, I know Dominic is a very emotional person.
He happened to find some childhood photos of me in a book and insisted on keeping it for himself.
"Come on, why would you want that?" I laughed and shook my head at him.
"Why not? If I find it, it's mine."
Arguing with Dominic is the hardest thing in the world, because he always has such a logical argument that I can't argue with it.
It was late afternoon when we got in the car and headed back to Dominic's villa.
"Aren't we going home?" I looked at the unfamiliar route and asked Dominic in surprise.
"No, I'll take you to a special place."