Chapter 20
Raymond Caruso
"Critical condition... life support... profuse blood loss... unconscious... may be in a coma... bullet removed... only 5 percent survive such gunshots. That doctor was saying a whole bunch of nonsense to me, Tiara! I don't believe him; I know you're going to live. You'll wake up and talk to me like normal. You'll wake up for me, won't you?"
I asked Tiara for the umpteenth time but she still didn't respond. Seeing her in the hospital bed with wires and plugs attached to her, was distressing.
I retrieved Tiara's wristwatch from the pocket in my coat; the nurse had given it to me earlier. It was a simple yet beautiful bronze coloured wristwatch with a leather strap. It's beautiful just like her. I held it around my wrist, feeling bored. The time on her wristwatch was right but the look and feel of it on my wrist was not right. It would suit only her hand; her beautiful hand.
I smiled and was about to slip the watch back into the pocket in my coat when something caught my eye. A word was engraved on the strap of her wristwatch.
D. A. R. I. E. N.
At the thought of him, my blood began to boil. I flung the watch onto the floor. Even that beautiful watch was polluted with his name. And that polluted watch had been on her hand! Urgh!
I banged my fist into my palm before turning away. My eyes narrowed as realization dawned on me. I had been searching for Tiara everywhere all these days while she had been in his new house here. She knew that I was here in San Diego but she hadn't tried to see or meet me even once. What does that mean? She chose him over me. Again!
Again and again, she is choosing him over me. She is crazy! She doesn't realize my love but keeps choosing the man who stood like a rock when she fell to the floor bleeding with the bullet in her forehead!
Even if she wakes up now, she will definitely choose him again. And that will hurt me more than it hurts now. Why should I let her keep hurting me again and again? No! I will never let her hurt me again. There is no need for her to live anymore! She is not my Tiara, not the pure soul I loved but a soul polluted by that so-called brother of mine!
"Polluted?" I looked up to see Tiara standing on my right, speaking to me. "If that's what you would call it, then fine. My heart is polluted with his love. My mind is polluted with his memories. My body is polluted with his touch. And I love that pollution, for it is the most beautiful."
"No! Shut up! How dare you say that to me? I will kill you!" I stood up and stepped over to her in my anger. All of a sudden, Tiara vanished into thin air. I frowned in confusion.
"You tried to kill Darien that day, didn't you?" Tiara was now standing near the entrance of the ICU room, facing me. "Still he's alive now. Do you know why? It's for me and our daughter Mila."
"I'll kill you and that Darien together! I'll go to jail if I have to but I won't let him live!" I stormed over to her and tried to pin her against the wall. Again, Tiara disappeared into nothing. I looked around in confusion.
"Kill me if you wish, Rats. Kill Darien if you wish." Her voice came from behind. I turned to find Tiara standing near the bed in the ICU room. "But you can't kill our love. For our love is beyond life and death. What is keeping both of us alive today despite your attempts to finish us? Nothing but our love."
"You!" I lunged towards her, in fury. I was really going to kill her this time.
My hand went right through her neck, in my attempt to strangle her. I realized that there was no one before me. I turned to see Tiara was still lying on the bed, unconscious.
It hadn't been her talking to me; it had been my hallucination. But those might be the words she would speak even if she woke up. It's better to end this right now, right here, for once and for all.
As I reached for her oxygen mask, a firm grip tried to hold my hand backwards and stop me from doing what I was about to do. I tried to shake that hand away but it's hold was so strong. I looked up to see him. The man I despised so much was standing on the other side of the bed, holding my hand back. His eyes were black and seemed emotionless again like before.
"What have you come for?" I spat through gritted teeth.
"My life."
"You stood like a rock when she was almost dying. You expect me to believe you? Get lost from here now!"
"Each time you ordered me to leave, I tried again but you always gave me no other choice but to leave in defeat with the hope that my words would reach past your ears someday. Today, I haven't come to leave. I will not leave until we reach a conclusion to your obsession and your crimes."
He was twisting my arm under his; it was hurting. This is not my brother. He had never hurt me before. I thought he never had the strength or courage to hurt me. But I was wrong. He was stronger than I thought.
"Where did you get this sudden love for her? This sudden strength or courage to think you can confront me?" I hissed as I tried to jerk my hand from his grip but I couldn't break his hold.
Swiftly, he twisted my hand behind my back. "Till date, you had only seen your brother. Today, you are seeing me, Detective Darien Caruso. My love for her has been the ground of my existence. This strength and courage I had always held within myself and concealed for the sake of the scars on me and the blood in you. But you took advantage of it and tried to erase my existence. Now, you will have to face the real Darien you never saw, for you have tried to hurt her, my life."
I smirked. "Love? Do you know what love is? How would you know? You lived a life deprived of love until you met Tiara, didn't you? You never cared for me! You never bothered to remember your brother when I needed you! Why should I call you my brother or respect your words then?"
His grip on my arm loosened. I turned to face him and glimpsed a flash of pain in his eyes before they turned emotionless again.
"I never cared for you? I never bothered to remember you? Are you talking about me or yourself, Ray?"
I smirked. That was him. Though his voice was still grave, I knew he had lost that strength and courage he had had a few moments ago upon hearing the words I had spoken.
"Why this hate, Ray?" He grabbed my collar. "What have I done to deserve all this hate from you? What has Tiara done? Is it our mistake that we cared for you unlike others?"
"Her mistake is that she loved you. And yours, there's too many to count."
"Yes, too many. I didn't realize it till now. I've been committing mistake after mistake all my life. If you opened your eyes just once and saw what I have faced for you, you would realize that none of them were mistakes. But you refuse to realize. Not everyone is like our father, without an ounce of love or care in his heart. Not everyone is like you, with an urge to kill. Not everyone is like me, with scars for the sake of his brother concealed."
"Scars? What scars? Oh, I stabbed you near the chest before leaving you to die few years ago. Is that the scar you're talking about?" I sniggered.
He shook his head in disagreement, still appearing emotionless. "The scars that taught me to bear pain; the scars that taught me to hide it all without letting my face show a hint of the pain; the scars that I concealed below full-sleeved buttoned up shirts since my childhood. Did you think life was always easy for me? It could have been but I didn't let it be so. Because I cared for you."
"Oh yeah? You cared for me? That's a new piece of information to me. And how did that give you scars?" I rolled my eyes. He wasn't the kind of person who made up stories as far as I knew so I wondered how he got those scars he mentioned, but he was the man I despised the most so I wouldn't let the reason for his scars affect me.
"There is no point in telling you."
"Because the scars you mentioned don't exist, do they?"
He clenched his jaw for a moment. "I respected Tiara's parents as they cared for me. But I never wanted to go to the boarding school. Because I was worried about you. I didn't want you to be neglected by our father the same way I had been neglected before. I tried running away from there many times, climbing the fence. Each time I climbed the fence, I would get hurt and end up crying and falling. Each time, I was punished for trying to run away.
With time, I learnt to hide my cries and keep climbing. I learnt to hide the scars due to the injuries carefully. I learnt to stay expressionless in front of anyone and everyone even though the injuries I got were hurting me like hell, biting into my skin and forming scars that wouldn't fade.
And when I was finally able to climb the whole fence to come to meet you, I was caught and locked up in a room. They threatened that they would call my parents, I mean, Tiara's parents, and complain about me. I promised I would never try to escape again. Her parents had given me a life better than I could ever ask. I couldn't let myself become a disgrace to them!
I studied hard waiting for the days to pass till I would be old enough to be allowed out into the outside world. When the day finally arrived, I came to meet you. But your words hurt me much much more than the scars I bore till that day."
"Oh, such a sad story." I rolled my eyes again in sarcasm. "Don't expect me to change my mind out of sympathy or pity on hearing your story! You took my Tiara away from me! You have to die, Mr. Darien Caruso!" I slammed my forehead into his. He fell back as he hadn't been expecting the blow.
To be continued...
A/N: Please vote and comment..
Hope you like this chapter.. :)
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: ZingTruyen.Xyz