Chapter 47
Nicholas POV
I walked out of the mini bar holding a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, a small smile resting on my face as I made my way toward Eric.
"As a man," I said while placing the glasses down, "you need to learn how to control your liquor well. Otherwise, you'll end up making a fool of yourself."
He smiled faintly as I poured the whiskey into the glass cups.
"You and my sister are quite the same… yet very different."
"Really?" I asked, slightly amused. "How so?"
"Laurel only drinks red wine," he replied. "Zinfandel, Shiraz, Amarone… but she enjoys red port the most."
"Hm," I hummed.
"Then when you walked into the bar earlier," he continued, "I noticed most of the drinks there were whiskey. But they all had high alcohol percentages too, just like the ones Laurel usually takes."
"You noticed that that quickly?"
"Of course," he said lightly. "I'm Laurel's younger brother after all."
I nodded slowly before taking a sip.
"She seems to have changed a lot."
Eric looked at me quietly.
"You noticed it too?"
"Yes," I admitted. "Before… she used to be colder. Very straightforward. Distant. She barely talked. Sometimes I felt like I could count the number of words she said in an entire day."
I paused.
"She can be fearless, brave, and also…"
"Also what?" he asked.
"Dangerous," I answered honestly. "Cruel. Wicked. Like she doesn't have a heart sometimes."
Eric stared at me for a moment before suddenly smiling faintly.
"I thought you were going to say kind."
I let out a quiet laugh.
"She can be kind too," I admitted. "Just… in unexpected ways."
Silence settled between us briefly.
Then curiosity got the better of me.
"What was she like in the past?"
Eric stared into his drink before emptying the entire glass in one go.
"Careful," I said immediately.
He smiled weakly before pouring himself another drink.
"Laurel…" he murmured softly. "How do I even describe her childhood?"
His fingers tightened slightly around the glass.
"She was like a flower," he continued quietly, "one that learned how to survive while growing directly from the earth… without perishing."
I stayed silent.
"I don't remember everything," he admitted, "but my Aria always used to say Laurel had the biggest heart and the brightest smile."
His expression dimmed slightly.
"But as I grew older… Laurel hardly smiled anymore. And even when she did, I could tell she didn't mean it."
The room suddenly felt quieter.
"All I know is that my parents weren't kind to her. Instead of treating her like a child… they treated her more like a servant."
His jaw tightened.
"I don't know why. Maybe because she was adopted. Maybe because they finally had children of their own."
He looked down.
"Or maybe because she was Black."
I said nothing.
"No matter the punishment," he continued softly, "Laurel never apologized."
His eyes looked distant now, like he was reliving the memories right in front of him.
"I remember one day my father forced her to jump like a frog."
I frowned slightly.
"She did it for more than four hours."
My chest tightened.
"Aria kept begging my father to let her stop, but he refused. He said if Laurel apologized, she could rest."
Eric laughed bitterly under his breath.
"But Laurel never said sorry."
He looked down at the drink in his hand.
"She kept going until her legs gave out and she collapsed."
Silence filled the room again.
"The world was never kind to her," he whispered. "Neither was fate."
He swallowed slowly.
"If there was a way to rewrite fate… I would rewrite Laurel's."
Something about the way he said it made my chest ache unexpectedly.
"So no matter what people call her," he continued, "no matter who she becomes, or what she does…"
His eyes lifted to meet mine.
"Tell me… how am I supposed to judge her?"
His voice cracked slightly.
"How do I judge a child who had to leave school so the biological children could continue theirs even when money wasn't the problem?"
I stayed quiet.
"How do I judge a child who never had a room to herself and slept on cold floors?"
His grip tightened around the glass.
"How do I judge a child who had to wait for everyone else to finish eating before getting leftovers?"
He laughed softly again, but this time it sounded exhausted.
"How do I judge someone whose fate kept punishing her over and over again?"
I looked away briefly.
"Indeed," I murmured quietly. "Fate keeps punishing her."
I sighed.
"If only it could slow down a little. She's only human."
Eric smiled sadly at that.
Then he suddenly looked at me again.
"Your biological sister…" I said carefully. "Can you tell me about her?"
His face softened immediately.
He tilted his head back slightly before finishing another glass.
"Aria…" he whispered.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
"She wasn't human. She was an angel."
The warmth in his voice was immediate.
"While my parents acted superior around Laurel, Aria was different."
He chuckled faintly.
"Whenever we went out, she used to hide desserts in her room just so Laurel could eat them later."
His eyes dimmed again.
"I still remember the day Aria and I fought our parents because of how they treated Laurel."
He swallowed hard.
"If Aria could see how successful Laurel became now…"
He smiled faintly.
"She would be more than proud of her."
A pause.
"Even if it cost her life."
The atmosphere turned heavy instantly.
"You didn't witness Laurel's suffering," he continued quietly. "If you did… you would understand why everything became worth it to her."
I looked at him carefully.
"Do you miss Aria?"
"Every single day."
The answer came out immediately.
Then he suddenly looked at me.
"Does Laurel ever talk about her?"
I shook my head lightly.
"Laurel doesn't like people digging into her past. She rarely talks about it."
Eric stood up slowly after hearing that.
Then he looked at me again.
"You said Laurel can be dangerous, cruel, and wicked."
I nodded carefully.
"But how am I supposed to judge her?" he whispered. "I haven't even lived through a quarter of the pain she survived."
He looked exhausted now.
"My only wish for Laurel…"
His voice softened.
"…is for her to survive long enough to finally receive the happiness and family love she deserves."
Then suddenly, as he walked closer, his steps became unstable.
Before I could react properly, he staggered forward and collapsed directly against me.
I caught him immediately.
His face looked flushed from the alcohol, but there was still sadness lingering in his expression.
And strangely…
looking at him now made me feel lonely in a world filled with people.
A tear slipped slowly down his face as he mumbled weakly in his sleep.
"Laurel… you must live…"
My chest tightened unexpectedly.
Carefully, I carried him upstairs and placed him gently on the bed.
For a moment, I stood there quietly staring at him.
Most people probably thought Eric was simply quiet because he stayed around Laurel too much.
But the truth was different.
He was trying to protect her too.
I slowly looked away.
What kind of pain are you carrying inside that heart of yours, Eric?
Neither of you deserve this.
And now that I looked closer…
we were all just people pretending to be strong enough to guide others while silently falling apart ourselves.
I truly wondered if fate could ever become kind enough to slowly perfect the imperfections within us.
Because maybe only then…
could people like us finally learn how to live.