Chapter 5

Rosalie walked across the room and found it empty.

He looked at the watch on his wrist, it was not so late so he went upstairs to see his children.

When the woman reached the last step, she almost fell back to hear Angelika’s cries.

Rosalie felt her heart beating wildly, her legs trembled and she slipped as she turned the aisle.

Her first thought for Angelika’s cries was that someone had invaded the house and was hurting her.

Rosalie stood up and kept running, feeling the verge of collapse.

When Rosalie came to the focus of the screams, she found it was in her room.

And she was shocked by the scene she saw.

Bastien was with several bags of clothes thrown on the floor, while Angelika tried to hit him in tears.

Rosalie still felt her heart was beating too fast, however, she approached the scene.

Just a quick look and she realized that all those clothes belonged to Duncan...

She looked at her youngest son, his face was much like Duncan’s when he was young, when his looks met he could not sustain him for long.

" Mother! He’s trying to get rid of everything that was my father’s!"

She could feel all the pain of those words, saw in her daughter’s eyes the suffering.

Angelika refused to let Bastien get rid of the clothes that belonged to her father.

The girl had a red face, and her eyes swollen from crying, her brown hair falling around her.

" Can not let... Do not let... " Begged Angelika, her voice increasingly weak.

Bastien was standing behind her, looking at her sister.

There was pain in her green eyes, a pain that Rosalie could perfectly understand.

The woman approached her firstborn and pulled her into a hug.

She enveloped Angelika and held her in her arms and whispered soft words in her ear, even as Angelika tried to disengage and accuse Bastien she held her tighter.

Until the girl realized there was no other option, to get involved with her mother.

Angelika combusted, having a massive crying crisis and lost her strength in Rosalie’s arms.

Slowly the girl was dropping, until both remained on the floor on their knees.

Rosalie did not allow herself to cry, only consoled her daughter.

But his pain was the same.

- I miss him... - Murmured Angelika, his voice was cramped.

Rosalie nodded as she continued to hold her face against her heart.

Comforting her like a little girl, because she would always be your little girl.

When the widow looked up at Bastien, she saw with sadness that he was crying silently against the wall.

She raised a hand, offering it to him.

Bastien looked at her, her eyes were a misty sky.

He was just a teenager, even though his physique didn’t show that.

Bastien approached and knelt down giving in to that moment, the three hugged each other for a long time.

And they shared their pain, at least in those minutes.

Later that night, Rosalie returned all of Duncan’s belongings to her place, and thought about Bastien’s attitude.

"I see the lady curling up in everything that was his, see you two do it"

She remembered his words, and how it hurt him.

Pain in every word.

Rosalie looked at herself, was wearing one of Duncan’s favorite shirts.

She inspired, and realized she still had her scent...

I’m not ready yet, he thought.

It hurt in his heart.

But he couldn’t get rid of anything from Duncan.

She was torturing herself, she knew it.

But I couldn’t help it. Not yet.

She took a deep breath and tried to distract her mind with the work, determined to prove to everyone that she doubted her.

Rosalie walked up to some books on business management, and started reading.

He was reading about sales strategies, administration, for hours at a time.

Studying about the car parts market.

When she finally decided to take a break, she checked her emails, hoping to see some news from the investigation into the explosion.

I knew Duncan’s death wasn’t an accident, it couldn’t be.

Rosalie made her way to the phone, and called the investigator in charge of the case.

Minutes later she hit the phone, with the words "No new information" choking on her throat.

She lay in bed, and just one thought spun all night in her mind.

I’d investigate on my own.

Minutes later as these thoughts hammered into his head the phone rang, the woman answered and said "Hello".

There was no response from the other side, only one breath.

Somehow, without knowing the reason, Rosalie found herself crying in silence.