Chapter 95: We Have Broken Even

Chapter 95: Chapter 95: We Have Broken Even

Lincoln watched it all in silence, deeply moved inside. He quietly filmed the whole of this process, then sent it to Theodore far away along with a message: [Brother, the children have all grown up. Your nephew is getting ready to marry as well, so when are you finally going to take a wife?]

Theodore: [You are over fifty yourself, so why have I not seen you take a wife?]

Lincoln: [You are two years older than me, so how can I marry when you have not. Brother, shall I arrange a few matchmaking meetings for you? When do you think you can get back?]

Theodore: [Get lost!]

Compared with Lincoln, Julian’s attention was given far more to Elijah. The one who had shouted out demanding Benjamin kiss Daniel was Elijah. Julian’s attention had been drawn to him from that moment.

Julian simply stared. The eyes of the grown man carried feelings surging up in him, so complicated they could not be named. Ever since learning the appalling truth about that year, that this nine-year-old child had had to grit his teeth and endure the humiliation inflicted by that monster Jackson Martinez, and had been forced to lay a false charge on his own youngest uncle in order to protect his elder brother and sister, Julian’s heart had been torn at by remorse and pity.

He had once hated Elijah to the bone because that ridiculous accusation back then had all but destroyed his honour, and was the spark that made the Vance family disown the three Martinez siblings. But at this moment, looking at the rare smile breaking out on the boy’s face as he cheered Benjamin on, Julian felt a bitterness choking his chest.

Stared at by his "youngest uncle" with a burning gaze brimming with torment and grief, Elijah went rigid at once. Guilt and resentment walking side by side together were like an enormous stone pressing down on his chest so that he could not breathe. The smile on his lips turned forced then died out. He bit his lip in secret, his eyes darting about in confusion to avoid it. An invisible, suffocating air wound itself tight around Elijah’s mind.

Unable to bear that look one second longer, Elijah turned to seize Liam’s sleeve, clearing his throat to say quietly:

"Liam, out of nowhere I have got a tremendously good new idea for the screenplay. The inspiration is pouring out, I want to go home first to write it down."

Liam shifted his eyes slightly off the couple locked in a kiss, his gaze passing lightly over Elijah’s extreme agitation and over the figure of Julian standing not far off. He nodded blandly: "All right, you go on home first. Take care on the way."

Elijah was like a man granted a pardon, hurriedly turning to walk quickly out of the back yard that was drowning in boisterous cheers.

Elijah did not take an electric cart to get home. He pulled the collar of his wool coat up high, choosing to walk along the small path that followed the riverbank. The night wind carried its chill across the face of the water, tossing his fluffy hair about, at the same time fanning up the bitterness welling at the corners of his eyes. The space along the riverbank was exceedingly still, in complete contrast to the noise a moment ago.

And Elijah knew that he was not walking alone at all.

There was a steady sound of footsteps behind him, always keeping a distance of some ten-odd paces. Julian’s broad shoulders cast their shadow quietly under the street lights, following patiently after him for a long stretch.

Elijah walked fast, the footsteps walked fast; Elijah walked slowly, the footsteps slowed too. That person did not hide his own existence, yet he had no intention at all of coming forward to disturb him.

In the end, on reaching a deserted stretch of road beneath an ancient tree, Elijah stopped. He drew a deep breath of the cold air, turning round outright.

"How much longer do you mean to follow me, Uncle Julian?" Elijah’s trembling voice blended into the wind.

The footsteps of the person behind came to a halt. Julian slowly stepped out of the dark patch under the canopies. The lamplight thrown onto his face created deep pools of shadow. Julian looked at the nephew who had with his own hands thrown a bowl of dirty water over him, his voice thick and hoarse:

"I only wanted to see whether you were safe walking at night."

"This planet has always been very safe, you do not need to do that. I am grown now, I can look after my own life, I no longer need your "looking after"."

Elijah bit down hard on the words "looking after", as though making an invisible blade of wind that cut into Julian’s heart. He clenched his two hands, his face frighteningly white. He and Elijah stood facing each other like that, neither of them blinking once. A while later, Julian said hoarsely:

"Do you still hate me? Because that year, I abandoned you twice over..."

Elijah let out a breath, laughing bitterly: "Not twice, Julian. Six times. You abandoned me twice at the university sports ground, once at the shopping centre, once at the swimming pool in the amusement park, once in the back yard of the Martinez house and once in the storeroom. Six times, and if it was not being busy amusing yourself with friends then it was going off to nurture your feelings with your girlfriend. The first four times, I was still safe because I was lucky enough to meet kind people, so you simply took it for granted that I would always be safe like that."

His voice rose a little: "You were always pulling me out of my safe place, yet you never once guaranteed my safety. If you could not guarantee my safety, what were you pulling me out for?!"

"That day, everyone assumed I was with you so nobody went out to the back yard to disturb us. How were they to know that the person who had promised to look after me had jumped over the wall to go and meet his girlfriend? And I was so stupid, why did I have to be such an obedient child? You told me to wait for you, and I stupidly sat there waiting the whole afternoon."

Elijah’s voice shook a little, carrying the sound of weeping: "In that equipment room, at that moment Jackson had only just dragged me inside, and if you had opened that door, you would have saved me. But that girlfriend called and you left straight away. Julian, you always abandoned me. Give me one reason not to hate you..."

Julian was almost in pain enough to suffocate. He took a few steps forward, but Elijah immediately stepped back to stretch the distance out again.

"I... Elijah... I am sorry..." Julian did not know what to say, choking out only those few words. Elijah leaned his back against the tree trunk, tipping his head up to the sky as though he wanted to force the tears back inside. But the tears still fell, sliding past the rims of his ears then soaking into his hair.

Elijah clenched his hands, laughing desolately: "There is no need to apologise to me, I have taken my revenge after all. You must have been badly shaken, I suppose? I hear you were in an unstable state for several years running. Let us call it breaking even. I have found my way back to my own family now, I am no longer someone carrying half the Vance bloodline, nor do I have the slightest relation to you. We, are quits."

He straightened up, smiling at Julian: "From now on, I hope you will not disturb my life again. Out of regard for your being the blood uncle of my brother and sister and Liam, if we happen to meet I will still greet you out of politeness."

Having finished speaking, Elijah turned and walked quickly off into the road leading back to the villa area. The light fell on his lonely back, gradually carrying him away out of sight of the man behind. Julian stood rooted to the spot watching him go, not stirring for a very long time.

When Lincoln found his younger brother, he was sitting curled up at the foot of a tree by the riverbank. The tip of his nose was flushed red, as though he had been crying.

Lincoln quietly walked over to his younger brother, leaning his back against the tree trunk, tipping his head up to look at the band of the galaxy above the sky through the leaves. He asked: "You asked and had it all out, did you? And so it has come to this?"

Julian did not answer, only burying his head deeper. Lincoln let out a sigh: "There are some things that sitting here in remorse will do nothing about. Instead of weeping uselessly, find a way to make it up to the boy."

Julian choked out: "Brother, Elijah says we are quits. But... how can we be quits? The pain the boy had to bear is a haunting that lasts a lifetime, all because of a wretch like me." He broke into audible sobs: "Brother, what am I to do? I no longer know how to face Elijah. The boy does not want me disturbing his life any more either."

"Then leave him in peace, Julian." Lincoln sighed, pulling his younger brother to his feet: "The boy needs time. If you truly want what is good for Elijah, respect his decision. Stand at a distance and protect him, do not appear in front of him again. That is the only way for him to forget the past."

Julian stared fixedly towards the villa area that had sunk into stillness, where the light in the window of Elijah’s room was still burning.

His heart was as though a large piece had been gouged out of it, the bone-piercing cold wind blowing through the hollow.

Inside the room, from the moment he got back until now, Elijah had been leaning his back against the door, sitting hunched on the cold floor. He hugged his two knees tightly, burying his face in his arms, sobbing like a child.

All the grievance, all the resentment pent up over some ten-odd years had finally been spoken out. He had supposed that once those merciless words were said, his heart would feel lighter, would be released from the ghost of the past. But the truth was that it hurt far more than he had imagined.

Julian was the person he loved most in the Vance house, the one who always carried him about on his shoulders, who always bought him the strangest toys. Thoughtless though he was, often as he forgot him, in the memory of the child he had been then, his youngest uncle’s arms had always been steady and warm.

It was precisely because he had once relied on him, had once trusted him absolutely, that being abandoned at the very moment of greatest despair made the collapse so terrible. Elijah’s hatred was not only for that monster Jackson, but was also a deep reproach aimed at the person who had promised to protect him then turned his back and left.

But now, with Julian standing haggard before him carrying the utmost remorse, Elijah felt only emptiness. The revenge was done, the merciless words were let go, and what was left to him besides a soul patched together and covered in scars?

Suddenly, the smart watch on Elijah’s wrist buzzed faintly. In the dark of night, the light from the screen fell on his tear-soaked face. It was a message from Liam:

[However bad the past may have been, at present you have Father, Mother, Alexander, Benjamin, Isabella, Levi the butler and me besides. We love you. Sleep well, great author.]

Elijah looked at the short message, the corner of his mouth curving slightly into a faint smile mingled with tears. That was right, he was no longer the lonely, helpless child in the storeroom of years ago. He had a real family now, people ready to step forward and protect him at any price.

Elijah wiped his tears away, stood up and climbed into the VR pod, going through into the virtual world. The same virtual room, the same virtual keyboard computer, and each of Elijah’s fingers flew swiftly over it, drawing out a new life for his character.

The past... let it simply be taken for a film screenplay.