The Bitter Taste

Chapter 31: Past Memories .1

Ms.Vanderbilt let out a really breathy sigh, but did not disagree. And so, she leaned back against her chair's cushion and turned her head towards the Earl, looking at him as if asking what his thoughts were about what Jane had said. She received a monotone face.

"Well, first of all, I ought to make this short since... our trip going to the hospital will not be able to suffice for the time it would take."

"It's that long?"

"Well, yes of course." She said, chuckling. "I mean, if someone asked you to tell a story about how your childhood went, then you'd probably start channeling and trying to recall every important past event that ever happened to you."

"In this case, we won't be telling you everything. Just the events that involved all three of us, that being the Viscount, Amelia and Myself." The Earl said.

•••

The sky above them looked like puffs of cotton and a slur of bird feathers. It was something that Amelia loved to watch silently, sitting on the grassy grounds of their family's garden. It was around the month of April, and all the flowers surrounding her seemed to be at its highest peak of bloom. Some beads of dew rested upon leaves and rattling bushes as well, giving of the same nostalgic scent every year.

"Hey, when is your father coming back from work?" Asked the young boy who laid down beside her, nonchalantly playing with long strands of grass as he tried to weave something out of it.

Meanwhile, Amelia just slouched and rested her chin against her knees which were bent, not saying a word.

"Hey I'm talking to you." He said again, this time sitting up and looking directly at her with an annoyed expression. "You're not supposed to ignore people when they're talking to you."

"Does this face look like I care?" She said, returning the same annoyed expression. "My father is probably coming back late as usual. His work requires him to."

"Well, alright then. I just wanted to ask." He said.

"Why?" She asked.

"It's your birthday isn't it?" He said, crossing his legs like an Indian, as he picked up a small daisy flower from the grass surrounding them. "Isn't your father going to cut his work short, at least for today?"

"It depends." She said. "According to him, before he left this morning, he said that if he isn't able to send Uncle Ronald to keep me company today, then he might."

The boy nodded at the information. "But might is a very indecisive word."

"I agree." She said, looking back up at the lonely sky as she watched subtle rays of light peer in through the tree branches and leaves. "Well, don't get me wrong... I'm not upset or anything. It's just that, when you're turning fifteen, you don't exactly desire so much anymore. The things that you have always wanted whenever you turn of age as a child cease to interest you - all those useless things. Instead, you yearn for something sentimental, and I guess it turns out that it's... a lot more expensive than those toys and confectionaries."

The Earl kept his face monotone at every word that she said. He may not have been able to understand what she meant by sentimental things, but he knew deep inside that her words conflicted with her emotions. She was never the type to expose how she felt so easily, and so she would always try to cover it up.

"Well, that's very depressing don't you think?" He asked, shaking Amelia out of her serious gaze, and making her look at him. "How about we go back inside the manor and play some cards. I'll be the one to shuffle next." Henry smiled and leant forward as he inserted the stem of the white daisy flower inside the spaces in between her temple and her ear. He then arranged it properly so it was able to situate itself snugly without falling. The young boy noted to himself that she looked extremely beautiful with such an ornament designing her long locks, despite a rather sad face, but he would never admit it of course.