𝐀 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 | 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 (slow updates)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟓

William's eyes fluttered open. He groaned and lifted up his hand as bright light flooded his vision, blinding him. Suddenly, he was held in familiar marble arms. He tensed before returning the embrace, knowing that he was safe in his mother's arms. He buried his head in her shoulder, remembering the events that had occurred earlier. His mother revealing herself . . . The Cullens finding out who he was. William brushed the intruding thoughts away. He would have time to process all of this later. 

"Mom," he murmured, burying his head further into her marble shoulder. 

"William," Bella breathed out, squeezing him tighter.

He reluctantly lifted his head from her shoulder, meeting the Cullen's shocked gazes, their golden eyes swimming with curiosity and most likely questions. William bit back a groan as he saw them. He just wanted to go home with his mother; forget about all this and move on. 

He pulled away from his mother's tight embrace and faced the Cullens, lowering his head as their gazes pierced into him. 

"Hi?" he said, slowly lifting his head to meet their shocked gazes. 

Emmett's laughter boomed across the room, causing his mother to wince at the volume of his roaring laughter. She wasn't used to such loud noise. 

Seeing Bella's flinch, Edward shot Emmett a glare, but Emmett stared at William, struggling to contain his thunderous laughter. Rosalie's lips stretched out into a small smile as she heard Emmett's quieted laughter, but her steely gaze was set on William, containing enough ferocity enough to make the strongest man crumble under her piercing gaze. 

Bella sighed, grabbing his hand. For a moment, neither of them knew what to say. They all sat in an awkward silence. 

"You're Bella's son," Edward said softly, his velvety voice breaking the awkward silence. He said the words through gritted teeth, as if the words pained him greatly; tormented him to no avail. William came to a sudden realization. Edward was pained by the thought of Bella moving on, even if in the end, it was Edward who had left her.

William nodded uncertainly, unsure or not whether to meet his father's gaze. He simply glanced at the man before returning his gaze to Esme. She wore a kind smile, one that she seemed to wear all the time, but William could see the hidden pain and grief in her eyes as she stared at his mother. From what he had seen, it seemed as if the Cullens had cared for his mother, but that was in the past and they couldn't change the past. William couldn't forget that they had also dumped her in the forest, leaving her behind in Forks, Washington forever. Until now. 

William stared into Edward's golden topaz eyes. His eyes swam with questions, questions that didn't deserve to be answered. He didn't get to be automatically forgiven, William knew it would take some time, but in the depths of his golden eyes, there were certain emotions that lingered. Grief, pain, shock, heartache, and self-loathing, but the most prominent emotion was love. William was shocked by what he found in the depths of Edward's golden topaz eyes. 

'He still loves her,' he repeated in his head. 'He loved her.' It was a thought that lingered in William's swimming mind. It was as if he was sinking in the depths of the cold water in La Push, but now he wasn't drowning in chilled water, he was drowning in the thoughts, answers, and secrets his mind held. 

Oh, the irony . . .