SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Thirty-Three: Melancholy
Chapter Thirty-Three: Melancholy
TIME PASSED by in a blur.
More like, ‘Time passed by like it’s gonna run out of time itself’ because before Hyacinth knew it, everyone was already celebrating Erin’s 2nd birthday.
There were smiles on everyone’s faces. There’s laughter everywhere. The now fourteen-year-old Erin carried her younger self in her arms while Jean held her two-year-old baby boy named Andreus in her arms. The two babies chuckled and gripped each other’s saliva-wet hands due to their excessive drooling.
But Hyacinth and Max found it very hard to fake a smile.
Today marks their last year together.
That also meant that in a matter of days or weeks, Hyacinth will disappear together with the teenager Erin.
Maximillian tried so hard to make Erin’s birthday a memorable one. They invited only Jean, Andrei, and their baby boy. Philip Mayers, too, is present at the birthday party.
Everyone was having fun except the couple who only held hands and watched the people around them having a blast.
Hyacinth squeezed her husband’s hands firmly in her palm. He looked over his shoulder to see her expression and she just smiled.
“Today’s our daughter’s birthday, Max. Next month is your birthday. Why are you so gloomy?”
He sighed. “Faking a smile isn’t really my strong suit. Everyone knows me very well, especially you.”
Hyacinth wrapped her arms around his waist so that she could press her chest against his back. “Of course, I know you very well, Max. We spent every day of the past two years together. I know you like the back of my hand.”
“Then, you must know how my heart aches for you and Erin, love.”
Hyacinth kissed his cheek. “Of course, Max. I know. It hurts you so much.” A stray tear fell on his shoulder. “It hurts me, too, knowing that you’ll spend a decade, maybe a lifetime, without me in it.”
Maximillian turned to face his loving wife. As a doting husband and father, Max had tried to be the pillar of his family. Erin had always run to his side to seek advice whenever his angsty daughter got upset from the whole homeschool thing. For Hyacinth, Max is her go-to person— a shoulder to lean onto when motherhood felt so overwhelming and physically taxing, especially when she’s dealing with a baby Erin and a teenager Erin at the same time. For the past two years, Max has been nothing but the epitome of affection and the foundation of the Bismarck family.
But the thing is that he never showed his vulnerable side to anyone. He acted tough for them...for his girls.
Well, Hyacinth is an exception.
At the end of the day, it is in her arms that Max found solace and the replenishment he needed to start the day with enough enthusiasm for everyone.
“Do you want me to listen? We can talk inside for a while—”
“No need, Haya. Today’s a special day for Erin.” He sighed as if he was letting out the heaviness off his chest. Hyacinth kissed her husband’s shoulder, letting him feel that he was not alone in his sentiments...that she, too, is agitated.
.
.
PHILIP went outside of the Bismarck mansion to puff his cigarette. The red tip of the stick glowed as he sucked in the nicotine.
Today had been very stressful. Before he left his office, Ben Sinclair had requested a few minutes of his time. It took the old man almost two hours to tell him the entire history of Sinclairs. The thread-reading thing from a certain bloodline to the secrets of the threads.
He threw the cigarette on the sidewalk and stepped on it until its embers were mushed on the ground.
“That’s a waste.”
He groaned painfully at the sound of the familiar voice.
Maine Bismarck went to his side and crossed her arms. The woman regarded him with her signature condescending look. It didn’t skip from Philip’s observation that the woman had undergone a drastic transformation over the years: from a spoiled teenager to an attractive vixen who wears clothes that highlights her assets. These past two years had done incredible changes to her appearance.
For example, she wore a long-sleeved, cream winter dress that highlighted the midnight dark of her hair and the vivid blue of her thickly-lashed eyes. It was fascinating how it looked so blue when it almost seemed like violet. He had never seen a pair of eyes that is so mesmerizing and unnerving at the same time. The last time he saw the woman, she looked exactly like a bratty character out of a Barbie movie. She acted posh and dressed like a posh.
The annoying brat turned out to be a desirable woman after two years. What caused this transformation? Is she naturally sensual like this before? Why didn’t he notice it, then?
His right brow arched, giving the impression of an unspoken inquiry regarding Maine’s presence beside him.
“Staring for a prolonged period is rude, Mr. Mayers.”
A chuckle vibrated in his throat. Philip then faked a cough in a poor attempt to render his seductive chuckle earlier nothing but a wrong note. “I’m staring at the dirt on your forehead,” he lied.
Maine frantically wiped the spot with her palm, then surveyed her hand to check if she wiped the dirt off or if she caused a smudge.
“Oh, it came off. Good for you.” He turned his back to leave but Maine stopped him in his tracks by tugging the cuff of his right sleeve.
An electric wave surged under his skin and he immediately jerked away from her grasp. An unlikely reaction from him, but it was a reasonable response considering the strange feeling that had crept inside of him earlier.
“May I ask a favor, Sir?” Maine looked at him with uneasiness, probably because she suddenly regretted her actions earlier.
A favor? Is this multi-millionaire brat asking for his help?
Interesting.
“I need to speak with Ben Sinclair, Hyacinth’s father.”
“Why?” Why, indeed?
His curiosity—a natural instinct from him that is usually awakened by highly-rewarded cases—rose from his brain like the undead. A rare occurrence yet again, and this creature was the one who keeps on making him respond at her every whim.
What the hell?
The woman explained her reasons immediately to answer the confusion written on his face. “I need information from him. If Max and Hyacinth are just gonna sit around and wait for fate to ruin their happiness, then I need to help.” Maine sighed. “You’re concerned about Haya, too, right? Then, you need to help me.”
His protective instincts towards Hyacinth screamed for him to take action...to ask more questions. Is Hyacinth in danger?
“I don’t know the whole story but I think Erin and Hyacinth will disappear this year...maybe this month—I don’t know!” Maine covered her distressed face with her palm. “I want to help them. I don’t want my brother to be the way he used to be. He had changed a lot since he married Hyacinth, Mr. Mayers. He began to feel at ease.” Maine sighed and brought her hands to her hips. “I think it will destroy him if Erin and Hyacinth will disappear.”
Philip is the kind of man that never feels compassion easily in a blink of an eye. The first time it happened, he was helping Hyacinth. The second time? Well...Maine’s asking for his help.
What’s in him that attracts helpless females? Holy mother of god!
“Just allow me to talk to Ben Sinclair for a few minutes. That’s all I ask.”
Philip is more than willing to help the woman if it’s regarding Hyacinth’s mysterious ‘disappearance’. His hands are itching to seek the answer himself to Lawton Penitentiary in the city of Yureville in Northern Isles where Ben Sinclair is. The highly-guarded, impenetrable penitentiary is just nearby Sutton City. It’s a two-hour drive from Trudor Square where the infamous Bismarck mansion stands.
“Do you want to bring someone with you?”
“No, Mr. Mayers. I’m twenty-two. I don’t need permission from anybody, or a chaperone.”
That would be the case for normal human beings. Maine, on the other hand, is too sheltered, to say the least. Did she even know the dangers of being too sheltered and stepping inside a penitentiary without proper guidance? She might back away before she even gets inside the establishment.
Oh, how Philip would love to see that. An entertainment in his mundane life, indeed.
“Very well, Ms. Bismarck—”
“Call me Maine, please. Ms. Bismarck is close to being a tongue twister.”
He slowly lifted a corner of his lips to form a devious smirk. “I’ll only do that if you were to call me ‘Philip’. ”
He headed inside the gates of the mansion towards the back of the mansion where the guest parking is, and Maine followed behind him like an obedient pet.
“That’s kind of rude, too. You’re almost a decade older than me. Addressing an older man by his first name is a bit odd.”
He chuckled at that. “That is the reason why you need to ask permission from your older brother or your sister-in-law. You’re too sheltered to still adhere to that old mindset. People in this boring country are free to be formal or informal in the way they address others if they asked permission firsthand.”
Maine groaned. “I know, but it just feels weird to call you by your first name.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
She groaned. “Oh, after this interview with Ben Sinclair, we will never see each other again. There’s no need to get used to it.”
Philip agreed to that. They rarely see each other, anyway. What’s the point of asking Maine to call him by his first name?
An odd suggestion from him, that’s for sure. Maine is obliged to offer her first name as a way to address her since she’s younger than him, but it is weird for him to ask her the same thing from her because he’s older than her. It might’ve been understandable if Maine is just one or three years younger than him.
He searched his pocket for his car keys as a distraction. Philip swore to himself that this will be the last time that he’ll get involved with the Bismarck woman.