Chapter 05- Mother
In a big hospital in the heart of New York, the place was very lively, mostly because it was winter and illness was a frequent visitor on these cold days. Many went there for regular check-ups too so it was pretty safe to say the place was populated to the brim.
There, inside a room, a woman could be seen sitting on his bed, a white blanket covered his legs and a soft pillow was put behind his back for support.
Her gaze was locked on the window near her bed as she didn't avert her eyes, not once. Not even when the door slid open and someone came inside. Her gaze was only directed toward the window.
The person that came inside looked at the woman silently, his mouth moved to say something but then he hesitated and decided to change his approach. A smile appeared on his face.
"Mother." He said with a happy tone. A fake one.
The woman didn't respond to his call, it was the norm. The last time he heard her voice was long ago. In fact, he actually can't recall the last time his mother spoke to him.
But, be it as it may, he walked inside, closed the door, and put the bag of fruits and other things he bought on the table. After that, he sat down on the chair near the bed.
"I bought you some oranges. I know you like them."
No response, so he grabbed an orange and started peeling it off with a knife. His speed was astonishing as he was able to peel off the orange in a few seconds. Goes to show a clear skill with the knife.
After that, he sliced the orange up into two. His mother was way too sick to eat a whole orange and could only eat half.
As he put the knife down, he tried to give her the orange. But, the woman was still ignoring him, his hand kept hanging in the air with the orange dripping ever-so-slowly.
After waiting for a few seconds, he retracted his hand and started eating a slice of the orange. His smile didn't vanish at all through this interaction… Or the lack of it to be more precise.
As he was about to put the slice in his mouth, his mother spoke to him in an extremely rare case.
"Why did you come back?" She asked with a calm tone.
Axel froze for a split second before responding quickly.
"I came to visit you."
"It has been a year since you got locked behind bars. How did you get out?" She asked with that same calm tone.
"I escaped."
"So, it's true after all. You were the one responsible for that massacre." She said. Her voice lacked any emotions even though she was talking to her own son.
"Yes."
After his response, the woman finally looked back at him for the first time. From the first look, there was an uncanny resemblance between the two. Axel was really similar to his mother in terms of looks so it was only safe to say that she was an amazing beauty.
However, that beauty was ruined by the pale color on her face and the weak look in her eyes. A weak look that only got weaker and weaker when she gazed at Axel.
"In the end, I did raise a criminal. I failed as a mother, didn't I? I failed to raise you up. It was all my fault after all. It was our fault."
"Mother, I…"
"Why did you come back?! I was really glad when you got caught. I thought, maybe, just maybe, he will finally try to fix himself. But, I was gravely wrong, all that happened is that you became worse and worse with each passing moment."
Her teeth clenched tightly as she was on the verge of crying, her face contorted with sadness. But, instead, her body didn't handle this outburst of emotions and she started coughing violently.
Axel's eyes widened as he immediately stood up and tried to touch her. But, she slapped his hand away and looked at him with a glare.
"Don't touch me! COUGH! COUGH!"
Axel stopped and merely watched her as she coughed furiously.
'Her state is becoming worse and worse.' Axel thought with a pained look on his face.
"I wish… I never gave birth to you. You are the worst regret of my life. Just leave."
She said after calming down, Axel could see a trickle of blood running down her chin that she wasn't aware of. But, his mind was totally locked on something else.
That phrase was like a dagger that stabbed into his heart. Anyone who hears such a thing from their own mother would crumble down instantly. The person he spent most of his life with, the person he looked up to as this gentle, loving, and caring mother that he could jump into her embrace whenever he felt pain, sadness, or fear. That same person hated him.
But, instead of crying, or even showing a sad look he merely kept smiling, that same smile albeit even more fake.
After that, he walked to the door and slid it open.
"Keep it together, mom."
After that, he closed the door behind him and left.
"Did she talk to you?" A voice asked him.
"She did. She told me that she wished she never gave birth to me."
The girl didn't reply as she was also very perturbed by these words. She couldn't imagine the pain of hearing it.
"Listen, Axel. She's been through a lot, she didn't mean it. Our mother still loves you and wishes for you to become better."
"You don't have to say anything, it is what it is. I chose this while knowing what was going to happen."
"Axel…"
"Take care of yourself, big sis. I'm grateful that you kept talking to me even after all of that." He said. A sad smile appeared on his face as he uttered those words.
The girl gritted her teeth as tears welled up in her eyes. Axel looked at her before closing the distance between them and patting her on the head.
"You have always been the rational one out of the both of us. I can rely on you on keeping mom safe. I will definitely return and fix everything. I promise."
"Fine… Take care of yourself, too. Don't do anything reckless. Even though I know that you will do the polar opposite of what I said."
"Hahaha! I was born for this. It was my dream and desire for the longest time. If I die while doing so, I will be totally happy."
"I know… I know that way too well."
Axel then walked away and vanished from her sight. Her eyes lingered on the place where she saw him last before sighing.
"You didn't have to burden yourself with all of that, idiot." She muttered before walking inside the room and closing the door.
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"Ugh, I'm finally over with work." Elize stretched her limbs as she rested her back on the chair.
She was running a massive company that worked in selling and buying historic artifacts. Elize started this business only a few years ago but it quickly grew to become a behemoth in the world of treasure hunting and auctions. She was also the third most rich person on earth. Her fortune was in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Her mind was not calm at all the whole day after meeting that bastard. All she could think about was their conversation. The last time she saw him was over a year ago and at that time, he did something that made her lose all trust in him.
Before that, she was pretty much madly in love with Axel. It was to the point that she thought she was going nuts with how much she loved him. Elize thought Axel loved as much as she loved him too and they both roamed the world together. They worked together as they found old relics and items in lost temples, vast deserts, and deep forests.
The accomplishments they had under their belts were countless and it only worked to strengthen their bond.
They were basically inseparable, a perfect team of S-rank treasure hunters. The peak of the peak. That was until that cursed day came.
At some point, she even thought about marriage, settling up, and creating a family together with him. Looking back at herself, all she could do was laugh mockingly at how naive she was.
'Why am I even reminiscing now?! It was all a huge mistake anyway.' She scratched her head before murmuring some incoherent words.
"Look how you messed up your hair. Such a waste of your beautiful hair." A teasing voice spoke to her and woke her up from her deep thoughts.
Then, out of the darkness, Axel walked out with his usual smile on his face.
"Knock before entering, you bastard. Next time, I will call the cops on you for attempted sexual assault."
"So cold, honey. I did knock a few times though. But, you seemed to be thinking about something so you didn't hear me."
"Oh…"
"What were you thinking of?" He asked.
"None of your business."
"Hmm… Perhaps, were you thinking about me?"
He hit the bullseye with the question as Elize tried to her embarrassment. So, to not fall into his trap, she just did what she was most confident in doing.
*Click*
She pulled out her gun and glared at him. After that, she stood up and walked toward him, her gun reached his skull and touched his head.
"If you try to piss me off again, I will put a hole in your brain and then throw your corpse to the pigs to eat."
"Hahahaha! At least bury me properly."
"I want to send you to the depths of hell in the worst possible and humiliating way. That's what you deserve. Now, enough of this bullshit."
She pulled away her gun and walked to the desk, she pulled out a document from her pile of papers filling the table.
"The eyes of the starless sky. These two gems are said to be Cleopatra's gems that she wore when she was still alive. The necklace they were embedded into is lost but the gems were found and they are getting sold in the black market."
Axel examined the document thoroughly as he listened to Elize's explanation. The gems she was talking about were two black diamonds, diamonds were almost always transparent but these two were just pure black. A midnight black.
"They are going to auction them tomorrow in Las Vegas. But, that was what they said. The real truth is that someone is going to steal them. An S-rank treasure hunter to be more precise. Ilkay Jhonson."
"Ilkay Jhonson? I think I heard of his name before."
"He's very well-known. Also, he's quite strong. Those gems will actually be given to his employer."
"Who is that employer?"
"I still don't know. But, what I'm sure of is that tomorrow at this same time, Ikay Jhonson will try to steal them. You can imagine the chaos that will happen in case these two gems get stolen."
"I see… What should I do then?"
"Simple… Steal them before Ikay could put his hand on them."
"Wait, so you want to say we should steal them before they get stolen? Damn, out stealing the stealer is very smart. I like it." Axel nodded his head.
"Whatever… You will have to get those gems no matter what. I can fetch a great price for them if that happens."
"But, didn't you insult me because of it this morning? Saying 'FIlthy thief' and whatever."
"You are still a filthy thief. But, this is the world of treasure hunters. Stealing is what everyone does. I am also included."
"Well, if you admit it then we are good. I do enjoy talking with a fellow filthy thief." Axel said with a laugh.
"Don't compare me with you."
"Fine, fine. Consider these gems taken."
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