Chapter 6

“Jonny!” The sound of a sing-song voice ringing through the hallways brought me back from the seriousness of work, and I mused quietly at the nickname Ms. Hurst had chosen to give to the rebellious youngster. The better of three weeks had passed by quickly, and it definitely took me by surprise that Ms. Hurst had shown no signs of cracking or anything relatively close.

Either she was very good at keeping it all in, or she was truly enjoying her work.

“Jonny!” I heard her sing out again, and a figure slipped past the translucent glass of my door. She was on her wakeup call again.

“I got it, bitch!” The annoyed reply rang out, and I started in surprise. This was a change; Jon was already awake at nine in the morning?

“You’re awake? Praise the lords, ladies and heaven above!” She cried out, even though I never knew Ms. Hurst as pious woman. There was a shout of irritated reply from Jon, followed by amused chuckles as the figure danced by the study again, on her way to the kitchen to fix breakfast. It was now a routine that we were all comfortable with –me staying out of the way while Ms. Hurst worked her way through to Jon.

I would never have imagined that I found the perfect woman for the job three weeks ago, but yet Jon was definitely more receptive of her. The impenetrable fortress that was Jon’s defense was somehow breached, and had allowed an outsider in. Years had gone by, and Jon’s defense had gotten only stronger with more self-despondence. Yet, somehow, Ms. Hurst had gotten past it all –past his insults, his scathing words and his physical unhappiness? In all honesty, I was rather amazed.

The tenth nanny in the line, and her magic was working.

Knocks came from the door, then the door opened, a head of bright amusement popped in through the small crack of the doorway.

“Mr. Elxa, do you want breakfast?” She asked brightly, despite the fact that I had never once accepted her invitation.

“No thank you, Ms. Hurst.” I replied impassively, looking back down at the blueprints on the desk.

“Will you be going out today? Some of Jonny’s friends are coming over for a dinner party, so we don’t want to bother you with our ruckus.”

This time, I did look up at her, meeting her impeccably blue eyes. Almost immediately I knew who I could see inside those eyes, and yet I said nothing about it as I stared at her, wondering if she was being serious.

“Jon’s …friends? Dinner party?” It would have been insulting if the questions were asked about anyone else, but this was Jon we were talking about. Jon had secluded himself from everyone ever since he found himself the club down the street, and made a fuss about not being able to go in there because of his age. Deciding that he was better off clubbing rather than running out with the wrong groups, I’d pulled strings to let him in. I hadn’t been aware that he had made any sort of friends at all.

“Jonny and I’ve discovered what you call a ‘groupie club’ that goes crazy over various boy bands. Since we’re pretty much of the same era, we found that we fan-girl the same bands. Me; not so much. Jon? He likes to hide his favorite songs amongst other heavy metals songs. Anyway, I signed both of us up to a ‘Simple Plan’ club and a ‘The Script’ club. Tonight, we’re singing Simple Plan until we die.” Ms. Hurst explained, grinning stupidly as she did so.

Somehow, I had been so used to Ms. Hurst’s figure of speech that I no longer found her talk strange.

“Enjoy yourselves.” My reply was impassive –as it had always been.

“You know, you could join us. If you’re not too busy.” Ms. Hurst suggested, sounding hopeful. The past week, she’d been trying to invite me to the different activities she was now sharing with Jon. While I appreciated the effort, nothing could get past the angry, hateful stare that Jon still passed. Even if Jon was now very much changed, some things just didn’t change.

“I’m sorry, I’m meeting a client in the evening. I can’t say for sure when it will end.” I turned eyes back down to the blueprints on my desk. Over the weeks, I found that Ms. Hurst was truly one who respected personal space, and understood that I did not desire to be interrupted or understood, for she didn’t even spare a single look to the documents on my desk. As if she trusted everything I did to be legal.

Distantly I wondered what her reaction would be if she knew about the true side of me.

“Oh, that’s a pity. Well, that’s too bad, then.” Her face dropped quickly to a frown, but the expression didn’t last long as she regained her soft smile that I never seemed to see her without.

I readied myself to go back concentrating on the blueprints, but the door didn’t close as quickly as I expected it to. A few seconds of silence passed, and I looked up only on pure instincts to find Ms. Hurst still halfway in the door, looking a little uncertain now.

“Is there anything more, Ms. Hurst?”

At my prompt, she seemed to dredge up the courage she was barely scraping.

“I don’t really know anything about your family and your intentions, Mr. Elxa, but I’ll do my best. But if you really want to get through to Jon, doing it through me isn’t going to work. One day, I’m going to go missing, and Jon and you will be back to where you are. Please give yourself a chance, Mr. Elxa, and talk to Jon. Just a talk. One sentence; two. Be patient and make progress.” She spoke so suddenly, so quickly in a torrent that I almost had trouble following her, watching her blankly as she stumbled to catch up to herself. Her eyes of clear blue dropped to the floor in what seemed like embarrassment and uncertainty, hanging ashamed in the silence that followed after her speech.

I watched her for a long moment.

“Why, Ms. Hurst,” I began, then hesitated for a moment.

“Why, Mr. Elxa?” She asked, as if glad to be pouncing on whatever I said. “You want to ask why I care?”

She took the words right out of my mouth. I nodded once, then her eyes drew up slowly back to meet mine.

“I lost my mother five years ago, and I never had a father. I grew up knowing that this world is cold and cruel, and my mother was my only warmth –the only person I could trust. I believe that blood is thicker than water, Mr. Elxa. You can say that I am stupid and pathetic. You can say I am a naïve twenty-one year old. You can call me a bitch –like Jon. But I won’t stop trying to make things better. I’ve got this problem, you see. When someone does something for me, I treasure the person so much that I want to give everything I have back. But I don’t usually have much to give; except my life and my time.”

She paused, then looked at me, shocked as if she couldn’t believe that she’d said the word aloud. Then I could almost see the resignation flash in her eyes as she drew another breath. So she had more to say.

“I’m pathetic, but you picked me up from the street at my lowest. So I’ve agreed to give you my time. You gave me a direction, so I want to give you what you need with Jon. I’ve got nothing to give you back for your money, but I try my best. But if you don’t want to try talking to Jon, there’s really nothing I can do to help. I don’t want to be Jon’s best friend, and forget you totally. Just… Talk to him okay?” She concluded quickly, then closed the door behind him before I could say anything more.

It took a surprisingly long moment for me to process the thought after her departure, and yet no firm conclusion came into my mind. I had asked for May to look after her son, and she had blessed me with a woman who could get through Jon's walls.

Was it truly a way of my redemption? Was it truly that I could now proceed where I had been stopped so many years ago?

Still, it didn't change the very fundamentals of our problem. Jon’s hatred to me was more than something I did so long ago. It was right down to what defined me, what defined the strange family we’d become, that Jon despised. I couldn’t blame him –having lost his parents at such a young age. It was a natural occurrence that he would develop such fears, and time had never been kind to us as it only bred and nurtured Jon’s fear and hate.

Talk to Jon; I could. Convince him to fear less now that he was grown up and ready to take on the world? Maybe.

Ask him to forgive this world –in which I was in the middle of –for taking his parents away from him? Never.

I sighed and went back to my work. The work, in which nature was everything that Jon hated and feared.

The work, which was the one thing that Jon despised with the whole of his heart.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Dear lords, ladies and heaven above!” The cry of shock gained the temporary attention of everyone at the café, but normalcy resumed in the quick wink of a second as Hayden, oblivious to the eyes he had attracted, rushed towards me with pit in his eyes.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that I had heard a similar greeting only a mere few days ago; not made at me, but still made nevertheless.

“What the heck happened to you?” He implored worriedly, taking my arm firmly and removing my cane in a swift movement, forcing my hand on his to act as my new human cane.

Again, I tried not to dwell on the fact that the very same audacious movement had been preceded by another weeks ago.

“Tyler Yule happened. This is old injury, Hayden. There is no need to lose your mind over something so minor. And give me back my cane.” I said lowly, not wanting stray ears to pick up my words. My words were kept beneath the bustle of the café, but it didn’t mean my words were a confirmed safe spoken aloud.

“He did this to you? When?” Hayden pursued, extending the cane away from my reach when I tried to snatch it back. For a 41 year old, he was acting pretty childish, but unfortunately no one was around to bring him to heel properly as I settled to letting him guide me to the table he had only just recently vacated to receive me.

“When he killed Jed and May. I got this from the crash.” I replied shortly. While it wouldn’t be wise to inform any other people on the sad state of my physical affairs, Hayden and Hayley understood the cause of it, and since they had implored to understand more about the gravity of Tyler’s hatred-filled destruction, this was a start.

“But you weren’t limping before.” Hayden pointed out the obvious, placing the cane by the table after it was made sure that I was comfortably seated. I very much felt like the patient nursed in a hospital.

“It is an old injury, Hayden.” I repeated flatly, and he frowned. If I didn’t know my fellow member on The Circle better, I would say that he had multiple personality disorder. The Conman Hayden was a far throw away from Childish Hayden, both of which were miles away from Painfully-Silent Hayden. All three were different men; different personas wrapped into one body.

“When it works up you have to rely on a cane? Is it really that bad?” Hayden asked, as if dubious of my intentions of using a cane to aid my walk.

“Does it look like I’m using a cane for fun?” I understood that anyone else in my situation would have displayed a level of exasperation or irritation but I have always prided myself with an enormous well of self-control as I remained flatly enquiring.

Like how Hayden had 3 contrasting sides, I had 2 –one of which was a man who hurt inside, and another who had learnt to wield self-control like a weapon.

“It could be a disguise you are playing while meeting me.” Hayden suggested; true to the mind of a conman.

The break in our conversation was a warm welcome for me as I gave my order to the young waitress who seemed to smile a little too brightly, talk a little too lively to be exactly normal.

A low wolf-whistle took my attention as Hayden grinned, obviously checking out the anatomy of the perky waitress.

“You are 41 this year,” I informed impassively, sending him an evened expression. "Are you a little too old to be whistling after waitresses?”

"What an oblivious little bunny you are, Elxa." Hayden replied, leaning forward from the other side of the table, meeting my eyes with a glint in his eyes that I wasn't sure if I appreciated. "She's perked up for you, not me."

Mildly passing a second look to the said waitress upon realization, I saw that her eyes were absently on me from behind the counter. An embarrassed expression filled her face, and she scrambled to seem busy, face blushing a pretty pink.

"See what I mean? Women have an in-built sensor for bad boys like us. Too bad I'm past my prime." Hayden expressed, turning back to face me now that he had witnessed the power of my unconscious charm.

"There must be some women out there ready to get to know you." I returned the comment evenly. Through my teenage years and the adult years afterwards, I have had my fair share of women looking. Never once had my interest been slightly perked, and while I did not remain pure as a nun, I was not afraid to claim that I did not have an active love life. Between my job and the fret of Jon, accompanied with my usual emotionless state of life, there was no energy within me left to pursue the callings of my heart.

"Cougars, young gold-diggers and women out for the dangers of a conman's life? They are no longer worth." Hayden's smile began to fade as blue eyes dimmed a little. "After Kristen, women have lost their charm to me."

"We are not so different." I observed quietly as Hayden's smile slipped completely. Gone was the Childish Playboy Hayden and here was the Hurting Vulnerable Hayden who had been born when his lover left him with not only his heart but also his flesh and blood.

"We have both spent the years hiding ourselves behind work." Hayden agreed sadly. "You more so than me, Elxa. You started so young that you've lost yourself in our painful world."

A second break in our conversation was welcomed as the waitress politely left the cup in front of me, smiling brightly when I passed her the exact amount. Hayden's smile attempted to revive, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"The reason I asked you to meet me here, Hayden," I began, taking the chance to leave the previous conversation was it was. "Is to inform you of all that I have discovered thus far."

There was no asking the topic of conversation that I was approaching, for there was only one thing that I would ask to meet Hayden alone for. I withdrew the rings from my pocket and left it on the table in between us, setting them side by side.

Hayden stiffened, his face turning icy in a moment as he stared at the rings, not daring to reach for it.

"You need to prepare yourself, Hayden."

Still refusing to look up, his voice was pained now. "Are they dead?"

"Kristen, very likely. Your daughter, not likely."

"When?"

"I've narrowed down the search radius to three women. Christine Lilie died from lung cancer 3 years ago, leaving an orphaned 19 year old daughter Rachel Lilie. Christine moved from New York 19 year ago with her half-month old baby to Boston. A year later, she moved here to Miami, Florida. Rachel Lilie is currently studying in LA, majoring in business." I continued evenly. Hayden had trusted me to be frankly honest without trying to make things any better for him, and that was what I would deliver.

"Is it her?" Hayden's voice was reduced now to a whisper, and I caught the clench of fists.

"My contacts in LA are getting to Rachel. I will confirm it with you soon."

"What about the others?"

"Kitty Heart died 6 years ago from cardiac arrest, leaving a twenty year old daughter Katherine Til. Kitty remarried 10 years ago to a man named William Til. Katherine is currently working in the company her foster-father owns in New York. I have her address here." Sliding a piece of paper over the table, I noted that Hayden hadn't even tried to move to take his rings.

"My contacts are-" I began to update, but angry blue eyes suddenly snapped up to me.

"Let me find her. I want to do something. Even if it's not her." Hayden said fiercely, and I blinked once. The insistence in his eyes burned almost very alike his sister's.

Without preamble, I took out the phone I had with me, looking for a contact quickly. The fledging conman who I had met and made acquaintance with in New York picked up quickly.

"Yo, Elxa. I'm working. But if you really want to know, I'm staring at hot Ms. Kat across me in the opposite cubicle."

"Resign immediately. I will send someone over to take over your task." I interrupted quickly, hearing a shocked splutter.

"Wait! I haven't screwed up, have I?"

"No." I replied shortly, holding Hayden's eye contact firmly. "Someone who might be her biological father is going to take over you."

"Oh, okay then. He coming down anytime soon? I'll resign and break up with her tomorrow. He can come just in time to comfort her."

"Do as you wish, but let her down lightly. My man will not treat you well if she really is his daughter." I replied evenly as a grateful smile began to draw across Hayden's face.

"Snap. Alright, I'll start on the resignation letter. Nice working for you, Elxa." With that, the line was disconnected, leaving me back to reality with a grateful father.

"You can find her day after tomorrow." I informed. "My contact will resign and break off their relationship tomorrow."

Hayden jumped to his feet, Childish Hayden taking over in an instant.

"Thank you, Elxa. You don't know how much I owe you right now. You can ask me for anything in the future! Anything!" He declared, ran over, grabbed me in a bear hug in which I struggled not to die of suffocation and shame, and ran out the door with the address in his hand.

He was gone so quickly that he forgot his rings.

I sighed withdrawing the last piece of paper that I hadn't managed to show to him. He had left with such speed that I hadn't even managed to tell him the last candidate on my list.

The worst thing was that he had left before I told him of the last woman.

Kathryn Hurst had kept her surname almost in an obvious cry for her lover to find her. But for sixteen years, he had been so caught up in the con world that in the end, Kathryn passed away with brain cancer waiting in pain. Five years ago, Kathryn passed her beloved ring bearing her lover's name to her daughter, trusting for her sixteen year old daughter to find her father until the time came.

Her daughter eventually learnt to live on her own, passing five years by slowly without family or friend. She got herself a part-time job where she was not cherished, barely supporting herself while she studied. After five years, she got robbed but found a rich man with family problems. She was hired by the man, and managed to wedge her way into his dark, painful life.

She found her way into his heart, his life. He had never allowed someone like that before, and he didn't know what to do about such.

I pocketed the rings again, finished my drink and picked up my cane.

Hayden would have to find out about Kaylen Hurst some other time then.