60 days till graduation. 60 days till my life begins.

Knowing that your boyfriend is hiding something from you is very hard. 

I mean, it's-

What am I saying. It's bloody difficult. 

I'm on my way back home and I keep thinking about the near death experience I had over a month ago. 

The hard part was not only finding out that Travis is probably involved in whatever his dad is up to  but it was also explaining to my mum how the bloody hell I got a clean scar across my cheek. 

I tried to convince her that it was from a fall but I don't think she's still fully convinced. 

I'm considering moving to London once I graduate. Yes I'm making decisions, can you believe it?

I decided that I want to major in English Literature. It seems to be the only thing I'm good at, well, kind of. I'm not really sure what I want to do with a English degree. I'm putting that off for now.

I want to figure out what the hell is going on between Travis, Michael and Mr. Darcy.
I have no idea what anything has to do with any of them.

I don't really want to get involved but it seems as if I'm already involved. Without permission or any prior warning of course.

Over the past three weeks, I haven't really talked about what happened that day with Michael or Travis. Everyday has been a cycle. A cycle I want to get out of.

I was so mad at Travis but the way he just is makes it really hard for me to be angry at him for long. He's an absolute sweetheart. 

That day he stayed the night, cleaned the wounds, apologized and was just, the best.

Love makes you do crazy things, make crazy decisions and just do stuff you never thought you'd do or even be willing to do. Yet there you are, doing them.

You can't be wise and in love at the same time is what I've concluded.

I decide to take a deviation and head over to Brighton beach. I haven't been there in a while and I think it's a nice place to just think and escape everything. 

I find an empty, secluded spot and lie down. 

If only life was this simple.
But I guess if it was this simple, we'd never really appreciate the good times.

I must have dozed off for a while because the next thing I know, someone is shaking me in an attempt to wake me up I think.

I open my eyes and I see that the sun has gone down. It's getting very dark. I should probably head home.

I turn to look at the person who has woken me up and find that it's Michael. 

This boy sure has his timings.

"How'd you find me here?" I ask him.

"Well I was looking for you and you weren't with Travis or your friends and you weren't at home either so I figured this is the only other place you'd be at. Oh, I have someone here who'd like to meet you." he replies.

I wonder, if Travis ever had to look for me, would he know where to look like Michael did?

I brush the thought aside and notice the lady Michael seems to have brought with him.

"Hi there. I'm Louisa Edwards." I tell her, stand up and put out my hand. She looks like she's probably in her late sixties and she certainly does not look familiar to me.

"Bonjour. Je m'appelle Emilie Auréle. The real Emilie Auréle, not the one you seemed to have received an e-mail from, a while ago." She replies with the slight hint of a French accent in her voice.

That e-mail was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events. But I can't really blame her for them now can I?

"Oh nice to meet you. um."

I don't really know what to say to her.

Does she want her painting back? If she's come to take it back, it would honestly devastate me. I've become too emotionally attached to it now. I don't think I'll be able to give it back.

"I have some explaining to do, don't I? If you wouldn't mind lending me a bit of your time, I'd love to explain whatever I know." she replies. 

I do want to know her side of whatever is going on, maybe things will fall into place and she's one of those ladies you can't say no to, so I agree and the three of us find a bench to sit on. She sits on my right and Michael takes a seat on my left.

"So. Let me tell you the story of the 'The Girl You Knew' and why it's probably the most prized possession that belongs to my family. My grandparents Eugène  and Sofie  Auréle were from a little town in France called Colmar. It unlawfully was in the hands of the Germans for a long time. My grandfather went on to become a painter and my grandmother managed a little cafe in town. Their love is something that was very rare and beautiful. They had so much love and respect for each other, it was as if nothing could tear them apart. But of course, life likes to play it's cruel jokes on us so their happiness saw an end inevitably coming head on towards them. A short while after they got married, I think in the year 1915, all the young men were being called to defend the country at war and it wasn't long before my grandfather got a letter as well, summoning him to fight in the World War. Germans coming in, my grandfather having to leave home, things were just all over the place and going to change fast. Now my grandfather knew that even if  he made it back after the war, everything in this little town of theirs was going to be different. The way they'd go about their lives would be different as well. He wanted to leave something behind, a part of him and my grandmother that maybe one day they could look back on and remember the good times. That's when he painted the painting you now have in your possession." she tells me.

"It's a gorgeous painting." I can't help but add in between.

"Oh it is, isn't? Thank you for seeing the beauty in it. Not everybody does. Anyways, so he painted that portrait of my grandmother and named it 'The Girl You Knew' because like I said, he knew they'd never be the same after the war. Finally, the day they dreaded arrived and my grandfather went off to serve his country. From what I'm told, my grandmother was absolutely devastated.  A month after he left, she found out that she was pregnant. Another eight months down the line she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl but my grandfather had still not returned. For the first few months after he'd left, they exchanged letters quite often, but she never told him that she was pregnant. She didn't want him to worry or feel devastated that he possibly may never get to meet his own child. After my mother was born, the letters were coming in less frequently. My grandmother realized that now she had a bigger responsibility and that she must put on a brave face. Sometimes all you can do is put on a smile, move on with you day, hold back your tears and pretend you're ok. And that's what my grandmother did because my grandfather never returned home and that painting was like a part of him that she felt blessed to have. The painting became a symbol of hope and love in my family. "

"Now, a lot of the paintings from around that time were stolen either in World War I or by the Nazis in World War II. Some of them are worth hundreds of millions. They are some art fanatics that are willing to go as far as to kill someone for such paintings. Paintings like 'The Girl You Knew' have stories behind them and mean the world to the families. People like Mr. George Darcy, don't care about the sentimental value they hold. All he cares about is the money. He's probably made billions from stealing and selling of paintings like my family's. He's been up to other worse things as well but stealing of war art is definitely one he is neck deep into and has killed hundreds of people over. One such person he killed was your father, Alexander Edwards. Fine man he was. Your father helped recover paintings lost during wars and returned them to the rightful owners. He didn't even ask for any kind of payment. My family lost 'The Girl You Knew' during the second World War and a few months back it was returned to me, by your father. I didn't not know he had passed on. The painting meant so much to my grandmother and mother but as I have no one to pass it on to, I decided to send it back it Mr. Edward's family, as a mark of my gratitude."

"Oh. Wow." I was for one moved by the story she told me and I had no idea my dad returned paintings stolen from wars. 

There's this whole other side of my dad I had no idea about. 

What else was he up to?

~

A/N-

Hiiiii everybody!

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Thank you so much for the love and support you all have been giving. 
I hope this chapter didn't disappoint.
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Without Wax,
Sanjana Ramesh