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Episode 71 – Bound Reality 3 ‘Deep Hatred’
Eugene was in her world which was why she didn’t hear anyone. This of course never happened before but because things were slightly out of Eugene’s pace today her mind was muddled with one thing after the other. She didn’t hear anyone calling out to her let alone hear of the plans scheduled today.
But just when she was done overthinking and left her guards down for 2 seconds, a nauseating cold-voice of an aged woman saying her name familiarly rang in her ears.
“Eugene.”
That name, that exact tone ‘that’ person would use when their day went wrong.
“…..” Her heartbeat dropped.
As if the thoughts of calming herself and holding herself back never crossed her mind. As if her current life would be ruined by her rash feelings never crossed her mind. Her emotions took complete control over her rational self and an intense hatred overflowed out of her mind. And out of her body.
If the person in front of her was a blazing fire, her name ‘Eugene’ would be gasoline. These two combinations are an inevitable and unavoidable explosion that was always meant to self destruct.
Eugene’s jaw clenched, “What.” She gritted her teeth. Her eyes slowly went from the empty bowl of porridge to the person opposite her. Slowly looking up until their 2 pairs of eyes met.
The old woman being directed by such a gaze widened her eyes from shock by the chill that was directed to her. The child in front of her.
Her eyes were completely dead as if she was no longer living!
Frozen in her seat from the pressure that made her unable to breathe, her eyes continued to intertwine with the child in front of her as if it was dragging her back into a hell-hole with no escape.
‘Why?’ What had she done to be subjected to such intense hatred from a 3-year-old? Why does such hatred exist in this child? As if she realized her thought was wrong, her heartbeat dropped. ‘No. This wasn’t hatred.’
This child wants to kill her.
“EUGENEIA!” Moniqua stood up. “Stop this discourteous act right this moment!” From shock, she couldn’t help but shout! Never in her life has she raised her voice directed to her children, but right at this moment, an unbelievable scene was unfolding right in front of her. “EUGENEIA!” She repeated, seeing the child not having any intentions of following her.
‘Discourteous?’ Eugene’s heart quickened. ‘Discourteous? I’ve been nothing but courteous all this time have I not? Yet! …’ Eugene’s anger couldn’t help but multiply by 2 folds. Her two completely clenched fists underneath the table were bulging in veins threatening to explode.
Everyone stayed silent watching this scene unfolding in front of them. Levis, Ramon, and Aernest especially paid attention to Eugene’s state of mind with cold sweat running down their spines. The three weren’t unfamiliar with the occasional cold or blank gazes of Eugene however what was unfolding in front of them was different. If Eugene was an unemotional child, then this child in front of them was someone they didn’t know.
He stood up, prepared to stop Eugene in case she would jump on their grandmother. Her gaze, her body slightly shaking in anger was as if he had gone back in time as if he was re-watching his life.
“Eugeneia, think rationally” Louis calmly said.
‘Rationally’ Eugene slightly loosened her fists. ‘Calm down.’ She slightly loosened her jaw and lowered her gaze to break the connection with the person in front of her. Repeating the word ‘Calm down’ a hundred times in her mind. ‘Don’t snap even further.’
Eugene calming herself down naturally brought everyone a deep relief, especially the person subjected to the gaze herself. The old woman, not wanting to have this ending badly quickly tried to mend this broken atmosphere, not knowing that the more she spoke, the more she made Eugene’s patience run thinner.
“I’m sorry.” She said.
‘Stop it.’ Eugene could feel her jaw further clenching.
Eugene bringing her guard back up was noticeable to everyone. Moniqua shook her head towards her mother to stop her from talking; Ramon and Louis looked at their grandmother who continued regardless of their gazes telling her to stop.
Moniqua’s mother stood up from her seat and softly looked at Eugene whose head was hung low. “I don’t know what I did wrong, but if you are uncomfortable with me staying here, I will leave.” She sighed as she spoke.
‘Stop. Stop. Stop!’ Eugene shouted in her head, feeling her anger slowly rising.
“Mother” Moniqua called out, shaking her head to her mother.
Again ignored, she finally broke Eugene’s last straw.
“Eugene?”
SLAMMM!!!
The loud sound of a table being hit jolted everyone up. Everyone raised their guards completely, seeing Eugene slamming the table down a second time with her fist; the table vibrating in anger with her pounding.
A 3-year-old child taking her anger out with her fists is bound to be bruised or worse, break her fists. But that wasn’t the least of anyone’s attention at the moment, neither was it Eugene’s.
“Sorry?” Eugene coldly spat. She spoke in a deeper voice than what she usually carries.
Twisting her neck, Eugene repeated. “Leave?” Bringing her eyes back to the old woman that stood up.“How. Dare. You?” Eugene stared blankly into the eyes of the older woman also ceasing all formality.
Not only was everyone chilled that Eugene who never dropped her formality even with them, completely dropped it, she even informally spoke as if she was talking to a peasant.
“Ha.Ha.” Eugene’s slight laugh made everyone’s heart drop.
“Eugene…” Moniqua’s mother speechlessly muttered however immediately regretted when Eugene’s blank gaze suddenly was filled with hatred.
“Again. How dare you call me by such a name?” Eugene slowly spits out word by word. Shaking her head she continued. “It’s not a name you can call me.” Her forehead had blue veins bulging, further showing how serious she was.
‘One more time, and I will kill you.’ Eugene’s eyes went down from their interlocked eyes to the most vulnerable spot of a human being. The neck.
“Eugeneia..” It wasn’t only until a tearful voice of Moniqua was heard that Eugene’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Ah..’ Eugene speechlessly moved her gaze somewhere else. ‘She stopped me again.’ She avoided looking at Moniqua’s eyes.
The thought of breaking a bowl to use the broken shard to stab the woman in front of her was completely distinguished by Moniqua’s trembling voice.
‘What was this awful feeling?’ Eugene frowned. Her chest was slightly aching.
Ignoring this feeling, Eugene shook her head. ‘It’s not the time.’ She repeated in her mind. ‘There’s a right time for everything.’ With this thinking, Eugene completely relaxed her body, her veins going back to their respective place; Her fists and jaws completely loosened.
Before anyone could be confused as to why Eugene was suddenly not doing anything, their eyes widened at Eugene’s reddish-purple hands. Moniqua couldn’t help but choke back on her saliva seeing her daughter’s bruised hands.
Completely depleted of all emotions, Eugene’s eyes changed from one of hatred to one that was completely stripped out of all emotions. This look of hers, unfamiliar to the people close to her, however familiar to the people of her previous world.
With quietness and the smell of food surrounding everyone on the table, Eugene emotionlessly broke the silence as if nothing ever happened.
Going back to speaking with formality, she slightly bowed her head. “My apologies.” Her voice devoid of any emotions made everyone’s hearts tightly clenched.
“Please forgive me for being rude” Glancing at the person whom she just showed hostility against, Eugene continued. “You can stay however long you want, after all, this house is very massive.”
The person being talked to couldn’t do anything but gulp down her dry throat. The way Eugene was talking to her was as if she was someone she just met and this sudden change of behavior scared her immensely.
“I do beg to differ and that is for you… no. For anyone here to never call me by such a distasteful name.” Eugene calmly glanced at everyone. “I would appreciate it if everyone would formally call me by my first name.”
‘It wasn’t time to play with the woman in front of her, but it’s about time to properly discuss the relationship with everyone here’ Eugene thought, building walls around her heart now would prevent her from exploding like earlier.
She knows everyone would understand the meaning behind her words of ‘putting distance between each other’. And she believed this was the best compromise she could give at this moment. This exchange should be fair as it was an exchange for the life of the woman in front of her.
To Eugene’s word, no one could say anything. But it was at this moment that a girlish voice interfered. “What..”
“What about going out today then?” Euria’s curious voice chipped in.
“…..” To this Eugene blinked, not understanding Euria’s words.
Euria herself didn’t care about what happened earlier simply because it wasn’t directed to her. However! This also made her think that the plans of going out to the capital today would surely be canceled hence why she couldn’t help but repeat. “Are we still going out?” Euria blinked. If Eugene doesn’t go, she won’t go.
“Going out?” Eugene repeated Euria’s words turning her head towards her. “Yes!” Euria smiled, grabbing Eugene’s shoulders, “To the capital to show grandmother new things along with older brothers!!”
“…..” Eugene blankly stared at Euria’s smiling face. ‘Is this child too innocent to know what just happened, or was she dissolving this awkward atmosphere?’ Little did Eugene know that it was none of the two and that Euria was simply ignoring it whilst fully understanding what just happened.
‘Ha.’ Eugene breathed out. To Euria’s enthusiasm, Eugene replied, “Naturally it is alright to go out.”
“…..” The room once again went silent. Everyone stared at Eugene and Euria who were conversing with one another like nothing ever happened.
“Is… Is that alright?” The quiet Ramon hesitatingly spoke.
Eugene looked behind her and saw Ramon nervously smacking his dry lips. To his response, she replied as if going out was the most natural thing on earth. “Naturally it’s alright.”
With two ‘yes’ confirmation of Eugene, Euria repeatedly nodded. ‘Eung Eung.’ She then grabbed Eugene’s bruised hands and pulled Eugene out of her chair. “Well then, Mother, Father, Brothers, and Grandmother! We will go get ready!” Not waiting for anyone to reply, Euria stormed out of the dining room with Eugene. Never giving anyone a single glance back.
The only audible thing everyone in the room heard was Euria’s laughter echoing throughout the hallway.
“……”
Without saying anything Louis also silently stood up, announcing that he too will get ready to go out. Following behind him was Ramon and Aernest who wanted to escape the room.
With all the children gone, the adult could only deeply sigh. Moniqua glanced over at her husband whose face looked as if he was deeply thinking about something, and then glanced over at her mother whose face was blank.
For this situation, she wanted to apologize. But the word of apology ended up being stuck down her throat. Her heart felt empty with Eugene treating this as if it never happened.
What was she supposed to do? What can she even do? ‘Tell me Eugeneia, what am I supposed to do?’ Moniqua frowned. The words Eugene spoke pierced her heart deeply. The distance Eugene wanted was one something Moniqua was afraid of.
‘Why?’ She couldn’t help but repeat this word in her mind. Was she also hated by her daughter? To this realization, Moniqua’s heart quivered. Moniqua stopped breathing, her face turning pale.
“I will go prepare myself…” The voice of her mother along with the chair squeaking on the floor woke Moniqua up. She watched as her mother went ahead and left the dining room.
Once they were alone in this huge dining room that was earlier filled Moniqua spoke out. “Dear” Breaking Levis out of his trance of thoughts. Shifting his eyes to Moniqua’s, he waited for her to speak.
“What if..” Moniqua’s voice spoke as if she was hit with a realization.
“What if…. What if, she also hates us.” Moniqua’s voice trembled at her sentence. The word ‘hate’ breaking her heart.
In a split second, Levis stood up and held Moniqua’s head to his chest. “What are you talking about. Don’t think like that” He gripped Moniqua’s shoulders tightly.
“No… She does hate us doesn’t she?” Moniqua continued.
Pulling the both of them apart, Levis kneeled to meet Moniqua’s eyes, staring deep into her red teary eyes. Sighing, he shook his head. “That’s not true Moniqua.”
“She…” Moniqua trailed off, staring at Levis’s eyes emotionlessly. “She has never called me Mother, neither has she called you father.” She raised her trembling voice. This was an issue since their youngest children could speak. Out of their children, only Eugene didn’t call them with such titles.
“…..” To this fact, Levis couldn’t reply. He only stared at his reflection reflected from his wife’s eyes. But! “She also has never called her brothers ‘brother’ as well, and look at how close the children are! There is no need to worry because she doesn’t hate us.” Levis calmed Moniqua down. “If she did, she would have behaved like …. Today” Levis could only softly sigh to this reality.
“She.. didn’t she stop earlier because of you?” Levis continued. He saw everything.
When Eugene lost control of her emotions, he too, prepared to take action if the situation went completely out of control. He was watching everyone’s move from the head of the table. From Eugene to his mother-in-law to his children. He watched as Ramon and Aernest pale from fright and Louis preparing to stop Eugene.
Back then he couldn’t help but want to bring Eugene out of the room, but he didn’t. He thought that if he did, Eugene would possibly disassociate herself entirely from everyone in this room.
Naturally, Eugene’s murderous intent was even more so puzzling. He understands that she can dislike someone, but to the point of wanting to kill someone, this he couldn’t understand. How and where did this child get such murderous intent from? He made sure the children stayed away from such things when 2 major incidents happened.
One being the big incident 2 and a half years ago at the Royal Palace. These past 3 years, the children were safely protected and were always watched. But Eugene’s action completely goes against these 3 years of peace. The emotions she displayed today were very suspicious.
“…..” However, there was one thing he was sure of. And that was that Eugene didn’t hate them. Why? Because Eugene only calmed down when she heard Moniqua’s voice.
“She stopped when she heard you almost crying, Dear.” Levis comforted Moniqua.
“……” To this Moniqua slightly widened her eyes.
Blinking at her husband, Moniqua slightly smiled to show that she was alright now. “…. You are right Dear. I’m sorry for losing control of my emotions.” Moniqua sighed, using Levis’s arms to stand up.
“You don’t have to be sorry…” Levis took Moniqua into his arms, stroking her curly red ends with his hands and breathing in her jasmine scent. “We should talk with Eugeneia soon.” Kissing her forehead gently, he pulled them apart.
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