Chapter 53 : A familiar stranger
Eiden stood at the his standing place which was little further away from the house at a turn , pausing for a moment as he watched his mom walk in before him. The air was still, quiet too quiet for his racing thoughts. After a few seconds of deliberate hesitation, he finally walked near the house and stepped inside.
As he entered, his eyes landed on his mother, Dally, who had already made herself comfortable on the couch. She lay back, looking mildly exhausted but composed. When she noticed him, she turned her head with a small smile.
"Welcome back," she said, her voice soft and familiar. Eiden returned the smile faintly. "Did you come back just now too?" he asked, keeping his tone casual. She nodded. "Yeah. I think just two to four minutes earlier than you."
Eiden slowly walked farther into the room, feigning ignorance as he asked, "Groceries?"
His mom chuckled lightly, shaking her head. "Nope. I went to visit some friends."
He nodded thoughtfully, keeping his expression neutral. "Ah. By the way... is Dad okay?" Dally looked at him curiously for a second, then smiled again. "Yes, he’s fine. Why?" Eiden looked away briefly. "I don’t know... It’s just that he seemed sick yesterday morning. And even then, he had to go to the company that evening."
She gave a short sigh, as if amused. "No, he wasn’t really that sick," she replied. "He kind of recovered that afternoon, so he went to the party just fine. But since he’d just gotten better, he had a bit more hangover than usual this morning. Otherwise, he’s fine. Besides," she added with a faint smile, "he told me that he and his friends went out to get some fresh air... to the beach, apparently."
Eiden’s eye twitched involuntarily. The beach? Seriously? He clenched his jaw inwardly. He knew damn well that his father hadn’t gone anywhere near a beach. He’d seen him yesterday at the arcade center with a woman he didn’t recognize. It was burned into his memory. The way they laughed, the way they leaned in too close, the subtle but unmistakable intimacy.
A sliver of suspicion crept up his spine, mixing with a feeling he didn’t want to name. Did Mom know? Was she playing along? Spying again, like before... like with Miss Mika?
But he didn’t let it show.