Chapter 12
Orland couldn’t hide his excitement, and even if he remembered the last words she told him...He would never let an opportunity to show his affection to Marianne slip out of his hands.
He somehow got himself together and showed her inside.
When he told her he had asked for the tea she liked and offered her cookies, he tried not to look nervous.
Orland had the habit of always looking at her eyes. Since she had no expression and her eyes were always getting duller, her eyes were the only part of her that showed him something. Even if it was only their light fading...
But after offering the tea and cookies... he saw it. Her eyes weren’t as darkened as before... then, she nodded. A nod... the only thing she did as means of communication... His daughter had done it with a lot of energy. The strongest he has seen in the last ten years.
Orland couldn’t help but bite the inside of his lower lip, to the point it might bleed, suppressing the rush of emotions inside him. But, unexpectedly, words poured out of his mouth. His feelings had made his efforts futile.
"It’s been so long since you’ve come here...When you were little you used to come here to practice your writing, and talk to me about the dream you had that day or just look at me work..."
"..."
"I wish I could have heard your voice better at the time... now I wouldn’t struggle with the blurred memories of how it sounded."
He couldn’t help it. As he was speaking he knew it might have been a mistake to tell her this. So he smiled, saddened as he finished.
When Orland saw her standing up from her seat... he panicked. He felt his world falling apart as the blood left his body.
’...No.....!’