Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 154: A New Detail

Chapter 154: A New Detail

"Don’t think about Natasha too much, Lady Talia," Vivian said in a dismissive way. "Her form wasn’t good lately and with this, she’d be thrown out into oblivion. I heard Olivia promised her to hook her up with Lord Wallace’s son and maybe that’s why she tried to get on her good graces by pulling you down, but... It is what it is!" Vivian smiled as she put the napkin on her lap and Talia nodded.

" You can call me Talia, Ms. McAllister " Talia said with a smile.

" I can’t! You’re a Princess, " Vivian laughed.

" But then... "Talia didn’t know what to say. If she considers me a Princess, why call me Lady Talia? Previously she just called me Talia Brunton. What changed now.?

’Look at her confused face!’ Vivian laughed in her heart. With her lips pouted, Talia was looking at her lap and seriously contemplating.

How cute!

Vivian could understand Talia’s character. She didn’t think twice before dismissing Natasha since she wanted nothing to do with her. But with her, she wants to form a friendship, but since she is someone who is not chatty, she doesn’t know how to convey herself politely in this situation and becomes silent.

No wonder she has very few friends and they all want to protect her.

Vivian liked this type of personality better. They won’t be very expressive of their thoughts but they’d be the most loyal ones who’ll never stab you in the back.

Vivian could see why she commands the loyalty of her close friends and relatives. It is because she is loyal too!

For her who has seen many people who smile in the front, acting all friendly but once they see your back, they will change their expression, Talia seemed like a refreshing change.

Aww! How cute she is....! Why didn’t my cute little brother snag her?

"Fine, I’ll address you by your name,if you address me by my first name," Vivian said with a smile taking a sip of water and Talia nodded with a smile.

"That’s a deal, Vivian."

The waiter served the first coarse and Talia started eating after Vivian.

"How is Thomas?" Talia asked. She wanted to know if he liked the gift she sent.

"He’s good. His mother is now working as a teacher in a public school. She refused to live in the Lockhart residence and is renting an apartment currently. Cyril is considering buying her a house with a nice backyard near a good school. And by the way, the brooch you sent... It was so adorable... Wait... I have a picture of him wearing it..."

Vivian picked her phone and scrolled through it and then passed it to Talia," See the grin in his face? He really loved it. That sapphire matches his eyes, doesn’t it? Camellia..." Vivian paused as her heart filled with sadness seeing the brightness in Talia’s eyes getting dim.

She sure beats herself too hard for what happened in the past!

"Camellia was the one who dressed Thomas that day and I’m not sure of her thoughts, but I’m sure everyone-"

"Nothing will change the fact that I was the one who put the bullet through Cyrus’ heart, Vivian" Talia forced a smile and passed the phone back to Vivian.

Thomas really seemed like a happy little boy in that picture with his mother. But who took his father away from him? It was her.! When he knows that his father was unjustly taken away from him by her, will that boy love that brooch as much as he does now?

"May I ask you something? Of course you can refuse to answer me," Vivian asked. She knew Cyril wanted to know this for a long time but he held himself back from asking Talia about it.

"What happened that day?"

Talia bit her lips and looked at Vivian. She sensed no ill intent from Vivian.

Will confessing ease my heart?

"It was my birthday... Sixteenth birthday," Talia scoffed. For girls, sixteenth birthday would be one filled with many great memories, but for her it was the worst day for her. "After meeting Fred, Cyrus brought me to this restaurant for lunch and afterwards we went for a walk along the willows... Something we’ve done a thousand times. I don’t remember much... I forgot most of what we talked...probabky casual, mundane things..." Talia shrugged and Vivian nodded acknowledging her. "He warned me about Raymond Sinclair, that I remember," Talia rubbed her face. "I don’t know... He might have acted weird the whole time and I didn’t even notice... He was getting a lot of phonecalls in both his phones and it was normal... He did have a lot of ’engagements’ as he used to say!" Talia chuckled slightly. He managed their security firm, plus he was a teacher in their school. Also, He did the horizontal tango at least twice a day. Who knows? He might have had an addiction!

" Two phones? " Vivian asked. Being with Cyril for years, she knew many details about Cyrus’ death case.

Didn’t they find only one phone?

"Yes, he had two identical phones with dual sims. Cyril would know that! He called them ’Business phone’ and ’Pleasure phone’. Rather than for pleasure, I think he used his other phone when he did shady deals, you know when he... bends the law," Talia shrugged and drank a mouthful of wine.

Vivian who was a bit surprised by this new revelation, decided to confirm her doubts with Cyril immediate.

[Did you know Cyrus had two identical phones?]

She was not that surprised when she received a call from him, the moment he read the message.

"Pass the phone to her," Cyril didn’t have to guess how Vivian knows it. She must have heard it from Talia.

Talia was surprised when Vivian passed the phone to her.

"It’s Cyril" Vivian said seeing the confusion in Talia’s face.

Before she placed the phone over her ear, she could hear Cyril’s voice from the other end, "Talia, did my brother really have two phones?"

Talia’s eyes widened. ’He called his fiancee and asked her to pass the phone to me to ask me this? Why?’

"He did! He always kept them both in the same pocket and replaced them both when one is ruined. He even bought same covers for them and... Cyril, you should know that right?"

Now Talia got confused, but she answered him anyway.

"Are you absolutely sure? Did he tell you?" Cyril seemed agitated through the phone.

"He didn’t tell me. But I noticed it. I am sure. You remember he had black covered phone only once? He always preferred white."

Cyril was a bit ashamed. He was his brother, but he didn’t remember the colour of the phones he had. Or that tattoos meant a lot for his brother. It seems like Talia is the one who knows a lot about him.

Hearing no sound from the other end, Talia continued, "Once he dropped that black phone accidentally and the display cracked a bit. The same day I saw the crack disappearing and appearing on the screen and only then I realised he had two phones. I asked him and he dismissed it and joked about giving his phones names. It seemed like he kept it as a secret. I thought you’d know... Why are you... Wait..."

Talia only then realised why they are talking about Cyrus’ phones right now.

" His phone is missing? "

" Hmm, we only found one phone on him, " Cyril said with a sigh. They found that phone and looked through each book and cranny of the phone to find anything connected to his death, but weren’t able to find any.

But if there is another phone... There could be more to it. They can probably find new informations in that phone. But it’s been ten years. Even if they find the phone, will any information from that phone be accessible?

And, it is possible Talia might be wrong too. To be honest, the mental stability of Talia at that time was questionable. Arthur mentioned she didn’t even know she was standing beside Arthur that day and that’s why she left Esteria. Can her memory be trusted?

Talia knew of the implications of her words too. Even she doubted herself by now. She was sure Cyrus had two phones, but could she be wrong?

Sitting in that restaurant filled with the nice aroma of food all around her and the distant chatters of cutleries and conversations, Talia closed her eyes.

Slowly her memory drifted back to the day of her sixteenth birthday. The warmth in the restaurant turned to the chillness of the outdoors. The chatters in the restaurant slowly got muted and transformed to the distant chirping sound of a bird in the forest of weeping willow trees.

The snow crunched beneath her as she was swaying her legs on the bench looking at the locket Cyrus gave her. She remembered that odd feeling that Cyrus was acting weird. When he was pressing her on that bench, which he never did before, she was sure he cried. He said something weird too. She heard Cyrus walking to the tree behind her and she didn’t look at him.

It’s Cyrus! What could be wrong with him?

Slowly her thoughts wandered to the kiss she shared with Fred that morning. She dropped the locket inside her shirt. That was odd! How did my button open?

Then she remembered that hot hands that hugged her while whispering in her eyes, ’Iris, I accept your challenge! If I succeeded in attending your birthday party tonight, will you give yourself to me?’

’Give yourself to me’

That guy! How crude!

That coldness around her dispersed as she was thinking about Fred. She didn’t know how much time passed, but she sat hugging her knees on that stone bench for a while, daydreaming about Fred and her, burying her head in her knees and giggling like a fool.

Then Cyrus asked her to move and only after that he asked the unfathomable...

"Talia...?"

Talia shook her head and came back from her trip to her memory lane.

Ah! This voice!

"The trees behind the stone bench I was sitting that day... Don’t you have video footage of it? Cyrus went there for a while... "

"He was not in the frame. Only you were and... We checked around that area. We found nothing!" Cyril said.

"Oh?" Talia closed her eyes and she didn’t know if what she remembered from that day were real or her hallucination. ’I might be wrong... I don’t know... I... "

Suddenly Talia felt a grip in her hand and she opened her eyes to see Vivian beside her. Nodding at her, she got the phone from her hands.

" That’s enough interrogation for today, Cyril, "she stood up and walked to the windows. She wasn’t impressed seeing Talia in pain. That girl turned entirely pale.

" But we are very close to the truth. She might remember something more! Ah, if only she didn’t ran to the Sinclair mansion that day, we would have found out everything from her immediately. With ten years passed all the evidences would be destroyed and how will we be able to find the truth?" Cyril got a bit impatient.

" Cyril... " Vivian said in a low voice and she was a little bit unimpressed by Cyril now.

There was silence in the other end for sometime and that silence was broken by a loud sigh.

"She doesn’t look good?" Cyril asked.

"No." Vivian said softly.

"Are you mad?"

"A little. She is too cute to be forced now."

"You’re taking her side too?" Cyril was unimpressed. He already lost his brother to Talia. His brother was never a brother to him because he spent a lot of time with Talia. Now his wife too?

" Are you jealous?"

"..."

"Cyril?"

"What?"

"Cyril..." she spoke in a singsong manner.

"WHAT??" he shouted a little louder.

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