Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

benefit of the doubt. She looked away from Emile and towards the room window.

“The first time you ran to the toilet, I went after you.” Emile confessed. “But Erica, well, she got to you first. Just a few more moments, and it would’ve been me in that cubicle with you--”

“Is this going anywhere?!” Adela raged at him, still staring towards the window.

Emile swallowed hard, “I listened in on your conversation with her… Is it true?” He asked firmly.

“Is what true?” She fobbed him off.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t.” She continued to talk to him as though he were lesser, “I told you to get out, and yet you’re still here. For Christ’s sake, just leave--!”

“Are you pregnant?” Emile intervened, cutting off Adela’s furious rant.

Now, Adela finally turned away from the window and looked Emile straight in the eyes without giving an answer.

“…You are, aren’t you?” The despondent silence told Emile all that he needed to know. “Christ.” He remarked as he rose from Adela’s bedside and threw his head dismayingly into his hands.

“She doesn’t know.” Adela further commented. “Erica, I mean. She doesn’t know that—” She choked slightly as she struggled to admit the game changing truth, “That you’re the father.”

Emile headbutted the wall forcefully, “No!” He exclaimed guiltily.

Adela swallowed hard, “Listen, we don’t need to tell anyone.” Now, it was her doing the begging. “When this baby is born, we’ll just tell everyone it belongs to some random survivor I never saw again—”

“And who the fuck is gonna believe that?!” Emile erupted at her.

Adela gasped in astonishment at him, “It takes two to tango, Emile.” She reminded him. “I’m not the only one to blame for this!”

Amidst uneasy breaths, Emile thought to himself for several seconds. “Alek’s gonna know.” He expressed his deepest fear. “He knows me better than I know myself… The minute he sees your baby for the first time, he’s gonna know the truth.”

Adela fell into a shameful silence.

“And Tia!” Emile pointed intently at her, “How do you think your sister’s gonna react, huh? When she finds out that ‘Uncle Emile’ is also her sister’s—” He was too ashamed to finish the sentence.

Again, Adela swallowed hard, “I’ll lie to her too.”

Emile laughed disbelievingly, “You really think you’ll be able to live with lying to your little sister? Come on, Adela! It’s eating you up inside lying about who this baby’s father really is!”

“What other choice do we have?” She rebutted. “Like you said, it’ll break Tia if she finds out. And Alek, believe it or not, I care about him. He’s been a good friend to me and a fantastic teacher to Tia.” She strictly declared, “You can’t tell him, Emile. Ever.”

Emile was distraught. “I’m marrying that man in a couple of weeks’ time.” He knelt down at Adela’s side and glared firmly into her eyes, “How am I supposed to start a new life with the man I love when I’ve got a secret child?”

Adela glared back at him, “We’re part of the same group. You’ll still get to see the child every day. It’s not like you’re running from the truth, is it?”

“…You clearly don’t understand how love works.” Emile berated her.

This remark caused something within Adela to snap, “And clearly, neither do you. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

Emile passed her off, “We were drunk, Adela. Both of us. If we were sober, it never would’ve happened. I was only drunk because of my argument with Alek, that’s all. That’s not cheating, it’s just a mistake.”

“From where I’m standing,” Adela further countered, “They’re one and the same…”

Later that day, in the hotel restaurant, Elliot and Annabelle were having a late lunch.

“So, Cora came back?” Elliot asked once more.

“Yep.” Equally, Annabelle clarified this point once again. “She gave up looking for Beth and came back to the only place where she knew she’d have at least some chance of finding her mother again: Here.”

“Hmm!” Elliot grunted, now understanding the situation. “Looks like that little theory paid off quite well for her, didn’t it?” He referred to the fact that the group had indeed come back to London.

As Annabelle watched her brother tuck into his food, there was a question that she now felt obliged to ask him. “How are you holding up? Being back here.”

Elliot spent several seconds chewing and then swallowing the heap of food in his mouth before answering. “I’m okay.”

A weakness that had come with Elliot’s blindness was that, when he was feeling down, he struggled to hide the emotions in his eyes. As such, Annabelle could tell that he was thinking of Olivia.

“Glad to see you two are doing alright.” The man who had helped Tina the previous night came over to the siblings.

“Oh,” Annabelle was surprised by this random spur of conversation, “Yeah, we’re okay. Thank you.” She nodded respectfully to him, nonetheless.

“The name’s Mac, by the way.” He introduced himself.

Annabelle offered her hand out for a shake, “I’m Annabelle.” She declared as Mac shook her hand in kind. “This here is my brother Elliot.” She nodded over to him.

“How do you do?” Elliot waved his hand out to make contact with Mac’s as he greeted him.

“It’s um… It’s nice to meet you.” Mac informed Elliot, slightly confused by his grey pupils.

“I’m blind, by the way.” Elliot announced, having a sneaky suspicion that Mac was indeed confused by his eyes.

“Oh!” Mac’s own eyes widened as he realised this, “Oh, goodness! I’m so sorry!” Mac apologised sincerely.

Elliot laughed, “It’s alright. I get it, you wouldn’t expect a blind man to still be alive at this point, would you?”

“No, I guess not.” Mac scratched the back of his head as he tried to return the small talk. “Well, I’ll catch you guys