Chapter 197 Trust
“Yes. He was my supervisor, my savior…and my dear friend,” Edward stated, his voice flat but I saw glimpses of sorrow cross his face.
Before I could ask more questions, Edward shoved the black envelop towards me.
“Open it,” Edward said bluntly.
Taking the envelop from him with shaky hands, I knew immediately that the content inside was different from what was inside the envelop that Lucien had. I could feel the lump of a solid object in the envelop as I held it in my hand. Whatever was inside wasn’t just a flat piece of photo or paper.
I slowly opened the envelop with bated breath. Inside the envelop were two things. The first was the same family photo that was also inside the envelop that Lucien had. The other was an old and worn lanyard with an employee ID card.
‘Head of Medical Research and Development, Rosenhall Corporation’ read the title under my father’s photo and name on the employee ID card.This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“My father was a Rosenhall employee? He worked…here?” I asked to confirm my suspicion. I felt my brows knit together as my mind race to piece this new piece of information with the rest.
“Yes. He worked here,” Edward confirmed.
“And you too?” I asked as I stared at Edward’s seemingly-passive face.
“Yes. Come here. I’ll show you his lab and his personal office,” Edward said as he took my hand and began leading me expertly through the facility.
Knowing that my father and Edward used to work here together made me pay more attention to my surrounding. How many years ago was it that those two worked together here? What were they researching? So many questions raced through my head as I followed behind Edward.
Shortly after, we arrived at a room that was a commonly furnished personal office with a work desk, chairs, and a set of sofas. This must be my father’s office when he was working here. The overall room had been vacated without any of my father’s personal belongings left. Just like the rest of this underground lab, this room was quite clean. It was clear that this lab was still receiving maintenance service and cleaning.
Edward motioned for me to sit down on one of the sofas before he sat down next to me. I looked around the room as I imagined my father working in here back in the days.
“Edward, you mentioned that my father was your savior. What did you mean?” I asked what had been bugging me.
“Exactly as it sounds like. Your father saved me. Care for a little trip down memory lane?” Edward asked with a teasing smile.
“I’m all ears,” I replied with a smile of my own.
“When I was first determined to be a genius, my father and the Elders at that time decided to send me to study and train at the company’s leading lab under the supervision of the best person that the company had. The man who was assigned to teach me was your father,” Edward started recounting the events from the past.
I listened with extreme focus to his every word. I felt like what I wanted and needed to know; I would discover from Edward’s story today.
“I spent every day of my life back then here in this lab with your father. He taught me everything that he knew. I hated everything to do with my family back then, and perhaps even now I still do, so I must have given your father a hard time.
However, as time went by, he became the person I trusted the most and we became friends despite our age difference,” Edward continued, his eyes staring off into space as if he was looking back at his own past.
“What happened next?” I asked eagerly.
“Things continued that way for years and we would come to confide in each other. I told him all about the troubles I had with my family, and he was very sympathetic and understanding. Then one night when we were alone in the lab running some experiments, we started talking about how I could possibly escape. You see, your father had heard that the family planned to lock me up and he told me about it,” Edward said before pausing as he seemed to sort out his emotions.
I waited patiently for him to continue. Edward told me before about how he narrowly escaped from the mansion on the night his father was going to capture and imprison him in another research laboratory.
“I remember you telling me about how you escaped…” I mumbled as the dots were starting to connect.
“Your father was the one who picked me up once I had escaped the mansion. After that, he rented a small apartment for me so that I could go into hiding. He looked after me secretly and we continued studying together,” Edward said as a pained expression marred his pleasant features.
“What happened next?” I asked, encouraging him to go on. I sensed that the next part must have been difficult.
“While in hiding, your father would come over to see me and take me out sometimes. It was around that time that he started opening up to me more about his personal life and he told me a secret that no one else knew,” Edward said as he continued with his story.
“A secret?” I asked, clearly curious about this sudden development in his story.
“Yup, he told me about his wife and his daughter. In other words, you and your mother,” Edward said before smiling adorably a little at me.
“He told you?” I asked in a whisper.
It struck me that my father must have trusted Edward a lot. Edward was probably the only person who my father told about mother and I. He didn’t tell anyone else, not even Lucien until he felt like his life was in danger.
“It was like a confession of guilt. He was so guilty about the fact that he had a family and at that time, honestly, I didn’t understand why he felt that way. However, it was also clear that he was happy about having you and your mother,” Edward went on before smiling at me a little sadly.
“My father must have trusted you a lot,” I said as I took his hand in mine. That was when I realized that his hands were shaking and cold, talking about this was very hard on Edward. I squeezed his hand a little to give him comfort and he squeezed mine back.
“I thought so too but I would find out later that he didn’t trust me enough. Lucien told you about the black envelop so you probably figured this out already…your father felt like his life was in danger and he was right,” Edward continued with a pained expression.
–To be continued…