Preplanned

"HOW!? How could you do this to us!? You never ever thought of us for once while doing so? We didn't think that your parents would shatter upon hearing this? Where did we lack in loving you? Why did you do this to us? When did you become so selfish?" Sophia exclaimed angrily to her daughter, who was looking down, ashamed. 

It was the first time Athaliah got slapped and she never thought that she would be getting slapped by her own sweet mother. Well it's not like she left her a choice. So she accepted it without making any sound.

Though it's not like she was wrong but one thing she knew is that she wronged her family. There is no denying that. Her family did everything as per her wish. Never did they deny her for anything. That made her more stubborn and arrogant but she never crossed her limits. But this time her adamant behaviour affected her family in many ways. But she was way too broken that time to think straight.

"She has always been selfish, mom. It's just we always let it pass and see where that brought us today." Aiden also exclaimed in frustration. 

"Sophia, Aiden? You both should calm down and listen to her parts of the coin. You both know no matter how adamant she was never someone to make impulsive decisions." Elena tried to support her best friend even though she was always against this decision but for Aiden it was like adding fuel to the fires. 

"Shut up! You just shut up!" Aiden roared out, making Elena jump on her place.

She looked at Aiden in shock. Athaliah was also in shock. Aiden has never raised his voice on any of them. Sure he has his own story of anger but he was always the happy go lucky person around both of them. So, his current behaviour was pretty shocking for both of them. 

Though Athaliah was already expecting this kind of reaction from Aiden. But it affected Elena a lot because just some hours ago they were so happy. He even asked her for a date. She was so happy then. But she knew it was ought to happen. Now she has to do everything to get his forgiveness. And she was determined to get it by hook or by crook.

"I.. I will just go and call dad to tell him that

I will be late." Elena mumbled in a low voice and was about to leave the family alone for sometime. Also it was already 11 at night. 

"You can leave even now. As you are not needed here anymore. You already did a lot of favour on us and we paid for it for two and half years. Thank you so much for that!" Aiden shouted at her once again and this time she couldn't stop herself from dropping some tears. 

She immediately wiped it when she saw Aiden looking at her with an unreadable expression and gave him a fake smile.

"I will just give you all sometimes." Saying that she was going to leave the room when Athaliah stopped her.

"Don't leave before me. We will be going to the apartment together. I will need you tonight." Athaliah said to her which angered Aiden some more.

Elena just nodded and left the place after giving them some space. She looked at Aiden one last time and when he turned his head away from her she didn't find any reason to stay there anymore. Yet she walked away from them to the balcony and decided wait there till they were done.

"Great! Just great! First you pretended to be dead and made us suffer for the whole two and half years and after you return you don't even want to stay with us? What happened to you? When did you become so heartless?" Aiden asked angrily while scowling deeply at his sister.

All this time Steven Williams was a silent spectator. He was analysing the situation to avoid any kind of unnecessary misunderstanding between him and his daughter who for some reason decided to fake her death and presented to be dead for two and half years. One he knows is that his daughter never decides anything abruptly. His daughter has always been calculative of her actions since she was a child. So, he doesn't believe that his daughter was being plain selfish here.

But it seems like his wife and son weren't in the mood of understanding or analysing anything. Heck, they weren't even giving her a chance to explain or say something. So, he decided to intervene this time to make it easier for everyone.

"Enough of your accusing, Aiden. Now let me talk with her and I don't want you to interrupt. Is that clear?" Steven uses the fatherly authority over Aiden which he disrespect. So he decided to zip his mouth at this moment. But the scowl didn't leave his face yet.

"Princess?" Steven called for her in a really soft and tender tone. 

Because he noticed how hard she was trying to maintain his arrogant and strong posture to face the world after being dead for two and half years. He noticed how stiffened she was all the time and how she kept her guards up so that no one could break her walls and look through it. 

One thing he was sure of. His precious daughter is broken inside. She was breaking some more every moment since she set her steps here. After all it must be hard to decide to be dead and harder to come back. 

The moment he called her so lovingly all the resolve went out of the window. She hugged him tightly and started to cry her heart out. Her father hugged her back with the same amount of warmness like before but this time there was protectiveness and firmness in that hug. 

Seeing their precious princess cry like the world was about to end, melted both Aiden and Sophia's heart. Sophia started crying again while Aiden secretly wiped his tears and hugged his mother to support her. 

"Calm down, my lioness. Calm down my strongest child. Everything will be fine. Dad will make everything alright for his little princess. Calm down and tell us the things you want us to know. Not more than that and not less than that." Her father's soothing words started to calm her nerves down. 

She snuggled some more into her father's warm chest. Who would say she was a mother?

Her antics made her whole family chuckle at her in amusement.

"Just a little kitty you are." Steven pinched his daughter's cheek lovingly. 

"I missed you, Dad." She smiled at him sadly with teary eyes.

He looked at his daughter with a smile and wiped her tears softly as if she would break any moment if he put some pressure.

"I missed you too, princess. But I hope you know that you don't have a way out of the explanation, right?" He joked a little to help her lose her nerves some more.

And it helped. She pouted at first then chuckled at the end.

"I know. And don't worry when I decided to come back after so many days, I prepared myself well for this." She assured her father with a smile.

The environment suddenly became light. As if a heavy weight was lifted up from their shoulders. It's not like they forgave her or forgot everything. It's just they accepted it. And that's why everyone envied the Williams. They were one hell strong family together.

They took a seat on the couch in the corner. They decided to end every misunderstanding here only before heading to their home. 

"Dad?" She looked at Steven expectantly.

"Yes, dear?" He asked with the same attention.

"As you said earlier, do I really have the privilege to share only the things I want to share right now and hide the things I don't want to share now?" She confirmed once again to avoid any kind of hesitation.

"Yes, you do. Right Aiden? Right Sophia dear?" Steven asked his son and wife while rising his eyebrows as if daring them to challenge his decision. 

They immediately shook their heads positively.

"Thank you. One more thing. Aiden? Can you please go and call Elena back? I want her to be present here when I make my confession." Athaliah asked softly with a little amount of hesitation as she was still not sure of her brother's current reaction.

Though Aiden didn't like the hesitation his sister showed while talking with him but he decided against consoling her now. He wants to do it later in a better environment. For now he just nodded at her and stood up to walk outside and call Elena back.

***

"I didn't expect you to do this to me." Aiden said in a blank tone and stood beside her while looking at the front.

They were at the balcony of the hotel that Aiden booked for the whole night. The view in front of them was really beautiful but none of them were in the mood of enjoying it. They were both drowned in their own thoughts. 

"Athaliah also didn't expect from me to reveal the secret to you and I can only meet up to one of your expectations. I chose to fulfill her expectations because I didn't want to lose her forever." She also said in the same blank tone without looking at him.

"What do you mean by you didn't want to lose her forever?" This time Aiden looked at her with a frown.

"Don't jump into the calculation just yet. I am sure Athaliah will explain this to you better but I would still like to mention some information beforehand so that it becomes easier for you to understand." Elena said in a serious tone.

Aiden looked away when she said he jumps into calculation too fast. 

"Go on." He muttered.

"Just trust us when we say she was broken beyond repair that time and that's forced her into this. She didn't know whom to contact that time apart from me because the situation was really messed up. I immediately disagreed with her decision and wanted to inform you instantly but she said.." She gulped the pain.

"She said what?" Aiden encouraged her to go on.

"She said even if I tell you guys about her being alive, she would hide herself in such a place where no one won't be able to find her and she would cut all the connection with me. So at that time I thought it was best if I agreed with her decision so at least I can be with her in need." Elena explained sadly.

Aiden wonders what might have happened to corner her sister to this extent..

"Let's get inside and listen to her side of the coin." Aiden said and without commenting he took her hand and they both started to walk inside. 

***

"After my delivery when I came to sense I found myself in a completely different hospital. Alone. There wasn't anyone beside me at that time. For some reason I was really depressed in the last few months. Insecurity, anger, sadness they all were taking a toll on my mental health. It was messing up my mind, sanity and consciousness and when I found myself alone in that cold hospital bed, that was the last nail in the coffin. But even that time I didn't plan anything. It was when I left the hospital with my new only motivation of living, I met with the accident. Fortunately I predicted it soon and I was able to escape it." Athaliah took a moment to read everyone's expression.

Everyone had different expressions on their faces. Her mother was shocked, her father was calm, her brother was angry but this time not on her and he was wearing a frown on his fine face. But she knew they all were confused. And Elena, well she already knew everything and much more than Athaliah was revealing so she was neutral.

"What do you mean by you predicted the accident beforehand?" Aiden asked with a frown.

Athaliah looked at him briefly before closing her eyes and opening them again.

"It was a preplanned murder attempt."