POV: Seraphina
I kept my distance.
With Selena now vmback at Romans place, everything felt different, distant for the most part. And Roman….. no longer felt like my safe place.
Not completely.
But it was different knowing that he belonged to someone else, someone kinder, someone just for him.
So I did what I always did when things became too much with someone, I withdrew myself.
I smiled when I needed to, only talked when it was necessary to talk, and went on around the house, like nothing ever happened or come across my mind about Roman.
As it should be.
So I thought.
Selena was everything I wasn't , she was composed, knew exactly how she wanted things and how he life would go.
I wasn't like that.
She moved and did everything like she had everything under her control.
Not once did she raise her voice or show a sign of anger or irritation….
Not when the maid poured red wine on her yellow dress.
Not when Roman came from work late and barely talked to her. She would just smile and welcome him with open arms.
And to top it all of. She was still kind to me and welcomed me into the home, like I was her sister.
She didn't treat me like I was taking too much space or troubling her around the house.
At first, I thought it was all acting, maybe a way to hide all the jealousy she his Inside, but as time went by, I realized I was wrong.
She really just liked having me around. She even made it known that when Roman wasn't around, I kept her company.
I truly liked having her around, the way she liked me around.
Instead of causing anything that would put a rift between them, I started focusing on something else. Something I had kept and stored in the back of my mind, since the day I wa disowned.
My parents.
My biological ones.
There were nights, where I would stay awake looking at the ceiling of my room, wondering…
Who they were?
What they looked like?
And more importantly, why they gave me up?
Beatrice and Charles never really told me much. Beatrice only told me that I had been adopted through a very private arrangement and there wasn't much paperwork she did.
But now, with nothing to focus more on, I know more than ever, needed answers to my questions. I needed the truth. The one that hunted every of my sleep.
I began my search quietly.
I brought out every of the document I had on myself. But no one gave me something.
No one gave me the answers I needed.
I even set out to the hospital I was born in. The one that had earlier refused me seeing any of their details.
Getting to the huge building, I was met by a new receptionist. Different from the one I had met here, with Morgan.
This new one has a smile that would welcome anyone from afar. And her smile brought me to her almost immediately. Her contagious smile formed on my lips as I introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Seraphina." I said casually.
"Good day ma'am, how many I help you?" She replied to me, her smile almost matching her light voice.
"Please I'm looking for my mother, this is my birth hospital, I was hoping if the hospital would let me go through the files." I said with a smile on my face trying to sound as calm as possible.
The receptionist' smile faltered bit an she shook her head. "I'm sorry ma'am. We can allow that."
I sighed loudly.
It didn't matter who sat behind the receptionist desk, they wouldn't let me see the files. They just wouldn't let me.
I didn't say anything to the receptionist, just stood there for a while and with a loud tap on her table, I left the hospital.
Once again.
Without the origin certificate in my hands and disappointment in my face.
No records they could show me
No leads.
No birth certificate.
I didn't know what to do next, I felt defeated?
I wasn't even surprised at the result of my search, but I was still frustrated. And it made me even more desperate to know, who these parents of mine were. And If I couldn't find out where I came from, then how would I truly know the way forward in my life.
One afternoon, Selena and I sat down for a quiet and tasty meal at the dining table, Roman had already left the house for an urgent meeting.
Mid eating, the thoughts came into my head and I decided to try again. I called the foster agency.
I had atleast found a foster home. It was a nearby foster home, the only one closer to us and I assumed Charles and Beatrice had picked me up from there, knowing the next foster home was miles away.
I had them dig up files about me, trying to see if they could help me connect whatever dot I need. But it was the same, always the same. They couldn't find anything...yet.
And again I called today
And again. It was the same answer.
"No record, Miss Hayes."
Miss Hayes.
That name I despised now. The name I had carried all my life and was taken away from me in cruelty.
Now it was nothing to me.
Nothing official. Nothing secure.
I sat there, hands still on the spoon and trying inwardly to hold it together, to not burst into tears.
Selena looked across at me and understood I had called again and no result. She shares a concern look at me.
Just before my thoughts began to spiral, my phone vibrated violently on the table
A call…..I made myself ignore. I didn't feel like being disturbed
And then on the final one, which wa the third, I decided to pick up and was shocked, terrified even, when saw who had given me those missed calls.
Beatrice?
I blinked confused at the screen. She since had not called me since the day we met on the road after her asthma attack.
No calm of thank you
And now...three calls?
Something was wrong.