Chapter 149: Talk to me... The question hovered in the air between them, patient and inescapable.
Alice looked at the door.
Suzy followed her gaze. "Don’t worry." She crossed the room, the click of her slippers deliberate on the hardwood, and laid her hand flat against the wood. "Locked." She turned back, her hands slipping casually into her pockets. "Conversations flow so much better without... interruptions."
Alice didn’t know what to think or feel in that monent.
"Now," Suzy continued, walking back and perching herself neatly on the arm of an armchair, legs crossed at the ankle. Her posture was all polished, unnerving confidence. "We can do this whichever way makes you more comfortable. You can finish freshening up first, and then we chat..." She lifted a hand, palm open, as though weighing two equally pleasant options. "...or we can chat now, and you can finish up later. Personally, I find honesty is less exhausting when you don’t delay it."
Alice swallowed, the air in the room suddenly too thick to breathe. She could hear the frantic drum of her own pulse in her ears.
Suzy leaned forward, her eyes warm but her gaze razor-sharp. "So. Which will it be?"
The options were an illusion. There was only one path forward.
Slowly, moving like every muscle ached, Alice bent down and picked up the towel from the floor. She walked on unsteady legs to the couch opposite Suzy and sat, her spine rigid. She stared at a point on the far wall, trying to muster every last shred of her crumbling courage.
She took a deep, shuddering breath that felt like it might be her last as "Aurora."
"You are right," Alice whispered, the words scraping against her throat as if they’d been locked there for too long. Her chest rose and fell in uneven bursts.
"I’m not Aurora."
The silence after she said that was intense.
Suzy didn’t gasp, didn’t recoil, didn’t even blink. She only watched, like she’d been waiting for this exact moment. Then she moved to Alice point of sight.
Alice forced her eyes up, meeting Suzy’s steady gaze. "I’m Alice."
Suzy sat down on the couch beside Alice, not too close, not too far. Just near enough that Alice could feel her presence.
. Suzy’s voice was soft when she spoke. "And... who is Alice?"
Alice’s lips parted, her throat tightening as the shape of the truth pressed forward. She wanted to curl in on herself, but Suzy’s patience, her terrifying, tender patience, left no room to hide.
"Aurora’s twin." The words trembled into the open air, fragile but real.
For the first time, Suzy’s expression shifted. Her brows lifted slightly, surprise flickering across her face before settling into something else. Curiosity, calculation, even a touch of awe.
Aurora’s twin.
Alice sat rigid, hands knotted in the towel on her lap, every nerve braced for Suzy to spring up and run to tell the world. But she also knew that Suzy would not do that. At least, not yet.
Suzy only tilted her head, studying her with those unnervingly eyes she could not read. "A twin..." she murmured. "Of course, I did think that was possible. More likely than finding a doppelganger somewhere or making a clone..."
Suzy’s lips twisted, but her eyes stayed sharp. "I wasn’t close to Aurora," she said, voice low and even. "But I definitely know she didn’t have a twin. At least, not one any of us knew of. So... where did you come from?"
Her mouth felt dry, her voice thinner than she wanted. "Aurora was adopted by Priscilla when we were younger. I was..." she drew a shaky breath, "...left behind."
Alice noticed the slight look of surprise when she had mentioned that Aurora was adopted. It further confirmed that most people didn’t really know much about the Malay Corporation affairs.
"Left behind?" Suzy repeated, her calmness unshaken. "Left behind where?"
Alice’s gaze dropped to the floor. "North."
For the first time, something flickered across Suzy’s face. Soft, fleeting sympathy, but it vanished almost instantly, buried under her lawyer’s composure. She leaned forward slightly, her tone shifting, practical and cutting.
"So what are you doing here, pretending to be Aurora?" she asked. "Are you insane? Do you want to die? Do you really not understand what this means?"
Of course, how could she not know?
"Whose idea was this?" Suzy pressed. "Priscilla’s?"
Alice said nothing, her silence thick and telling.
Suzy narrowed her eyes. "Who else knows? Does the matriarch know?"
Before Alice could even shake her head and say no, Suzy shook her head almost immediately, a humorless laugh escaping her. "Of course she doesn’t. Because if she did, you wouldn’t still have your head and your neck attached to each other."
Alice’s pulse thundered. She wanted to tell her to stop, to slow down, but Suzy wasn’t just talking to fill the silence. She was dissecting the situation like a puzzle, piece by dangerous piece.
"So who else knows?" Suzy asked again, her voice clipped. "What about Hades? Does he know?"
Alice’s throat tightened. For a moment Hardy’s face flickered through her thoughts. Then Dawin’s. But she shoved them down, shaking her head quickly. "No one else knows. Not... even Hades."
That made Suzy stand. She crossed her arms and began to pace, the soft rhythm of her slippers against the floor beating into Alice’s nerves.
Finally she stopped and turned, her eyes narrowing. "What is this all about? Some kind of novel plot where you’re pretending to be your twin for some revenge?" Her voice dropped lower, heavier. "Where is Aurora?"
Alice hesitated.
That hesitation was enough. A flash of anger crossed Suzy’s face, sharp and quick.
"You still want to hide things from me?" she snapped. "Do you realize how easy it would be to ruin your life? I just have to walk out there and tell Hades. Or better yet, the matriarch. You wouldn’t last the hour."
Alice’s stomach twisted.
God! She just wanted to... throw up.
Can she get a break? So much for not wanting to think tonight.
"But I didn’t," Suzy continued, her tone regaining its control. "I’m here. Trying to understand what exactly is going on, to know what I’m supposed to do." She stepped closer, leaning down slightly until Alice had no choice but to meet her eyes. "Don’t you trust me?"
Alice stared at her, her mind a storm. Then, slowly, honestly, she shook her head. "I don’t know who to trust. Since I came here... everything has been hard. I feel like I’m reaching for something, and then it disappears. I get nothing."
Suzy tilted her head, studying her like she was a case file unraveling before her eyes. Her voice was quieter this time, thoughtful. "So you really are here for something, then?"
Alice pressed her lips together and stayed silent.
Suzy watched her for a long moment, then finally straightened. "Fine. Keep your secrets." Her arms uncrossed as she let out a breath. "But listen to me, Auro— Alice." She paused, her gaze steady, unwavering. "I won’t tell anyone."
Alice’s throat tightened. Words pressed at the back of her tongue, but none of them made it past her lips.
Suzy noticed. Of course she noticed. Her eyes softened as she leaned forward, placing a gentle hand over Alice’s trembling ones. "Hey," she said quietly, her voice steady but edged with a sharpness that left no room to wriggle away. "I promise. I won’t tell anyone. Look at me."
Alice forced herself to raise her gaze again.
Suzy’s eyes held hers, unwavering, almost demanding honesty.
But there was still that uncertainty in Alice’s eyes. Like she wasn’t sure whether admitting to Suzy was a good thing.
And then Suzy’s fingers shifted, pointing lightly at the faint healing mark along Alice’s arm, the cut left by Derren. Her voice dropped, low and almost accusatory.
"Why did you risk your life for me that night if you can’t even trust me?"
The words struck deeper than Alice expected, and her breath caught. Suzy’s hand slipped away as she straightened, stepping back. "If you can’t answer that," Suzy said, shaking her head, "then maybe I don’t even know what to do with you."
She turned, already moving toward the door.
Alice’s heart clenched. She didn’t even realize she was speaking until the words fell out, raw and unsteady.
"Aurora’s in a psychiatric ward."
The air shifted.
Suzy stopped mid-step. The stillness in her body was so sudden it was as if the room itself held its breath with her. Slowly, she turned her head, her expression unreadable.
"What..." Suzy’s voice was soft, but it carried an edge of disbelief. "W-Why?"
Alice swallowed hard, her hands curling into fists against her lap, wishing she could drag the words back inside. But it was too late.
Suzy found her way back to Alice. But this time, she didn’t sit on the couch beside her or across from her. She quietly lowered herself to the floor right beside Alice and sat there, looking up at Alice with wide, questioning eyes.
"Talk to me..." she said quietly.
Her voice was so soft that it almost made Alice want to cry.