Chapter 24 - Allison

                                    

                                          
Zac said he wants to talk with Jeff privately. "It's not my problem. You know I'm an open book to you. But it's Jeff. I don't know how comfortable he is to open up with you" he said to me. 
                          
I do understand. Of course you can have a secret with your siblings. I do have a secret that only Lys knows. So here I am in the kitchen waiting for Zac to come back and afterwards we will go to my place. My car is already in my place, one of Zac's people already drove it back there. Tomorrow I have a morning flight to fly back to Finland. 
                          
"Here Alli. Give these to Adriana okay" Stella gives me a box of homemade cookies. I smile at her "sure Stella. Aunt Adriana will be very happy with this" I grin. 
                          
She smiles softly and squeezes my hand "I'm glad you are back in Zac's life, dear"
                          
I smile softly at her. 
                          
"You don't know how miserable he is back then" she sighs. 
                          
I blink. Miserable? But... He was the one who initiated the break up. Why did he break up with me if he is miserable? 
                          
Stella doesn't realize my reaction, she continues "I still remember I came to bring his food one morning. He was sitting there looking at your picture. In the end he punched the wall so hard... I was afraid he broke another bone"
                          
Another bone? Zac broke his bone when broke up with me? I remember aunt Adriana went here to take care of Zac because he had an accident. But I just realized that... I don't know the accident. I was asking everyone but everyone said they don't know or they just avoid me. In the end before I got the answer, Zac broke up with me and... I was too busy nursing my broken heart. 
                          
I look at Stella. For sure she will stop if she realizes I know nothing about 10 years ago. 
                          
So I try to encourage her to say more. I don't know how bad the accident was but judging from Stella's face it was bad. "Zac told me a bit about the accident. But it wasn't too clear. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it" I say, shrugging like it doesn't matter. I don't want Stella to see I'm dying to know about it. 
                          
She sighs again and shakes her head. "It was crazy, Al. Zac was driving a car. You know the driver back then, Rudi, taught the kids in early age about how to drive"
                          
I nod. I remember Zac told me about that. That wasn't the first time he drove the car. I was there when he started the lesson with Mr. Rudi. 
                          
"It was a BMW for god's sake. Not some... old junk stupid truck. But the car suddenly got out of control. That day Rudi brought Zac to the street. Zac succeeded to stop the car by hitting it to the tree instead of crushing the bus stop with a lot of people. It was crazy really. He got lots of scar and broken ribs."
                          
Oh my Jesus!!!! I clear my throat "what happened with the car?"
                          
"Malfunction at the brake" she shrugs. "Nonsense. And Zac was hospitalized for 2 weeks. They were afraid he had a concussion."
                          
I nod. 2 weeks?!? 
                          
"And later when you two broke up, Zac was miserable"
                          
"It was him who initiated it, Stella. Not me" I say automatically. 
                          
She sighs "I know... but it took all of him to break up with you"
                          
What the...
                          
"I guess I owe you an apology too Alli. If I were a braver person I would call you and tell you what really happened. But I couldn't do that. I'm sorry. Eleanor threatened to close my mouth, or else she would make my family's life miserable" she says meaningfully. 
                          
What? Why? What happened. I feel dizzy with all these things. What happened back then??
                          
I shake my head, trying to play it cool "it was in the past Stella. Now we are back together. I hope this time everything will be better than before"