Page 18 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Yeah, but will you tell him?" Sienna raised her expertly groomed brows. "You have to tell him."

"It was a hook-up," Eden reminded them. "Besides, he has a new life now with his fancy CEO job and maybe a wife. Let's not upset the apple cart."

"Are you out of your mind? He has the right to know!" Sienna insisted.

"Not if it will ruin his marriage. I can't do that to him."

"Argh! Can you stop with this marriage business? Where's the proof?"

"Liam told me that night at Crush. That's proof enough." Eden folded her arms and crossed her legs. "I don't want to talk about this anymore!"

"Let's choose baby names then," Lydia suggested.

"Are you drunk?" Sienna and Cassandra glared at her.

"Everything you've said makes me think you're drunk!" Sienna snapped.

"I may or may not have stopped at Crush before coming home." Lydia laughed, snapping a selfie of the four of them and hashtagging it with every baby synonym the internet spewed at her.

"Somebody please take her phone away!" Eden screeched when her phone pinged with a terse text from her parents.

"Why would you do that? Why would you post that in your status update when you know my parents have you as a contact?" Eden asked, storming off to her room to shower and change before racing off to do damage control.

It took her fifteen minutes to reach her parents' penthouse. As expected, they were livid, judging by their cold, silent reception when she came in.

Both professors at Rock Union University, Eden's parents prided themselves on being rational people who used words instead of fists. The quieter and calmer their tone, the angrier they were. Eden felt the chill as soon as she strolled through the front door.

"I'm sorry you found out the way you did," she apologised as soon as she sat down on the loveseat facing the pool on the deck.

"Is it Simon's?" Erica, her mom, asked in her breathy voice, hope lighting up her small, round face. Eden always thought she'd easily be the prettiest woman in the room if she smiled more. She had the same slanted brown eyes as her, and thanks to tons of beauty products lined up on the vanity station in her dressing room, her olive skin was flawless. She always kept her brown hair in a chic bob, and wore very little makeup. For a literature professor specialising in romantic poetry, though, there was nothing soft or romantic about her. She always wore a pained expression, as if being happy would suck the life from her. Weirdly, and despite being so aloof, she'd inspired many a love letter from the tortured writers who flocked her class.

"It's not Simon's," Eden said, and held her gaze, challenging her. But it was Steve, her father, who charged into the battlefield first with all his accusations.

"No wonder Simon left you. You were doing all kinds of shit behind his back," he said. No matter how furious he was, he never raised his voice, even in the heat of a fierce discussion. It was something Eden had appreciated as a child. She'd found his calm demeanour reassuring. But as she grew older, she'd slowly realised it was his own brand of intimidation. She often wondered if her parents were always this cold and aloof before they met, or if one had moulded the other into a glacial statue.

Tired of always having to defend herself, Eden exhaled. "Simon cheated on me first, Dad. He humiliated me by leaving me for one of my closest friends. I don't know how else to explain this to you."

"You must have done something to push him in that girl's arms!" He countered.

"Unbelievable!" Eden lost it, surprising her folks with her harsh tone. She never raised her voice at anyone because they'd taught her well. But she'd reached the end of her rope with them. They were her parents. Their loyalty should be to her. She shouldn't have to constantly seek their love and support, and she told them as much, "I'm your daughter. Simon hurt and humiliated me!"

"What about our humiliation?" Erica pointed out as she tapped a manicured finger on her chin.

Flabbergasted by the nonsense spewing out of her mouth, Eden could only gawk at her. Somehow, her mom had found a way to make everything all about her.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Eden scoffed. "Your humiliation? You didn't have to cancel your wedding because your fiancé ran off with one of your close friends. You didn't lose your dog in a custody battle you were never informed of. You aren't hanging on to an engagement ring like a tacky-ass person. You don't keep reliving memories because they're the only thing left of the love you poured into something that wasn't meant to grow!"

"You need to calm down." Steve held up his hands.

Eden rounded on him with the same fierceness. "No, you need to face facts and let go of your silly dream of being on the university board!"

Steve grimaced, a faint blush staining the tips of his ears. "How do you know about that?"

Eden clenched her hands on her lap. "I'm not stupid, Dad. Simon's father is the chairman of the board. You wanted to use my marriage to earn a spot on the board. I can't believe you'd try to take the easy way out. You taught me better than that!"

For the first time since Simon broke things off, something close to shame flitted in her father's eyes. His thinning crown glistened under the chandelier floating above him as he hid his face in his gigantic hands.

"I'm your daughter," Eden whispered. "My heartache and pain should have been your only concern, but somewhere along the way, you forgot that. Now that I'm going to be a mom, I pray I don't treat my child the way you've treated me."

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