Chapter Nine – Lucian

“Dead?” I stared at the surgeon as if he were speaking to me in a foreign language. He placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me, yet it felt awkward and cold to the both of us. “I’m really sorry…he died on the way, there was nothing we could do.” I turned away from him and made my way through the maze of corridors and out of the hospital; once outside I lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. Lucian was dead. I kept repeating it to myself over and over hoping that somehow it would sink in, at the moment it felt like I was trapped in a bad dream and nothing seemed real. “Aurora,” Hyun had come to stand beside me, he lit a cigarette too and then turned to look at me, “This is going to sound stupid but, are you ok?” I looked at him, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. I couldn’t find the words to lie to him. How could I? It felt like my whole world had fallen apart in an instant and there was nothing I could do to rebuild it; instead I nodded my head and turned away before he could see the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. “How?” I finally managed to ask him after miraculously composing myself.

“He’s been stabbed…” he stopped talking and took my trembling hand in his before continuing, “…sixteen times in the chest.” I almost choked on the smoke as I exhaled it. I started to cough and back away from him at the same time trying to pull my hand free. “Aurora, I’m so sorry.” He yanked me forward gently and held me close, but I had no tears, I felt nothing. I was numb with shock. I pushed him away after a few minutes and stared off into the distance trying to collect my thoughts and steady the spinning horizon, “Do they know who did it?” Hyun shuffled his feet slightly before looking up at me. I could see the pain etched on his face, I hadn’t stopped to consider how he felt at all. Hyun and Lucian had been very close too.

“Yes, they do.” I stood there waiting for him to continue but he never did. We were interrupted by Liliana; she had appeared right next to us. She seemed beside herself with grief, blowing her nose into a tissue and whimpering like a puppy that’s lost its owner. I felt no sympathy for her. “Drop the act!” I found myself shouting at her, my anger taking us all by surprise. “Aurora, what’s the matter with you?!” She looked at me confused with tear streaked mascara that had run down the sides of her face. I felt nothing but resentment towards her. How can this woman claim to love him after what she’d done to him? I couldn’t bring myself to answer her, instead I found myself doing what I’d never imagined myself capable of. I slapped her hard leaving a deep red hand print on her cheek, at first we were all too shocked to react. All of us stood motionless, Liliana focusing on me, and Hyun on Liliana.

“Christ…” Hyun was the first to break the silence; he grabbed hold of my wrist and dragged me towards the car park, not far from where we stood minutes earlier. I didn’t resist, instead followed him feeling slightly bewildered. “What the fuck was that about?” He bellowed at me as we came to a stop in front of his silver Mercedes. I merely looked at him in silence. He let go of my wrist and turned his back to me, breathing heavily as he tried to control his emotions. “Hyun…” my voice was small and weak as I tried to find the words I needed to express myself; instead I opted to finally let go as floods of tears came rushing out. I couldn’t hold back any longer. Instead I leant against the car door and slid to the ground, sitting in a heap trying to light another cigarette with my trembling hands; but I couldn’t get the lighter to work. “Here.” An orange flame appeared before me and I leaned into it taking a deep drag as I watched my cigarette begin to burn; I looked up to find Hyun crouching in front of me, staring at me intently. He sighed heavily and looked away once again; it seemed as if he too was struggling with his emotions. “The person that killed him…” he paused for a few moments to look back at me, “…he was the one that Liliana was having an affair with.”

“What?!”

“Let me finish…” he placed his finger lightly on my lips, once he had my full attention again he continued, “…he’s your half brother, Jake.” There was a long pause before all I could muster feebly in reply was, “No…you’re wrong.” Hyun remained silent but continued to stare at me intently. “Please, Hyun, tell me you’re wrong,” I burst into tears again, “It can’t be him, he lives in France!” I knew he wasn’t lying; I now understood why I recognised him in the photos with Liliana, I recognised the face of my brother, his resemblance to my father was uncanny although I didn’t realise it at the time. Hyun moved to sit beside me; both of us pressed up against his car and then lit a cigarette too. “It gets worse…” he almost whispered it to me. “What happened?” I asked him in between breaths as I tried to calm myself but he didn’t elaborate. Instead he stood up and brushed his trousers to remove any dirt and said, “You’re coming to mine…we’ll talk more when we get there.”