From My Best Friend.

Esme

"It was high time you moved on, I've never seen any other in here, that's good progress," the lady said, strutting towards the sofa as she dropped the child there, which was odd because the child looked more than capable of walking.

"Alicia! What a surprise," Eden said through gritted teeth, "Kara, Alicia, my sister."

"Nice to finally meet the infamous sister," she said, reaching for her hand to exchange pleasantries, glancing over at Eden to see him rather frightened by her in the room.

"Too many formalities, it's nice to best you too, Kara," she took Kara in her welcoming embrace. Her body was cold, very cold.

Kara stared at this woman wondering how she hadn't known at the get-go that she was Eden's sister, she was only the female version of her brother. Both were born with looks that could kill and god-like features.

"Your child is beautiful," Kara said, staring at the child who had now sat up on the chair, staring at Kara with a toothless grin on her face. She had to admit, the girl was stunning.

"I brought her to see her quite scarce father for his two-day break, he has been dying to see her."

Her heart dropped almost instantly, finding it hard yet so easy to process what she has just said. She glanced over at Eden, figuring her eyes would already be tinted red with water behind them, meeting with his sober look.

She let out a forced laugh, staring at Esme, then Alicia, then Eden, and back at Alicia, "I'm sorry, excuse me," she managed to squeeze out of her throat, feeling it dry up already as the tears threatened to come out. She scrambled around the room, mentally blocking her name that was called from Eden's mouth as she grabbed everything she knew she had brought with her, making sure she left nothing behind. She was at least grateful he didn't try to infuriate her more by touching her.

She looked at him once more as she grabbed one pair of sweats to put over her gown short gown for coverage

"Kara," his voice was suddenly hoarse, "I was going to tell you," he said, his voice almost coming out like a whisper.

She shook her head, trying to force a smile before she ran down the hallway, feeling the tears trickle down her cheeks and her heart aching through her chest. She found an open, empty room after wandering for a while, gasping for air, wondering how big the house was.

She sat on the warm sofa in the room, feeling too numb to remember to close the door. She stared at the ceiling, her tears entering her hair now from her position. She sat, trying to gaslight herself into stopping her tears.

"You should have known better."

"Did you think this was some fairytale?"

"How'd you think the man won't be cuffed, I mean look at him."

She told herself in a futile attempt to calm the tears and cool her aching heart.

Eden

He placed his face in his palms, pacing around the room as he wondered what he was to do next with this dilemma he had caused. He shifted his attention to Alicia, who had a slight frown on her face.

"What the hell happened to calling before you come to my house, Alicia?" he said through gritted teeth, trying to hold himself from shouting and startling Esme.

"It's not my fault you didn't tell your girlfriend about a whole ass almost one-year-old you have," Alicia whispered, her voice coming out harsh.

"I don't even know what might be running through her head by now, I don't know what to do. It wasn't like I didn't want to tell her, there wasn't just a perfect time to tell her such a thing. If I started, she would have wanted more like 'who or where is her mother'," he said, pacing around the room frantically, clutching on his chest to hold his heart from bearing out of his chest.

"You must really like this girl."

"I love her already, I don't want to lose her like this," he managed to squeeze out his parched throat.

"Then what are you doing here? Go after her and explain if you're sure you love her."

"You're right, I should go," he grabbed his phone, looking through the cameras for Kara as he saw her enter another room down the hall, "I've found her."

Alicia nodded, "For your sake, I hope she doesn't end up doing what Diera did to your soul."

He repulsed at the mention of her name, realizing he had to bring u something he wanted to bury for a while now.

He ran out of the room and down to the hallway, sneaking gently into the room he was positive Kara was in. His heart shattered, watching her as she had her head over the hood of the sofa, the knees of the sweatpants visibly wet from tears.

"Kara, let me explain," he whispered, walking into the room slowly as he squatted in front of her. As he got closer, his heart broke from hearing the sudden cold she had gotten.

She raised her head, revealing her bloodshot, swollen eyes from crying. He saw them instantly fill with rage as she pushed him back with her two feet against his chest. He lost his balance landing on his bottom and feeling the slight impact, "Don't you dare touch me," she said as she stood up, staring at Eden on the floor.

He stared as Kara was above him, still trying to shake off the pain in his bottom. She stood, towering above him with an unimpressed, devastated look on her face, her arms crossed with her foot tapping frantically against the floor.

"I was going to tell you at the right time," his voice came out hoarse, barely in a whisper as if he had been shouting, "Please Kara just let me explain."

She sat on the next sofa across from him. He tried to sit on the same one but she pointed across to the other one, "Talk from there."

He nodded, pursing his lips as he walked over to the sofa to sit, "Esme is my child," he said.

"Yeah, no s**t, I got the memo," she rolled her eyes revealing how swollen her face was, "why, Eden? Why am I just finding this out? During the introductory phase, you had more than enough time to bring that up. Why the hell am I finding out that you have a daughter? I have so many questions I don't even know where to start," Kara said. The pain in her voice was audible, breaking his heart into a million more pieces.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to tell you that, I knew you would have questions that I wouldn't be ready to answer."

"And why exactly weren't you ready to answer them?" she ran her hand through her hair, "You know, I trusted you, I spilled everything about my past life and my entire life. I put it all on the table, something I've never told anyone but Katherine I told you and what do I get? You can't even tell me you have a freaking almost one-year-old!" she interrupted before Eden could speak, she smiled, and he read through it as fake obviously, "I thought telling a practical stranger I met a few days ago would turn out good, silly of me."

"Kara-," his throat started to close up as his heart ached.

"You say you didn't have the opportunity to say anything; you had more than enough time, you had enough chances, Eden. I'm not even fazed that you have a child, you couldn't even at least tell me or answer my goddamn questions I'll have after," he watched as the tears drizzled down her cheek, her voice fainter every time she spoke.

"Kara, please, listen to me. I can answer all your questions, but please, give me a chance to," he said, trying to slowly approach her.

"Don't you dare come near me. You are going to answer all my questions from where you are, don't make this worse than you already have," she pointed a finger at him.

He let out a sigh, mentally noting he was about to answer questions he wouldn't have wanted to answer on a normal day.

"When was this, dated back to when, and what exactly happened with who?"

As expected. He rubbed his face, letting out a deep sigh to casually wipe the tears threatening to come out of his eyes. He placed his elbows on his thighs, internally preparing his answers.

He started, "It was three years ago," Kara's face sparked with interest with the disgusted look still plastered on it, making him unable to look her in the eyes any longer to prevent himself from feeling worse, "I had a girlfriend who I thought loved me for who I was. She kept it up for over a year, doing everything a 'perfect' girlfriend was all about. It was all suspicious, too suspicious, and at some point, even very busy Gabriel caught on that she was faking it all."

"Before it got to even a year and a half, she started showing who she really was, becoming someone I didn't recognize. Everything she asked for, I gave it to her, anything. It was just like the love just ran out one day. I was devastated for weeks still in the relationship, my businesses were declining, and Alicia and Gabriel had to take care of my businesses for a while because of everything that was happening and how horrible I felt. I wondered what I was doing wrong and one day, she disappeared, without a trace."

Kara crossed her legs and folded her arms, indicating her interest. He let out a deep sigh, "The love and disappointment slowly turned into hatred and distaste. I didn't love her anymore and she left me filled with resentment at the time, but that was the best time for me financially because of how strict I became."

He paused, glancing over at Alicia who had just walked in with Esme, giving them both a soft, pitiful smile, "I saw her at a coffee shop six months after in Guatemala, I went to check on our resort there. She was heavily pregnant claiming it was for me. Me, being a sucker for children, I had believed her and put her under Alicia's care. She still had the same attitude as how she had left, I had to constantly beg and remind Alicia that she was doing this for me and my supposed child, not for her in any way. She would use the pregnancy hormones as an excuse to throw things around and hit Alicia occasionally."

"She gave birth not long after and during birth, she died. The first thing I did when the child was born was fall in love with her. Esme melted my heart right from when she was born. She looked so much like me that the doctors told me there was no DNA test needed to see that this was my child, I insisted regardless and she was actually my child. Ever since I've never talked about it. I see her whenever I'm able to since I'm usually busy with work, she stays with Alicia."

"Dada," Esme said in Alicia's arms, freeing herself as Alicia dropped her to the ground. Her little footsteps taping against the floor made his heart fill with joy again, kissing her cheeks as she giggled in his arms.

The silence was uncanny in the room, Kara had her head held still down. He figured she was still trying to process everything.

"Give me a minute," she glanced over her phone, dragging her nose, "my Uber is here," she grabbed her things and left the room, closing the door behind her. His heart sank to his stomach again, and he felt a hand on his shoulder snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Give her some time, it looks like she loves you very much, let her be for now."

"I guess so," he admitted as he stroked Esme's hair. As she giggled in his arms, it warmed his heart and made him feel better than before at least.

Kara

"How much?" she sniffed asking the Uber driver.

"I was to go to this same place anyway, it's on the house," he said, giving her a warm smile and showcasing his smile lines. She tried to hold the tears forming at the corner of her eyes but couldn't.

"Thank you. Have a nice day, sir," she waved, entering the house to leave the beaming middle-aged man driving off.

She stared at the entrance, not knowing how she would face Katherine, knowing she'll definitely notice her puffy eyes. She walked through the entrance, met by the sound of the Television, figuring they must be home.

"Kara, you're back," Katherine said, her face pitiful yet bright. They both sat on the couch as the Tv played, staring at Kara who had just walked in.

"Yeah, I am, although I'm quite tired. Last night was a lot," she forced a normal voice and a small smile, "I'm going to retire to my room now."

"Wait," Gabriel called out, she turned, her eyes meeting with Katherine and Gabriel's sober, pitiful eyes, "We heard what happened, Kara."

Her blood started to boil under her skin, she smiled, trying not to shi her anger in her face, "If you know already, why not leave me the f**k alone?" she said in a harsh tone, still coming out as yet a whisper. Stomping back up to her room, she closed the door behind herself, locking it before crashing back on her bed to scream into her pillow.

"Hey, darling. Please can you open the door? It's Kath," she heard Katherine say at the other end of the locked door. She let out a deep sigh alongside an unexpected cough and cleaned her tears, unlocking the door without opening it, and went back to her bed.

"Oh darling, I'm so sorry we approached you like that, I understand how you feel," she said, closing the door behind her.

"No Katherine, you don't understand," she said in a low sober tone.

"I do and you know it. You and I have had our fair share of the male gender and their problems,"

"You don't understand," the tears began to escape from her cheeks and dropped to her shirt.

"Oh no," Katherine said before engulfing Kara in a tight embrace. Like a dam had just broken inside her as she released all her tears on Katherine's shoulder.

"I really liked this one, he made me feel even more safe than my ex-husband in the first weeks of our relationship. I even told him about Andrew the rapist, yet I get this s**t. Why didn't he tell me?" she continued, sounding like a broken record crying and sniffing in between her words as Katherine rubbed her back.

"There there. I know it wasn't right for him to keep such from you, but he apparently said he had his reasons, trust him on this one. I can tell you really love him and he has explained everything to you, just give him another chance, Kara," she said, rubbing her back.

"You're right, I probably wouldn't know how to break that news to someone I'm interested in either if I was in his shoes, I just need some space to think now," she cleaned her tears with her arms, still lingering in the hug.

"How bout we watch some Barbie?"

"Let's stay like this for a while, I'm feeling better," Katherine chuckled as she hugged her tighter.

After lingering in silence in each other's arms for a long while, they stayed in Kara's bed to watch a Barbie movie, not long after, Gabriel came with smoothies and a soft smile, Kara returned it with her now puffy eyes, telling him to leave them on the nightstand.

"I'll leave you girls to it, enjoy your smoothies, I'm going over to Eden's. Get some rest, it's the weekend," they both returned his smile, Kara repulsing as he kissed Katherine goodbye, exchanging 'I love you's.

Not long after, Katherine noticed she had slept off already. She smiled, pecking her forehead, placed the covers on her, closed the laptop, and left for her room to do some work.