Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Maive's POV

It's already getting dark as the sun had already set yet I could feel cold sweat running down my forehead. I couldn't move, getting so afraid that my life would end just because I wanted to know my late father's life... just because I wanted to find my family.

"I-I a-am..." I paused for some seconds, thinking what would be the best answer to have that gun pointed away from me, "d-daughter of Z-Zoren Underwood."

The moment I said those words, the disbelief in his eyes was so evident as he scanned through me. He, then, pointed away his gun at me and kept it on his side. His scary deadly face had turned calm but guarded.

"Show me your identity card," He said and his voice was now a little bit soft than earlier.

I immediately raided my bag with my hands still trembling from that little encounter with him. After some minutes, I got my university identification card. He was still maintaining the distance between us which made me throw my identification card towards him.

I looked at him intensely as he stared at my card. He's a bit old, probably just the same as my late father when he was alive. Despite his age, he still has a well built body as if he was engaged with some sort of training.

After he scanned my ID, he looked at me from head to toe and his face held an emotion I couldn't decipher. Well, my ID only has my picture and name but if he really knew my father, he would definitely confirm that I am his daughter.

He sighed and he looks a little calmer now with a soft expression. He then ran his left hand on his mustache as if thinking, the disbelief in his eyes is more evident.

"Come with me," After a moment he said as he began to walk towards the mansion.

There was a somewhat short road leading to the mansion which is why we had to walk a bit. As I have said, it was kind of far from the tall gate.

I looked around as I followed him. It seemed to be lonely here in this mansion. The mansion was encircled by the forest and inside the Residence are tall plants without blooming flowers, a green Bermuda grass and designed stones. It looked pretty, however, it seemed very lonely.

I cannot help but think why would my father leave this home for a village full of humans... How bad is his life here to run away from it?

What did he encounter to run away from the werewolf world?

I found myself entering the mansion and I gasped from what I saw, contrary to my expectation that it would have dust everywhere or so because it looked abandoned from the outside, it was actually very organized and clean. The white marble floor made it look elegant even more.

They are right, don't judge the book by its cover.

We walked through the hallways until we reached the living room.

"Mother..." I heard the man who had pointed a gun at me earlier stated.

My heart raced as I looked in the direction where he was calling his mother. There, I saw an old woman, she was wearing eyeglasses while reading a book or a magazine.

"What's with the noise, Zorious?" She asked as she handed down the magazine, I assumed. She, then, removed the eyeglasses she was wearing and her eyes landed on me.

With joy in her eyes, she looked back at the man with a gun he called Zorious, "Oh! We have a visitor. That's quite new for my age."

I bit my lip. She was definitely my father's mother. Her skin is already full of wrinkles, but I could see the resemblance between her and my father. Her eyes and her lips were similar to my father.

With everything that was running through my mind, I mustered all my courage to speak, "I am Maiveline Underwood." I said, not stuttering. I looked at her expression; she looked lost and confused upon hearing my name.

What else could I expect? They never knew the existence of us - me and my dead brother.

"Daughter of Zoren Underwood," I added bravely while I stared intently at her trying to read her expression.

There was an immediate fall of tears from her eyes when she heard my father's name.

To my surprise, she was already in front of me. Her hands were placed on my shoulder as she looked at me from head to toe with teary eyes. She was checking me and then she looked at my eyes full of emotions. She, then, placed her right hand on my face as if she was tracing it.

I bit my lip, getting affected by her emotions.

"I knew that Z-Zoren would be back home again," She said. Her voice was a little shaky.

Her hands let go of me as she looked behind my back. Scanning the whole area, as if she was hoping to see my father.

I bit my lip once again as tears began to flow through my eyes. "My father... he's already d-dead."

I thought she had already known that, it has been so long since my father died. Well, how would she know since my father ran away from here and chose to stay at the human village.

My father's mother almost fell on her knees if not for Zorious who caught her, she cried in the man's arms. Zorious was also in grief as I saw it on his face, he was sad despite the strong personality he holds.

He assisted my father's mother to sit back on the seat she was occupying earlier when we arrived, and she cried miserably that I couldn't even speak or interrupt her.

My eyes flew at a portrait in the middle of the living room. It was a portrait of their family and my father was there, together with his parents and the man named Zorious. That's how I confirmed that Zorious was my father's brother. My uncle.

He had offered me a seat in front of grandma, which I gladly accepted.

After a few minutes of crying, she turned calm and Uncle Zorious handed her a glass of water which she took and had a sip. She then looked at me with a sad face.

"W-where did you and your father lived? We tried searching everywhere but he was good at hiding."

My heart warmed knowing that they tried searching for my father, probably the reason why he had lived with normal people. But... Why would my father hide from his own family? What was his reason?

"Hachigo Village." I simply answered as my head was full of confusion and curiosity.

Her brows crossed as if she had no idea of that village.

"Did Zoren had a disease?" She asked and I knew that she was referring to how my father died.

I bit my lip, getting all the memories on the day how dad was killed. "He was killed by humans... including my brother."

After I said those words, again she cried as tears began to roll from her eyes. Now, I could see how she loves my father, I could see it through her eyes. I couldn't handle it anymore as tears began to roll my eyes too. Dad was a kind man however, those cruel humans treated him as an animal.

"Why did he leave home? He never mentioned anything about this..." I paused as I bit my lip trying to hold back my sobs. "About his family... about werewolves... He never mentioned anything."

Grandma looked at the portrait of their family as she smiled bitterly, "She fell in love with a woman. But that woman is not like us, she's not a werewolf so his father... your grandfather never wanted that woman... and so they got into an argument."

It was probably my mother. Everyone keeps on saying that she was odd. In our village, she was called a witch. Dad really loves mom so much, even though mom left us he still keeps on saying that Mom is kind, that she only wants the best for her family.

"Your father was quite hard-headed, you know? If only I knew that he would leave us for that woman, I would have tried to convince his father. We could have accepted them." She said while staring into space as if memories were getting back into her head while Uncle Zorious was silent on the corner and sadness is still evident in him.

I couldn't speak. But I knew that Dad could have understood them; he was very understanding after all.

"I guess, you are the child that woman was bearing when they ran away." She stated which shocked me as tears rolled down my eyes once again.

"I-it was me... it was me after all... I was the reason why he left home."