Chapter 1: The Freckles Lodge

CADEN: 

It is December 10. Christmas is almost fifteen days away. I have developed the habit of not having excitement during any events of my life lately neither on my birthdays nor any anniversaries or the heavy and sophisticated business parties of my dad. None of them push my heart even a little bit. 

Whenever those days come in my life, I would like to deter them as far as possible. I don’t prefer staying at home and having a great time. And this event is more than just a catastrophe to me. 

“Caden! Where are you headed to?” My dad’s aggressive and wild voice echoes, all over his huge mansion. 

“I think you know it. I would love to skip the so-called joyous occasion of your life if you don't mind cause your delighted occasion is the most dreadful day of my life. I wouldn't care even if you mind at all," I say as I roll my eyes upwards.

Bitterness and dissatisfaction are so much vivid on my face to convey to him that I am not elated with his decision, not even a little bit. It is obvious. My rivalry against his so-called second marriage is definitive on my face. 

I continue to step down the stairs as I notice the mansion being heavily decorated around me. 

They’re having their wedding over here! 

They are having their fucking wedding over here for god’s sake.

I loathe that. 

I hate the way my dad is going to replace every memory of my mom in here. 

This was her house.

 This was my mother’s house and everything over here was decorated and beautified by my mom. 

She made this huge mansion a home. When she was here, there used to be laughter all around the house. I used to be delighted. My brother used to be glad and so did my sister.

 We all used to be excited about being back home early after our school and would love to play around the house and the sole reason for that was my mom. She transformed this huge lonely mansion into a cheerful home. 

We all loved being here until this day. Until the day my father is getting married to someone I don’t even notice and someone I don’t want to know for god’s sake.

“You need to be here Caden! Or else I am going to cut off all of your monthly expenses for the next two months. You know what that means, don’t you? That means you aren’t even going to stay over here. I am sending you out of here to the farmhouse without any of your cars and you will be away from all of your so enjoyable luxuries,” he scowls. 

I am furious. I’m so much mad that I don’t want to listen to any of his warnings. I don’t care whatever he is going to do to me. I am so much furious that I don’t want to think about the consequences that I have to encounter after what I am doing right now. I just care about her. I just care about my MOM, just her. 

And my conscience says that I shouldn’t be here. At least for my mom! At least for the way she was treated by my dad before. I, at least don’t want to treat her the way my dad did to her. I want her to feel that she is still being adored by us, at least her children. 

I step out of there and end up meeting my twenty-seven-year-old brother, Cohen. 

“Caden! Don’t walk away like that. It’s our dad’s wedding,” he tries to stop me. 

“And that is why I don’t want to stay over here. I would have been really happy if the man who is being married was you instead of him,” I shout as I roll my eyes upwards. I try to open the car but before I could do that two black-suited guards stopped me from going closer to the car.

“You are forbidden to use any of the luxuries, young master,” they say. 

 What the fuck?  He already started to play his game. Well! I don’t fucking care about whatever he says and whatever he decides for me. 

He wants me to go to his farmhouse right?

 Okay!

 I’m good with it. Does he think that I cannot survive it? It’s just some miles away and it’s way more manageable than attending his fucking wedding. 

I turn around to look at my brother. It seems as if he knows already what is coming from me. He walks a few steps toward me and stands erect in front of me blocking the doorways of the mansion. 

“What? What do you want?” I throw my hands. 

“I know you’re being stubborn right now and honestly I don’t even detest you for that. Sometimes, it’s hard to do something yourself and you’re unable to do that something in your life. It gives you immense pleasure when somebody does that for you,” he whispers leaning his head towards my ear. I can hear his soft smiles. He is happy that I rebelled. 

Cohen has always been a good boy all his life. He had almost zero haters around him. He was always so much kind person and he would do anything for dad. 

He excelled in almost everything. I don’t understand how the hell someone could be so much perfect in his life. Maybe because he doesn’t show what’s going on in his life. He loves to rather hide them and just show them the perfect side of him. 

He loves doing business may be way too much and I love to see him being a workaholic but I also, sometimes hate him for that. That is because of the constant comparison of him with me.

 I don’t hate the fact that he is way more outstanding than me in every field and I don’t even dislike the fact that I am way beyond him. 

I just don’t possess any jealousy towards him. We have a great brotherly bond with each other. 

“You’re grateful! Okay, I can deal that much for you and Caisey,” I wink and walk out of the main gate when my phone suddenly beeps. It’s a message from the bank. My kind and wonderful brother just wired me money right now.

~TWO MONTHS IS A LONG TIME TO REORGANIZE YOURSELF. ENJOY AND HAVE A GREAT TIME~ - Coldie

I roll my eyes as I look at the text and turn around to face him. He is holding his phone in his hand and waving me a bye with the same hand.  I shuffle my hair back and smile lopsidedly while he rarely smiles.

Cohen! Really? Am I disorganized? I don’t even understand why the hell did he tell me to organize myself? Do I look like someone who needs organization? 

I open the gate and stand in front of it and breathe with a heavy sigh. God damn! I miss my car right at the moment after I left home without it. But it’s fine. It’s just two months and I can tolerate it. It’s all for my mom after all. 

So, I take a cab from there to the farmhouse. I never knew that farmhouse is quite far. Previously, whenever I went to visit there, it used to seem short, the distance. But now, it seems like it is taking forever to reach over there. 

“How much more?” I ask the cab driver. 

“The snow is falling quite heavily. I think we might get stopped at the mid-way,” he answers. 

“What? Snow?” I get even more aggrieved. 

I don’t like this. First thing, it’s taking me a too long time to reach over there and secondly why the hell snow should be my rival right now? 

Well! It’s fine. Both of us are rebelling, snow and me. But it’s impressive. 

“How long can this car go?” I ask. 

“Maybe just some kilometres. I don’t think we can go any further. I need to stop in front of the lodge or some hotel if we find one before we get stuck in some lone place,” he says and in some way, he is right. 

“Okay! That’s better. Stop in front of a hotel. It’s better than being stuck amid the snow,” I say and he follows. 

In about next twenty minutes, he stops the car in front of the bright house. 

FRECKLES LODGE

That is what is written on the board. The name sounds weird, like really weird. Who keeps the hotel name under freckles? I’m sure the owner sure has some issues with freckles. Either he likes them so much or he hates them a lot. 

“Let’s get inside. Your farmhouse is just a few hours from here. You can just find someone to go over there tomorrow. Tonight you can just stay over here,” he says and I nod unhappily. I don’t understand whether this is a good or bad idea but this seems the best option right now. 

Okay! As soon as I get inside, I realize one thing.

This place is damn warm and quite beautiful. The whole place is such an art piece like someone who designed it might be a genius and art-lover. It’s a simple house but the antique present inside it seems like someone has been collecting those old things over years and has been decorating the place. 

“May I help you?” an old man walks down the stairs from upstairs and stops his feet in the mid-way of stairs and stare at us. 

“Room! We need a room!!” the cab driver asks him. 

“Room? But we aren’t open. It’s been more than a month since the place has been closed. We don’t accept guests. The owners are going through some legal procedures after the death of Mr Franklin,” he says. 

Mr Franklin? Honestly, I don’t even care about him. What am I going to do by knowing him? 

“But we are stuck over here and you see the heavy snow is falling right now. We just need a place to stay for tonight. We will be leaving the place tomorrow morning,” I say. The old man thinks for a while. He creases his old skin over the forehead and raises his brow unexpectedly and answers after a few seconds. 

“If you are in problem then you can use two rooms across the hallway. But make sure to leave the place,” he says like there is nothing more important than leaving this place as soon as possible. But why do we even care about that? We just need a place to stay for a night and that’s all. 

Despite the old man being cold, he is kind enough to give us some food before we head for the bed and we go to our respective beds. 

I plop down on the warm bed as I keep on staring at the ceiling for a long time. 

My dad’s wedding must have been finished by this time. They must be having a party. Whoever she is, she must be really happy right now. 

I close my eyes and the warm tears fall on the sideways of my eyes and reach my ears. I can feel the sensation of it below my ears. 

My mom’s face suddenly flashes in front of me. Her petite finger while she caressed my cheek, her warm hands when she rubbed my back, her sweet smile which would make my whole day, and her beautiful blue prominent eyes were the most beautiful part of her face. They would smile even before her lips. I still remember her long hair which would cascade down her shoulders and she would pull them up into a messy bun. 

The smell of her motherhood and her pure love comes rushing down my eyes like a fast-flowing river and I want to take out every sounds out of my mouth and cry harder right at this moment. 

“No guy becomes weaker if he cries. If you’re hurting you can cry, my dear. I will be there to owe my shoulders to you,” my mom used to say this. 

I’m not weak. 

But I want to cry so hard right now. I hastily wake up from my bed and grab my jacket and put it on as I walk out of the room. I know it’s snowing heavily but I need a place. 

I need a place so that I could cry and nobody could just hear me. I need her. I need my mom to owe me her shoulder but she isn’t here. She isn’t here to owe me her shoulders. 

It’s snowing heavily right outside the house but I don’t care about it all. Isn’t it even better that nobody could notice me?

The road is all jammed with snow and I don’t know where the way is going to lead me but I just need to walk out and find someplace with which to take out my frustration. 

And I see some light glowing dim some metres away and I can hear some rough voice over there. I really can’t predict what kind of voice is it? But I’m sure someone is over there. 

I follow the light and seems like someone is over there. The sound becomes more and more realistic as I go near the place, I get a  strong smell of cigarettes. Someone is smoking over there. But the light suddenly stops as I reach closer to the place. 

Wait! What is that? Why did it suddenly go off? Am I just seeing the things right now or is it some reality? I turn back to spy the place but before I could sum up the situation, I get a hard hit on my head and I fall all of a sudden.