Touching Your Heart
Painful Truths

“Please leave me and Mr. Kayden,” pinta Gwen. “I want to talk to him four-eyes.”

Aunt Meli who was sitting in a chair and not too far from Gwen's seat, then looked at her nephew's face and asked, “Are you sure, son? Would it be best to let us here listen to this explanation from ... your boss?” The middle-aged woman emphasized her words at the end of her sentence while giving a cynical look to Kayden.

“Really what your Aunt said, Gwen.” Lucia chimed in to try to convince her best friend.

“Please, leave us both first.” This time Kayden spoke with a firm voice and a condition of earnestness. “Me and Gwen, we need to speak one eye. Sorry, not that I don't know manners.” The man then breathed tired. “Faster you guys go outside just for a moment from this room, it is very good for me so I can explain to him.”

“Alright,” says Uncle Joe. In the end he decided because he saw the earnestness of Kayden. “We'll make room for you to speak freely to my nephew.”

“Tapi—”

“Come, Dear ..” Uncle Joe cut out Aunt Meli's unresolved sentence. “Let the two of them speak four eyes first.” He then gestured for Lucia to get out of the room and was taken by the girl in response. Until a few seconds later, Uncle Joe grabbed his wife's shoulder to take her away from the room, after Lucia had first left the room.

And at this moment, silence began to strike. Kayden stood in front of Gwen and looked at her head. It took a few seconds for his eyes to drop down staring at a letter from Rainer that was still clumped in Gwen's hands, and slowly fell into oblivion to the floor.

“Gwen, you must marry me!” Kayden's voice broke the silence between the two of them.

“What you've gone mad, Mr. Kayden!” said Gwen held back furious. His manners towards his boss suddenly disappeared. “Gosh ... You hate me so much!” frustration shouted.

“That's not true, Gwen,” refutes Kayden.

Gwen did not listen to the man. He tried to get up, but his feet did not let him. His body turned into a crumbling rock, and the devastating shockwave for several minutes began to create a wide crack within him.

Kayden squatted in front of Gwen, who was still sitting and forced her to look at her. Kayden looked tense, but determined. Gwen was shaking violently now, to the point that her head was shaking until her breath was hunting as her lungs narrowed.

“I know I'm not Rainer,” Kayden admitted grimly. “I'll never be him. She's my half-sister, and very opposite to me. Like Valerie with you.”

Valerie! The name starts to haunt Gwen. Twenty-four-year-old soft sweet face with big, fragile black eyes surrounded by dark, silky hair.

A month ago Kayden had warned Gwen that she would not shut up and let Gwen marry her sister. Ever since the last time they met at Kayden's lavish and graceful home, the man has been insulting her because Gwen sticks to her stance of marrying Rainer. A humiliation that shook the woman's defensive walls when their gazes met.

Until then, she was only Gwen Sandriana Decker, the beloved daughter of the late Raul and Tasya Decker whom she deeply missed. He was so proud of his mixed blood, that Kayden's black bead had dared to judge him.

For the first time in his life, Gwen experienced what it felt like a real humiliation that almost crushed her heart. The rare combination of black-brown straight hair, beautiful eyes, as well as pure white skin that made people look amazed throughout their lives, suddenly became something very sensitive for him.

And now, he had to brace himself to accept Kayden's helping hand, as soon as his instincts said the man didn't want to touch him or even be in the same room as him.

“Gwen, listen to me.” Kayden's voice suddenly sounded raucous. “I know you won't believe it. But I knew from the beginning Rainer wasn't the right man for you. I'm glad he finally realized before it was too late. But I'm not proud of the time he needs to do it. I won't just forgive the way he hurt you today either. No one!” says firmly.

“This is all your fault!” exclaimed Gwen who began to get inflamed. “Thanks. Thanks to you, soon I will be humiliated.”

“No. I won't let that happen!” Kayden also denied it. “Gwen, Valerie is perfect for Rainer because they still love each other. And you need to know, the two of them have been in a relationship since adolescence. A young couple, before a silly misunderstanding makes Valerie fly to Paris to live with her mother two years ago.”

“Alright!” kayden said hoarsely, took a deep breath, then exhaled again. “Then, listen to this one only,” Kayden's command insisted. “Wouldn't two more days your uncle and aunt be on vacation to China for two months?”

Gwen immediately frowned deeply. “How do you know?”

“A few days ago, Rainer had told me about your uncle and aunt's vacation plans. As your dear nephew, don't you feel sorry for your uncle and aunt? If you insist on not marrying me, think about what will happen next to the two of them? You think they want to leave now after what happened to you today?” Kayden exhaled violently. “You must not be selfish, Gwen.”

Gwen looked at the man. He completely forgot that his Uncle and Aunt were planning a vacation after the niece they had cared for so lovingly for ten years left home after marriage.

“They don't have to worry about me,” said Gwen wavering. “Dan doesn't mean I have to charge myself to you instead!” he exclaimed, wounded by the cruel ways Kayden had chosen to make him realize that reality.

“Why not?” Kayden demanded, his determined black bead pierced the injured Gwen's brown eyes. “If anyone deserves it, I'm the one. You said it was all my fault and I know it.” He admitted hoarsely. “I was the one who called Valerie to warn her about you and Rainer. I was the one who advised her to come back here if she still harbored feelings for my sister. And I was also—” He paused his sentence, taking pains to gather all his courage. “That encourages Rainer at all times for him to see the terrible mistake he made if he married you!”

Gwen was so excited. “Yes God .. I really hate you, Mr. Kayden!” His voice suddenly trembled as it held back a cry that might soon be ready to surf seamlessly on his cheeks.

“Listen to me, Gwen.” Kayden held firmly onto both of the woman's shoulders. “I feel bad about all this. Feeling guilty, if you want to call it that. I owe you. Let me help you get through all this with respect.”

Gwen frowned. “By volunteering as a replacement for your sister?” He laughed and his voice was almost hysterical. Either he is laughing at his unfortunate fate or perhaps laughing at the confessions of a man who has dared to act like a hero of misfortune. “How old are you?” her question was staring bitterly at Kayden.

Kayden grimacing. “Thirty-two years.”

“I'm twenty-five years old,” Gwen told him. “And Rainer twenty-seven years.”

“Alright,” Kayden said, then he flinched to his feet and slightly moved away to keep his distance from Gwen. “I am nothing compared to my sister! I'm not asking you to love me instead. But please, give me a chance to help you through all this over the next few months, and while you can forget this incident.”

“Which way maybe I can forget this incident!” exclaimed Gwen told him while frowning. Then he tried to stand up straight so he could look at Kayden. “And what will you get from all this?” During the last three years of working at Kim's Jakarta-based company, Gwen knew that their respected boss and the owner of the company, had never done anything without good reason.

“Especially if not to save my family name,” said Kayden flatly.

“What is your bike on family honor?” Gwen's cynical gaze made Kayden's lips even closer.

“His actions have tainted my family's name, especially my name,” Kayden said after a few seconds of silence. “And she must have fled with Valerie overseas because of this incident. Surely he was very embarrassed because of his actions that had taken advantage of you. Rainer never solved his problem well.”

At once Gwen's eyes were shrouded in Rainer's shadow. Kayden's words were absolutely right. Rainer has used it. All the time he has used it with his perpetual love and sweet promises.

And according to Gwen, Kayden was one of the things about thinking he was nothing compared to his sister. It actually has nothing to do with the appearance or charm of even Gwen's love for her sister who is still throbbing in Gwen's chest, despite all the pain Rainer has inflicted on the woman.

However, due to Kayden's deep sense of responsibility, he must soon decide to marry Gwen. The kind of responsibility Kayden had to warn his sister's ex-lover about Rainer's true intentions. And of course it has something to do with this. The need to straighten out the mess his own family members made.

“I won't marry you, Mr. Kayden!” gwen said firmly. “Not to save your name or my own name. I won't demean myself any further.”

“I have no intention of humbling you, Gwen,” deny Kayden grim, then he approached the woman. “Give me a chance to fix this everything.”