Chapter 14: Elara's awakening
As time passed slowly, Elara, who had just woken up because of her alarm ringing at 10 a.m., looked to the right and left as if searching for something or someone. Finding no one, the drowsiness in her eyes suddenly turned into panic.
As she hurried out of bed despite her fatigue, her eyes still nervous as if she were afraid, she did not even bother to put on her shoes or get changed. Instead, she ran toward the door at full speed.
'No… that can't be possible.'
While thinking that, her still half-asleep mind fell into endless distress.
'Where are they?' she thought.
Her tired body stumbled in front of the door. As she lifted her eyes, those violet eyes resembling her mother's, tears began to fall.
But before her tears could touch the floor, the door suddenly opened. Adam and Kafka entered the room while talking, and immediately noticed their daughter still on the ground. Kafka stepped forward, crouched down, took her into her arms, rubbed her back, and comforted her.
"what's wrong, sweetheart? Did you have a nightmare?" Kafka asked gently. Her playful and teasing behavior disappeared, and she acted like a real worried mother.
Elara said nothing in her arms, but her small hand grabbed Kafka's clothes tightly, as if she wanted to make sure this was real. She did not speak, only continued sobbing.
Kafka and Adam exchanged glances. Adam did not understand why the little girl was crying, while Kafka smiled and sighed as she looked at her lost husband and their still crying daughter.
"She must have thought we left and abandoned her."
Her gaze shifted toward Adam, who had approached them, and she could not help but complain once again.
"And he looks completely lost about the situation."
She placed a hand on her forehead and gently shook her head.
Seeing her shake her head, Adam became even more confused.
Why is she shaking her head, and why is Elara crying in her arms? he thought in confusion.
She looked like the guardian of the family, forced to take care of her two children.
After some time, Elara's endless crying began to calm a little.
She raised her head and looked at her two parents standing before her, her hand still clinging to her mother, and spoke through sobs.
"I thought both of you had left when I woke up, and I got scared. So I got up to look for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere, and then I tripped."
As she continued recounting what had happened, Adam finally realized why his daughter had been crying on the floor, and Kafka understood that her theory was correct. She tightened her embrace around her daughter, said nothing, and simply smiled to comfort her.
"My dear, Mommy and Daddy won't go anywhere. We just went for a romantic walk, didn't we, my dear?"
She then turned her gaze toward Adam, asking him to confirm her version of the story.
Adam simply replied with his usual smile and a nod.
Then he stepped closer to the little girl and gently patted her head, trying to comfort his daughter, though his touch was soft and hesitant.
Of course, that small hesitation did not escape Kafka's eyes, but for the sake of her daughter she said nothing. Her gaze deepened as she thought to herself:
'He is truly strange. He seems devoid of emotion, yet at the same time he does not seem to understand them, despite a faint spark.'
After Elara had calmed down, the family decided to go eat breakfast before Kafka's departure after lunch.
Later, Kafka sat in the garden with Elara, the mother and daughter duo seated together on a bench, talking about their experiences without Adam, who had gone elsewhere.
The sunlight was everywhere, birds were singing, and a gentle breeze passed through the air.
After four or five minutes of chatting, Kafka finally asked the question she wanted to ask.
"So, sweetheart, does your father have many women around him?"
Elara, wearing a different black dress with white shoes, the most striking thing being the golden brooch in her violet hair, swung her short legs from the bench and smiled brightly.
Tilting her head to the right as if thinking deeply about the question, she turned to her mother, closed her eyes, and answered:
"There aren't many women around him…"
She paused, rested her elbows on her knees, and placed her hands under her chin.
Her gaze sharpened as she continued:
"But there is that fox woman."
She jumped off the bench, put her hands on her hips, and continued in a louder tone:
"Her name is Clara. I don't remember what she does, but she keeps getting close to Papa."
Kafka placed a hand on her chin and looked at her daughter with a smile, not interrupting her. But inwardly, the question that had seemed innocent was actually for gathering information.
And Elara, the culprit of it all, did not realize it at all. She kept talking about that woman, her fists clenched as if she were offended by her existence.
As the discussion between the two continued and time passed peacefully, neither of them knew that Adam was hidden behind a pillar, silently listening without intervening.
Calling the name of a god was like reciting his honorific name, it immediately drew his attention. So he knew the two of them were speaking about him, yet he chose to simply listen.
The fact that the mother was asking personal questions about him did not matter. His secrets were known only to himself.
The scene ended with the mother and daughter talking and laughing in the garden, while the father listened to them quietly from afar.