ARTEMIS' POV:-

　　By the time I was done tasting each of the items available on the table, I was full. My belly was no longer flat. "Don't you like everything I baked just for you, Artemis? You didn't eat anything at all. You were just tasting everything one after another." Uncle Grey asked me in a sad tone. The bling of excitement in his eyes disappeared and a disappointed look appeared on his face.

　　"Are you kidding me? Look at my food baby. This belly is going to take days to be flat." I spoke in a jovial tone as I stood up and showed him my food baby. Uncle Grey and I started laughing hysterically. I ate so much that I couldn't even laugh without clutching my stomach.

　　Uncle Grey was pretty good. He actually made me forget everything. I almost forgot how much I bore the whole night I was sitting in the park, waiting for Elijah to come pick me up. I was hopeful that he would come to get me. As always, he would say something good. He would shower me with kisses and hugs and cuddles. He would do everything he could to make me smile.?

　　Then he would apologise for the mistake he had made. And he would grab my hand and take me back home. I almost pictured him carrying me bridal style in his arms back home. I was not very far away from his apartment building. He owned the apartment building and the park.

　　I knew he would come looking for me. At least I believed he would not be able to sleep without cuddling up with me. I believed he would come to get me. And I knew the first place he would come looking for me would be the park. As I often go there for a run. Sometimes I just go to the park to sit on the grass and paint the flowers around me. He loved those canvasses that had multicolor flowers on it. And he bought them all from me. His bedroom, his study room, his office, the meeting hall and even his balcony had canvasses I had painted. He bought them all from me and he paid me good money.

　　I was so excited for his birthday. I had been planning that surprise for him for weeks. I saved up all the money he paid me in exchange for my paintings. I wanted to give him a big surprise. I know gifts can't be measured with money but with love. I stayed home all day just to get everything ready. I didn't eat all day. I got ready just for him. So what if I hadn't told him anything about my feelings for him.?

　　"Why were you in the park late at night?" Uncle Grey asked me in a low tone. His voice pulled me out of the oceans of my thoughts. I looked up at him and found him staring at my face.

　　I didn't know how to say that to him. It was not like Elijah was my boyfriend or anything. He was not committed to me. I was just part of his pack. And he was taking care of me just like he was taking care of the rest of his pack. "It's nothing. I just wanted some time alone to process things." I replied to him in a low tone and I narrowed my head. Tears were welling up into my eyes. I didn't want to show Uncle Grey that I was crying.

　　"Do you think I am a fool to accept this rubbish of an answer? When I found you, you were sleeping on the bench. Your cheeks were stained with dried tear marks. You were shivering with a cold and you were crying." Uncle Grey asked me in a low tone.?

　　He was trying to keep his voice down. I figured it out with the way he spoke to me. He was speaking through gritted teeth. I raised my head again to look at him. As soon as he saw tears in my eyes, he gasped in shock. He grabbed the tissue box and walked towards me. He gave me tissues and wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders.?

　　"It's nothing. It is not like he is my boyfriend or committed to me. I am just a girl he freed. He is allowed to use me but I am not allowed to keep any kinds of expectations. Because in the end, he is a free man and I am just a prisoner he took under his wing." I didn't know what came upon me. I just started babbling everything in front of Uncle Grey. I just couldn't stop myself.

　　I knew I should never have said those things to Uncle Grey about his nephew. He raised Elijah. And I knew it would hurt his feelings that I was talking ill about Elijah to the person who had raised him like his own son. But for some reason, I couldn't control myself. It felt like the father I had always dreamt of, was sitting in front of me. He was kind and caring. He was not like my biological father who never once asked me if I was doing okay.

　　I was not afraid of the circumstances. I had accepted my fate. I was not going to fight anyone. Maybe I was not thinking straight. Tracy had been nagging me all night to go back. But I didn't want to. It was painful enough for me to see Elijah carrying another woman in his arms. Then he took her straight to his bedroom. Maybe I was just crazy to think that he belonged to me as well. I couldn't go back on my own. I had my ego and I didn't want to let it go. The least he could have done was to come and look for me. I would have forgiven him right away if he would have come looking for me.

　　The same man who couldn't sleep without cuddling up with me in bed, was able to sleep in another woman's arms. I couldn't help but think if he might have thought about me once. But I figured he didn't. Because if he would have thought once about me, he would have come to take me back.?

　　Uncle Grey wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. He was patting my head gently. "Do you love him?" Uncle Grey asked me that question out of the blue. I gasped as I pulled away from him. I was staring at him with wide eyes. I couldn't stop my tears but I was too shocked with his question to even try to wipe my tears.

　　It took me a few minutes to be able to collect my thoughts. I blinked at him while drowning in my own thoughts. Did I love him? Did I have feelings for him? I asked myself those questions a million times by then. But my conscience was not able to answer my questions. The truth was that I had no idea how it felt to be in love with someone. How painful love could be? How cruel love could be? How it felt to love someone. I never had anyone to think about those things before. I just knew that I felt someone squeezing my heart cruelly the moment I saw Elijah carrying that woman to his bedroom.

　　"I don't know. I never had any relationships before. I was not allowed to see boys or even become friends with boys. So I can't tell what love is." I replied to Uncle Grey in a low and calmed tone. I didn't know how to lie. Because I had never lied to anyone.

　　"That's impossible. You are an adult and you don't know anything about love. You must be lying, Artemis." Uncle Grey spoke in a low tone. Of course, like everyone else, he didn't believe me either. Who would have imagined an adult to be unaware of the most beautiful feeling in the world. It was impossible for the rest of the world, maybe. But for me, it was a fact.

　　"Lying! I don't lie to anyone at all. I don't remember my mother but I remember a few quotes she used to say to me. I remember her telling me something about lying. She used to say that lying to someone is the cruellest thing a person can do to the other. So I never lied in my whole life." I replied to Uncle Grey in a low tone.?

　　This pain in my chest was almost similar to the pain I felt the day my mother left me with my father. So maybe, it was something similar. But it couldn't be. My mother was my mother. And Elijah, well, I was not sure what he was to me other than being my Alpha. So I had no idea what I was feeling.

　　"I feel this indescribable pain in my chest. Almost the same as I felt the day I was separated from my mother. Since that day, I have locked all the doors to my heart. Because I never wanted to feel that pain ever again in my life." I added in a low tone while I was playing with my fingers. My gaze was on my lap and I kept my head narrowed.?

　　"You grew up without a mother?" Uncle Grey asked me in a low tone. I looked up at him and nodded my head.

　　"My father divorced her and took me away from him. I remember crying all night, and asking nothing on Christmas but for my mother to come back. But she never came back. If I say I grew up without my mother, I would not be completely honest with you. I actually grew up alone." I replied to Uncle Grey in a low tone while crying. All the cruel things my father and his second wife did to me were flashing in front of my eyes at that moment.