The CEO's Seductive Doll-Chapter 94: Ephemeral Sorrow
Evan wasn’t sure how old he was when he finally ’came to’ or when he was finally able to utilize the cognitive ability of a human to ’think.’ All he knew was that the moment he was able to do it as a toddler, he realized that he was from a poor family.
The Holz family lived in an old, small house in the poorer parts of Berlin. They lived in an unsafe neighborhood where crime and poverty were rampant. Still, even though his living and economic status weren’t exactly the best, Evan had Dolores and Dad by his side.
Dad has been a janitor at Royal Blue Alcohol and Beverages (RBAB) since he was in his 20s. He was a high school dropout, after all, so his job opportunities weren’t exactly vast. Then, his sister, Dolores, didn’t even finish middle school.
Evan vaguely remembered that Dolores claimed that it wasn’t her cup of tea and that she was planning to pursue a career as a singer. While her dream had yet to be fulfilled, she occasionally worked as a babysitter, but money wasn’t quite good in that field of work either.
Regardless, Evan believed his childhood was happy. The materialistic side of it, maybe not so much. But in terms of memories, he was utterly rich with them.
However, despite the fact that his childhood memories include playing tag, kick the can, and a variety of other games outdoors with filthy neighborhood kids, Dad and Dolores’ constant fighting tainted them.
The two had a rather complex relationship.
Although Evan knew Dad had loved Dolores as a father should, she went through a typical teenage rebellious phase: she would come home late, reeking of cigarettes and alcohol, bringing a boy home from time to time, and all sorts of rebellion.
Of course, it went without saying that Dad got angry whenever he got home, seeing Dolores making out (with a different boy each time) on the sofa of their dirty living room. But Dolores didn’t care.
She lived a wayward lifestyle.
Evan distinctly recalled one occasion where Dolores and Dad were in the living room, arguing again for the nth time of the day.
"You don’t understand!" Dolores argued, causing Dad to roll his eyes at her teenage drama. "Albert is the son of the club owner downtown. He promised me he could bring me to sing there on Saturday! He could be my ticket to getting famous!"
"Oh, really?" Dad said it in a tone that didn’t necessarily mean he believed her but was merely humoring her. "Was having him beat you up also a deal for the ticket?"
Dolores’s blue eyes widened in shock. She opened her lips to argue, yet no words could come out of them. Knowing this was a losing argument, she clicked her tongue and looked away.
"Yes, Dolores, I know that he’s been hurting you." Dad said it with a tone filled with concern. "Just like the boy before him--"
"Don’t call me that!" Dolores shouted, her tone oozing with fury. "I told you to call me ’Dolly’ instead!"
Dad scoffed. "That’s literally your name!"
But she wasn’t open to more discussion. She jabbed her index finger on his chest and continued screaming. "You can’t keep on dictating my life! You aren’t even my real father!"
Before he could reprimand her, Dolores spun her heels and headed to the door, only to realize that Evan was watching them the whole time. She noticeably calmed down and slowly opened the door, kneeling down on the floor to pat the young Evan on the head.
"Hey there, Evanescence." She spoke in a gentler voice compared to when she was speaking to Dad. "Let’s get you back to our room."
It didn’t register to Evan after this event the gravity of Dolores’s words. It was not until he was older that he realized that Dolores could possibly be adopted.
But even if she was adopted and might’ve not been blood-related to Evan, she treated him tenderly and with much love. If Dolores was a horrible daughter to Dad, she was the opposite of a sister to Evan.
Even though Dolores wasn’t smart and didn’t even finish her education, she made sure that Evan always finished his assignments when he got home. She prepared his lunch and snacks for school and always bought him toys with the meager salary she earned when she found a gig as a singer or when she babysat the neighbor’s children.
"I promise you, Evanescence!" Dolores said, her eyes shining with determination as she declared. "I’ll make it big as a singer, and we’ll move out of this place!"
"But what about Dad?" Evan asked, never questioning her dreams and promises, even though she told him the same thing each time she could. "Will you bring him with us?"
Dolores didn’t answer. Instead, she gave him a pained smile.
Aside from her relationship with Dad, Dolores generally had an unhealthy relationship with men.
Maybe it was because Dad was always so busy with work that he never had the time to spend it with Dolores and Evan, so she started looking for another father figure in her life. Dolores preferred older men. It could go as old as a man in their fifties to a boy a month older than her. But never younger, Dolores seemed to have made this her standard.
But Dolores never made it her standard to pick a decent man.
They would always hurt her and tell her she was useless, and her dreams would be nothing more than that. But even with their punches and harsh words, she would still date them until they decided to throw her away, just like a rag doll or a piece of trash.
It didn’t take Dolores longer than a week to find another man to replace them, of course.
Evan never really knew why she did this to herself, and he often felt bad for her. Yet one day, he realized that maybe she deserved to be treated like this.
It was the day Dolores disappeared on them with a man 30 years her senior, with a promise that she’d make her a star. As expected, he didn’t make her a star.
He did get her pregnant, though.
