If he was being honest, Aiden had no reason to straighten the misunderstanding that had happened between Anna and Agnas.
It wasn't his place to do anything.
In the first place, Agnas was dead and Anna's bitterness has just gone cold over the years. He could tell by seeing how she was living.
But then, why was he doing that when he should try to promote [Agnas] more and prepare for the clash against [Judgment] next week.
He didn't know the exact reason but maybe he had to point out something — It would be the connection he felt with Agnas like he was a part of him, more than his other characters.
Using 'Connect' was almost like living another life and Aiden still had the emotions that Agnas had felt in his life inside of him somewhere.
When he had first known about Anna, there was a feeling of agony and torment inside of him.
He felt like Agnas was still alive in him and he needed to give peace to that part.
That's why, he went straight to Texas again. For the last time and like he had thought, he was greeted by a stone-faced Anna who didn't look happy to see him.
It looked like she would be happier if he just left without saying anything.
"Why are you here again?'
"I need to show you something."
"What?"
"Proof that Agnas never tried to sabotage your marriage. He was a victim himself and he always wanted—"
Aiden stopped there as Anna frowned with disgust. She put a hand on her forehead and muttered something incomprehensible under her breath before opening her mouth again.
"I don't want to hear anything."
"Just see this."
Aiden said and took out a few old letters. Dust was visible on them and the paper had already turned yellow. It looked like it would melt if someone touched it.
"These are letters written by Agnas. He was a fan of writing things, so he would always send letters to his close friends."
"I know that."
Anna said, obviously aware of this habit and he smiled.
"These are the letters he sent to Joseph Bryce, a friend of his. You will find your answers in these letters."
Anna looked at them for a short time hearing that. A lot of emotions flew past her eyes and curiosity was one of them. Aiden noticed it too but soon, they were clouded again.
"I don't want it."
"Why? You will have your answers in these letters. Don't you want to know the truth? Do you really want to live with so much bitterness?"
Aiden asked and Anna frowned again.
"This could just be fake."
"See the handwriting. You will recognize the way of writing and use of words to be similar to Agnas and why do you think I'm doing it?"
"I wonder why?"
Anna asked and Aiden smiled.
"Agnas let me understand a lot of things about my career and life in general. I'm thankful to him and I just want to give back to him. Look, I know you have hated him for a long time now but give these letters a chance. He's already gone but I'm pretty sure he would have found peace in the fact that you don't hate him."
That was it from Aiden.
He left after saying that without taking the letters back with him. He told Anna that she could throw them away if she isn't going to read them.
Though, he knew she would.
His instincts said that and there was nothing wrong in believing in them. For now, his job was over.
***
After Aiden left, Anna kept sighing due to various reasons. The young man had left the letters on the table before leaving. Her eyes would unconsciously glance at them from time to time.
She didn't know what to do with them.
Should she throw them out? Maybe. But she was curious too. She wanted to know what was written inside of them. Whether Aiden's words have really been true? Whether it all had been a misunderstanding all these years?
The wounds from her broken marriage had healed up till now. But the bad memories had remained.
She had also remarried after years but her second husband had died a few years later, making her live alone. Though, even her second marriage wasn't able to overshadow the bad memories and bitterness Agnas had left.
'Maybe I should just check it and throw it away after reading.'
Just as that thought crossed her mind, she hesitated. For some reason, she was afraid.
Suddenly, something vibrated.
She got scared momentarily before she saw that it was just her phone. She took it out and saw that it was one of her friends.
She had sent her a text.
[Do you want to go see [Agnas] with a few of us? A lot of us were fans of him in the 70s right. I want to know his story.]
Reading the message, an incomprehensible smile appeared on her face.
She once again frowned and walked towards the letters without thinking anything. Picking up one of them, she muttered.
"I can at least read it."
She opened the letter and a familiar writing came in her vision. It was the writing of Agnas. She knew it by heart as he had read a lot of letters by him.
'At least it doesn't look fake.'
[Joseph, I am hoping you are doing good on that new song. You asked about me. Well, I'm not good. I confessed to Anna in the past week, you know the girl I told you about but it seems like she already had a husband. I was heartbroken but she seemed happy with him. I snooped around a bit and found out that he's a good man. She's happy. But a newspaper wrote an article about me and her. It happened again. I'm going to sue them… again but I don't think it will stop. I'm going to apologise to Anna about it and explain to her the situation.]
Anna read the whole letter twice with widened eyes. Then, she did it a third time before putting it down.
Suddenly, her mind was in a mess.
'So, was Aiden right? Was it really a misunderstanding?'
She thought in her mind and shook her head before picking up another letter. All these letters were mainly about her that Agnas had written. He had talked a lot about it and she could clearly see that he only wanted the best for her even if she had rejected him.
In the end, her eyes landed on a letter that had mentions of his agent.
[I have a big fight with my agent. I have had enough. He controlled my life so much I was feeling like a caged bird. He's still controlling… I'm trying to break the contract by talking with my lawyers but there are complications and you know the worst thing. Apparently, Anna came to meet me but that fucking bastard misbehaved with her. I can't reach her now…]
Anna kept holding the letter in her hand with a shocked gaze. She breathed out and with that breath, she felt like something released that was trapped inside of her.
Her shoulders felt light suddenly.
"Ah, so it was really like that…"
Her words dragged on as her ears teared.
***
"It's good we found a theatre."
Aiden said as he looked around and put a hand on his mask and glasses. As he was currently in Texas, he felt like visiting a theatre to see the live reaction of people.
"Yeah. It looked like the show was in its climax. Let me go talk to a staff member. Pretty sure they would let us in with some photos."
"Go on."
Aiden said and Wade walked up to a staff area. He just stood there and looked around. A lot of [Agnas] posters were there but they were far outnumbered by [Judgment].
He stared at one of the posters that was right beside him. John Strampton was in a casual outfit with a dice in his hand. Around him, gods were standing and in the background, there were a few other important characters.
It was a pretty good poster according to the standards of superhero movies.
As Aiden was staring at the posters, Wade returned with a few staff members. He casually walked inside the staff room before taking off his mask. A few autographs and photos later, he was able to walk inside the theatre.
It was fully packed with a lot of people, mostly middle aged people with a few teenagers in between.
Aiden stared at the screen. It was right at the beginning of the climax and the start of 'Joker'.
"Ah, I love it. 'Joker' is extraordinary. I heard it's slowly getting a lot of streams online since we released it."
Wade said, standing next to him.
"The song deserves it."
Aiden replied and just waited for the final scene. The song that took decades was finally on the big screen that it deserves.
...
