I stood in the middle of the park in my light dress. I was exhausted. Not from any physical work, not from having fought a battle, not from work, not even from the stress of having to train two twin playful kids, but from having to think every moment of my life. Think of James, think of Justin, and think of how to shuffle my entire life around all these occurrences. In my deep subconscious mind, I wanted to just exist, to float out of reality, into a world only I and I alone could comprehend and understand. To be fair, she didn’t think I wanted to understand it at all. I didn’t need to. As far as it got me away from this toxic life I was living. But running away was out of the option. I had responsibilities and I was not ready to drop them. The reality was different from whatever fantasy she had been imagining in her head and from whatever illusion I so desperately needed to live in.
“Mummy, can we play on the swing? ” said Aiden, and I was pulled away from my thoughts.
“Yes baby, of course you can. Just be careful okay? I told him. The last thing I wanted was an injured child. I was already so stressed.
They both proceeded to swing, they began playing and roaming around the playground, smiling and laughing and asking Me to join in. The smiles on their faces were enough to lighten my burden.
It was getting late, so I had to stop them from playing, so we decided to go home.
At 4 pm, Aiden and Amelia were in the living room playing with their toys while I was in the kitchen Making dinner.
“Hey kids daddy is here.”
Justin? He just has to show up. Why now? why was he trying so hard to crawl back into our lives from nowhere?
Excited to see their dad, the kids ran over to him and embraced him.
” Daddy I missed you, where have you been, I waited for you all night to put me to sleep Daddy,” said Amelia.
” I’m sorry princess, Daddy had a lot of work to do, promise to make it up to you .”
He continued talking to the kids for a while and afterward told them to go play while he talked to mummy.
I didn’t leave the kitchen. The last thing I needed was to engage in another worthless argument with him. He had already done enough by leaving Me all by myself to cater to the kids all by myself while he went away with his beloved mistress. Like I call her.
He slowly walked up to me and hugged me in a very loving way that I almost lost myself. I pushed him off and told him to never do that with me ever again cause he doesn’t have such rights anymore.
He apologized, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you in any way, I was just so happy to see you and the kids.
Me? Are you happy to see me? I rolled my eyes and scoffed. He told me so many lies in the past but this one managed to leave me in disbelief.
“Yes, you ”
“Please Justin, focus on why you are here,” I told him. I was already done with the food, the kids seemed to be too engrossed in whatever they were doing outside and I didn’t want to be a fun sponge.
Can we talk? Please? Justin asked me.
One thing wasn’t clear to me. Why was he being so polite? What was he trying to prove this time?
“About what? ”
I picked up my phone from the kitchen Cabinet and walk past him to the living room with him trying to keep up with me and the conversation.
“I just…… I think I…..
He stuttered in between his words. But I didn’t mind. I just kept walking till he grabbed me, gripped my wrist, and pulled me towards himself.
“Please, Just give me a chance.”
I was about to speak when my phone rang.
It was James calling to check up on me and the kids. As I proceeded to answer the call I could feel Justin’s death stare piercing through my skin with rage and jealousy in his eye. I ignored him and continued with the call. when suddenly a scream !!
OMG ! Aiden fell and got hurt, and Justin hurriedly went over and met Aiden on the ground, growling in pain and rushing to pick him up. Amelia was in tears, oh! How she hated the sight of blood.
Justin immediately picked up Aiden, his head was bleeding. How it happened was a mystery to both Justin and I
Still shocked, I picked Amelia up and we went to the hospital in Justin’s car. My eyes were blurred from stocked-up tears. AIDAN was lying unconsciously in my arms. Amelia kept on sobbing in the back seat of the car.
Justin held my hands and told me everything was going to be fine.
He finally got the chance to hold my hand without me complaining. I was in my right frame of mind to even stop him.
We finally got to the hospital, The doctor was attending to Aiden’s injury and Amelia fell asleep after so much crying. He assured us that it was just a minor cut and he fell unconscious due to the fright.
We were at the reception when my phone rang indicating an incoming call. My phone was inside my pant pockets. Heaven knew how it got there. I remember I was on a call with James earlier.
I bit my lips, unsure of what to say to him. He must have been so worried. I pulled out the phone. Speak of the devil. JAMES.
Amelia was laying on Justin’s lap, he was sitting beside me when my phone rang.
I picked up and I was correct. JAMES Was worried as hell.
“Isa? Are you okay? Are the kids okay? What happened? ”
He was so curious and worried.
“Hey…I’m fine. I’m sorry I hung up that way. Aiden had an accident. ”
“What? How? Was he hurt badly? Where are you? ”
He bombarded me with questions. It was only normal for him to worry, he had grown fond of the kids and they did too.
“No, we are fine. We are hospital, st…”I was about to state the name of the hospital when suddenly Justin jerked the phone from my ears. So swift and smooth.
Justin grabbed me by the arm, pulled me up, and began to pull me behind him.
Amelia, he already placed perfectly on the reception chair. She was lying peacefully.
“Let go of me ” I ordered and pulled my hands away from him. We were just a few steps away from where Amelia was.
“What’s the problem with you? ”
“Who gave you that right?”
” I’m talking to you, give it back to me. ” I stretched my hands to collect my phone
“How could you be so careless with my kids, you were so involved with your newfound lover that you forgot you had kids to watch over .”
“How dare you prioritize that guy over my children?
I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe what Justin was saying to me.
Was he trying to pin the blame on me? He knew we were together at the time of the incident. He was here and now it was all my fault?
“How could you say such mean things to me about my children, I love my children, Justin, they mean the world to me.”
“I can’t believe you are saying this to me .”
‘What can’t you believe? ”
He grabbed my arms so tightly and roughly that I was unable to move them. His eyes were burning red. I never saw him so mad over something that was our fault.
“Are you not ashamed of yourself Isabella? ”
“Are you so desperate for a man that you put your children through the trauma of having another father at such a young age? ”
“What is his name? huh? What does he have? Money? Are you so cheap Isabella?”
I could Believe the words that came out of Justin’s mouth. I was disappointed and heartbroken all over again.
“You are making a scene, let go of me ” I said in controlled anger.
“Sex? Does he satisfy you in bed? What does he have? ” Justin asked. I could see the anger brimming in his eyes but at this point, I had enough of him.
“What you don’t have. ” I yelled to his face with pain in my voice. I couldn’t take it anymore. As Much as I wanted to ignore him, I couldn’t take all the insults.
“Yes, he has what you do not. He cares for me, my kids, he doesn’t leave us and come back whenever he wants ”
What are you trying to say huh?
“YOU left me and your kids for someone else…” I spat at him. Hearing that, Justin released my arms.
“Yes, you left us. Every night, I’d cry myself to sleep and tell lies to your Children just to keep them happy and hoping.”
Do you want to hear the truth? Huh?
James is a better father figure than you would ever be…….