After Jasper and Caitlyn’s departure, Katrina mustered the courage to enter her home. Was it really her home?.
“Kneel there!” the woman beside her father ordered and she obeyed immediately without uttering anything.
“Why did you let a stranger in here?” Katrina trembled on the spot.
“I’m sorry ma’am, I didn’t mean to. They came unannounced,” she answered with obvious nervousness and what looked like a bit of fear.
“Whose fault was it for them to be here?”
“It’s my fault ma’am, I couldn’t pick Drake up on time. I’m sorry.”
“Good you know it’s your fault. I’ll let it slide because of your father but I’ll make sure there isn’t a next time.” the words seemed more or less like a threat as it resonated with a hint of anger in it.
“What do….?” Katrina wanted to ask her what she meant by not allowing a next time but couldn’t as the woman glared at her daring her to say a word.
“Let her alone babe, you don’t have to tire yourself on someone like her. She’s just a kid you know” William secured his hands around the woman’s shoulder bringing her whole body to rest on his.
“Get out of my sight,” she yelled at Katrina and the young girl scurried away with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Katrina entered her room, the room she shared with her brother, and leaned on the door in tears after it closed behind her, her fingers locked behind like someone being handcuffed as she tried to absorb the pain. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t hold her pain in her anymore and let the tears come freely.
Life has not been easy for her and Drake ever since their mother died. Their father acted like they were nothing to him and got another person who acts as his wife even when they were not married yet.
He let the woman treat them however way she wishes and the result turned out to be worse every passing day as he also changed his ways towards them. Most times, Katrina would have to skip school just to take care of her baby brother who was the only thing she sees as the best thing in her life at that moment.
William cared less and less about them not long after their mother died.
“Sister Katrina, why are you crying?. Is it because of mum?” Little Drake cupped his sister’s face in his small soft palms.
“No dear, it’s because I hit my hand on the wall when I wanted to enter just now.” she cleaned her eyes and smiled at her brother. Despite all the things she was facing as the grown-up one, she didn’t let Drake know what was happening.
It was their mum’s dream for them not to grow up with hatred and bad attitudes.
If she tells Drake about the terrible things she passes through at the growing stage that he was, there is a tendency for him to develop hatred in his heart and become rebellious toward their father.
That was something their mother warned Katrina against before she died but such things can’t be hidden for so long. Growing up kids should not be underestimated. Their level of understanding might be far greater than what their parents or guardian thinks and that was the case with Drake.
He knew all the things going on with his sister and how she feels but didn’t know how to console her or make things right.
He hugged her without saying anything else, and she sobbed silently on his shoulder inhaling his sweaty scent.
After she felt a bit at ease, she stood up and tried to make her way to the kitchen.
“Babe,” she heard her dad say and she moved closer only to see him caressing the woman. Shamefully, she walked back to where she wanted to try her best to ignore them.
“What’s it?” William toyed with the tip of the lady’s short brown hair.
“I need some money and I don’t know if you can help me with it. There’s this new business plan I’m pursuing and I’m in dire need of capital,” he explained to her.
“What about…?”
“I promise to return it as soon as things work out the way I planned.” he interrupted her before she could complete her sentence and she sighed.
“Like how much are we talking about here?” she asked.
“It’s not that much… It’s about thirteen million dollars.”
“Thirteen million dollars! and you call that not much?” she exclaimed sitting up to have a proper look at his face.
“I know such an amount is nothing to you.” William placed a kiss on her cheek smiling at her.
“Well, I don’t know if I can get you such an amount right now.” William sat up immediately, his eyebrows pinched at her words.
“Why? What do you mean by you can’t get the amount?. I thought I just told you how important the business is to me.”
“Some things happened with me recently and I won’t be able to get the amount you need for you.”
“What things happened that you didn’t care to tell me?” he queried but sounded like he was pleading for her to tell him.
“That would be the talk for another time. I need to go now,” she said and stood up beside him in a bid to redo her makeup and leave for her destination.
In five minutes, she was done with tempering her looks. She kissed William on his lips and bade him goodbye.
“Fuck!” he clenched his eyes shut as she left.
*
*
“Waiter, a bottle of whiskey here please” Jasper sat together with Carl in one of the bars they go to during their free time especially when they’re stressed a lot.
A young guy dressed in muftis and a white apron attached to his body carried a tray with a bottle that contained the drink and dropped it on the table in front of Jasper.
Jasper opened the drink, poured the content into his cup, and gulped it down quickly. He poured another and did justice to it too while Carl was still sipping on his very first cup.
He wanted to pour himself another full cup, but Carl stopped him.
“You’ll get drunk at this rate. Remember you have a child to take home.” he cautioned.
Jasper grinned and laughed loudly.
“Do you mean my little Angel?. The one who is smarter than her age and tries to be smarter than her father?”
Carl looked at his friend in a fazed manner. If he says he doesn’t know what Jasper was going through, he would be telling a great lie.
He knew so well that he was not the same person he used to be as they grew up.
“If she isn’t smart, who would she take after?” Carl tried to lighten his friend’s mood.
“Yeah, that’s right. All I can do now is hope she doesn’t take after her mother.” the words held so much pain and anyone listening could sense that Jasper wasn’t in his right state of mind.
“She won’t. As long as she isn’t close to her mother in any way, you don’t have to worry about her manners. She would always take after her father.”
“I know right but you wouldn’t believe what she said today.”
“What was it she said?”
“Her bad mood and recent frequent cries were a result of missing her mother and wanting to be cared for by her but you won’t believe she heard Cassandra’s remarks about her last night.”
“You mean she heard your discussions?” asked Carl and Jasper nodded affirmatively. “How come you didn’t know she heard?”
“That’s the main reason why I said she’s becoming smarter than me. Who wouldn’t hear Cassandra’s voice yesterday with the way she shouted last night?. But the funniest part is that Jasmine heard all her talks and returned to her room in tears. You can imagine, she didn’t even bother to cry to me or tell me about it. Instead, she kept it to herself.”
“(sighs) I understand where you’re coming from. It’s something Jasmine could do but I think she only does that whenever she’s hurt.”
“You just got my point. That’s exactly my concern. For how long will things continue this way?. Apart from Jasmine feeling terrible, I also can’t take it anymore. It’s been years now.”
“Don’t even go there. I proferred a solution and you said you weren’t interested, that’s your fault.”
“Will getting laid with another woman outside my matrimonial home be the everlasting solution?. It just won’t work.”
“At least you would relieve yourself of the tension.”
“No, that’s just a no!. The night is beginning to seep in with its full darkness, let’s go get Jasmine.” Jasper said checking the time on his wristwatch strapped closely to his left wrist.
“Fine, if you say so. It’s your life anyway.”