CHAPTER FORTY-THREE.
“Adele.” The voice came through again after several minutes of silence. Adele, who was exhausted at that time, found a nearby seat and slumped on it.
From the very overwhelming conversation with the doctor and now a call from Jamal. The men were definitely bent on making her lose her sanity that afternoon.
“Jamal.” She finally whispered. “Why are you calling me?” Her voice was shaky. It had been one year since she heard from him, but he had suddenly shown up again and she had no idea what he wanted.
“It’s been one year since we last saw or spoke to each other, Adele… don’t you miss me?” His voice was calm and if Adele didn’t know the man who was taking over the phone all too well, she would say his words were genuine, but knowing Jamal to be a beast who had no interest in her, she knew he was lying, she just didn’t know why he was lying to her.
“I don’t.” She simply replied.
“I highly doubt that.”
“That’s your problem, not mine. What do you want, Jamal?” She asked, making sure to sound as rude as she could be.
She had lived one whole year free of Jamal and his shenanigans, she wasn’t ready to welcome him and his troubles in her life again. She loved how peaceful her life was at the moment. Even though she had not completely healed from the miscarriage and her state of barrenness, she felt a lot better that when she was living under Jamal’s roof.
“Are you being rude to me now because you have men knocking at your door, Adele?”
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“I know about the very cute colleague who has been trying to force his way into your life for five months now and the medical doctor who has been asking around about you.”
“What?” Adele shrieked in horror. “How the hell do you know these things?”
“My dear wife, you’ve been out of sight for one year, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching you closely. You’d be shocked at how much I know about everything you’ve been up to this past year.”
“You freak!” Adele insulted in anger. She knew he wasn’t lying. If Jamal tells you he has been monitoring you, then he has been monitoring you.
“I know it sounds bizarre, love. But what can a man with a beautiful wife do? Everyman in the city wants to have you for himself.”
“Jamal.” Adele called as she rose to her feet. She was sick of hearing his corny words. “I don’t know what you want from me and I really don’t wanna know. Just crawl back into whatever hole you came out from and leave me the hell alone. I’m not ready to deal with your drama right now.” Adele explained, her heart still racing.
“About the two men trying to hit on you, I will deal with them. I believe one year has been enough to make that anger you feel for me subside, so henceforth, expect my call more often. Have a nice day, Adele.” Then the line went dead.
Adele scoffed as she lowered the phone from her ear and angrily shot it into her handbag. Her head was spinning like a rollercoaster so she sat down to prevent herself from falling.
She took in deep breaths in an attempt to steady her breath and calm her raging nerves. That was all Jamal was good at doing to her, setting her on the edge.
“God I hate you Jamal!” She whispered bitterly. Hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She clutched her chest with her right hand and closed her eyes for the tears burning in them to spill down freely.
Jamal was wrong when he said one year was enough to make the anger she felt towards him subside. It had not and she had not healed from what happened between them.
Hearing his voice made everything come back fresh to her memory and she was hurt just as much as she had been back then when it happened.
She was never going to heal from the fact that Jamal made lose her unborn child and as a result, made her barren.
She was never going to heal from that.
*************”*******************************
Adele’s mood was completely ruined after that phone call with Jamal. She barely ate the dinner she made for herself and now, she was sitting in front of her TV in the living room, staring blankly at the screen. A TV show was going on, but she couldn’t focus on it because she was lost in thought.
She kept thinking about Jamal’s call and the things he said to her. He talked about dealing with the men trying to ask her out, but she had no idea what that meant.
Jamal was not a violent man, so she knew he wouldn’t do anything to harm them, but she knew he would definitely do something to keep them away from her.
“Jamal!” She groaned out of frustration and ruffled her hair with her fingers. “Why won’t you just leave me the hell alone?” She cried in frustration and her moment of wailing and cursing was interrupted by her ringtone. She reluctantly peeked down at the phone which was lying on the couch, hoping it wasn’t Jamal. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw her Grandma’s name on the caller ID. She quickly answered the call.
“Hello Grandma.” She greeted her tiredly. Grandma was the only one in the Dominick household whom she had been in touch with for the past year.
“Adele, how are you doing?” She asked enthusiastically from the other side of the phone. Adele relaxed herself on the couch, breathing hard over the phone, contemplating whether to tell grandma about Jamal’s call or not.
“I’m doing just fine grandma, but I’m worried.”
“Why are you worried, sweet heart?”
“Grandma, Jamal called earlier today.” She announced and her Grandma squealed on the other end of the phone and Adele could tell it was a squeal of excitement. She had definitely been waiting for this day. Adele couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the situation.
“Finally! That stubborn grandson of mine has decided to do something sensible in his life!”
“Grandma, this isn’t supposed to be good. Remember he hasn’t signed the divorce papers I sent him. He very well knows I want nothing to do with him. What the hell does he want from me?” Adele vented, almost raising her voice.
She was mad.
She was pretty upset.
“Adele, all this venting won’t solve this issue and you know it. You know the kind of man your husband is, so why don’t you just sit him down and ask him yourself.”
“First, he is not my husband and second, there is nothing for us to sit and talk about!” She flatly denied. “I want to be nowhere near that man. He makes me sick!” She scolded over the phone, her chest rising and falling as hot air escaped her nostrils and mouth. There were like a thousand needles piercing her throat and she gulped hard to swallow them down.
Jamal was driving her nuts.
“Adele.” Grandma called calmly. “Adele, please calm down.”
“Grandma, it’s hard for me to calm down,” Adele cried. “You have no idea how I feel right now. Everything I’ve been trying to escape seems to be catching up with me now that he’s back. I’m hurt all over again.”
“And don’t you think this is a sign that it was about time you stopped running away from your problems and tried to face them instead? What happened in the past didn’t only affect you, my dear. In as much as it was his fault, Jamal lost a son too and it hurt him just as much as it hurt you even if he did not show it. He felt just as miserable as he did and I can bet that he hasn’t forgiven himself for that. Adele… don’t shun him away without listening to what he has to say. He has explained to me why he acted the way did towards you and I was petrified! He had reason to do so, if you would only listen to him, then I bet that you will see reasons with him.”
“Grandma.” Adele sobbed. “Grandma…” she hiccuped. “I don’t want to see reasons with him.”
“You want to, I know you want to. It’s just the anger in your heart that’s making you say that, but you are greater than that anger. You can look past that anger and make your life better. Look Adele, things have changed over here in this household. Everything has changed.”
“What has changed grandma?”
“I’m not in the place to tell you, only Jamal can do that. Like I said, don’t shun him out my dear, please listen to what he has to say. Please.”
“Grandma.” She cried even harder but didn’t say anything else.
What her grandmother was asking her to do was hard.
Very hard.