CHAPTER 55: CHOOSE WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU.
“Really? How could I have lost against you? That’s not fair.” Evelyn whined as Tom and she finished the second round of their game playing. Tom was jumping in victory and stuck out his tongue at his mom for losing.
“I am better at this game than you, mom. Dad taught me. Speaking of dad, when is he coming to visit?” Tom asked her.
“Very soon. He is busy right now so you need to be patient with him. Alright, that’s enough of the game. It’s time to read.” Evelyn said and stroked her palms against each other. Tom went to grab his bag and brought out his books without any objection.
Evelyn’s phone rang minutes later and she picked up the call.
“Hey, ba…what the hell do you have on your face?” Evelyn laughed at Kira’s current look on her phone. She was bathed with paint all over her face and clothes but luckily her hair was covered, preventing it from being tinted.
“Unfortunately, I had no choice but to get married to the paints yet the works are amazing. Do you want to take a look?” Kira asked joyfully.
“Sure, show me.”
Kira diverted the camera to her painting, it was a drawing of a mother holding onto her child. She was looking at the child with something the viewers could see as being affectionate.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.”
“I know, right? You two are my muses for drawing this. So how was your day?” Kira asked her.
“Well, it went well but not that well because I had a visit from the past, Kira. You wouldn’t guess who I saw today.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t, so spill it.”
Evelyn stood up and strolled to the kitchen to pour herself a drink.
“Jacob,” Evie replied.
“Jacob who?” Kira was slightly confused. On her side, she was also beside her refrigerator. She brought out a cup, bottle of milk, sugar, and cereal before shutting the refrigerator.
“Are you having cereal for dinner?”
“As you can see babe, yes, so tell me who this Jacob is.”
“My father’s assistant,” Evie replied.
“Oh, you mean that Jacob? Wait, how did he find you and what did he say?”
Evelyn drank her drink while leaning against the counter.
“How he found me is mysterious and he told me that my father is sick and has requested to see me immediately,” Evie revealed.
She looked at the screen only to find Kira doing the same thing to her but feeding her mouth with her ‘spoon-filled cereal’.
“Your stares are getting creepy by the way so say something.” Evelyn couldn’t help but voice out. Kira cleared her throat and took three spoons of the milky cereal.
“What are your plans?” She eventually asked Evelyn and the latter shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t go? Well, he already disowned me and he has no deal with me anymore so why would he want to see me?”
“Do you want to go or not?” Kira inquired. Evelyn was silent. She did want to go, it’s been a while. Even though Johnson did treat her unfairly, he was her father after all…even though the love he showered her with from the beginning had to die down alongside the death of her mother, he was still her father and now, he was sick.
There could still be a chance for a change.
“Choose what is best for you, Evie. Either way, it’s your choice and you won’t be guilty of choosing whatever suits you but let me know when you are going, okay?” Kira advised her. It was her family’s issue so…yeah, she should take the lead this time.
“Probably tomorrow. I won’t have time to visit him during the week.”
“No problem, girl. I always have your back.”
“Thank you. Another thing before I forget, I will be resigning from Raphael’s office.”
“And why is that?”
“You know that things have somehow taken a new turn between us and I just.. you know, staying under the same roof as he feels weird to me.”
“But that will only make your relationship stronger.” Kira disputed but her friend shook her head in disagreement.
“This seems more okay to me. Anyway, let’s move away from my issues. What about Richard?” Evelyn asked and Kira choked at the sudden calling of his name. Evelyn went back to her seat in the sitting room.
Evelyn watched Kira wipe her mouth and cleared her throat while Evie smirked. Their friendship had never been once boring, it was either she or Kira who had something to talk about all the time in their lives.
“What about him?” Kira replied and bit her fingers. Evelyn facepalms herself.
“Don’t you dare pretend to not know anything! You had better spill the beans.”
“Fine, I accompanied him to his race today and we…we kissed. Well, I kissed his forehead and he kissed me on the lips in return.” Kira replied.
“Wow, I must have been a good mentor. You are walking in my footsteps already.” Evelyn laughed uncontrollably but tried to muffle it by covering her mouth. Kira hissed and ended the conversation while Evelyn calmed herself down. She put down the phone and continued watching the ongoing show with a slight smile.
On Kira’s part, she was also smiling when she put down the phone. She took her stained clothes and entered the bathroom to take a deep and body-cleansing shower. As the water flowed down her body, her mind raced to what had happened between her and Richard. After they left, he really didn’t speak much about it neither did she.
It was somehow awkward and Kira couldn’t help hitting her forehead many times as she was trying to bring her thinking back to reality. What the hell was happening? Even if she was going to step into another relationship, it should be with someone…Kira sighed and turned off the water.
She stepped out of the bathroom after wearing her robe and lay flat on the bed. Her eyes slowly shut themselves as she drifted into unconsciousness.
*_*_*_*_*_*
The next morning, Evelyn was standing right in front of her family’s house. The house she was chased away from. Getting back into this place somehow gave her chills. She held her purse tightly and took bold steps toward the gate. On getting there, the security man was stunned to see her. His mouth was wide open when he opened the door.
“Hello.” Evelyn tried smiling.
“Miss Evelyn, how are you doing? It’s been a long time.” The man spoke. He was an elderly man in a child’s body but he was still as strong as any military man should be.
“Yes, is your boss in?” She asked and the man nodded.
Evelyn bowed a bit and started walking toward the entrance. Her eyes overlooked the surroundings. The place wasn’t as lively as it was years back and she only felt pity, she silently prayed that her mother’s soul if it ever existed forgive her for not being able to keep her property as lively as it should be.
She got to the door and knocked. A young lady Evelyn assumed to be one of the maids appeared. She bowed to greet Evelyn before leading her in. Evelyn ran her eyes through the sitting room, they were just like three years ago but not welcoming to her anymore.
She paused in her walk when her eyes met with her stepmom then her daughter and lastly the head of it all. He looked thin and weak, it was like he had contracted a very terrible disease in Evelyn’s sight.
Johnson put on a smile when he saw Evelyn. He spread his hands as a way of welcoming her.
“Evelyn, my child. It’s been so long. Come and hug your father. I am so happy to see you again.” He said and wiggled his fingers.
Evelyn sighed softly and proceeded to do accordingly. She went into his open arms but didn’t feel anything of the sort, the embrace was cold. It was colder than the body of a vampire.
After they were done hugging, Evelyn glanced at Jessica who also had a pretentious smile on her face. After all, it was all an act, what could it cost her to pretend?
“Evelyn, how are you doing?” She asked her.
“As you can see, I am doing well and better than when I was here.” She answered and Jessica looked away awkwardly.
Evelyn looked at her father, “Mr. Jacob informed me that you are sick. Why don’t you go to the hospital and why do you want to see me?” She frowned at him.
“Seriously Evelyn, you haven’t seen your father for the past few years and this is how you are behaving?” Johnson asked with a look of disbelief.
“I do remember someone who disowned me and hated me.” Evelyn retorted with a cold expression. Johnson became mute and exhaled heavily. He removed his pair of glasses and used the tip of his clothes to wipe the lenses before putting them back on. He stared at Evelyn. His daughter had indeed changed so he must be careful.
“You know what? Let’s chat over breakfast. We are yet to have it.” Jessica offered.
“There will be no need for that. I already ate mine before coming. Thank you.” Evelyn turned it down. Ruby scoffed and threw Evelyn a look of disgust before walking away to the dining table.
Evelyn smirked. She knew that her presence here wasn’t because her father probably ‘missed’ her. It must have been because of another thing but she was being treated in a way that she had never been since the mother-daughter pair interrupted her life and she was going to take the upper hand in this.