EPISODE ELEVEN
THEME: A mother’s case
GABRIELLA DAMIEN HOME
Venting his frustration out on the treadmill, Jaylen ran hard like his life depended on it. He was perturbed as to what to do. Turn in between, calling his mother or just ignoring her for his own peace of mind.
However, he wanted to hear her voice so bad. It was bad enough that they hardly speak, but having her ask for him to call her should mean something crucial that concerns him was obviously going on.
“Why are you overthinking this too much?” Gabriella asked behind him, as she held up a flask of water for him and a coffee on hand for herself.
Handing the flask to him, Jaylen collected it with a thank you. Uncapping the cover, he gulped every of its content. He didn’t realize he was that thirsty.
“I am not overthinking anything.” He huffed out after easing up his breath.
“Why haven’t you called then?” Gabriella pushed further.
“Really grandma?” He queried with a raised brow.
“What?” She retorted.
“Is there something you aren’t telling me?” He asked.
“Why would I hide anything from you?”
“Then let this matter be!” He said firmly.
Throwing the face towel he held down at the unmoving treadmill, he stepped down and walked his way through to the kitchen.
Grabbing the fruit blender, he went to the fridge and opened it. All of the fruit he could find was dumped on the kitchen island. Peeling the ones needed to be peeled, he kept huffing and puffing.
Gabriella watched all of his drama in silence and let him have his moment.
“I don’t want to call her.” Jaylen said as he cut some cucumber into the blender.
“Hmm.” His grandmother hummed in response.
“Why would she ask for me to call her when I am only one click away?” He threw in some avocado and it made Gabriella wince.
“Do I even matter to them? Can’t they just admit if they really want me or not?” Some bananas joined the group. “I have had just about enough of being the understanding kid.”
Jaylen ended up fumbling with the blender plug. “Damn it!” He growled in frustration.
Standing up quietly from where she sat, Gabriella collected the plug from him and helped him with it.
“I just don’t understand it. Why does it have to always be me?” Jaylen sounded like he would break down in tears soon.
Gabriella’s heart went out to him, they had deviated from the initial discussion. Sometimes, she regretted indulging him in his move out of his birth home. Jaylen’s fear of being dumped and unloved had made him stay very far away from women. She wondered if he had ever had sex because the young man was always keeping to himself. He was too rigid for his own good. His phobia had spread out just before her eyes and she feels helpless that she can’t be of assistance to him.
Every blessed day even when he isn’t saying anything about it, Jaylen beats himself up for being the unloved child and it seems like he hates a part of himself.
Gabriella herself was getting tired of the situation. It had been ten years and that should be enough time for the other one to have grown up and realize his twin wasn’t a threat to him. But then to be candid Jaylen was an unintentional threat.
Gabrielle looked towards him as he gulped down the terrible mixture of the fruits and veggies that he made into a smoothie. His inconvenience was so obvious and she tried not to think of how awful it might taste.
Whenever he gets pissed or distraught about something, Jaylen resorts to cooking or becoming a fruit mixer like he had chosen this morning. All of his anger and frustration are let into them. And thankfully he was always thoughtful enough to eat his concoction himself.
One would think Jayden knew of the prophecy with the way he always acted towards his twin brother. But then, it had been said to be a card of fate. When her son Carl had called her in to tell her about the prophecy of the seer, she could decide it immediately. One of the main reasons she had asked for himself and Meagan to see the seer was a result of the constant nightmare she was having from the very moment she became aware of Meagan’s pregnancy.
Knowing they were young and too feeble minded especially Meagan to understand what it was, she had kept her fears to herself and almost as if on cue the seer had revealed it.
Her nightmares always had to do with two people who really mattered to her going against each other in a war zone. She knew they were a part of her family through the reaction she gets every time she wakes up.
Taking in a deep breath, Gabriella looked at him again. Jaylen had his head bent low, looking very okay despite the heart breaking content he had consumed. How he never gets a stomach upset amazes her.
“Stop staring at me like that.” Jaylen said, not changing the position he was in.
“Why won’t you just listen to me, Jaylen?”
“I have listened to you every time and it still makes no difference Granny.”
“For her peace of mind, please call her.”
“She has other children to make her happy so she would be fine.” Jaylen insisted as he stood up.
Jaylen cleared the kitchen island, dropping his cup into the sink and the blender back into place after cleaning it up.
“A mother can have thousands of children, she would still love all of them equally and would never wish to lose one of them.”
Jaylen made an irritating snort. “Her case differs. And I am most disappointed in dad.”
“They are going through a lot.”
“Really? Well I am going through a lot too.”
“I know that baby. I just think you need this closure more than anything.”
“Fine!” He yelled.
“Don’t raise your voice at me young man!” Gabriella warned.
Jaylen sighed. He rolled his eyes as he held onto the island. “I am sorry.”
“Better.”
Heading out of the kitchen, Jaylen went into his room to get his phone. Returning downstairs, he tapped on his phone in a hurry. Then he showed her the phone screen. “I am calling her now.”
“Good boy. I am so proud of you.” She muttered and blew him a kiss.
When the call connected and the other line rang. Jaylen felt his heart in his mouth. He wasn’t ready for this.