~~~All my windows still are broken but I’m standing on my feet. You can take everything I have. You can break everything I am like I’m made of glass, like I’m made of paper. Go on and try to tears me down, I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper, like a skyscraper.~~~
-Demi Lovato-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m so sorry, mommy,” Cali said for the third time. She wasn’t looking at me but at her hands resting on her lap.
We were in my room and I waited for her to wake up the next morning because I wanted to talk to her what happened yesterday.
“I wasn’t mad that your dad gave you a phone and you talked to him even though I don’t know, but I was disappointed you didn’t inform me that you also invited him to our supposed to be mother and daughter date yesterday.”
I paused and knelt in front of her as I held both her hands.
“Cali, baby, I’m not against if you really want to be with your dad, spend time with him or if you want to stay with him, but I just want you to tell me everything and not like what happened yesterday. I wasn’t expecting to see him in the fast-food because you told me you wanted to watch a movie with me.”
“I’m sorry, mommy.”
“You can ask me anything you want, baby and I’ll try to give it to you, but I want you to be always honest with me.”
“Yes, mommy.”
“No more secrets.”
“Hmm.” She nodded. “No more secrets.”
I smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. I have already explained to her everything that happened between me and her father. I had to do it because I don’t want her to grow up having questions in her head about why her parents were living separately and why she doesn’t have a complete family like her classmates and friends.
She was too young then when I started to tell her all those things and thanks to Jack and the rest of my family for helping her understand the situation. I know it wasn’t easy for a child not to wish or dream of having both parents on her side, but she eventually adjusted and got used to seeing her father only by a video call or hearing his voice on the phone.
I stood up and sat in front of my makeup stand, ready to apply my moisturizing cream.
“Mom, are we going back to New York?”
That question stopped me from what I was about to do and turned to her.
“Are we going to live in New York again?”
“Why do ask, baby, I mean, why do you suddenly ask that question?”
I first heard her sigh before her answer.
“Because I really want to stay here, mom. I want to stay with grandma, grandpa, uncle Dave and of course, I want to be with daddy.”
“Hmm…” I said nodding, but deep inside I was holding my breath as I didn’t expect her to ask that question.
“I also want to study here, mommy.”
“Okay, but how about your friends in New York, are you gonna leave them? You can’t be able to see them every day when you stay here.”
“I know, but we can still call each other as we promised before the end of the school year.”
“Oh…” I opened my mouth, but unfortunately, no words came out. It seems that she really has decided to stay here. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, mommy, please?”
“Okay, but let me think about first, huh? For now, you should go to the bathroom and do your morning routine, so we can have breakfast together.”
She happily nodded and ran to the bathroom.
I wonder if that decision has something to do with her father. I just hope it’s not.
* * *
Two weeks…
Two weeks have passed and there’s a lot of things has happened within those weeks.
Jack flew back to San Francisco and has a bunch of documents that needed my signature and that when my brother found out she’s back, he suddenly decided to stay in my parents’ house where Jack was staying— and the chaos between the two started, again.
And about Luke, well, he comes to the house almost every day, twice a day having a single alibi to my parents that he was just visiting his daughter, but the truth is that he was bothering me. Honestly, I had already forgotten how many times I slapped him with the truth that I’ve already moved on from him and he was no longer a part of my life, but he kept pushing himself to talk to me and what worse is that he’s using Cali. And every time he does that, every time I saw him, I couldn’t explain why the anger arises again inside me.
But the happenings weren’t just ended there because it’s not just once but twice that I had encountered Cherry.
A little flashback:
“Oh, am just seeing things?”
That was the first line that came out of her mouth when she walked into the boutique where I was. It was exactly three days after Luke had joined us to watch a movie and spent time with Cali.
Almost all the customers inside were stopped from what they were doing when she walked in, not because she’s a model but because of her dress, which has a plunging neckline and literally short that leaves a little to the imagination. And because she feels famous… or should I say she feels really proud of herself, she didn’t even realize that the people around were looking at her with a different expression on their faces, but most of them have changed from surprise to sour.
“So it’s true, you’re back.” She added raising her fake eyebrows.
But instead of talking back, I chose to ignore her and pretended I didn’t notice her or didn’t hear what she said. I turned to the rack of evening gowns to avoid making a fuss inside the boutique.
But guess what… she followed me and drew the clerk’s attention.
“Miss, I want you to give me your most expensive gown.”
My eyes automatically knew their way up and I couldn’t help the annoyance that crept in me. Didn’t she know how to approach the sales lady in a nice way?
“Yes, ma’am.” The sales lady nodded and when she disappeared from our sight, the show has begun.
“Hmm… do you know that out of all the boutiques in the mall, this is where I love to shop? Well, Luke always took me here and bought me a lot of expensive gowns.” She then smiled as if she was dreaming.
And since I wasn’t interested in all her drama, I moved to the cocktail dresses on the next rack. But I don’t know what’s her problem as she kept following me.
“I really appreciate Luke’s efforts in showing his love for me. I felt so lucky as he came back into my life, that’s just mean, we’re really meant for each other.”
At that moment, I couldn’t help forming my fists in annoyance when she emphasized the word ‘back’. I really wanted to shout in her face, ‘he came back to you because you stole him from me and he let himself be stolen by you, bitch!’
“Anyway, when did you come back?”
I took a deep breath and was about to go back to the rack of the evening gowns but she stopped me by calling my name.
“Hey, Samantha, are you deaf? Didn’t you hear my question?”
This time, I sighed loudly and turned to her.
“Oops, are you talking to me?” I asked, pretended to be innocent.
“Tss! Is there anyone out here named Samantha other than you?” She hissed but I shrugged.
“How would I know? Why don’t you ask them one by one to find out if there’s anyone here who has a name Samantha other than me?”
“You’re such a bitch!” She whispered-yelled but I just chuckled.
“Ohh… don’t call me a bitch because that’s just one of the names that suit you and your fake personality that as fake as your nose and eyebrows.”
“How dare you!”
“And by the way, are we friends? Because as far as I can remember, we’re not close even then, so don’t talk to me as I will do the same, plus my mother taught me not to talk to strangers.” I gave her a satisfying kind of smile before turning to the next rack.
But the bitch didn’t stop there.
“Aren’t you going to ask what Luke and I did when you left?”
I was stopped by choosing the dress and gritted my teeth. A sigh of irritation left my lips.
-‘Haist! When is she going to stop?’- I asked myself as I felt my blood start to rise in my head.
“We celebrated… oh, what I mean to say is that he celebrated when you left. Tsk. tsk, that’s why I was surprised to see you back. Anyway, why did you back when you know there’s no room left for you in San Francisco?”
I couldn’t help raising my eyebrow as I looked at her. Why do I feel she’s up to something?
“Why do you ask? You don’t own San Francisco nor America, so you don’t have the right to tell me there’s no room left for me here, besides, I don’t have to report to you the things I want or don’t want to do, hmm?”
That made her shut her mouth.
“Ohh, when you said there’s no room for me here, are you referring to San Francisco or what you wanted to say is that there’s no more room for me Luke’s life?”
“Huh?” Guess what? Her eyes widened in shock.
“Yes, that’s what I mean, you should’ve never come back because there’s no room for you in Luke’s life for you!”
“Is that it? Is that why you bother talking to me just to tell me those nonsense things? Haist! Honestly, I really didn’t have room in his life even before. And if what you’re afraid of is that the two of us might get back together, well, for your peace of mind, I’m telling you, that won’t happen!”
“Tss! You really are a dreamer, Samantha! You will never get back together again because Luke never really loved you but me. He loves me enough to let you go so easily.”
I stared at her for a few seconds before I found myself laughing. Jealous, threatened and insecure, that’s what she feels, so she’s doing such a foolish thing.
“Hmm… jealous, are we?”
“Of course, not! Why would I be jealous, I mean, look at you? You’re nothing compared to me and you’re not the person I would be jealous of!”
“If so, then why do you have to tell me all this? What’s the point of talking to me with a useless topic? And if you’re sure that he loves you, then why did you suddenly felt threatened now that I’m back?” I raised my eyebrow, enjoying the reaction I got from her.
“How dare you, I’m not threatened!”
“Oh, okay, you’re obviously not.” I shrugged.
“I’m not threatened! He loves me and I trust him!”
-‘Trust’- I repeat inside my head with a sneer.
“Every day, he always reassures me of his love and that he could never live without me.”
“Really? If that so, you mustn’t bother me if he always reassures you of the love he has for you.”
But she ignored what I said.
“Do you know what he told me last night? He said he realized that marrying you was his biggest mistake and that he doesn’t want to see you!’
-‘Whoa! But that’s my line four years ago! This woman knows how to choose words. She really is an expert at lying.’-
“Tsk. tsk. tsk, his biggest mistake, huh? Is that why he always visits my parents’ house because marrying me was his biggest mistake? Or maybe what he said was that ‘letting go of me was his biggest mistake?”
“Whew! I didn’t know you were that good, good of assuming things! He only visits your parents’ house because he wanted to see his daughter and not you!”
“Ohh… so it’s just ‘my’ daughter,” I said, nodding. I know that just a little push to her ego will finally make her explode. “But if it’s just my daughter that he wanted to see, then why does he always bring flowers ‘every day’ and why does he always want to talk to me about what happened in the past, I mean, in our past?”
“What?”
I was right. Her face turned red with anger.
“Yeah, you heard it right. Since my daughter’s birthday, he has never stopped convincing me to give him a minute and talk to him. And do you know what he always tells me? ‘Sorry’. He never fails to mention that word every day when he sees me. He always asks me to forgive him for what he did.”
“What the hell—that’s not true!”
“But it is! Actually, three days ago, we went to the mall. We watched a movie as a ‘family’ and when we got home, I was surprised by what he asked me. Do you know what that is? Well, he asked me to give him a chance, a second chance to prove himself to me. If you don’t want to believe me, you can ask him.” and I turned around. I suddenly lost my mood to choose the dress I will wear for tonight’s party.
“Liar!”
“Nope! I have no reason to lie to you, Miss Petterson, besides, why would I do that if I think things seem to be reversing now, right?” I turned around but she screamed on my back.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
‘-Oops!’- I turned to her with a hilarious laugh. “Are you still not noticing or are you just pretending to be aware of the things that are happening around you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Haist.” I chuckled rolling my eyes. ” Hmm… don’t you notice how the events of the past seem to reverse now? I used to tell you to stay away from him, but now look at you, you’re now the one who’s bothering me because you’re threatened that I might get him back and he might do the things he did to me before, but this time he’ll do it to you.”
And that shut her mouth for the second time.
“Tsk. tsk. tks, Cherry Petterson, you have no idea what I can do. What if I get him back, do you think he would choose you again this time?”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Ohh… relax, I was just asking.” I shrugged, smirking at her.
And at that moment, I’m sure if ever looks could kill, I was already six feet lying under the ground because of the glare she was throwing at me. They seem like invisible daggers targeting my whole body.
-‘Serves you right, bitch!’- I muttered silently before leaving the boutique and left her on her spot.
I suddenly lost my mood to choose the dress I will wear for tonight’s party. The atmosphere has changed the time I exit the boutique. I took a long, deep sigh just to calm my nerves.
-‘Huh! Don’t underestimate what I can do, Cherry Petterson!’-