The tension in the bedroom was palpable it was so much that it was causing a near migraine to pound in Christian’s head. He rubbed the back of his head gingerly as he waited for somethinggood or bad to come out of this discussion.
For over one hour, he had been trying to make Antonia see why he needed to do this with Laura. Why it was important for Laura and the kids to come and live with them.
Antonia kept pacing the length of the room, giving out a long sigh each time she had to reach the end of the room and turn back.
Just when Christian was about to speak since the ridiculous tense silence was getting out of hand in his opinion, Antonia stood in front of him and gave a heavy sigh. She raised her hands and it came down to land on both sides of her thighs.
“Alright, fine. Fine!”She said even though her tone that echoed in the room did not sound one bit like she was fine at all.
Despite having rattled nerves, Christian found himself raising an eyebrow calmly.
“Fine? What does Fine mean, Antonia ?”
She eyed him at first as if she was angry that he had asked her that question.
Then as if she knew she could not remain silly for a long while, she relaxed her shoulder and gave another sigh before saying, “Alright. I have decided to accept the decision that you made. The woman and her kids can come live in the house with us.”
Excitement intertwined with relief bloomed in Christian’s stomach but he forced himself to remain calm.”For real?”
Antonia did not answer. Rather, she went to sit down on the bed, her butt making a deep indentation on the white silk mattress that had been spread over the bed because of the gloomy way that she had sat down on it.
She put her elbow on the wooden bedrest and put her cheek on her palm while she continued to look at Christian with eyes that were beset with sadness.
Christian went to meet her where she was standing and lowered himself such that his bent knees were opposite her own.
“Antonia ?”He asked softly.
“What do you want me to say? I have said that you can take her and the kids in. What else do you want me to say, Chris?”
“I know,”he said, continuing in that gentle voice. He made sure that enormous concern was reflected in his eyes even as he said the next words so that she could see them.”I know you said that I could bring them in but what I want to know is if you are fine with them being in this house.
They are going to be in the house for a long time, you know. I want peace to exist among all of you in this house.”
Antonia threw back her head and laughed.
“Peace? If I am fine with it? What you are asking is the same as asking if oil and water can mix together, Chris” she saw Christian begin to lean back from her at that statement with a resigned look on his face and then added “I can not say I am fine with it but what I am willing to give is an Understanding.
I understand the situation at hand and why you have to make the decision of bringing them here. That is all. That is all you can get from me for now.”
One side of Christian’s face curved into a weary smile. He reached forward and gave her a light kiss on her right cheek. As he withdrew, he took a lock of hair that had fallen down to her eyes and tucked it behind her ears.
“Fair enough. I can take that. I do not think I should ask for more for now, considering things. So um, thank you for understanding. Thank you, Tonio. This means a lot to me and everyone else involved in this.”
Anthonio simply shrugged.”You are welcome.
Chris was about to stand up but then I remembered something that made him relax back into the way he was before.
Antonia widened her eyes.”What?”
Christian did not say anything.
Rather, he continued to give her a pointed look. He knew that very soon, she was going to get it without him saying a word.
He saw the moment realization shot into her eyes; her eyes went to her normal size and lowered while her shoulders slumped like the terrain of a hill.
“Oh,”she said, her voice lowering in the air.”You want an answer on that too? Now?”
“Yes.”His voice as well as his eyes on her were gentle and yet firm.”I want an answer on that too. Giving me this answer is as important as the one you already gave.”
She sighed and turned her head to look through the window. While Christisn studied the profile of her face; her ruly hair, her cheekbone that was still clearly defined even though it lay behind white skin that was becoming stretched and thin from years of harmful vices.
When she finally turned to him, he was still looking at her, admiring as well as pitying the woman that he had married.
“Alright,”she said with a defeated tone.”I will go for rehab as well.”
He would have forced her to if she had not agreed but a shot of relief went through his heart like a drug when she spoke. It made it all easy for him that she had agreed.
“Thank you,”he said and then stood up.
She stood up as well and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?”He asked, surprise causing him to arch an eyebrow.
“I will be right back.”She did not give any other information. Rather, she opened the door and closed it behind her with a loud bang.
When she came back to the house one hour later, Christain who was checking through some work files he had brought home took one quick look at her and saw instantly what she had left to do.
Unease rolled in his belly as he looked at Antonia ‘s new hair cut. There was no longer full hair bouncing behind the middle of Antonia ‘s back. Rather, it lay loosely in sharp angles behind her ear.
“You cut your hair?”He asked as he dropped the file he was holding onto the small side table beside the sofa he was sitting on
She was looking strange and familiar all at the same time.
She put a hand to one end of the hair as if noticing for the first time and smirked.”Yeah. I did.”
“Why? Why would you make such a dramatic decision like that in the twinkling of an eye?”Christian was doing as much as he could to keep the surprise and discomfort from spilling out onto his voice but he could only do so much.
She shrugged flippantly.”I don’t know. There are so many new changes happening around me. Ones I can not control. I felt the urge to enact one change of my choice.”She touched her hair and smiled.”And this is it.”
Alone he thought about the new life all of this madness was bringing to him, he doesn’t know how but it left him feeling mesmerized at the same time left his heart aching with the need to set everything off.
He stood for a minute and stared out of the window, he hoped to himself that he made the right decision, of everything that could happen one thing remained still and that was his conscience.
His conscience didn’t waver for a second as it felt as though he was doing the right thing, he felt confused but at the same time fulfilled.