They were a cops.
“What…. What are they doing here?” My mum asked, one of them pulled a paper out of their pocket.
“We’re here to make an arrest” the one in front said, his eyes fell on mine and I gripped the remote so hard, it almost broke.
The rest of the words they said were slurs, I could not hear them, I could only see their lips moving. Mum mum was crying, she turned to me, her eyes red.
“Why did you beat that guy with an iron!” She yelled at me. They had come to arrest me.
“Marcell, take Elisa upstairs” Christian standing up.
“You too, Jenna. Go upstairs” Christian said.
I stood up from the couch, my joints felt rusty. I followed my parents and I went to their bedroom.
“If you go to jail, I’m not bailing you out, believe me” my mum yelled in my face.
“Elisa, now is not the time” Marcellino said.
My mum cried and she hugged her husband tightly.
“Jenna, we’re going to wait and hope that my brother solves this, he has an influence over the authority, if he doesn’t solve this and Sean continue to press charges, I’ll find a good lawyer and get you out of jail”
“She’s going to go to jail?” My mum asked still crying.
I went to their bed and I sat on it for support.
After about twenty minutes of waiting in pure agony, Christian pushed the door open, his eyes fell on me.
“Chris.. what did they say, are they taking her to jail?”
“They are gone, she’s not going anywhere ” he said, his eyes still fixed on me.
I let out the breath I had been holding and looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh god, thank God for you… Imagine what would have happened if you weren’t here ” my mum said running to him and hugging him tightly.
“Thank you ” my stepdad said to him shaking his hand.
I stood up and wrapped my hand around him, to my parents it was a normal hug but they were standing behind him, they didn’t see his hand slip under my shirt to touch my back just to feel the comfort of my skin.
“I’m sorry ” he whispered to me.
I pulled out of the hug and cleaned my eyes with the shirt.
“Whose clothes is that?” My mum asked all of a sudden, she was just taking notice of it now.
“Not now mum” I said walking past her.
The doorbell rang again, I turned to Christian.
“It can’t be them, we already settled the score” he said to me, he walked down the stairs and I seconds he was at the door.
“Who are you?” We all heard him ask.
“Oh my, it might be Richard ” my mum said cleaning her eyes with the back of her hand.
“I have to fix my makeup ” my mum said, sense urgency in her voice, that guest must be important.
“Go get dressed honey, I’ll go and invite him in before Christian punches a hole in his chest ” my stepdad said running down the stairs.
“Oh my gosh, you look like a man” my mum said looking at me.
“What?” I asked her.
“Didn’t you hear we have a guest, go and change into a dress, put on some make-up” Mu mum said pushing me towards my room.
“I cleared out my room mum, I don’t have any clothes in the closet, and I don’t have makeup either ”
My mum groaned as if she was in physical pain and then she led me to her room.
***
Christian.
I opened the door expecting to see officers in uniforms but instead, I see a guy wearing a dark grey suit, holding a bouquet of flowers.
I scanned him from head to toe, he was dressed clean, every spot was shinny. He smiled and passed the flowers to his left hand so he could shake me with his right one.
I stared at his outstretched hand.
“Who are you?” I asked him.
“Uh, I’m sorry for not introducing myself immediately, I’m Richard” he said with his hand still outstretched.
I ignored his handshake.
“If you’ll excuse me sir, I’m here for dinner” he said, his smile stretching wider, there was a dimple on both sides of his cheeks. He was about to walk through but I stepped in his way and blocked the door.
“Why are you holding a bouquet of roses?” I asked him.
He laughed nervously.
“Richard, you’re here” Marcellino exclaimed behind me, ge taped my shoulders from behind, reluctantly I let Richard walk through.
“Richard this is my brother Christian. You must have seen him in the magazines and television, he’s the riches man in the country and beyond….” Marcellino laughing proudly.
“Who is this, why is he holding flowers, are they for Elisa because I don’t remember you as someone that likes roses Marcellino” I said.
Richard met me in the worst way possible, he would hate me because I would interrogate him till he tells me who he got the flowers for, they better not be for my girlfriend. It better be for Elisa.
“Wow, they smell nice, I don’t know what women fancy in these things but they smell nice” Marcellino said taking the flowers and leading Richard to the dining table.
I calculated and knew what spot he would sit in so that Jenna would end up beside me.
“Christian, this is Richard. He’s the most important man in my company right now, he’s the back bone of that entire company, he’s making me proud in so many ways and I wish he was my son” Marcellino rubbing Richard’s shoulders.
The amount of pride in Marcellino’s voice was so high it could blow the roof off this house. His eyes admired Richard in so many ways.
“I’ll just take a moment to soak these in cold water, how about the both of you have a small chat” Marcellino said walking away.
Richard turned to me and cleared his throat, my eyes followed every movement, even the tiniest expression didn’t go unnoticed.
“So you’re the Christian..” he said with a smile.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him and the smile brushed off his face.
“Did I do something wrong, I mean the very moment your eyes landed on me it has been burning holes through me…”
“Let me cut through the chase then” I said leaning on the table, placing my elbows on it.
“No one dresses like without a cause, you are here to impress a girl. You entire body language says it, you even brought flowers but I want to make something clear to you, if it’s Jenna you’re here for she’s taken “