“What’s this witch doing here? Why did you bring her here?” Tanisha spat as she saw Vanessa walking in with Tania.
Ignoring her, Vanessa glanced around the shop, surprised that it was empty. “What happened here? Where are the customers?” She asked with a concerned tone.
“I closed early, it sometimes happens.” Clara answered, trying to hide the anger and pain she was going through.
Due to the unexpected outburst, she had politely asked her customers to leave the shop. She didn’t want her family to be the talk of the town, but it was unavoidable because the neighbors would definitely talk about them until something else occurred again.
“Was it bad?” Vanessa couldn’t help but ask as she processed the whole situation.
“Are you kidding?” Tanisha blurted out. “This woman came here with your abusive ex-boyfriend, and you are asking if it was serious.”
“Tanisha, can you calm down already. I don’t have the intention of forgiving either her or Emmy, but I don’t want to cause any trouble for mother and her shop. Imagine how hard it was to throw her customers out because of me.” Vanessa explained, feeling sympathy and guilty at the same time.
“It was not because of you,” her mother interjected.
“It was because of her. She caused everything.” Tanisha added to her mother’s claim, pointing accusations and fingers at Tania, who was still shaken by her current situation.
The only thing on Tania’s mind was how to get out of there. Leaving Vanessa’s presence would be harder than she thought because she was under the preying eyes of the whole family. The only hope she had was to bet on Darryl, and she prayed he made it there before Tanisha tear her to pieces.
“What will you do with her?” Clara asked Vanessa as she glanced at Tania.
“I don’t know.” Vanessa shrugged tiredly.
“We should call the police. We should charge her for trespassing and stalking.” Tanisha suggested, causing them to react against it.
“That’s too much. Getting the police involved will draw more attention to us. I don’t want to create more scenes.” Vanessa said, countering her sister’s idea.
“Please, don’t involve the police. I promise you that I won’t get involved with you again. Just let me get out of here.” Tania cried, pleading her case.
“And you think I will buy your act. Not long ago, you were not remorseful at all. You don’t even look like you regret your actions.” Tanisha said, distaste laced in her voice. The sight of Tania continued to add to her fury and she was eager to pounce on Tania if she was given the chance.
Intensely, Tania glared at Tanisha, wishing she could rip off her tongue. Vanessa was the one she had issues with. What was Tanisha’s business with her? Tania wondered as she shot daggers at Tanisha with her glares. Darryl should better be there on time before the unspeakable happens, Tania articulated as she listened to their debate on what to do.
She was relieved that they no longer considered involving the police. She knew Vanessa was too kind-hearted to hand her over to the police. Ever compassionate, Vanessa doesn’t even know when to be cruel for once in her life.
The sound of the bell interrupted them as they all turned in the direction of the door. Relief washed over Tania as she sighted Darryl coming through the door. Finally, he was here to rescue her, she thought, as a smile played on her lips.
“Darryl!” Both Vanessa and Tania echoed as he entered the shop.
Darryl could not believe his eyes, his unwavering gaze lingered on Vanessa as he walked in. His attention focused on her as everything and everyone became blurry.
“Vanessa?” He said in disbelief. It was like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from. “Is this really you?” He asked as he got closer to her.
Tania ran to him, pulling him by his sleeve to get his attention. “You are here. Thank goodness that you came on time. I could have been dead if you had come a minute later.” Tania rambled as she lied to Darryl.
Quickly, they recovered from Darryl’s surprise visit and gasped at Tania’s false revelation. ‘This woman is crazy’, Lyla articulated as she watched the drama unfold from behind.
“Tania, what the fuck are you doing here?” Darryl asked her without looking up to see the others in the shop.
“I…I…” Tania stammered, searching for the perfect lie, but found nothing to say.
“You are a despicable woman, a shame to society. How can you tell such a lie when Vanessa just saved you from being handed over to the police?” Clara stepped in, yelling at Tania.
It seemed like time had frozen as Darryl saw Clara. Maybe he was wrong, he thought as he tried to shake off the feeling, but his eyes scanned the room, landing on Tanisha’s face.
“Wait, what the fuck is going on here?” He blurted out in confusion as his head became a fuzzy space.
“Language!” Tanisha said.
“Tanisha? Or am I mistaken?” he asked her, flashing her a questioning look. Without waiting for her response, he turned to Clara, flashing her the same look.
“I can’t be mistaken about you, Clara.” He confessed.
“You are not mistaken, it is me, Clara. The same Clara.” Clara said, causing more questions to rise in Darryl’s mind.
“How is it possible? I thought you…”
“Died?” Clara said, interrupting Darryl before he could complete his words.
“My mother made us believe it,” Darryl said as he tried to process the new revelation he had just heard.
“Your mother is a handful, and she has a number of things she should apologize for, especially what she did to my daughter.” Clara said, causing Darryl’s attention to go back to Vanessa.
“Your daughter?” He asked, nearly choking on his own words.
“Yes, Vanessa is my second child,” Clara replied.
“Please, don’t tell me that is what I’m thinking,” Darryl said as he thought about the possibility of him and Vanessa sharing the same father.
“No, you are not related by blood. She is not a Peter.” Clara said, causing relief to wash over Darryl.
“This is a lot to take in.” Darryl sighed, his fingers combed through his hair as he tried to calm himself down.
“Darryl,” Tania called when she noticed the family reunion was over.
“I don’t want to hear a word from you, Tania. I will make arrangements for you to go back to the city today, but have it in mind that when I come back, you will pay for all the things you’ve done.” Darryl said, angrily, his eyes burning in rage.
But his eyes softened as his gaze shifted to Vanessa. The reason why he was there was standing in front of him, but he didn’t know how to approach her.