Dear Jolene

Chapter 4

PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END!!!!
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!

"Is this too much", Emily asked a sleepy Jo, pointing at herself.

Jo let out a wolf whistle, and said, "You look great, coral is really your colour".

Emily was wearing a simple A-line dress with butterfly sleeves in the colour coral. She paired it with her old diamond earrings and nude pumps.

"What if they don't like me?" Emily asked plopping on the bed beside Jo.

Jo rolled towards her and said, "Then it will be on them, just be yourself, Mom".

"I wish you could have been there but-" "Hey, let's not rush everything, and my finals are next week".

Emily sighed and said, "Yes I know, but after your exams, we will have a family dinner okay?"

Jo nodded and said, "Sure now go downstairs, he has been waiting for the past 20 minutes".

"Oh shit", Emily cursed and got up. She picked up her purse and rushed towards the door, "Bye Baby", she yelled and was gone.

Jo murmured stuffing her face into her mother's sandal-scented pillows, "Language".

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Emily was nervous and kept rubbing her sweaty palms on her dress. On noticing it, Andrew held one of her hands. 

"My sons don't bite you know", he joked trying to ease her mind.

"I know, it's just what if they see me as someone who is taking their mother's place", Emily asked in a soft tone.

Andrew looked at her for some time as if debating over something and then pressed a button to pull up a division between the front and the back seats for privacy.

"Emily, I never loved my wife, maybe was fond of the company at times but never had butterflies with her, butterflies that I get every moment I am with you. Our family has a few orthodox ways, so when she got pregnant with my first child, Theon, they forced me to marry her. She was my elder sister's best friend you see, but she was a bitch. My older sons hate her because they were old enough to understand. I gave Caroline everything, I even tried giving her my love but she would always find ways to hurt me", Andrew went quiet for some time, and Emily just stared at him, not knowing whether to comfort him or not.

"Initially I had 6 sons, but when my father found out that she was cheating on me, he did a DNA test for all my sons, four of them were mine. He was planning to send them into foster care but I intervened and sent them to a boarding school, I like it when they come over but my father always has his men chasing them out, I loved them when I thought they were my own, and I love them still, same with my sons", he turned towards Emily and cupped her face and said, 

"All I'm trying to say is that my sons know better than to think that blood is everything. Their own mother was their biggest enemy and that's why we don't talk about her", Andrew explained.

Emily pushed his hands away and hugged him tightly, pecking his neck softly. She noticed how stoic and expressionless he looked while telling his entire story, she didn't pity him but was rather sad thinking that he didn't have anyone to lean onto. That he was alone all these years, just like Emily had been; until they bumped outside the elevator.

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"Jo!"
"JO!"
"JO WATSON!"

Jo's head slipped, waking her up from her mid-class slumber. Jo kept her head down as everyone in class started snickering.

Mrs Bellock was fuming, she hated when students slept in her class, especially the ones with average grades. They were the most suspicious ones, she never understood how a person can get 60% or 70%. In her world, you were either a bright student worthy enough of Harvard and Yale or a soon-to-be high school drop-out making TikTok videos.