Pendulum

#2- Toronto

"mum, I asked a question, would you answer me, please?", I ask choosing my words carefully not wanting to come off as disrespectful although, I am angry.

That was two weeks ago and I'm currently on a plane to Toronto. I sigh. My mum's ticket was cancelled for some reason I don't understand leading to me flying to Toronto alone using the minor rubbish.

"Wouldn't you like anything to eat, darling?", The flight attendant who was assigned to keep an eye on me asks. "No, thank you", I say and turn my head back towards the window. I am not really in the mood to eat anything and airplane food is quite terrible.

I'm really sad, my summer fun with my friends was cut short and I don't know when I'm going to ever see them again.

At least, you can FaceTime them.

I'm really not in the mood to listen to you, K.

Cheer up a bit, it might not be as bad as you think, and you might meet a cute white guy.

I roll my eyes but she's right, I need to try and look at the brighter side of things but it's hard to with the odds I have. My mum said she was in some sort of debt and she'd rather I had a good life with my father's help in Canada than suffer. I get where she's coming from but isn't there another way to go about this? I have never even met my father and now I'm going to meet him alone and live with him till my mum comes to Canada.

I basically cry myself to sleep. I'm awaken by the announcement that the plane will be landing shortly. I pick up my handbag and place it on my lap making sure everything was already in. The plane lands and I get out and sort my luggages before heading to the waiting area.

I look around for a man with my name on a huge card. I sight a man with Kristine Kennedy on his card. I walk over to him reluctantly. He's with a tall beautiful woman, she looks like a model with her structure and everything.

"You must be Kristine", the man says smiling sweetly and collecting my luggage. "I prefer to be called Kaira", I say and he shakes his head laughing. What's so funny?

"That's your mother's name for you but I, your father, shall be calling you Kristine", he says and then, his features soften. "Is that okay?", He asks probably realizing that this must be hard for me as well.

"Yes, it's okay", I say not wanting to argue any further. "When does mum get here?", I ask as we walk to the car park area. "Your mum? Uhm, soon?", He says and I look at him critically. Something's off.

The woman already introduced herself as Mariah and she is my dad's wife. We arrive at his house and I stare in awe. Let me clear things up, while in Nigeria, I lived in Lekki, Lagos which was a part of Lagos where most wealthy people lived so my house was beautiful.

But what I am looking at right now is more than beautiful, it's magnificent. It's wow. My dad notices my gaze and chuckles slightly. "You like it?", He asks and I nod. He leads me in and Mariah shows me to my room.

She's actually quite nice, now, in Nigeria, I would have had to put a bit of respect by calling her aunty Mariah or something but that's not necessary here in Canada and I'm sure my dad would not be aiming flip flops at my head or attack me with a wooden spoon.

See? You're starting to like it here.

Not a chance, K.

The room is beautiful. It's quite spacious. It has a lot of details, a few flowers and the room was painted a beautiful lilac with beautiful lights and one of those things that reflect stars on the ceilings. In shorter words, I love it.

"Do you like it?", Mariah asks as she notices my expression. "Yes, it's beautiful, you decorated this?", I ask and she nods. "I'm an interior decorator", she says proudly. Oh, so my theory of her being a model was wrong.

I laugh in a friendly manner and she asks why I'm laughing. "Nothing, I just thought you were a model at first glance", I say. "Well, you're not entirely wrong, I used to model before I married your father, then I quit because I expected to be having children soon, that isn't quite going well for me as you see", she says and without thinking, I hug her.

She tenses for a moment and eventually hugs me back. "It's okay, Mariah, kids are a hell of work anyways", I say trying to lighten the mood. She smiles. "I'll leave you to settle in, if you need me, just call for me", she then goes down the stairs.

I actually expected an evil stepmother. Hey, don't blame me. Blame Disney. I enter my room and collapse on the bed. It's so comfy. It's evening and I will rest a bit before I start unpacking. I take off my shoes and lie down more comfortably.

I am about to FaceTime Evi and Lota when I hear a knock on the door. "Dinner's ready", my dad says as I open the door. "I'll be down, shortly", I take my phone and head downstairs. How could they have prepared dinner so fast?

Getting to the dining room, I smile seeing as they ordered jollof rice probably because of me. This must have cost quite a lot. Nigerian food is not cheap here but judging from this house, it's probably nothing to them.

"I hope you like it, Kaira, I really didn't know what you would like. I went to a Nigerian restaurant and they told me that practically all Nigerians liked jollof rice and I got that for dinner but if you don't like it, it's fine, we can get whatever you want", Mariah says and I smile.

"It's fine, I love jollof rice, it's one of my favorite foods", I say happily sitting and picking up a spoon instead of the fork and knife. Mariah says the grace and we begin eating. As we eat, I watch their expressions to see if they like it.

"Do you like it?", I ask them and Mariah laughs. "I'm Philipina, we eat rice on a daily", she says. I look at my dad, "too spicy", he says with his eyebrows furrowed. I laugh. This might not be so bad after all.

Author's note
I know. I know. It's short. I'm not used to writing long chapters. I'm sorry. I'll try to improve but it only means I update earlier, right?
Kaira is starting to warm up to her dad and step mom. I know y'all probably think it's too soon. It's just, her dad was never said to be a bad person. Her mum just didn't want her to have any relationship with him. She's not heartless, don't worry.
This doesn't mean Kaira is still happy about moving to Canada so suddenly. She had a lot of plans for senior year at her old school.
Okay, I've rambled enough. Don't forget to vote and comment. Hugs and kisses.
1230 words.