Hate You, Love You. | Jenlisa

117

A lot of strange things have happened to me for months now, but none is as strange as the words that just spilled out of Chitthip Manoban's mouth.

She dated my dad?

I laugh because it's funny. "You can't be serious." Really, it's funny. How could she have dater my dad? As far as I'm concerned, my parents were married for the longest time.

She doesn't laugh with me, not even as much as crack a smile. My expression changes and I realize that she's actually serious.

"Wait, you're not kidding?"

"I'm as serious as a heart attack."

"How?"

I'm curious. How did they meet and when did this relationship happen?

"Your father and I met 10 years ago, I believe. I'm not sure about the exact date because it has been so long, but we met here in town. Back then, before I married Marco, Lisa's step dad, I was a single mom who was living in and out of motels with a young daughter," she explains.

"We were barely scraping by and I was working odd jobs just to put food on the table. One night, while I was coming home from work, I was a waitress at the time, my car broke down. I didn't even have money at to fix it and Lisa was all alone in the motel and I was hurrying to get to her."

She gives me a whimsical smile. "I was praying to whoever that was listening to send a savior to help me because it was really late and the streets are not safe. 10 minutes later, I saw headlights and a car pulled up. It was your father. I explained my situation to him and he actually helped me fix it, even offered to take it to a mechanic in case something else happened to it."

My dad was good at fixing cars. I remember during his pastime, he would remodel cars he retrieved from the scrapyard like an old Chevy or a beat up Civic.

"He was good at fixing cars," I say tightly. But bad at a lot of things like honesty.

"After that incident, I coincidentally ran into him at my place of work. Like I said, I was a waitress and he was charming and flirty," she chuckles. "He told me he was single and we exchange numbers."

Wonderful.

My face shows no hint of emotion. I just bob my head and wait for her to continue her table. I don't know how exactly I'm supposed to feel right now. He was clearly married to my mom back then and he told her that he was single. That's the height of disrespect.

"After that, we began dating. I even introduced him to Lisa at a point in time. I had no idea that he had a family." Her eyes are full of regret as she tells her tale. "There was a time when we were out on a date and his phone get buzzing. I asked him who it was as he said that it was no one. That raised my eyebrows a bit, but I let it slide. I should have known better."

Tears slip from her eyes and she wipes them with the tissue on her lap. "I found out 3 months into the relationship that he had a whole family, which was you, your mom and your sister. We were planning our future together, planned on moving to a different state entirely because I was head over heels in love with him and I got hit with that bombshell."

I was just quiet while listening to her.

"How I found out? I was going through his phone and I saw a picture of his family. I confronted him about it but he lied. It wasn't until I threatened to call the police that he finally confessed that he had a family and he had been two-timing."

What. The. Actual. Fuck?!

"I felt so disgusted with myself," she confesses. "Disgusted to have been going out with a married man without even realizing it. Moreso, I felt pained that I had caused his family so much harm without intending to. I was the other woman and I didn't even know it. I loved your father, it took a short amount of time, but I fell in love with him. Sadly, I let that love blind me."