"So that person was really your father?"
Jewel asked and she took a sip of milkshake.
Jackson nodded.
They played 'old love' song at the cafe.The mood was calm while the evening was cold.
"Aren't you going to say something?"
Jackson asked her eagerly hoping to get some response fron Jewel.
He took Rolex's advice and decided to come clean to his wife.
" Now I get why your mom is the way she is. She needs therapy."
Jewel nodded
"What do you mean by that?What is wrong with my mom?"
Jackson didn't quite get it. Once again, he was reminded that he was emotionally immature.
"Don't you get it? When I first came here, I thought she was purposefully torturing me"
"Torturing you? How? I know, you both didn't get along well but.."
"Oh,please... She was trying to turn me into what she couldn't be when she was your father's bride, that too,obsessively"
Jackson's clueless face told her that she will have to explain more.
"Look, her obsession with cleanliness, about chores, the fact that she expects me to just cook and clean for you, take care of you like a child, make babies like its the purpose of my existence and..."
"What? I can take care of myself! I have always taken care of myself!!"
"Oh, Jackson! You sure are living in a lalaland! When was the last time you did your laundry on your own? Cleaned the house by yourself? Took care of the lawn?"
"Jewel, I work all the time! I can't pay attention to all these. Besides whats wrong if she takes care of me and the house? That is out of her free will. There are maids as well"
"Jackson, I work and I have a truck load of things to study too! Still, I was doing them after coming home. Not just mine, but for the whole house. The fact that you cooked for me was marked as some kinda eternal sin by your mom.Also she gets really terrified if I miss any chore... As if its gonna be doom soon."
Jackson couldn't say anything in return.
"When I was gone, wasn't it your mom who was doing everything for you and Viviaan? All you both had to do was just exist and it was a given that you both be pampered. Now I understand your mother a little bit"
Jewel took a bit of her french fry and said
"All her over-pampering is coming from a place of trauma, fear and probably guilt too. She was trying to turn me into what she was or how she was expected to be."
Jackson denied
"No, You are just making this up"
"Oh!is that so?"
Jewel smiled.
"What? Oh, Jewel, don't smile...You are so annoying."
"Really? You think she was normal with me?Jackson? Who the hell cleans and changes curtains every other day? And the floor? She wanted me to mop them every day. Every day she reminded me that I was useless because I couldn't follow those rules and regulations. Also,these meant the world to her because she got beaten up if she didn't.She is a victim to gaslighting,for sure!"
He didn't reply to that.
"And you didn't care,did you? As long as you were having a comfortable environment, you were fine with it.
She had even hit me when I came home after a miscarriage and all of you just brushed it off like its normal..."
YOU ARE READING
Jewel and Jackson
Romans"I don't want a divorce" His declaration that changed her life. Jewel was 29 years old when Jackson came into her life. By that time, she was already a leftover in the arranged marriage market, while he had been in demand. She knew he was way beyond...
