With A Cherry On Top

Chapter Seven: The letter N is his fetish

Song: Spaceman by Nick Jonas

Chapter Seven: The letter N is his fetish

"Hi mom. Hi Rev." I walked into the house after a long day at work.

"-eka!" She said it so fast, it sounded like the same word. She hated when people shortened her name.

They were in the kitchen. Mom looked to be tidying up and Reveka was carrying food to the table. It was about 8 pm when I got back. 

"When will you accept your lovely nickname?"

"When will you accept it's not a lovely nickname?"

"Touché." I nodded as I kicked off my shoes and sat down at the table.

"I actually prefer the nickname Veka to Rev." Mom offered.

"I hate both. They make no sense." She argued.

"But your name is too long. I want a shorter version." I whined.

"My name is not too long."

"You could use the name your dad gave you." So out of the blue.

"No, thank you. Veka, it is."

Rev tries so hard to forget everything about dad. He used to call us by our middle names, the one he gave us because he wanted to be different. Not once did he call me Charvi. Veka's special name was Nora. All our middle names begin with N like his. Maybe the letter N is his fetish.

"Perfect."

"Now, can we eat?" Veka groaned.

We made small talk over dinner, when mom dropped the bomb on us. "Your dad's back."

Didn't hear that right.

Veka choked and I had to pat her back repeatedly and give her water.

Okay. Probably did.

"He reached out. He wanted to know if he we still lived here."

"Why does he care?" I asked with a scoff. 

"Charvi, don't be rude."

"Why not? He left so he doesn't deserve an ounce of my respect."

"It was a divorce."

"That who gave rise to?"

We were silent for a while.

"He just left, mom. He didn't tell us. He didn't even say goodbye. I thought nothing was wrong. And then one day, he just up and left." Veka pointed out. "Why would we want anything to do with him?"

"He's a coward, that's for sure." I scoffed.

"He really is. And he called for the divorce from wherever he ran off to. Just couldn't face us, could he? I didn't know his hate ran that deep."

"He doesn't hate you." Mom soothed.

"He doesn't. Where is he, mom?" Veka was at the verge of screaming now. "Did he call? Did he visit? Did he even pay our tuitions? No! He left us, he left you. He's the reason we're struggling. The reason you work so hard and you're barely ever at home. It's his fault that we might not even be able to pay for college. And you want to defend him?" She stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm not hungry anymore." And she stormed up the stairs.

Well that was one hell of a conversation.

After that, mom and I ate in silence. Veka wanted her alone time, so I decided to check up on her after.

After dinner, when we were cleaning up, mom spoke up.

"I'm really sorry, Charvi. For everything you have to go through." She paused. "There's something I'm not telling you two."