In Between Seasons

CHAPTER 2: The Beginning

Days turned into weeks; August flipped into September. Tyler has always been the annoying one to Sasha. The one who exerted effort in exchange for attention. Sasha had always ignored him when given a chance, but sometimes, she fires him a quick smile every time he tries to call her name out loud in public.

"So, Jenna and Hailey told me someone has a crush on you, huh?" Her mom brought it up out of nowhere.

"It's too early to start that annoying tease, Mom. Tyler was just too shallow and too attention-seeking. I hate him."

"And, well, it's now confirmed that it's true. That boy has a name."

"Everyone has a name, Mom. Chia, our dog, has a name. Your old car has a name. Your dying plants have a name. What's the big deal then?" Sasha said, eager to finish the conversation.

"When on Earth did you start keeping your things with me, honey? You know, I will always push you until you learn to feed that butterfly in your tummy."

"They were just exaggerating things, Mom. Hailey and Jenna know exactly how to put me on your mousetraps."

"I doubt it," her mom said, completely memorizing the reactions and wrinkles forming in her daughter's annoyed face.

"I don't even know him. I don't even know how old he is or what course he was taking. I simply don't care at all."

"Okay, I'll try to convince your friends to try harder. Maybe one day, you'll change your mind."

Later that night, Sasha woke up in the middle of the night because her mom started breaking down again. She was crying hysterically while calling someone on the telephone. Her moderate voice was bouncing on the pale walls. Sasha could hear every word she said while she was in her room.

"Come home, darling. I miss you so bad. Sasha misses you too. I never stopped waiting for you. Just go home and just leave her. We could start again. I promise we will start at the top. I will forget everything. Just please, come home," her mom sobbed so hard she almost choked through her words.

There was a long pause as Kate tried to listen to the voice over the telephone.

"Oh, please, don't say your goodbye. Don't end the call, please. I tried so hard to ring this number and have you pick it up. Please, come home and we will begin again. I will start serving you from breakfast to dinner the same way I did to you. I promise, I will try my best to be that best wife. Just, please."

Then an obvious end-call happened. Sasha, with so much rage, dragged herself into her bed and started crying in silence. The pain of her mom will always be her pain too. And there were times she hated her because she refused to listen to her to just give things up and live life without having to wait for a man who definitely forgot his way back home.

"Your mom is still into your dad," Hailey said after Sasha shared what happened last night. The cafeteria was more spacious. The three of them sat face to face to each other, as Jenna and Hailey did their best to console Sasha's grief.

"Which is something we shouldn't blame her. She just loves your father and thought that love would last forever," Jenna said.

"Tell us about your father. You never mentioned him much to us. Maybe if you talk to us about him, some thorns might be pulled out of your chest, and you'll feel a little relief. You know, expressing emotions really helps. It makes you breathe and make room for peace," Hailey suggested.

Sasha gathered her composure, obviously trying to scan the little memories she has with her father. "My father was a good-looking man, with a perfect jawline and a pointed nose. He was a manager in a hotel and he's always out of town to travel for his proposals and work-related things. I was twelve when I found out that my dad had a mistress for five years. And that he was not traveling much for work, rather he was there with his other woman, who has two daughters with him." She paused, trying to gather her composure and stopping herself from crying because it would be embarrassing. Then she continued.

"Mom started ignoring signs of Dad's infidelity, hoping it would be enough to save the marriage. But Dad was so attached to his other woman and decided to let go of her marriage to Mom. She was so devastated and, for the first time, I saw Mom crumbling her pride just to keep the man she desperately loved. Mom filed a leave from her work, locked herself in the room, and suffered from depression for more than a year. She started seeing a therapist, and it was the darkest moment of my life. I was only 12, and there, I felt like I had the heaviest responsibility to take care of a mother who was on the verge of losing her sanity. She loved my dad for twenty years, and all those years were dismantled because of lies and betrayals."

"Time was never enough to heal Aunt Kate," Jenna said sympathetically.

"But miracles do happen, and maybe one day, she'll wake up and the pain will be gone. Or maybe, she just brought herself back to the reality that she needed to be strong because she still has me. I know she still begs for him to rekindle their marriage, but sometimes, I wish my father's just dead so that Mom has nothing left to hope for and can just move forward in life. I hate that he's still here, wandering around and that there's this tendency that they'll cross paths again. I am afraid my mother will get back to square one. I can't stand the thought of it, not even a second."

Hailey and Jenna went home, while Sasha stayed longer at the library to finish her project. Very few students were left at school because the dusk was breaking in. The library was filled with weird silence and there's only Sasha and another student from Freshmen who was left there. Sasha saw Tyler come into the library, and she did her best to cover her face with the old thick book that she had.

"I saw you. Don't worry, I'll take another table," Tyler said. Tyler took the plastic chair exactly on the same line, which made both their backs face each other.

"There are plenty of tables out there. You should've taken the ones that are far from me," Sasha presumed.

"This is my permanent table. I put my territory here."

And there was this long silence. Sasha did her best to get back to her readings, trying to ignore the fact that Tyler resembled a stalker.

"Do you know there's a new burger place in front of our university?" Tyler said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah, I know."

"Can I ask you out so I can treat you? I would be glad if you came." For the first time, Sasha heard him speak so softly that it made her forget how unfriendly she was to people she didn't even know. It was the first time she heard Tyler speak less arrogantly.

"You sounded so strange, but I heard a lot of good feedback. I am planning to grab one before I go home."

"Well, finally I got a positive response. Let's go now." He was so excited that he packed his things and shoved them into his backpack.