Rekindled Rendezvous

Chapter Four

"You see," I started to stutter, avoiding Father's gaze. I felt something touch my shoulder andI looked up to see Mother. My shoulders sagged with relief when Mother started speaking.

"He left a while ago," Mom answered cooly. "Something about his grandmother, I believe."

Father raises an eyebrow but doesn't make a comment. Instead, he sniffs the air. "Mm, who cooked this?" he asked.

Anger flared inside of me. Did he not see the wooden spoon in my hand? I pursed my lips. "I did," I told him, trying to hide the irritation in my voice.

He carelessly nodded and began slicing up the dish. He took out a huge chunk of the bread and I frowned. "Can you leave some for Mother and me?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Did Oliver not treat you with lunch?" I shook my head, my blonde curls bouncing.

A snort escaped his nose. "Seems like you didn't charm him well enough," he chuckled, a deep rumble emerging from his chest.

I turned my head and scowled. Mother didn't look particularly pleased, the way she was glaring at Father.

Suddenly, he snaps his head to stare at me. "Did you purposely tell hi something to scare him off?" When I didn't answer, his face grew pink, slowly turning a bright red.

I swallowed, moving back until I hit the back of the fridge. He marched toward me and raised his hand. I immediately shriveled back, scared he was going to hit me.

Sensing my fearful gaze, he blinked as if he'd come to a realization. He surveyed the position I was in, my hands protectively covering my face and took a step back.

He muttered a swear word under his breath and ran a hand through his hair before snatching the plate of food and marching out of the room.

I immediately slouched over, a sigh of relief extinguishing my body. My mother wrinkled her nose, before slicing herself a piece of the bread and following after my father without a word.

I took the time to think. What if Father really did hit me? He never lashed out like this before, there must be a motive behind his behaviour. Was it Francisco and my rebellion? Or..was it something else?

A sudden thought occurred to my mind and I dashed upstairs, forgetting the bread in the kitchen. I frantically searched my room for my phone and when I finally got ahold of it, I opened the Safari app.

I quickly typed in "Jason Santos", and a Google page with my father's profile came up. My eyes widened as I read the news.

Rolls of anger vanquished my body and I let out an angry yell, kicking the bed. I ran around the house, searching for Mother and when I finally found her on the living room couch, I shoved the phone in her face.

Her eyes narrowed as she read what was on the screen before she sighed and slumped into the couch. "You know about this?" I accusingly asked her.

Mother's normally bright eyes looked dull as if she had the life sucked right out of her. She simply stared at me. "There's no problem," she replied, her arms hanging limply by her sides.

I instantly felt guilty. This whole entire time, I was focusing on my own problems, dismissing those around me. I didn't bother to think what Mother might have been going through, especially facing the fact the man she loved was cheating on her.

"Yes, there is a problem!" I cried out. "Dad's cheating on you with some blonde bimbo!" Mother's eyes widened at my use of language.

I was surprised as well. Most of the time, I was a calm and composed person as my parents trained me to be polite and respectful.

I hardly ever used swear or inappropriate words and when I did, it was never in earshot for my parents.

"Alessia Sabrina Marcella Santos!" Mother cried, scolding me as she pointed her finger at me. "I don't regret what I said." I stubbornly shook my head.

Father should know better not to hang out with other women. Sure, they could have been friends but by what the reporters were saying, they were getting flirty.

"Who is she, anyways?" I scoffed. "Brianna Mikayla Michelle," Mother whispered.

That woman was half my father's age! Sure, she was beautiful. The model possessed bright blue eyes and straight blonde hair, but it was evident her skin was spray tanned and caked with makeup.

She looked like a fake version of my mother, flaunting around expensive silk gowns. Brianna was a well-known fashion designer who was known for having a different man on her arm every week. Her affairs were so frequent that even I doubted my father's loyalty.

Instead of looking at the negatives like I had done for the last two days, I tried to focus on the positives of the situation and engulfed Mom into a huge hug.

She instantly shrank back into me and my heart melted. Mother wasn't very affectionate and to see her in such an unstable state broke my heart.

I stroked the back of her head, feeling her silky honey gold strands slip through my pale fingers. We sat there for a long time, silently staring at the embroidered silver blue wall.

Absentmindedly, I looked over to the door to see my father enter the room. The same burst of anger I had felt refueled and I bit my tongue from spitting out a sassy remark. "What's going on?" Father asked, staring at the position Mother and I were in.

Mother rapidly whipped her head to look at me, her hair falling like a halo around her neck. She didn't say anything, but I could see by the look in her eyes she was pleading with me not to say anything.

With a heavy heart, I turned away to look back at Father. I pushed my lips into a grim line.

"Nothing,"

Author's Note:

Okay, so I haven't updated in two weeks. I know, that's terrible! I swear it's been the school work. Everything has been so hectic lately.

I've started a few projects and my friends and I created have created a book called "Heart of Steal" by the username of threehuggers. Please go check it out, it'd mean a lot!

Another thing- I'm thinking of incorporating a depression storyline, seeing our MC Alessia is going through a lot and she's mainly crying and wallowing in her own pool of sadness. I feel like it would be a unique twist to the story, but I don't want to do anything without asking for the voice of my readers. What do you think? I'd love to hear opinions!

Lastly, the next chapter will be seven months from now. Yes, I know that's a bit confusing but that's how the storyline is going to roll. If you have any suuggestions on what I can do instead of this, please feel free to comment or message me about it. 

Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!

-Nisha