Jai & I

Chapter 14: I never got to say good bye...

Jai quickly ran back to his house to get his stuff for the night while I helped mum get dinner ready. I was kind of nervous to be honest. I’ve never had one of my boyfriend’s sleep at my house, so yeah it was going to be kind of weird. But I thought of him more as a brother, he was so easy to be around and I knew I could tell him anything. I was chopping carrots and day dreaming about Jai when all of a sudden I hear a knock at the door. Mum offers to open the door but I quickly run towards the front door before she could even start walking over. “It should be Jai mum, I’ll get it.” I slowly begin to open the door when I see a very tall, young man wearing an army uniform. I stare at him for a moment giving a slight smile and turn around to yell out for mum. The man is just smiling at me, not losing eye contact. Mum quickly walks over to the front door holding a damp tea towel in her hand. When she sees the man she freezes and stares at him. I knew something was going on, the man was also staring at her smiling. I said in a confused voice, “Um, mum?” Mum looks over at me and ushers me into the kitchen with her. Mum says to the man, “Excuse me for 1 second.” She leans down to my eye level, placing the tea towel on the bench. “Don’t worry Angel, just finish chopping the carrots, okay?” I nod still confused, while mum makes her way back to the door to invite the man in. They obviously knew each other, I don’t know if it was a good thing that he was here or not. I can see in the corner of my eye mum and the man exchanging papers between each other. Jai should be here any minute now, I probably should have gone with him, it’s starting to get dark now. I finished chopping the carrots for mum and made my way upstairs. I decided to get dressed into some comfier clothes just before Jai came. I put on my favourite song and danced around the room in my knickers and crop top. All of a sudden I hear a quite giggle coming from my door. I turn around in shock to find the man, mum and Jai watching me. I was so embarrassed I ran into my walk in closet, got dressed and sat in there for a bit. I could hear them talking and laughing between themselves, and then silence. There was a knock on the door of the closet and the door slowly began to open letting in a small ray of light on my bright red face. It was mum. Thank god. She smiled at me and said, “The boys are downstairs, don’t worry.” I slowly stood up and walked out of the closet making sure they had left. “Don’t worry hunny, I could tell Jai liked it.” She said winking at me. “Mum!” I said hitting her arm. We both made our way downstairs. As I walked towards the table where they were sitting, both boys let out a small giggle. I gave a small sigh and sat down at the table. Jai looks over at me and smiles, I pretend to be mad at him. He laughs and places his hand on mine and says, “Im sorry, it was just really funny!” I give him the silent treatment and slide my hand out from under his. Mum brings out four plates of dinner and sits them on the table in front of us. I say, “Where’s dad?” Mum looks at me then at the man. She looks back at me and says, “he’s gone away for a little while.” I pause and reply, “and how come I didn’t even know about this?” She sits down on her chair and begins pouring water into glasses. “Mum?” I say worriedly, reminding her of my question. She sits the jug down on the table and looks at me. “He joined the army. He left today, he didn’t want to say good bye to you because it would hurt him too much.” I could see in the corner of my eye Jai was staring at me and looking around at everyone. I think he was just as shocked as I was. The man, whom I still did not know, was sitting there staring at his lap. I looked at mum and said, “So my father has gone off to war and I didn’t get the chance to say good bye to him.”