Rewriting Fate

Coincidence or Fate??

It was Saturday morning. I woke up as early as five and headed for my early morning jog. Aisha and Daphne were still sleeping then. Jogging was a habit I cultivated about a year ago, helps in my bid to keep fit after I noticed I was getting fat last year between June and my birth month, August. Besides, juilliard was a good place to continue. The whole place was lit up with shinny lights, it didn't even seem like dawn, I plugged in my ear plugs and started my journey. I jogged for about ten minutes heading to no particular direction when I felt my phone vibrate, I looked at the caller ID and discovered it was dad calling. Why was he calling this early. I picked up and waited for him to start the conversation, "morning sunshine!.", yeah yeah, he called me sunshine, at first I didn't like it but now I just thought it was cute, "yes dad" I mentally rolled my eyes, wondering what was so important that he had to call me by 6:10am, "how are you honey? You haven't called in a while" what? That wasn't true. "Dad I called you two days ago, unless you're suggesting I call you everyday now" I paused my jogging to hear his reply(I have no idea why). "No no, its okay. I have good news for you" oh yeah good news, "uncle Jojo finally left the house?" I said resuming my jogging smiling. Uncle Jojo got divorced from his wife about six years ago, he moved in with us just before mom passed on and his wife(an Australian seamstress) got custody of their four year old son. Now he works with the fire service and helps dad occasionally in the shop. I like him but he can be really annoying sometimes, I stayed in that house for three whole years after high school, doing different part time jobs to just while away time and I saw uncle Jojo for almost everyday during those three years. Now I know you're wondering "how can a man working with the fire service have so much spare time? Simply put 'he was benched', if that's even a thing, well at least that was what he always said when he came home frequently, plus the fire station was a five minutes walk from the house, one of the reasons he moved in, in the first place, that and he didn't have any savings left after his wife 'Margaret the seamstress' as mom always called her had taken half of what he managed to own. 'Poor uncle Jojo' you must think. We all did that for the first year, then the second, third, forth! He just became annoying. He was living in the house for free yet didn't lift a finger to help, he didn't help with food, house hold maintenance, In fact, he didn't help with anything period. After mom died, I expected him to move out, well everyone did, but he just surprised us all by staying longer, everyone loves him so can't tell him to leave and now thanks to grandma(sweet grandma) he Doesn't lazy around anymore and the flirting and bringing in girls has stopped too. He works and now helps dad in the shop and last time I heard, he had a girlfriend (a stable one).
Dad brought me back to reality, "Aubrey? Aubrey are you still there?" What was that noise... Shoooot! , I was on the line "yeah yeah, I'm still here, uhmmm, what were you saying", "I said we have some good news" dad replied. "We? " I asked, okay I was getting really curious, what's this all about, that got dad to call me this early plus he's sounding really happy and he said 'we'! "Just talk dad", he gasped(yes I heard that over the phone), "Joyce is getting married!! " uhh "What?? " I asked in disbelief, he replied as if I didn't hear him the first time, " i said Joyce is getting ma... " well I cut him short, "I heard you the first time dad", what? She's really getting married? I barely even knew her boyfriend, Nate or was it Jake or Blake? Can't even remember. "Wow, I didn't know Joyce's relationship with Blake was this serious". I blurted "Jake." dad said correcting me, ohh, so it was Jake. I literally hit my head. I felt like a bad sister. The last time I spoke to Joyce was the morning I left for Juilliard, I haven't called her ever since, its just been one week but still I should have called. Wait, why am I even blaming myself, she should have called me! I mean, She's the elder here and I'm the one who just got the admission. "Look", dad began, "I know the relationship between you and your sister is not such a smooth one but you girls should work it out. You're both full grown adults so work it out". Yup, our relationship definitely needed some 'working out'_ meaning dad was right. "But what about medical school, I mean she isn't done, so marriage?" I just didn't get. Joyce was three years older so 23, don't get me wrong I'm happy she's gonna be happy but still, marriage? "That will be something you two will discuss. Call her. Bye" and with that he ended the call. Of course, I had to be the one to call.

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I was still jogging and thinking when a dog came out of nowhere and hit me, a she dog(and yes I just called it a she dog, sue me! 😜) I paused and looked at her, I was angry at first as I almost slipped and fell but when I looked into her eyes all that anger vanished into thin air. She was so mesmerizingly(allow me to invent that word) cute. Yup. She was mesmerizingly cute. I had a soft spot for dogs especially the cute female ones. I forgot about my jogging and started petting her, patting her back while she licked my arms, I giggled and smiled. She was looking at the water bottle I was holding so I gave her some water, while she drank, I heard a voice and saw the shadow(of the owner of the voice I assumed). "There you are Charlie, I've been looking everywhere for you, looks like you made a friend! " oh oh, I knew that voice and would recognize it anywhere and anytime. It was Brad, my professor AKA. Mr Mean.
I got up, dusting the part of my trouser that was stained with dust. He recognized me and muttered, "You! " what? He knew my name and still referred to me as "you? " the nerve of this guy. I smiled(a forced one) and said "yes, it is Me, I, myself " ( I had no idea where I was going with this) but just go with the flow. "What now?, you want to rush your dog to the nearest veterinary clinic to purge her of the water she just drank?" He just looked at me confused might I add and then shook his head, "what? No, actually I might take her there for another reason, she's sick. I took her for a morning jog and was worried sick when she ran off. I'm just glad she's safe". He bent down and began hugging her. Okay, this was weird. Mr mean had a soft side? . Hello chapter extremely weird of my life. He looked really sincere and relieved. He looked up and said a "thank you ". What? I was speechless really. I didn't loose my cool though, all these could just be a show and he would switch back to being "Mr Mean", so I just nodded and stepped aside. I didn't know what to say again, I just stared at the rising sun while he had his moments with his dog. Was she really sick? , now that I think of it, her eyes did look sad, like she was depressed or something. He got up and faced me, "thank you again, I really appreciate, we'll be off now", he didn't even wait for me to reply then he turned and walked away. Great. Just great. I sighed and looked at my wrist watch. It was 6:35. Woah. How fast did the time fly? I did a 'U' turn and jogged back to my hostel. I had yoga class by 8:15 and I didn't want to be late.

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