CrossRoads

Chapter 2

Dora
It's been 2 weeks since I last spoke to Festus concerning my daughter. I don't know why he's delayed this long to give me a reply, but I hope to hear from him soon. I stand from the chair in the living room and head towards the dining table to pick my phone. I notice that I have two missed calls from Festus.

"Talk about the devil, the devil appears" I say to myself. I redial his number as I try to sit.
"Sorry I didn't see your call".

“No problem. Send your address to me, I'll send a driver to pick you up by Friday, You’re quite lucky, Twinkle actually asked to see you”.

My mind race around who Twinkle is, "Your Wife?"

"What wife, Twinkle is your daughter" he responds.

"My daughter" I say in disbelief. "I don't remember Twinkle being the name we gave her".

"Yes, but I changed it".

He sounds as though he's done a great deed. I don't see any need battling words with him.
"I'll send you my address, Thank you so much".

He cuts the call without giving me an answer. Sometimes, when I think about it, I wonder why he's giving me such attitude. I type my address and send it to him through SMS.

Twinkle
Stacy comes into my room. As soon as I see her, I give her a big hug.

"Dad said she's coming over today, that's why I called you. I don't know how I'll face someone who’s meant to be a part of my life, but never was".

“Don’t worry, bestie is here for you”, she holds my hands and smile.

Dora
As I step out of the car, am filled with so many emotions and questions. Would she be happy to see me, should I hug her, what physical features did she take from me?
These and more questions flood my mind. I ring the doorbell nervously and Festus opens it up.

He screams
"Twinkle, your mom is here".

I look towards the stairs and find two girls walking down. I try to identify her, but I couldn't.

"Dora" Festus calls my attention, “This is your daughter Twinkle”.

I notice the look on her face, I’m sure she's disappointed that I couldn't recognize her.
"Hi, I’m Dora". I stretch out my hands for a handshake, but she totally ignores it.

Twinkle
I walk back to my room, my heart skipped a bit. I had mixed feelings as I saw her. A part of me wanted to just shout and ask why she abandoned me. Another part just wanted to hug her and cry so hard of how I've missed her. But I silenced my heart and used my head.

My dad follows after me, I’m sure he's surprised by my reaction but I don't expect him to.

“But you said you wanted see her” he asks with a confused look

“Well I changed my mind”

“This is not a dress that you can just change your mind whether or not to wear. What should I tell her?”

I stand from the bed
"You don't know what to tell her, OK I'll tell her"
I head down the stairs and Stacy could only stand and watch.

Dora
She's finally coming down and this time, she's looking at me. "We don't need a maid and I don't like strangers, so please get out" these are the words she says to me.
After which she walks out with the other girl.
As I watch her leave, I turn my gaze to Festus and wonder How the hell did you raise our daughter.

Twinkle
I leave the house and Stacy follows after me. “What just happened” she says in a furious tone

“I don't think you need an explanation because you were present throughout the scene”. I reply sounding irritated

“Yea she doesn't deserve your love but you didn't have to be so rude”

“How can you say that Stace, she couldn't even recognize me,

"Wake up gal" she clicks her hands around my face.
“She hasn't seen you for 15 years, you don't expect her to just spot you out like a color”.

“I don't know what came over me, when I asked to see her. I thought she would be sick or handicapped maybe that's why she left. But she looked healthy, pretty and OK. She left me to live a good life...”
I say as I begin sobbing.

“Don't worry girl, everything will be fine. I’m sure her reason is more reasonable than what you think” she says trying to get me to smile and she achieved it.
I part ways with Stacy and head home. I step into the house and find my supposed mum in the sitting room. I guess she's been waiting for me.

“Its past 9pm, where have you been”, She worriedly ask

“Wow since when did you become my clock”

“Yes I deserve all this” she walks towards me, “but please give me a chance to show you how much I love you”

“There's no need, I’m already well aware”. I walk up to my room and shut the door.
"Love, how can she talk so easily about love". I say to myself
Oh, I didn't go out with my phone. I pick my phone from the bed and there's a missed call from Ben. Lucky for me, he calls again.

"Hi babe, how are you doing?"

"Am not fine, I finally saw my mum and it hurts".
These are the words I want to say....But Ben is really bad at making someone feel better. Telling him about your problems will only make you feel pathetic because he'll just treat it like a trivial matter. But I still crave to pour out my worries to him; moreover that's what is expected in a relationship.

“I’m fine” I lie “What about you”

"I’m good" Yeah, he's always good, OK, fine etc. There's never a time he's not good and even if there is, he never tells me. This is part of the reasons why I sometimes refuse to tell him stuffs, but I always end up betraying myself. I ought to be there for him when he is down, but he never gives me the opportunity to do so.

"Well my mom came over today and it was not really easy for me" see I told you I always betray myself.

“That's good, don't worry you'll be fine. I got to go, I'll Talk to you later. Take care of yourself, goodnight”.

I expected to hear more than this. "Goodnight, love you". I reply.

Sometimes I wonder if he really loves me. I can remember vividly the first day we met. My mouth went watery by his looks. He was every girl's dream apart from my bestie. I don't know if she was blind or pretending to be. But I kind of like it that way, so I don't have to worry about Stace......no she's not that kind of person.

"There is no reason. If I like you because of a reason, when the reason is gone, my heart will change too. I like you because you are you".

These are the exact words he said when he asked me out. I wish to go back to our first conversation, when I could feel the love in his eyes without hearing the words. Nevertheless, I still love him and I believe he does too. Maybe he's changed his way of showing it and I just have to discover the new way.

I head to the bathroom, take a shower, put on my pajamas and tuck myself in bed.
"Tomorrow, please be good to me" I say in a sleepy tune as I go off to dreamland.