A Mother's Pride

Chapter 1

A familiar aroma hit me and I had to make my way downstairs to greet Mavis. To my surprise, it is Chris wearing the apron and Mavis is not here.

"Morning sleepy-head." He says, with a grin covering his face.

"How was your night?"

I rub my hand on my eye and fake a smile.

"It was...it was okay. Are you...are you okay?" I stutter.

Truth is, it was not okay at all. A part of me regretted turning down his proposal but another part of me knew that it was the right thing to do, it was for my own good and his too. I am too toxic for him, too broken and I cannot expect him to save me anymore.

I kept tossing and turning the whole night, thinking this through because when I said that speech, my thoughts were all fuzzy and none of them made sense.

His face when I said no, flashed through my mind each time I tried closing my eyes shut. How his eyes were locked with mine and I also could not move mine either. I felt sorry for him but I also felt sorry for myself. He might have shown me that clip but both these men don't deserve me.

When I left Thabo, coming back to Chris, I did not think he was going to propose. That was all so huge and it caught me off-guard. I've always wanted to get married to him, I have always wanted to spend my whole life with him but not now, not after the drama that's been happening in my life.

"Yea, I am great." He says it with enthusiasm. "I made your favorite muffins, I hope you missed them." He adds.

Weird!

"Yea-yea." I squint my eyes in confusion.

This is weird, what is going on?

"Chris, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be? The sun is so bright, I mean, have you seen the blue sky? This is just a perfect day." He says and emphasizes on the word 'perfect.'

I am very creeped out and I need saving from this awkward moment. What do I do?
Am I the one who got rejected? Because I feel the way he is supposed to feel right now.

And I must say, I am pretty bummed out that he got over the rejection pretty soon. A little too soon. Seriously, I did not expect him to be in such a great mood. I thought he would be miserable, moping around the whole house, having eye-bags under his eyes but no, he is perfectly alright.

I know they say 'joy comes in the morning,' but this is too much joy for a person that got rejected last night by the supposed love of his life.

Last night was the worst.

I remember rejecting Chris' proposal. Then everybody looked so confused because I had just finished telling him how much I loved him. His friends and colleagues shrugged their shoulders and mumbled, and for some, jaws had dropped. They were all shocked. My speech and my response were very much contrary so I do not blame them.

I was frozen, I could not move nor utter a word.

As for Chris, he had his eyes locked with mine, his breathing was rapid and the tears in his eyes were threatening to spill. I could not imagine how he must've felt- his money had all gone to waste, he got mortified in front of his friends, colleagues and employees, and he was probably hopeful that I was going to marry him. He obviously did not expect me to reject him, nobody did, even myself.

I wasn't lying when I said I love him though. I truly do. But I am not ready for the whole marriage thing, I haven't even figured my life out yet, how the heck am I going to cope in a full-time commitment like marriage?