Under the Umbrella ✓

-26-

Aria excused herself and headed to Elliot’s kitchen for some privacy, knowing her conversation with Kierra on phone was usually something to be concerned about and not something she wanted Elliot to overhear. 

She took a deep breath before picking the call up. “What’s up?”

“Aria,” Kierra uttered dully. “When are you coming?”

“In a while,” she replied. “Why?”

There was silence on the other line for a moment. “Dad dropped by.”

“What?” Aria exclaimed. “When? Why didn’t you call me?”

“I thought you would come home before going to work as usual. He came around that time.”

“You should have still called me!”

“I didn’t get a chance to. It was such a mess,” Kierra sighed. “One of our neighbors almost called the cops over because Mom wouldn’t stop screaming and breaking things around the house. She’s calm now.”

“What about Hails and the twins?”

“The twins…” Kierra heaved another tired sigh. “They tried to stop Dad from leaving the house and they were crying this entire time until I put them to sleep.”

Aria knew Kierra intentionally left out talking about Hailey and she decided to check up on her firsthand when she got home. “Did Dad leave a phone number or an address, anything before he left?”

Kierra went quiet for a second again. “No.”

“Why didn’t you get it out of him?” Aria muttered mostly to herself. “Did he have something to say?” It wasn’t just a question; it was a prayer. Aria prayed he had come back to tell them that he wanted to be a part of their lives again. She was hopeful now that he had visited them after all these years.

“Dad… Dad is leaving to Spain tomorrow morning.”

Aria felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She must have heard it wrong. “What did you say?” she quietly asked, pressing the phone to her ear.

“He’s leaving to Spain,” Kierra repeated in stinging clarity. “He didn’t know when he’d come back or if he ever will so he wanted to see us before going.”

Aria was bewildered. “What do you mean…?”

“He said he got some job offer there and he wanted to start afresh. He said you could go to the airport-”

“Is that Aria?” she distantly heard Hailey’s voice from the other line. “Is it?”

“Hails, please,” Kierra mumbled but suddenly there was a thud and the very next second she heard Hailey distinctly.

“This is all your fault. This is all your fucking fault!” Hailey yelled into the phone. “Dad would have never left if you stopped him back then. Our lives wouldn’t have been this way if it weren’t for you. You must have wanted some recognition or something to look all composed and strong at the expense of our happiness. Was it worth it though? Do you feel good?”

Aria heard Kierra say something but she couldn’t make out a word and it didn’t impede Hailey from continuing her affronts. Aria usually would have had something to counter with, especially if it was to Hailey, but she was inexplicably wordless. Her mind was still trying to process the news she had just heard about their father.

“You think you’ve been living for the family since you make the money but you’re never there when trouble rises. You’re never there for us. You never asked us what we wanted or what our day was like. I mean, why would you, right? Why stain your day listening to us complain when your days are perfect.”

Aria heard her voice crack. Hailey wasn’t a person who’d cry over a fight and when Aria saw the indication of it, she realized Hailey had really had it and meant every word she said just now.

“You think making the money gives you the right to be selfish, don’t you? While we put up with Mom’s outbursts and take care of the twins in between the hideous walls of our house, you live your life out of the house independently, meeting your friends and going to cafés. We deal with the disgusting reality of our lives in misery and you’re out there, free and happy. You don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve to be happy. Not when you’re the cause of all this. You-”

The line disconnected abruptly but Aria didn’t feel as if the call had ended, every word she had just heard echoing itself in her head. She dropped the hand that held her phone from her ear in a daze but she couldn’t move any more.

Did she really not deserve even the smallest of happiness she was able to gather every day? Was it even small compared to what her sisters received?

She might have always known that she was selfish and that she was never there for her sisters when they needed her, but she was scared to admit it for her own selfish reasons. It had become a repeated pattern for Aria to run away instead of acknowledging something and it was easy to because the criticisms had always been in her head. Now that it was spelt out to her, she was terrified to accept them.

She didn’t know how long she stood there abstractedly staring at the counter, but when she finally turned to leave the kitchen, she saw Elliot standing by the entrance.