Twisted Tangles

Chapter 4, Why Now

Saturday, 25th of May 2019

I woke up on a Saturday morning laid back on my bed. Rosalià was to be my date for Ajax's birthday gathering later on tonight at the Gross Barmen resort about 90 kilometres out of town. Ever since my birthday party Rosalià and I were seeing each other more often. It was something I had been missing out on, something that was a good distraction from my New Year's disaster. We were both goal oriented, I wanted to accomplish my dreams of taking over of my late father's transportation business and she wanted to work for her family business. It was ironic that Rosalià's interests were similar to Natalia's, either way I didn't think of it too much. Well after enjoying what we had over the past few weeks I think we both became comfortable in our own skins. *Ring Ring* my phone rang in my pocket, I pulled it out to see my mother's beautiful smile appear across the screen. That was someone who I'd love to listen to right there and then because she was my first love.

"Hi Mum. How are you?" I asked with a smile stretching from ear to ear, "Hello my sweetheart, I am doing fine thanks for asking. You know Durban has been treating me so well, you were right about accepting that job offer I received to work here. I definitely do not have any regrets on it." She replied happily over the phone. "That's great to hear, I'm proud of you Mum. When will you be coming back to visit?" I asked, "Julien, you've been crying about being independent and alone, now you need mommy back? I will be back in about two to three months from now." she said as I laughed and we continued talking for about an hour telling me how the beautiful beaches were and how it was difficult to work with all the fine looking men around her. Either way she said she was seeing someone who was definitely father material and I'd meet him soon if they kept progressing.

Later on that day you could feel the chilliness creep onto your body as the day progressed, a definite sign of winter approaching. Rosalià didn't live far from me because she lived at the Trift Towers apartments which was a 10 minute walk away from me. My watch clocked 18h00 which was time to start heading to Ajax's birthday party. I arrived at her apartment, before I unveiled my attire I checked myself one more time. I was dressed in a dark grey coat just above my knees with a navy blue slim fit jean followed by my brown timberlands as the finishing touch. I headed over to her door and rang the bell, I heard footsteps approaching towards the door, I took in a deep breath and the door in front of me opened. Wow, left speechless, I didn't know which word to say first. She was stunning, Miss independent made for a classic man like me, the reflection of her earrings from the sunset behind me spoke for themselves on how expensive they looked. She was cosied up in a dark green olive coat, dressed in black jeans accompanied by brown knee high boots. I could see the golden sunset behind me reflect onto her hazel eyes, she was such a dime that I couldn't resist my eyes off of her face because I was star-struck. "Well are you going to say something or continue being a zombie?" She asked, I snapped out of my gaze and said "Oh sorry, I was just calculating how much diamonds actually cost so I could trade you in." "Oh really? Cuz I was about to knock you down and treasure you because you definitely look worth 24 karats of Gold." She said seductively looking at me from head to toe. Smiles drew along our faces until we both laughed at ourselves and hugged each other. My nose was pulled in by her divine scent of perfume she had worn, I swear I lost my consciousness for a second. "Ready to go?" I asked? "Does it look like there's something missing on my outfit?" she replied asking me with her eyebrow raised, I looked at her again and shook my head. "Then let's bounce weirdo." She said giggling as she played with her hair on our way out.

An hour later, we arrived at the Gross Barmen Resort, Ajax and Rafael were glad to see us. "Wow! You know what? I wouldn't think this was my  own birthday celebration if I had known you two were going to arrive dressed like this. Y'all are killing it!" Ajax said in excitement and hugged both of us followed by Rafael. "I hope all of us have a great time this evening in celebration of my baby, Ajax. Cheers!" Rafael said happily, We were about 10 people there celebrating Ajax's 25th birthday as we all raised our glasses of Champagne in the air cheering each other. We all spent about an hour getting to know Ajax's friends from his medical school while we waited for the food, it was great getting to know them. It just showed us that Ajax was picky with his friends because they were either boujee, smart or rich. Blake couldn't make it for some unexplained reason relating to work which actually pissed Rafael off because he was never there whenever we had occasions together. Rafael and I both wondered what work kept him so busy even for his closest friends. Eventually we all paired up again with our dates to our tables respectively.