BENEATH ALL THE LIES

Leaving The Nest

"You wanna do what?", my mother yelled the question at me when I told her I finally found a place to rent near where I worked and that I already paid the deposit.

"Ma, it's tiring for me to have to drive to and from work every day. Especially when I had to stay late at work. Its really not safe to travel home alone that late at night in a highway. That's why I wanna stay near the office, so I don't have to do all this driving to and from work anymore."

"How can you be sure that the apartment will be a safe place for you. You know how worried I am everyday you go to work, because I'm afraid something bad will happen to you. That's why I told you to just run our restaurant. If you wanna have a place of your own, you can rent an apartment nearby."

"Ma, I'm not a 5 year old kid anymore, I can decide what I wanna do with my life and I think it's time for me to spread my wings and leave the nest. And you have to let me. I know you're worried, but trust me, I can take care of myself."

"Cassey, I know, I can be overbearing and over protective at times, but that's because i don't want anything bad to happen to you. You're the only one I have in this world, and I want you to stay safe".

I went to her and hugged her from behind with my arms around her neck, "I will be fine, Ma. I know how to take care of myself. Come with me this weekend and I'll show you the apartment I took. That'll make you feel better".

She nodded and I released her from my hug, "Now, let's have dinner, I'm starving."

"Oh dear, I forgot you haven't had dinner. Come on, honey. I'll make us some pasta for dinner. While you're still home, I won't let you go to sleep hungry"

I smiled and followed my mother to the kitchen. I helped her prepare our dinner. She could be overbearing and over protective at times, just like she said, but I got where that came from. She raised me all by herself without family helping her. I never knew who my father was. She told me once that when my father found out that my mother was pregnant with me, he just disappeared. And my mother's parents made her choose to either get the pregnancy aborted or leave the family home. She said she couldn't bring herself to abort the baby since she wanted me since I was just a tiny blob in her stomach. So she left her family and made a life of her own, without anyone's help. For as long as I could remember, we only had each other and that's why my mother was worried when I decided I wanted to have a life of my own.

When we were done with dinner, I helped her clean up and said goodnight to her after the cleaning was done and headed to my room upstairs, I started packing some of my stuffs into a suitcase, getting ready for the move this weekend. Then I heard my phone rang with Andrew's name flashing on the screen.

"Hi", I said upon answering the call.

"Hi yourself. Dean called and told me that the apartment will be ready by this weekend and you can move in by then." Dean was the owner of the apartment, he also owned the bar below it. Andrew introduced us and helped me get the best offer of the apartment since he knew Dean very well.

"Oh, that's great. As a matter of fact, I'm currently packing my stuff."

"Do you need a hand with the moving?"

"No, I don't have a lot of stuff anyway. I'll take only the necessary things for now, I can always come back to get more stuff. Also, my mother is coming along with me to help me with the moving. "

"Then can I offer to take you to dinner sometime to welcome you to adult's life?"

"Sure. You name when and where.  I also would like to thank you for helping me with the apartment. Let me treat you for lunch this weekend. "

"I agree with the lunch, but you won't be paying, I would like to give you a treat. To celebrate the new apartment as well as your new job"

"Fine, shall we meet at the same bar we had lunch the first time?"

"I'll get back to you regarding that and we can plan later. For now  have a good night, Cassey. "

"Good night, Andrew"

I was still smiling long after I hung up the call. After the first lunch that we had, Andrew and I had been talking quite often. He helped me with finding an apartment to rent. Which was just two blocks away from my work place. He introduced me to Dean, who immediately took a liking of me. Dean showed me the apartment and let me rent it at affordable price.

Andrew and I finally exchanged phone number after we realized that he couldn't keep calling me through the office number. And ever since then, we talked and texted quite often. Getting a text or a call from Andrew always made me smile like a high school girl having a crush.

That night I slept with a smile on my face. I was half asleep when I could feel my bed dipped a little when someone sat on the edge of it, put a hand on my cheek and later on planted a kiss on my forehead. Must be my mother.

"No matter how old you become and what others tell you, you will always be my daughter and I will always love you."