The Unexpected Partner (JULY 2021 MULTI-CHAP UPDATE)

Chapter 1 - That Bachata Video

(A/N - The video that personally started it for me and the dear heroine!)

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She's so beautiful...and elegant. Just wow... Look at the control he has! It looks so natural...

These were only some of the thoughts running through Aliana St Riviere's mind as she watched the viral video that introduced a new wave of bachata fans to the genre, her included.

The natural flow and fluidity of the movements matched beautifully with the sensitive lilt of the instruments in the music; the man, a natural lead, accentuates the moves of the woman in the video with a classy sensuality and they seem to float across the hardwood flooring, as people cheer and whoop and holler, following them as they light the floor, and the screen, on fire.

The synchronisation, the subtle intimacy, the linkage in movements, all connect to form something so spectacular-

"Aliana!" her dad shouted from the living room downstairs, cutting her reverie short.

"Yes?!" she shouts in response.

The following silence that filled the air for the next few moments was a familiar one.

Instead of waiting any longer for a response, Aliana sped up the inevitable and trudged downstairs in a refrained huff.

As she reached the bottom of the staircase, she was met with the image of her dad sat in his 'special' chair reading todays newspaper and an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes dad?"

"I don't know why you are huffing and puffing. When I call you I expect you to come downstairs and answer me to my face, I'm not talking to air, cha!" the slight Caribbean drawl accentuated his 'do you not know about respect' mini-monologue as she responded with a half-hearted apology.

"What's the problem dad?"

"Can you collect the post from the door? I am expecting a letter from your Uncle Winston."

You are right next to the door...

Whilst her thoughts drifted, Aliana made her way, being careful not to roll her eyes or kiss her teeth derisively at the fact she is always called down for such tasks, especially as her dad's already hawk eyes and astute hearing seem to take on an even more powerful form in order to 'catch her out to cuss her out'.

Yet, she wasn't as aversed to the 'part-time job' as she usually was.

She was expecting her own letter.

After unceremoniously stashing the only one addressed to her into the side gap of her denim dungarees, Aliana returned to the living room and gave the remaining letters to her dad.

"Would you like anything else dad?"

"No thank you, go about your business." he brushed her off, thankfully, and she near ran up the stairs to-

"Carry on and see how quickly you will bust your neck on them stairs child!"

She slowed her pace, whilst rolling her eyes from a safe distance, smiling as she made her way back to her room.

I'm going to miss this, she thought wordlessly, the abrupt click of her bedroom door following her as she entered her room.

*

The room was small, but that was how she liked it.

Less space for her mind to get carried away with, more chance of her spotting an intruder through her sliding windows.

Bare, iris coloured walls, a small double bed, a hardwood wardrobe and chest set, and a desk, filled with all the physical evidence of her hopes and dreams.

She didn't need more than that.

Nothing physical anyway.

Yet, even with that thought, the room seemed to personify her lonliness.

Things she has hoarded for years seemed to take up the little pockets of space and corners that would have otherwise been left free.

Old school work and toys, empty boxes, old clothes, trinkets from old friendships, all littered around, along with the empty promises of sorting through it all, to declutter her mind and spirit as she finally lets go of the memories those things plague her with.

Why is it so hard to let go of things you know will always cause you pain when you think about them?

She never received an answer for that question, not that she really put effort into soughting the answer out. There surely should have been an easy solution, just one she had yet to come across.

She has now left her subconscious to fight those inner battles for her, blocks every bad thing out and just goes on as normal.

Her normal.

It may not be the healthy option, but it was the only thing she was spiritually ready for.

She never spoke to her dad about the lonliness that crawled into her as she was reminded of the existence of mothers in other children's lives at school.

The belittlement she swallowed as other children ridiculed her for it was also brushed to the side; 'kids will be kids', or something like that, was used as justification by teachers and the like.

She never spoke about the grief that still holds her heart in an iron-clad grip when she thought about her paternal grandmother; the only person able to disperse that lonliness and give her a taste of maternal affection that could be felt across oceans, generations. Aliana was sure that her grandmother had magical powers, ones she would never again experience.

There was no other explanation for how a woman would be able to put smiles upon faces that have never known the meaning to truly smile.

Just that thought allowed a dark shadow to start clawing through her consciousness, trying to pull her in it's depths and drown her in the misery of years and years worth of repressed emotions.

Her dad was there though.

He always was.

This allowed her to gain some control back and remind her of how lucky she still was for what she had left.

Working day in and day out to provide for them, he instilled the values that have grown alongside her in childhood to adulthood; a hunger to be the best she can be and a perseverance to achieve a generations worth of achievements.

He tried his best with what he had and she swore she would do everything in her power to return that blessing tenfold.

*

Slumping on the floor at the foot of her bed, she removed the crinkled, brown envelope from the inside of her dungarees.

She traced over her name absentmindedly with her forefinger, trying to diffuse the fear and anticipation that sizzled in the close-knit space.

As she opened the envelope and read the contents, she both floated and deflated at what she saw.

She was accepted.

They accepted her.

She ran out of her room and down the stairs, foregoing the earlier warning, and actually quite nearly breaking her neck on the last three steps as she made her way to the living room.

Before her dad could chastise her further, she showed him the letter and watched his features as he read.

What she saw and the following reaction was something she wasn't ready for.

He bounded out of his chair and held her tight. She relaxed in his hold and returned the hug.

Her eyes started to burn as she heard the words her father so often told her when she had achieved something, no matter how small it may have seemed to others.

"I'm proud of you my daughter."

She closed her eyes in a solitary bliss as those words gave her the strength she needed to do what she had to.

It was her turn to look after him now.