Tainted

Chapter 27

"Hey Aaron, it's so nice to see you"
Kia says hugging me after I've opened up for her
"Hey Kia, how are you? How was the funeral? How was home?"
I ask breaking the hug to lock up
"She had a dignified funeral and home was depressing but all is well. I wasnt expecting your call hey, how was home?"
I shrug
"Same old, same old. Listen, I called you here about the news that surfaced about me. Any idea how they got out?"
I ask and she frowns
"No, surely you dont think I would ever share such personal things. I was as shocked as you were"
She says and I nod cause its pretty clear I'm not going to get the answer im looking for here. Everyone is blaming the next person and argh it's a real bore for me.
"Seeing that we dont know who could have shared such details, I'd like it if we returned to our strictly professional relationship. Where you dont come to my place unless its business related or something along those lines. Where we dont hang out after work, just a professional relationship for the sake of my career and reputation. At this point the last thing I need is bad publicity"
She nods
"I understand. I'm sorry you dont believe because I would never leak such information about you. I have nothing to gain out of it"
She says and I nod
"Be as it. I'm sorry Kia but I have to protect my rep at all costs"
I say and she nods and leaves with her head down looking all sad. I decide to spend the rest of my evening in studio polishing up the song I worked on with Azure and adding what I can add here and there until I get a call from my mother.
"Mom"
I answer
"Hey baby. How are you?"
She asks
"I'm ok, how are you?"
I ask her and she let's out a sigh
"Mom what is it?"
I ask her worriedly
"I know you said Asante was a closed chapter when you left but she came to the office the day after you left"
She says and I huff
"She's going through some stuff for her to reach out to me. She told me a lot of things which I cant tell you obviously but she needs someone, someone who will be patient with her and give themselves time to know her and understand her. That girl has been through a lot Aaron and knowing that one of my friends hurt her, one of our security guards hurt her breaks my heart. So much suddenly makes sense pertaining to how she responds to situation. She believes she's not worthy of love, in her head she thinks of herself as Tainted, dirty and undeserving of you. All I'm asking of you son, I know it's a lot but please dont give up on her. I'm not saying dont move on with your life or anything like that but please just dont give up on her"
She begs and I let out a breath, this is a lot for me to take in
"So she was molested as a child? She was raped?"
I ask and mom doesnt respond
"Until she is comfortable telling me herself what happened or what's going on with her then I'm sorry mom but there's really nothing I can do about it. I feel sorry for her, really I do, I pity her and I love her but I cant keep holding on to the possibility of she and I mom. That's not fair on me or whoever I meet. I cannot deny myself of the opportunity to be loved the way i want to be or need to be loved all because I'm holding on to the possibility of Asante waking up one day and realizing that I'm who she wants to be with. I cant do that to myself and its selfish of you as my mother to care about Asante's needs over mine, your own son. I get it, shes your patient and you like her on a personal level but remember who is your child between her and I. Dont involve yourself in your patients life so much, the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened the last time"
She sighs
"That's not fair!"
She says and I chuckle
"Its not fair for us having to lose our mother to alcohol and drug abuse because she got too emotionally invested in her patients lives. This is how it started and that's how it's going to end. Songezo is already going through a lot, we are dealing with enough as a family as it is mom. Please dont get over emotionally invested"
She sighs
"I'm sorry"
She says and I dont respond
"I will emotionally detach myself from the Asante situation. You are my son and how you feel should come first."
I let out a sad sigh
"I'm sorry for bringing up the past. I just dont want you going back to that space. I dont want you going far downhill that this time around we cant help you out of it"
I say and she let's out a breath
"I understand. I'm sorry I put you guys through that"
She says
"How is Songezo and Sienna?"
I ask her and she chuckles dryly
"They are ok, they are coping. They planning on discharging him at the institution. He doesnt seem like a threat to himself or anyone. He'll be attending group therapy and Sienna is fine. Shes doing great with sports and everything, she has a game coming up this weekend and shes excited about it"
Mom says and I laugh
"Sienna is always excited about a game especially when she knows I cant attend it or wont attend it"
She laughs
"Do you blame her? You steal all the spotlight"
We both laugh
"Its not my fault. Hows dad?"
I ask and she sighs
"Hes ok, it's just work that's stressing him out and the Songezo thing"
We continue chatting and then end the call on a good note. My parents may seem perfect, in fact our family seems perfect but it took a lot and fortunately when mom went downhill they only suspended her provided she gets the help she needed and attended therapy and so forth just until she was ok enough to work again and even so they monitored her until she was fine. Having to deal with such things at a young age and witnessing them is hard, you never forget such traumatic events and hence you worry when your parent gets a little too attached to a patient. I walk out of the recording booth and into the studio and listen to the little I did before mom's call. It sounds good. I email the song to Azure and then my manager this side and then order food to pick up on my way home.
With me having cut ties with the girls, I spend most of my weekends in studio or drinking with other celebrities and the few friends I've made since my time here and that's going good for me. Today we at this other club and I'm supposed to perform a new song I've been busy with these past few days and I'm nervous because the song is nothing like what I'm used to writing. I excuse myself from the squad to grab a drink at the bar leaving them dancing and drinking whatever they drinking
"Aaron Langa"
Someone says beside me, I turn to see Olivia
"I thought we agreed no stalking each other"
I tease and she laughs
"Yes we agreed and trust me I didnt want to come here but my friends dragged me because they are huge fans of your music just as I am and they wanted a couple of pictures with you"
She says
"So basically you here for a favour?"
She shrugs
"What do I get in return?"
I challenge and she shrugs
"I could pay for your drink"
I laugh
"That's really cute. How about I hold you to it and collect it some other time. Maybe say when we meet up 2 more time prior today"
She shrugs
"I'm scared but ok, hold me to it. So I can call them?"
.
.
To Be Continued