It's Not A Game Of Chance When It Comes To Love

Chapter 4

Chapter Four…

I cast my mind back to a few months ago when I had seen this man once before. I hadn’t recognised him then and his identity was still a mystery to me now, but now at least I knew I’d seen him before.

It had been when I’d just met Jord and before he’d even given me a lift home, it was still a hate-hate relationship at that point. I had walked in to find him talking to my mum in hushed tones, a contrast to the raised voices I’d walked into today.

I had come to the conclusion then that my mum had been having an affair and that thought once again reached the forefront of my mind. When I had never seen him again, he abandoned my thoughts and I hadn’t thought of him since. Now I realised he’d been stood in my kitchen again, I began to ponder the possibilities of who he really was.

Whilst still stirring my gradually cooling mug of tea, I tried to think of some suggestions. I did come up with a few, but none were particularly positive.

My first was to go back to my original conclusion which was that my mother was having an affair. Her and my step-dad Harry had been married since I was very young and despite our shaky relationship, it wouldn’t be the same without both of them there. There had never been anyone apart from my parents, me and any friends I brought round in the house, so this was a big exception. My parents had never shown any signs of having friends, they literally worked and then spent the rest of their time doing drugs. I guessed any companions they did have were involved with these vile substances, something they didn’t want me to become tangled up in.

The idea of my mum having an affair didn’t sit well with me. It had always been her and Harry, never her and Harry plus one. It would ruin the fragile relationship I already had with my parents if she’d done that. To be fair though, they could both be with ten other people and I would still be oblivious due to the amount of time I spent with them - virtually none.

Another hypothesis I’d come up with was that we were in some kind of financial trouble. We had never been rich, far from it actually, but we had always managed. Our house was a rundown semi which looked like it was falling apart due to the appalling paint job on the outside. Inside, the furniture was a disgrace; that’s why I enjoyed staying at Jord’s apartment so much, besides the obvious reasons.

My theory was cut short when I realised I’d only yesterday morning been gifted with a new car. A family in a financial crisis would not be buying a car for their daughter. I guess that one was blown out of the water then.

The only other remotely realistic thought I could conjure up was that my mum had been talking to some kind of drug-dealer or something. Either that or she was dealing drugs herself. This also wasn’t a possibility I was going to read anything into though, because mum had never even been open in the fact she did drugs, never mind bringing someone like that into the house. She had tried her hardest to make sure I was never brought into that world and so far she had done a good job. She wouldn’t jeopardise that now.

I sighed and poured my cup of tea down the sink. I’d had no intention of drinking that in the first place, but especially not now I had let it go cold from all the brooding I had been doing.

I padded back into the living room where my mum was sulking on the sofa, looking at the TV, but clearly not really watching it. “Who was that?” I inquired, seeing if she would give me a straight answer, without me having to pry.

“No one.” She answered, confirming my suspicions that it was going to be a difficult task getting information out of her.

“It was someone. I’ve seen him here before, a while ago.” I contradicted, seeing if that sparked her interest at all.