Every time you make a move

Betrayal-pt.2

Sorry of this chapter is rushed and a little all-over-the-place... but please stay tuned until the end ;) 

Garden Lodge, mid-March, 1986

"Honestly, Phoebe," Monica muttered in agitation as she bent down to the oven to lift a hot dish out from the shelf using oven gloves, "I still can't comprehend why you thought that it was such a good idea to bring Johnny and Roshni to a movie with a talking chicken in it, then take them to KFC right after!"

"I know, and I'm sorry! I thought that Roshni already knew where meat came from!" the poor man defended as stepped back to give her room, apologising for what felt like the thousandth time in the past few days.

Roshni was a newly self-declared vegetarian, much to her mother's dismay. Monica was still blaming Phoebe for having an accidental role in influencing the little girl to change her mind, for she was still having trouble trying to accommodate her daughter's dietary requirements two-days in:

"Well, it better be a phase because this nut loaf was a nightmare to make. She used to only eat chicken when she was a toddler, nothing else!" she nagged as she brushed past him, growing increasingly stressed as she carried the dish across the kitchen.

"The smell of bacon frying from downstairs at breakfast tomorrow morning ought to change her mind" Phoebe suggested, carrying the basket of cutlery as he followed her into the dining room.

"I don't think it'll be that easy," Monica sighed, and stuck her head into the hallway and called through the house, "DINNER'S READY!!"

Within several seconds Johnny and Roshni's excited footsteps pounded across the ceiling above their heads and down the mahogany stairwell whilst they finished laying the table, them not knowing what was going to be in store for them when they sat down to eat.

"No no, we shall be eating in the dining room tonight" their mother instructed them when she went back into the kitchen and saw them sitting at the bench.

"Is somebody coming for dinner?" Roshni asked.

"No," Monica answered her, "It is just a better space for talking, that's all."

Johnny and Roshni looked at each other perplexed, for they rarely ate in the dining room unless their mother or father had guests.

But they obeyed, and exited the kitchen swiftly without suspecting a thing.

"Glass of wine?" Phoebe offered her when he reached the fridge.

Unsurprisingly, a glass of wine would've been wonderful to calm Monica's shaking nerves. However, she was determined to remain level-headed for she could not predict what was about to unfold.

"Not for me, thank you," Monica untied her waist apron, "Better get through this conversation sober"

At last Freddie emerged from the piano room, quietly trudging into the kitchen like a moping teenager.

He was wearing his yellow sweatshirt with the rolled-up sleeves, paired with his light denim jeans; he would've worn a pair of joggers hadn't he had to go to work earlier that day. And his outfit wasn't dissimilar to Monica's either, for she was donning her oversized colour-block pringle jumper tucked into her jeans for the third time that week. She would've made more of an effort regarding what she put on her back, but for the moment she was unemployed and had no reason to leave the house other than to go grocery shopping and to the library. Only this time her trips were in the interest of looking at options for Johnny and Roshni's future rather than her own.

It had also been almost a week since herself and Freddie had an argument about the university letters, and ever since they had discussed a lot about not only their own future but the twins' as well and what she had gathered at the library, for it was mainly her that was carrying out the research. There were some disagreements and recommendations here and there, but they finally came to a conclusion. It wasn't Freddie's most desired solution, nor was it Monica's, which was why they also came with backup plans should the worst ever come to light. And so tonight both parents were about to sit Johnny and Roshni down in the dining room rather than their usual spot at the kitchen table and proclaim their plans to them, however that was going to pan out...