𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞

85

"Are you Mrs. Santorini's daughter?" The female driver asked with a peculiar look through the rare view mirror.

"Yes." I nodded my head while meeting her gaze.

"You know my mother?" I asked after she looked away and concentrated on driving the cab.

"I had work for her." She answered back with melancholy and her answer surprise me.

"She is a great woman and a great mother." Her voice excluded immense admiration which made me held my breath.

The first part of the sentence was true, she's a great woman but I couldn't say same for the those last two words. I tried to figure out why she would have a cold face all year around while only showing her affection here and there as if it's a crime to be warm. 

Once I had asked my brother whether she had hugged him dearly and had bed-time story time with him during his childhood, he stared at me for a while and laughed out loud. His sudden outburst caught me off guard as it was the first time I had seen him laugh; he has a same cold face as our mother while I have a soft features.

And the answer was obvious; never.

"She used to talk about you a lot." I heard her continued with a distant look as if she was reminiscing about the past.

"Oh really?!" I asked with a look of irony.

Couldn't imagine her facial expression while talking about me?

It's really hard to believe that out of everyone she talked about me!

"Hard to believe right?" She asked back glancing at me through the rare view mirror and after a brief pause of acknowledging her response, we both burst into laughter at the same time.

"Why's it hard?" A questioned pop up as our laughter die down and four eyes looked at the girl sitting on the passenger seat.

"She got a cold face." I answered which made the girl's face to scrunch up.

"Never heard of cold face?" I asked seeing her facing weird face.

"Umm.." She hummed looking bewildered and I shook my head accessing her reaction.

"It's the same like the chilling ice-cream which makes you shudder after tasting it." I tried to depict the meaning of cold face in my own way.

"Oh! That one hell of bad experience." She said with a look of I-recall-that-incident look.

"And the people around them wouldn't need a cooling agent." Her words made us burst into laughter and the female driver gave me you-naughty-girl look.

"That's how she is but she loves her children dearly." She voice out in a reminding manner and I got it.

My mother love us; my brother and me, her children but may not me as Zeta. 

"Here we are." The lady driver said once the car came to halt and after paying the fare, I get off the cab with a wave of my hand.

"Bye." With the last wave of my hand, I turned around and walked to the entrance.

As soon as I entered inside through the metal gate, I spotted Thea's and saw her walking towards the car through the pathway of the guesthouse. As far as I remembered, that's the place where brother Ambrose lives. 

What was she doing there?

"Thea!" I shouted which caught her attention and with a look of surprise which faded as soon as it had appeared, she fastened her pace with a small smile plastered on her face. 

While eyes spoke volume of how sad and broken she was feeling. We had been friends for many years and I had learnt to read out her expression. She might looked happy but there would be different emotion building up inside her. 

"What were you doing there?" I asked with a look if inquiry as soon as she halt near me.

"Checking upon your brother Ambrose." She said in a duh tone while playing with her car key.

"Oh!" I said with a knowing look.

"My brother?" I asked with a raise brow.

"His attitude hasn't die down even when he been laying down on his bed." She said with a roll of her eyes and I giggled hearing her answer. 

He sure has an attitude as high as Mt. Everest. 

"Where were you?" Thea asked as if recalling my disappearance from the field visit.  

"Umm..I was out with Owen. He ha-" Before I could make up a half lie, she cut me off mid-sentence. 

"That guy is into you so I think its better you keep a distance from you." She said while taking in my reaction and I laugh while shaking my head.

"He has already confessed." I stated with a you-are-late-for-advise look.

"Oh! Then Vincenzo might be making plans to take him captive." She muttered while staring ahead at the space but the close distance between us made me hear it.

"Captive?" I asked while frowning with a raise brow.

"Uh..huh." 

"My Pumpkin!" Dad's loud shout came from behind and I turned out, ran to him and crash in his open arms.

"I missed you Dad." I sniffed his cologne and the fatigue of the day disappeared in his warm embrace.

"I missed you too my princess." He patted my back with a doting face and pecked on my forehead making me feel immensely special. 

It felt like I was back home after decades. It's not that I was unhappy being with Vincenzo but the one I had spend my 20 years couldn't be replace by anyone. 

"Finally, my daughter remember her old dad." He said making sad face and a tear slipped from my face making him panic. 

"Pumpkin, why are you crying?" He said looking anxious and wiped off the tear from my cheek.

"Tell me what's wrong? Is it Vincenzo?! Dad will beat him up. Don't cry my baby." He burst out in a go without letting me speak a word.

"Why are you beating Vincenzo? Does she need anyone to beat her to make her cry?" Mom's annoyed voice came from the entrance and we turned aside to look at her.  

"That brat had promised me not to make her cry, and now, as you can see, her eyes are welling up with tears." Dad's overprotective mode turn on and mom pursed her lips while shooting daggers at him. 

"I'm off. Bye Mr. and Mrs. Santorini. Zeta." Thea, noticing the upcoming cold war zone, dashed inside her car and looking at me with  you-enjoy-what-you-started look, she drove away or literally ran away before the war broke out.

But the poor me, got stuck in the couples fight or rather in the cold war zone.