LOVE ME HARDER

• What boyfriend? •

My hand stopped in front of my mouth when I saw mom just staring at me with a smile on her face. She wasn't eating anything. I kept the food down and looked at her questioningly.

"Mom, what happened? Why are you looking at me like this?"

To my question, her smile grew bigger. She shook her head at me. " Nothing. I was just looking at you. You were eating just like a baby." She chuckled to herself.

"I am not a baby, mom. It's just that you are an amazing cook." I praised her and continued eating my food.

"I am proud of how you turned out Lia." She said all of a sudden making me still again. I stared at her.

"I was always worried that I might not be able to take care of your needs properly. I was afraid that I might fail as a mother. Specially when Arthur left us." She whispered the last sentence and my blood boiled at the name of that man.

"Mom, please stop thinking about him. He is in the past. He never deserved you. And whatever shit his family told you about you not being capable of being a mom was just bull shit. In reality, they themselve were incapable of raising a loyal son." I reached towards her and held her hand gently.

"He cheated on you, didn't care about his own daughter. Why do you keep on thinking about him?" A lone tear left her eye.

It was making me murderous. That so called father of mine was the worst thing ever happened to my mom. He not only cheated on her, but also broke her self esteem.

His snobby family told mom that she is good for nothing because she doesn't have money. When they found about his extra marital affair, instead of making him realise his mistake, they supported him, saying that mom deserved it because she was never a match for him.

Arthur Clyde, my so-called father even tried to manipulate her into deciding against the divorce, saying he would snatch me away from her. Because he has money.

And no. He didn't want to convince her stay because he loved her. It was because his star reputation would have been tainted, resulting in loss to his precious company.

Bastard!

I stood up from my chair and went to her, hugging her from back. I tried to calm her down as she tried to hide her tears, furiously wiping under her eyes. My heart broke for her.

"Mom, did something happen? Why are you suddenly talking about him?" I asked suspiciously, hoping he didn't approach her again.

"Nothing darling. It's just I saw him today."

"What?" I screeched at this information. " Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you? Tell me mom. I swear I will kill him."

"No, no. He didn't do anything. Actually, he visited the NGO for some charity work maybe. He decided to help with the fundraiser, maybe for the publicity. When he saw me, he took a few steps towards me but I left the place as quick as possible. I didn't meet him. But seeing him after so long just made old emotions surface again." She said sobbing.

"Oh mom. Please don't think about him. You are better off without him. We both are." She nodded at me. " And you know what, you shouldn't be crying about him, remembering old days. You should be cursing his existence and the day you met him." I huffed with anger.

But she chuckled through her tears. " No Lia. I can never do that. Not because I love him, offcourse not. But even after everything that went down in our relationship, he is the reason for my happiness even today." She replied in a calm voice.

"What the fu-" I stopped mid sentence as she raised a brow challenging me to complete the line. " What the hell mom? How can you even believe in that bullshit after what he did. He cannot be the reason for your happiness."