His Bitter Cupcake

Chapter twenty four

I woke up with a lot of commotion coming from outside.

Luckily, when I came back yesterday very late at night nobody was there. Yesterday was gone just like a bad dream.

I got out of my bed, wore a thick robe and opened my door. There were too many voices coming from the living room. When I reached the hall, my eyes diluted in confusion. My mother was standing in front of the couch, holding a stopwatch and cheering. Her back was facing me.

"Come on baby! You can beat him! Show him that you're the best!"

Loud music was blasting from the speakers thus explaining the source of the commotion. I did not understand why Fiona was going up and down behind the coffee table, shrieking in excitement. Her hands were gripping something I couldn't see so I got a bit more closer.

I stopped dead on my track when I saw my father doing pushups. He had taken his shirt off and was sweating profusely.

Is he insane? Doing vigorous exercise at this age?

My mother was standing right beside my father, cheering for him and encouraging him to do more. She meets my eye and gives me one of her brightest smiles.

"Good morning honey!"

I was about to reply, but I saw something or rather someone's back. Fiona was sitting on it, cross legged and was gripping the shoulders very tightly.

I walked over to the coffee table and saw him.

Evan.

Doing pushups with Fiona sitting on his back. He was not sweating too much, but there was some pooling on his neck and dripping on the floor.

My nose flared when he met my eyes and grinned sheepishly.

"Good...ninety eight...morning...ninety nine...Maria...hundred!" He drops on the floor and fist pumps in the air.

"Woohoo! This was so fun!" Fiona squeals as she gets off from his back and stands up only to receive a high five from Evan.

Did I miss something important yesterday?

"Mama Thompson, how much time did I take?" He asks my mother as he wipes the sweat with a towel, completely ignoring my presence.

Mama Thompson? There are some serious issues going on here.

"Six minutes and nine seconds." She chirped.

"No way!" He blurted in shock. "I broke my record!"

"Congratulations." Fiona nudged his forearm.

"Thank you Fifi. You helped me." She feigned a sympathetic look and pecked his cheek. He faked a squirm.

Then everybody laughed.

Including my father who was still lying on the floor.

Something is very wrong here.

Very, very wrong here.

I muted the speakers by the remote lying on the table. I placed my hands on my waist and cleared my throat in order to grab their attention.

My father got up and frowned in my direction. "Pumpkin, are you catching a cold?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Then perhaps sore throat?"

"No." I said flatly. "May I know what you were doing?"

His face turned to amusement. "I believe you saw what we were doing. It's just a bit of exercise." He said nonchalantly.

I pointed my finger to Evan. "Then what is he doing here?"

My father looks at Evan intently, who is sipping juice from a straw and watching us curiously.