Pure Sweet Poison | Bwwm| On Hold

11|Aliana

Carl had a child. I don’t understand why I was surprised yet I had always imagined him having a little family of his own. I think it was because towards that time, I had been thinking a lot about possibilities of being with him even though I knew they were unreasonable. Daydreaming about a man you know next to thing about is never a good idea. Now, I understood the reason for my doubt.

Joselyn. That was the name of the person who had called him. As Carl drove on silently, I wondered who she was. His wife or baby mama? I chastised myself, realizing that I should have been worried about his daughter’s life instead of whether he had a wife or not. Our relationship was supposed to be purely academic as I was his student and he, my professor. His personal life was not for me to worry about unless I wanted to be the other woman. His compliments were making me foolish, I concluded.

Oron hospital came into view and we got out after securing a good parking spot. Carl hurried on, leaving me trailing behind. Given his long legs, I was sweaty by the time we got the reception. He didn’t care about me, though. All that mattered was his daughter and I could understand but why bring me along when he was going to act like I didn’t exist.

At some point, as we headed to the room, I toyed with the idea of turning back and going home. He might not even notice that I was gone. Feeling bad for him, I continued to follow him anyway. When we found the room, he pushed the door open and we walked in.

There was a small blonde child on the bed, eyes closed. I could tell she was asleep. Carl went straight to her and kissed her forehead.

“How is she?” he asked a glamorous woman seated on a small sofa. She looked up from her phone and that’s when I was able to see the resemblance between the two. You’d think they were twins.

“She’s better now,” the woman said. “Stable. The nurse just left and she told me that Reina will be okay. Nothing serious.” she turned to me. “Hello. Sorry, I was sending my husband some important information.”

“It’s okay,” I said, feeling relieved. Not his wife.

“You sacred me, Joselyn.”

“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t that serious? Marianne went to see her family and she’s the one who knows these things. Even Jack is on a business trip and I was alone with Marianne’s niece who can barely do anything right. The nurse said it was okay for us to take her home but I didn’t want stress her with movements. Look at how calm she is.”

“Okay,” Carl sighed. “Aliana, meet my sister Joselyn. Joselyn, Aliana, one of my students.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Aliana.” Joselyn smiled.

“Nice to meet you too.”

“So,” she turned to Carl. “What were you saying about Marlene? Why were you thinking of her? Don’t tell she’s back because I feel like killing that bitch for what she did to you.”

“She stopped by my house today.”

“What?”

“She wanted to see Reina.”

“I’m hoping you sent her straight to hell.”

“Uhmm,” Carl touched his chin. I could tell that this was a personal issue and I did not want to hear more personal issues about my professor.

“I think I’m going to leave now, Carl.”

“No no,” Joselyn stood up. “Please stay here with Carl. I’ve got kids waiting for me.”

“Marianne’s niece is at home and your kids are probably asleep.”

Joselyn narrowed her eyes at him. It was clear she was leaving no matter what. She opened the door and gasped when she saw a woman standing there. “Marlene!”

“Joselyn!” the other woman sneered. She was equally very beautiful and had wavy blonde hair. Her face covered with make-up and breasts were about to spill out of her dress.

“You can’t go in,” Joselyn reached out, blocking the entrance with her hand. Marlene looked her up and down and with one swift movement, lifted her hand off and waltzed in. my eyebrows shot up and I decided to sit down and watch the drama unfold. Normally, I didn’t go looking for drama but if it found me, I couldn’t miss out. It seemed like Carl’s life had enough to last two lifetimes.

“You know what,” Joselyn sighed. “I’ll just leave you to deal with this.”

Quickly, I stood up. “I have no idea what’s going on here but I don’t want to get involved.”

“Aliana.”

“No Carl, I have to leave now.” I followed Joselyn out of the room into the hallway.

“She’s bad news. That one.”

I decided not to say anything to that. “Is she Reina’s mother?”

“Mother?” Joselyn scoffed. “I don’t think she comes close to being that.”

“I guess,” I said. When Joselyn went towards the reception, I called a taxi and went to stand outside.

As the taxi drove me home, I couldn’t help but think of the craziness I had just witnessed. So, Reina’s mother was back from wherever and Carl’s sister didn’t like her. Carl had allowed her back which meant there was a possibility of them getting back together. If only I didn’t mind that so much, everything would feel better.

I realized that going with him into the hospital had made things worse. I had gone into his world and know I knew him more personally than before. It would be harder to detach from it. Next time I’d ask about Reina’s health and so on. I hated everything.

After paying the taxi driver, I walked towards my apartment building. As I was about to step in, a man who had been talking on phone outside the building started walking towards me.

“I’ll not hurt you,” he hollered. “Aliana price.”

“Who are you and how do you know my name?” I asked before going inside. He prevented me from locking the main door and I looked around for the guard who was absent. I ran up the quiet stairway as he followed.

“We need to talk.” he said in a serious tone of voice.

I only stopped when I saw one of my neighbors descending the stairs.

“Not now,” I said. “Meet me during day time.”

“Fine,” he said and retreated. Weird.

Shaking my head, I went up to my room. No sooner had I walked in than I felt someone grab me from behind and a hand being clamped over my mouth.