Living in Sin (On Hold)

Six _ Secrets

“Hello,” She answered, brushing a few stray long locks behind her ear, rendering me breathless. But then, to my fright ( or was it delight?) came the moment of truth, she looked up!

We stood there rooted to spot for what seemed like an eternity but probably only about five seconds in reality. The look on her face when our eyes met was of pure surprise of shock. There being no one else but us, the silence that filled the air grew deafening as seconds ticked by. But the person on the line must have said something as she finally broke the trance.

"You are here?” It was barely audible and besides I wasn’t sure even if that was directed to me or the one on the line.

Tentatively, she took a step forward and I didn’t move. Every step she took had my heart throbbing but the nervousness that took hold of it moments ago was now gone, replaced with bile, hatred as I saw guilt slowly filled her eyes.

But then a sound broke out in corridor which, while sweet and soft, was enough to snap both of us back to reality.

She averted her gaze slightly from me to the woman who came out from behind me.

“Hey, I thought you’d be in class.” The woman said reaching out for her and taking hold of her hand. She weakly made out a ‘hey’ as she looked at me once more. Her lips parted again but I was in no mood for what she had to say as I walked away without looking back.

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Rina

I should’ve known. I should’ve known at the pool. Hell, I should’ve known from the beginning that this day would come. I watched at her retreating back as she walked out the exit and disappeared. She’d changed a lot since we last saw each other but there was still that look of pain that her eyes always brimmed with. But this time it wasn’t because of her father, or not anyone else for that matter. For I’m sure I was me who did her wrong this time.

“Hey, you okay, baby?” Jen cupped my face and made me look her in the eyes. It took me a moment to register what she’d said making her all the more worried.

“Yeah, no, I’m fine.” She was taking none of it as she kept looking for answers in my eyes, which were threatening to be filled with every tear I had in me.

“I’m really okay, Jen.” I said as I tried to avoid her gaze. She noticed my uneasiness and dropped her hands.

 “What are you doing here anyway?”

She paused for a moment, as if deciding whether to push me further for what was troubling me. But to my relief, she decided against it as she answered. “My father was hospitalized this morning.”

“What?! Is it serious?”

“I’m not sure. But I think I’d better go and check this time.”

It was true. She should. As far as I know, she left home since she was eighteen and hadn’t seen or, except in the case of the caretaker, talked to anyone in her family since then.

“So we are going?” I asked grabbing her hand.

“No, honey. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” I noticed a flash of anxiety flicker in her eyes as she said this.

“Jen, though I may not call you that, you are my mother. And your family is mine, too. Jeez, why do I even have to be saying this?”

“I… I know how we are, baby. But you barely know them. And I haven’t seen them since you were born so I’m not sure there ...”