Esteem/I/mates ✔️

Chapter thirty-two

Alice Casper;

      I was totally aware of the fact that mom was home that afternoon and I understood she had stayed home just for me, probably assuming I might be in need of something as time went on and maybe even hugs, cuddles or some of her comforting hugs. But one thing I had no idea of what was that we were expecting a visitor that had never stepped a foot into our house ever since the time he and mom began going out. I couldn't say if he did whenever I and Jude were at school and mom alone at home, but the fact that he, Dominic, was seating there in our living room, on our three seater leather sofa was bothering and I had no idea why.

The moment he and mom had heard my steps coming down the stairs - they'd both remained as silent as a mute TV and I wondered why, I, myself remained silent as I watched them as I alighted the last step, also taking note of the fact that not only Dominic was around, in our living room.

Two men were also present in the living room, both men heavily built, both in suits that gave me the fact they were bodyguards, also considering the way one stood right  behind the sofa Dominic sat, the other standing in front of the door with head tilted up, hands folded behind his back and expression blank.

The ackwardness that overwhelmed me was weird and choking and I also stood in a spot to stare right back at them - The TV was on and on mute and I could tell neither of them or any of the personel in the living room was watching it. Mom was seated next to Dominic - her brows squeezed up slightly, her facial expression sad and gloomy. Dominic was seated right next to her, his right hand draped around mom's shoulder, his other one placed gently on top of her jeans and as his left hand kept slowly caressing mom's left thigh, the cashmere sleeves of his sweater rode up his forearm to reveal the gold cartier watch he wore on his left wrist. The positions they were felt ackward to me, and I was already starting to picture ten thousands way things could get hotter and ackwarder between them considering the fact the two other men in the room were, as a matter-of-factly - pretending their minds and ears weren't aware of what happened in the room.

The images that played themselves in my head were horrifying and a little bit too ackward to stay in there. So I shoved them out, offered Dominic a curt nod - a taste of his own medicine, and offered them the privacy mom's eyes kept demanding by stepping into the kitchen.

By then, the ravaging hunger seemed to have pipe down a bit and I couldn't help but wonder what Dominic had meant by his earlier statement.

'Keep this a secret from your kids,'

I wondered what secret he was referring to, and the thought of that was greatly clashing with the thought of the dream I had, I was still greatly confused at what dad's last words must have meant if he was by any chance trying to pass an information across to me.

Rage destroys more than you expect it to. Yes, I was still insanely mad and angered at the stupid step my friends had taken trying to act super heroes, but I wasn't sure if dad was referring to the anger and rage i'd nurtured toward them or just a completely different thing and I had this euphoric feeling from sighting dad in the dream still clawing hard at my chest.

I sighed as I pulled open the fridge, peering into it to assess all the stocks we had in it and like i'd imagined - the fridge was filled from the top to the bottom with all sorts of grocery and drinks. There were some bag of crisp, cheese, margarine, cartons of milk, pickles, honey, baked bean, crackers, cans of cola, root beers, ice cream, and even the chocolates Jonas had gotten for me the previous night. But I settled for the pizza I sighted -  a can of cola and the whole pack of chocolate.

And then i'd warmed it up in the microwave, whilst I sat on the dining - straining my ears to make out the whispers that came some feets away, in the living room and the fact that they were speaking in low tones only made me desperate to know what was being discussed.
When the microwave made the beep sound, I was quick to jolt out of my seat to grab my pizza, the cola and chocolate all in one tray as I made my way out the kitchen.