Thanks for sticking around, enjoy!
Fai arrived at 'The Red Cherry' and saw the one thing he treasured the most, yet hated at the same time. At the far end of the restaurant, seated around the largest table there was in the room, was his family, his entire family.
He hadn't seen them in months and it actually felt years. After the tragic event that took place, they all knew he had lost it. They were all sensitive to his pain and had all shown concern by constantly reaching out and offering their support, the support he in turn rejected. He wasnt a very emotional person. He hated people showing any level of pity on him, so he had tried hard to avoid the confrontation with his family. In his mind, he was perfectly capable of pulling through whatever hurdle life threw at him.
After having stood there for what seemed like centuries, he took a deep breath and finally let the waiter who stood there with him all the while, accompany him to his seat. On his getting there, it was his little sister, who first caught sight of him.
"Fai's here!" she announced as she jumped out of her seat and ran off to jump up on him.
"Hey Feefee!" he said, picking her up and giving her a peck on the cheeks "...why young lady, you certainly seem to be reaching for the giraffes' necks, next thing you know, you'll over throne me and be the tallest one in the family!" he teased.
"You know that could never be possible Fai! I missed you! I still haven't forgiven you for abandoning us you know, mum and dad have been so worried about you"
"I know, and I missed you guys too. It's just...I had to take some time off to see to some things"
"What things?" she quizzed him with curious eyes.
"Um...grown up things that you can't understand hun"
"Oh you mean like Hailey-kind-of-thing?"
"Hmm yeah, something like that, but that's all in the past now"
"Does that mean you'll come back home to LA?!"
"No Princess, I'm afraid that's got to wait for now"
"Mmhmm okay...so, what did you get for me?" she said with a cunning smile Fai knew all too well
"Yeah about that... I'm sorry I didn't get you anything" he said with a faint panic in his voice.
"What?! Why?!" she asked in a dramatic way, by this time, they were already standing in front of the others.
"Because Princess, I didn't know I was going to be seeing you today...BECAUSE SOMEONE DIDN'T GIVE ME A HEADSTART" he said, turning his sight to Faury who avoided eye contact with him.
"Fai, you won't even say hi to me?" his mother, Martha, cried with fake tears.
"But mother, I only just got here" he said as he walked over to where he was seated and kissed her on the cheeks.
"Son, you don't know how much I missed you! We all did! You weren't picking your calls or showing up at the office, and—"
"I know mum, I know, but I'm here now, and I'm, you don't have to worry so much about me"
"Of course I'm going to worry! My son disappears for months without communication, what kind of mother would handle that?"
"The type that trusts her son to take care of himself? I'm twenty-nine for Christ's sake, yet you treat me like Im mates with Faura"
"Hey! I'm not a little girl anymore you know! I'm going to be eight in two months and twenty four days"
"Of course hun, forgive my manners"
"Humph!" she humped as she walked back to her seat.
"A mother will always be a mother Fai, even when you're eighty, I'll still fawn over you"
"Mmhmm I do not doubt that"
"Fai Tieresch Regan, it takes two people to make a child you know, just in case you've forgotten you still have a father" Ronald Regan, his father said.
"I'm sorry dad, It's nice to see you too" he said while his father gave him a tap on his shoulder. Fai walked over to the Wilsons who had sat there all the while, listening and smiling at the conversations he had been sharing with his family, and exchanged pleasantries with them. He then walked over to where Faury, Rita, and someone he assumed to be a friend or relative of Rita's and gave them warm greetings.
He pulled something out of his inner pocket and gifted Rita with a small wrapped gift box which had the words For You, On Your Convocation. She thanked him. And when she unwrapped it, it was a little bottle of designer perfume.
"Thank you so so much Fai! I love it!"
"You're welcome"
"You're not going to steal my girl now, are you?" Faury teased him and earned himself a spank on the head. Fai then lowered himself, to whisper into his ears "You and I have an awful lot to discuss after this"
"What? No! I promise I did not know they were coming too" he protested.
"You should know he had nothing to do with their coming here. My parents both initially planned on coming for my convocation and I guess they somehow managed to inform your parents about it who in turn, decided to tag along" Rita defended.
"Yes, shes right" Faury added. He looked at both of them intensely before responding, "You know you two will breed a whole nation of terrible liars" he said and with that, walked over to take his seat beside Fauras.
"Fai, we came here on our own accord. The Wilsons were coming to NYC for their daughter's convocation, then they told us Faury planned on hosting them here at The Red Cherry and I called your brother and scolded him for making such plans without including us. He apologized, and here we are" Martha said.
"Yeah right. Listen, I know you guys are close to the Wilsons, but I'm sure the main reason you all flew over here was because of me, so no need to hide that"
" For what is worth, I'm happy you're in a better place now Son, everyone misses you back at REGAL Corp." Ronald said.
"Is that why you set me up to be the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony?"
"Didn't you enjoy it? It was a way of creating awarenesss, so New York know what's in store for them. In less than a month, our factory over here will be open. I'm sorry I didn't tell you beforehand, it just happened"
"It's alright dad, it's done already"
"Don't get me wrong Fai, we are proud that you've decided to explore your medical degree, but you know you'll always belong back at REGAL Corp"
"I know dad, but I'm okay with this for now"
"Do you ever plan on coming back?"
"I don't know...we'll see"
"Faury, why are there about three empty seats here, are we expecting anyone else?" Fai asked, but before he could even get a response, he heard a very lousy voice burst into the restaurant. It was a voice he knew too well, one he dreaded.
"I'm so sorry I'm late everyone! But I'm here now "she said with a loud voice, hugging and squeezing them all.
"You're getting leaner Fai!" she said while he stared at her in disbelief of how he had somehow managed to share ancestry with this woman, his paternal aunt, Aunt Regina.
"Aunt, its nice to see you again"
"Tell me you missed me! I know you missed me!" she said as she squeezed the life out of him.
"Of course" he replied sarcastically. She then went ahead to greet the rest of the family, giving them the same heart-squeezing hug she gave Fai and took a seat beside Faura's.
"Regina, we weren't expecting you you know, how did you even know we were in NYC?" Ronald asked.
"Well brother, news travel as you know it. I already had plans of coming here to oversee the new branch which opens in less than a month, then I heard the rumors from our friends that you and Martha were visiting NYC for some event, I figured why not? After all, we Regans don't need an invitation before we make an entrance anywhere" she said with as much pride and charisma as that of a peacock's.
Regina had always been like that, pride and arrogant and totally oblivious of the feelings of other people. For her, if you weren't riding the latest Audis or Ferrari, popping the most expensive champagne for your birthdays or flying back and forth different countries on first class, you weren't worthy of walking on the same ground she walked. Heck, if she even had her way, no one would breathe the same air she breathed, not unless you were as rich as the Regans, or richer.
Although pride ran in the veins of the Regan household, she took hers to a whole new level.
The luncheon went with lots of interaction between the two families, with Fai being the least interested in said conversations. He kept himself busy with tending to Faura who had a hard time not staining her dress with the spills and crumbs of food that crawled down her lips.
"I can't believe the little girl is almost ten yet you guys haven't even taught her how to eat properly" Regina said with a look of irritation at how Fai pampered and cleaned up Faura's mess, like a father tending to his infant daughter.
"Aunt, she's barely eight....and can you not be so hard on her?" he said.
"As Regans, we strive for perfection! At all times! It doesnt matter the age, it shouldn't matter the age"
"Yeah, just like according to your brother, you strived for perfection at bedwetting even at the age of fifteen" Martha clapped back at her, and if looks could kill, Martha, along with her husband Ronald, would be a rotten corpse.
Regina and Martha never ever got along, it was a no-love lost situation between them. Martha didn't like the fact that she was an over-bearing, pain-inducing life-controlling sister to Ronald. She often tried to control the lives of her children as well as her's, a luxury she could never afford, and nearly-lost it the day the management board voted for Fai and not her as the next CEO of REGAL Corp. Martha was more than happy that Fai inherited the stubbornness of his father and it was one of the many reasons Regina found it nearly impossible to get under his skin.
She never really got the chance with Faury as his modeling career required him to always be on air, which meant missing family functions and events, which was probably why now that Faura was now being more involved in these family events, she ached to dig her claws inside her, God forbid she was going to give her the chance to do that to her only daughters.
Regina had been particularly happy when Fai announced his decision to take an indefinite break from REGAL Corp. She assumed that the board would sense some uncertainty in their initial decision to make Fai the next head of their company, but how wrong she was as they all agreed that until Ronald was dead and Fai made his leave permanent, she remained a second option.
The table was getting silent, when she noticed that there were two empty chairs left at their table. "Pray tell me why we still have these two chairs empty Faury? Are we expecting more guests?"
"Um actually, we're expecting thre—" he was saying when Maldives, Brenda and Chris all burst into the restaurant causing a little scene. "Sorry we're late! It's just the traffic was so..." Maldives was saying when she caught sight of Fai at the same table as what she assumed to be that of Faury's and his family, "...You? What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Faury, I didn't know you knew—Oh my God! Are you two related?!" she screamed in realization.
"Related? Maldives, this is Fai, my brother" Faury responded looking confused.
"Brother??? Wow...I did not see that coming"
"Wait a minute, you two know each other?" he asked her.
"Yeah, we met at the hosp—" Fai was saying when she interrupted, "...we met at the convocation ceremony earlier today....when he presented the awards" she cleared her throat as he looked intensely at her before tearing his eyes away.
"Oh, of course. Well, this is my pig-headed elder brother, Fai, and these are my parents, Ronald and Martha Regan. The little angel over there is my little sister Faura, that's my aunt Regina. You already know Rita and her friend and these are her parents, Mr and Mrs Wilson" he gestured with his arms and they exchanged pleasantries, then took their seats.
"Wow, I can't believe Dr Stiff Face is a brother to Pretty Boy" Chris muttered to himself, with a volume he didn't think anyone else would hear but only earned himself a hard stare from Fai, while everyone else burst out laughing.
"I'm not a stiff-face!"
"Well bro, your first impression isn't exactly that of a puppy's you know "Faury teased.
"I do not have your time Faury" he said as he resumed eating his food. Faury showed them to their seats and ordered the waiter to get one more chair for Christian.
"Son, you haven't told us who your friends are Martha quizzied him with a look that was hard to decipher.
"Oh right, that's Maldives, Christian and Brenda"
"Nice, and where did you all meet?" Regina asked.
"At FERGE"
"Whats FERGE?" Regina asked.
"Aunt, FERGE is the new nightclub I opened here in NYC"
"I see, so just a couple of teenagers who party at your club" she said with a tone that suggested they were hoodlums.
"What???" Maldives asked with compressed irritation.
"Aunt, they're my friends, that's all that matters" Faury defended.
"Is that so now?"
"Yes. Matter of fact, they all graduated today along with Rita, they're friends, and even Maldives over there was the best graduating student"
"Really?" Ronald asked with interest.
"Yes dad, ask Fai"
"Fai, is that so?" he asked Fai, who raised his head up as if he had just been called back from his journey of thoughts.
"Um yeah, Miss Coleman, amongst many things, is a very outstanding student" he said with as much sarcasm as he could while he stared intensely at her.
"That's brilliant! That means you must be one of the people we plan on hiring at our new branch over here in New York
"Um...yes sir"
"Congratulations to you my dear, although I'm going to have to plead with you, the branch doesn't open until the next few weeks he said.
"It's no problem sir, if anything, it'll give me more time to prepare myself mentally for the journey ahead" she said and he smiled back at her.
"She's a good child, I like her" Ronald whispered to Martha, who had been quietly observing her all the while. She then asked her, "' 'Maldives', is that where you're from?"
'No ma'am, Im actually from Africa
Oh, where in Africa?
"Nigeria, I moved here with my mum when I was fourteen"
'and your dad?"
"Dead maa'm
"Was he also Nigerian?" she threw back without an ounce of sympathy at the fact that she was fatherless.
"As far as I remember, I'm fully Nigerian, although I've spent about eleven years of my life over here
"What's your mothers occupation?" Regina asked, earning her stares from almost everyone at the table.
"Aunt, what does it matter what her mother does?" Fai asked.
"What? I'm just curious is all" she said non-challantly.
"Then find some other less-sensitive topic to be curious about"
"Are you questioning me Fai?!"
"Aunt, stop being so dramatic"
"What?! Ronald, are you just going to sit there and watch your son disrespect me?!"
"Regina, you do realize that we aren't the only ones on this table, if you won't respect yourself, at least respect the Winstons! And our guests! Christ! I can't win with you" he reprimanded. The moments that followed were filled with silence, albeit the cluttering sounds of their cutleries kept the air busy. The rest of the meal went on uneventful, with everyone enjoying their meals, especially Brenda who had no mercy massacring the grilled chicken she had in her plate. Chris noticed how everyone, especially Martha and Regina, stared at her while she ate her food like she had not in decades, set her eyes on the flesh of a bird. He had tried to quietly talk her into being more civilized in her mode of eating, especially in front of their hosts, but all she did was scoff at him.
"Y'all, this is some good chicken!" she said as she licked her fingers. For some reason, Ronald, Faury and Faura found her actions amusing as they burst into chuckles. While Fai's expression unsurprisingly didn't give off anything, the Winstons kept a neutral face while Martha, Regina and Rita stared at her with unhidden disgust.
Faura kept having a hard time accommodating all the pieces of food she spooned in her mouth and Maldives found the poor girl's struggle quite amusing. What was even more amusing and surprising to her was seeing the amount of attention Fai paid to her. It was like he was the little girl's father.
She watched how he patiently waited for her to munch each bite before feeding her another spoon, he barely even had enough time to feast on his own meal. They had whispering conversations between themselves which made her giggle every now and then, and he laughed too! Apparently, his face wasnt made of bricks, and for the first time, she saw his perfect white dentition dazzle through his curled up lips, she always knew his lips were nothing less of a perfection. Even though they were constantly pressed against themselves, it didn't stop them from appearing so seductive. She imagined how it would feel to touch them with the tips of her fingers, or better still, feel them pressed against hers. She desired nibbling on the lower one while his tongue delved through
"Maldives right?"
"H—huh?"
"Your name is Maldives, isn't it?" the little girl had asked, breaking her away from the short trance she was sure had left its mark on her underwear.
"Um yeah...that's my name" she cleared her throat, Jesus Maldives! Where is your home training?! Having erotic thoughts about a man seated across the table, who did nothing but feed his innocent little sister yet here you are, having sensual thoughts about himright in front of his parents! His entire family! Your potential employers!
"You have a beautiful name...I wish my mum had named me 'Maldives' " she pouted to the disgust of Martha who was going to say a thing or two before Ronald stopped her, "Let the girl be Darling" he said and she relaxed.
"Well guess what? I wish my mum had named me 'Faura', maybe then I'd be as beautiful as you are" she smiled earning a giggle from her.
"You rhymed!" she giggled.
"Oh I did?"
"Yes! I like her Fai!" she whispered.
"Yeah...apparently, you do" he said with a huge surprise. Faura was never the type to like people easily, she often had a hard time opening up to people and trusting them enough to reveal her playful side, they were identical that way, yet here she was, giggling with someone she had only just met few minutes ago.
"I have an idea! When Fai gets me a new doll, I'll name her Maldives!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Woah woah woah, when did I say I was going to get you a doll?" Fai asked her, feigning seriousness.
"You won't get me a new doll?" she pouted, with those puppy eyes that was always sure to get him hooked.
"No--I mean yeah, of course I'll get you a new doll* he surrendered.
*Great! You'll get me one with beautiful brown skin and hair just like Maldives right?" she pouted once again.
"Of course, whatever you want"
"Does it have to be a brown-skinned one? I mean since it's going to belong to Faura and as far as I remember, my daughter isn't brown-skinned" Martha stated.
"But what's so bad if she gets a brown-skinned doll? Black people get white dolls all the time, we don't complain about it" Maldives defended.
Martha stared at her intensely for what seemed like ages while the whole table went silent once again.
"I don't mean it in a bad way, I'm just saying since there are no black people in our family, the black doll would seem a little...'off' " she responded.
" 'Off', like my friends and I dining here with you all is a little 'off'?"
"I didn't say—"
"My dear Malawi I— "Regina interrupted.
" 'Maldives' " she corrected.
"Right, asides from it being off, we all know white dolls are more common because they are the standard of beauty, and I'm sure you're also aware of the fact that hair belonging to people of your kind can seem a bit... you know.."
" 'Nappy?' Is that the word you're looking for?" she said, already fisting with anger.
"Exactly! Nappy tacky, a bit like fur, and my dear niece is allergic to fur"
"Alright I'm gonna fuck this bitch up! Calling our hair fucking fur?! You gonna get some—" Brenda was saying as she grabbed a knife, attempting to get across the table and have her way with her, but was stopped by Christian and Fai.
"That is just enough!" Fai said, banging the table and grabbing the attention of everyone in the restaurant. "...this is just sick Aunt Regina! If I'm not mistaken, you weren't even invited here in the first place, so get your shit together!"
"Language son!" his mother reprimanded.
"Oh mother, don't give me that crap about language after all the disrespectful things that have come out of your's and aunt's mouths"
"She was going to stab me!" Regina defended.
"Only because you provoked her to do so...and we all knew she wasn't going to do it anyways, not with all of us here"
"Oh trust me my boy, you don't know these people" she mummured.
" 'These people' ???"
"Alright guys!" Faury interrupted as he stood up with a glass and a fork in each of his hands, "...Err..this luncheon has been quite...eventful, but you all should know I did not just bring you here for you to roast each other's brains out, this is actually a special day in my life because Im going to be asking the most important question a man could ask in his lifetime" he rang the glass with the fork in his hand and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, three violin players burst into the corner, where they were all seated and began playing a beautiful piece while Faury slowly got down on one knee with a box in his hand, right in front of Rita who was already pouring tears.
"Rita, I already got the permission and blessings of your parents, but you're the most important party in this" he said and everyone burst out laughing. "I love you so much and I can't imagine my life without you...so here's me asking you, 'Will you do me the honors and accept to be with me for the rest of your life? Marry me?' he said with eyes that exhumed happiness.
"Yes! Yes I will marry you!"she jumped while he slid the ring into her finger and they both shared a kiss. Everyone congratulated them, including the other customers in the restaurant. Martha hugged Rita so hard and chanted about how she couldn't wait to have her officially as her daughter-in-law. She also congratulated Mrs. Wilson, who had for a long time, been her friend and was happy that their plan to bring their kids together finally worked.
Maldives, Chris and Brenda hugged each other as they tried hard not to tear up. Fai was simply happy to see his brother happy as he hugged him and congratulated him, remembering how he himself felt, the night when he had also proposed to her. He shoved those thoughts down his head and settled for simply enjoying the moment and praying that his brother had a better ending than he did.
Please don't forget to vote, comment and share, thank you! 💓