Tolerating The Player

It has been a long day at work especially after Fiona showed her annoying face. I hope she went back to where she came from because I really don’t have anything to say to her.

She left me alone with my little brother when I was just a kid and now she thinks it’s okay to just show up in my workplace in an expensive outfit?

It was clear that she had totally moved on and forgotten about me and my brother so I really don’t want her to come back to us after leaving us to suffer for years without caring to mind if we were eating or even if we were dead while she was out there enjoying flashy outfits and cars.

Thinking about her alone made my head hurt, I really needed to rest my head for some while and I hoped that my father wouldn’t be home as I was already on my way home. Most times thinking about my life and my unfortunate parents makes me wonder if I was even meant to live but then with the love and affection Zach showered on me I knew even though my parents might not love me Zach would love me unconditionally and I’m not letting him go any time soon.

I wondered if he would have landed but he promised to give me a call with his new number once he reaches Brazil. I didn’t notice when I finally reached my house so I parked the car in our garage. Thinking about Zach had made me forget about Fiona.

On reaching the door I heaved a deep sigh before opening the door, it’s always like that whenever I’m about to enter this depressing black hole that manages to suck in all of my happiness once I’m in it.

“Isabella” Joe ran to hug me and I assumed Grace must have dropped him off here instead of her house knowing that I wouldn’t be there in the night because Maya wasn’t there anymore. Even though they both told me that I was free to sleep over any time I liked, I still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of sleeping in their house without Maya there. I could let Joe stay there sometimes but it won’t be everytime.

“How are you little man?” I roughed his hair and he slapped my hands.

“I told you not to call me a little man anymore, I’m a big man now” he pouted and I tried to hold back my laughter.

“Hmm okay then big man” I teased. I walked into the kitchen to offload the groceries I bought and maybe make something for us to eat. My dad wasn’t at home but I guess I should as well make something for him to eat.

I opened the fridge to bring out the chicken but met something else there instead. It was a cooked food in a transparent plastic bowl. My father would never cook something for us so I found this strange.

I brought out the plastic and it was pasta that was in it, the pasta was nourished with meat balls that made me remember what Fiona used to cook for me when I was smaller. Fiona!!

“Was someone here?” I asked Joe and he started to stare at me awkwardly. He definitely knows something about it but he was hiding it from me.

“Joe who was here and who cooked this!” I yelled and he flinched. I didn’t mean to yell at him but I was doing this for our safety.

“You have to tell me Joe I’m your big sister” I bent to reach his face but he had fear in his eyes.

“I’m not going to punish you Joe, just tell me” I sighed and he opened his mouth to say something but was reluctant.

“Mother cooked it for us” he said and I could immediately feel my blood boiling.

“Mother?” I asked to confirm and he nodded his head.

“Did you eat it?!” I yelled and he flinched again.

“A little, I ate it with her” he honestly answered and I angrily threw the food in the bin. It made Joe sad as tears started to flow down his eyes. It’s all my fault, I should have burnt her pictures and should have never shown Joe at first then he won’t recognize her as his mother.

“She said she was sorry for leaving us Isabella….”

“Keep quiet and go to your room!” I shunned him off as he cried his eyes to the room. I hated the guts she had to come to this house and cook in my kitchen, she even had the guts to feed my Joe the food she cooked.

I tried to let today’s event slide away as I started to chop the vegetables I bought for today’s dinner. I would rather eat a dead rat than eat the food she cooked.

“You’ll need to forgive her sooner Isabella” I heard my Father’s voice as he walked up to me in the kitchen. He had probably been in the house since I came here and had been listening to me in silence.

I chose to ignore him in order to not unleash my anger on him but if he opens his mouth to say another word then I might as well lose my patience with him.

“She’s not the one you should be angry with, she just wants you to forgive her and reunite with her ” he said but I still didn’t pay attention to him as I continued to chop on the broccoli loudly hoping he would leave.

He shortly left and even though I had sliced and chopped a lot of vegetables, if not excess I suddenly didn’t have the strength in me to cook anymore. I was sure Joe was filled up and I didn’t care if my father ate or not, moreover I bought them with my money not his.

I packed the vegetables in a plastic bag and placed them back in the fridge. I might as well cook them tomorrow.

*********

“Can I leave work on time today?” I asked Gabs as he stared at me with a blank face. If looks could kill then I would have died already.

He didn’t respond to me on time and I started to question my decision if I had said the right thing or not or maybe I probably approached him in a bad manner.

“Well we have no customers so you might as well just leave already” he sighed before using his hands to wave me away from the office. I know it must have been tough for him especially after Zach left, it was almost like Zach broke up with him.

“Thank you sir, I’ll be here on time tomorrow” I said but as I was about to leave his office he called me back.

“When is your boyfriend coming back?” He asked

“Uhm I don’t know for now, I haven’t heard anything from him yet” I replied then he dismissed me.

The fact that Zach promised to call immediately when he reaches Brazil but then I haven’t heard from him yesterday, that fact hurt a lot that I started to overthink about almost everything.

What if he has forgotten about me already or what if he has a lost love over there since he was there most of his time or perhaps he has turned back to his old attitude by flirting and making out with every single girl he comes across since I wasn’t in Brazil.

I immediately shove the thoughts off though, I trust Zach and in this type of situation with a long distance relationship trust is necessary.

“See you tomorrow Lena” I waved her goodbye as I carried my bag. She insisted on waiting behind because she wanted to wait for Phil the chef even though she didn’t tell me I wasn’t as blind as not to notice that something was going on between the two of them.

“Okay bye” she waved me back and I walked out of the door. I would be picking Joe up from school today. I can’t risk him seeing Fiona again and perhaps I would need to warn him to stay away from her.

As I was about to enter the car my phone rang from my bag but I couldn’t find it in its exact spot on time until the time ran out. I. Checked the screen and it was a foreign strange number. I guessed it must have been Zach and silently cussed myself for not answering the call on time.

I entered the car and inserted the key but before I started to drive my phone rang again and I answered it immediately.

“Hello?” I greeted.

“Christ where were you when I called at first, I thought you were mad at me and wouldn’t pick my call. You left me worried” he rushed out his words and I didn’t need anyone to tell me it was Zach especially the second he said Christ.

“It wasn’t up to two minutes Zach and don’t yell at me, you didn’t call me since yesterday either” I scoffed and the phone was silent for a while.

“I’m sorry I should have called earlier, I miss you a lot even though it’s not up to two days,” he whispered and I smiled.

“I miss you too and I can’t wait for you to get back or perhaps I would visit real sooner” I said and started the drive, I was running late to pick Joe up already.

“Zach I’ll call you once I get home, I’m driving to Joe’s school” I said and he replied with “okay love” before ending the call and I fully started to drive. Sometimes I wonder how people call and drive at the same time because it was pretty hard for me to do two things together.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

I reached his school and met him standing in front of the school like he was expecting me to pick him up but he wasn’t looking in my direction. His eyes were fixed on a car that had just driven off.

“Joe, who was that?” I asked immediately I parked in front of him and his eyes widened, he wasn’t expecting me to be here.

“The truth!” I repeated and he sighed. It was pretty dramatic for a nine year old boy to sigh.

“It was mum” he said and my anger came back.