Realizations
DABBY:
I came out of the storeroom to a sight of the most shocking scene, my eyes couldn’t have expected to witness. Mrs. Carr was hugging a tall figure that surely wasn’t Mason, and the face that I was looking at, made me wonder what could be going on between them.
‘Damien?’Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
My eyes darted to the right immediately when I figured out that someone was coming from the opposite direction, and it was no one other than Mason who also looked bewildered about the scene before him. He probably wouldn’t have seen who his mum was hugging anyways.
“Mum, I’m back,” he announced, dropping the nylons of things he bought on the floor, and I siddled over to his side to collect them from him, “Mum. Who is he?” He could finally ask.
His mother separated from Damien slowly at the question from her son, and Mason’s eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment of what he was seeing.
He suddenly became dumbstruck about what could be going on between his mum and Damien, and she answered at the shock of the moment, “It is your cousin. Akeela’s son. My younger sister.”
“Wha.. What?” Mason stuttered at his mother’s response, and my own heart also dropped at what I heard.
‘Damien and Mason were cousins? Real cousins? Oh goodness. How did they jump from enemies to this? I certainly didn’t come here to see something like this.’
~”~
Hours ago………
When I hid away in fear that the couples might discover me where I stood, my heart thumped so hard and fast. The shock was too much for me to handle, when I heard what mum and Damien’s dad were saying. I couldn’t believe my ears, and It was so hard to digest.
Even the slap that I was sure that I heard from Damien’s father to mum, and the one she returned almost immediately with a powerful force, made me realize that the marriage was shaking. Everything was already going bad, yet they were trying hard to keep up because of the benefits.
That was when I realized what the supposed contract was all about. It was all a waste of time assembling it, because I heard the real thing from both of them, who didn’t know someone would be home at that time. But I knew that it would serve as evidence some day.
It made me so confused, because I and Damien were the ones that were roped in their play and make-believe. If I had to tell anyone else about it, it had to be Damien. But I definitely couldn’t. He hated his father already. Telling him that would worsen everything.
When I figured out that they moved the rest of their brawl to the bedroom, I picked my heels and ran out of the gate immediately. I totally had nowhere in mind to go at that particular time, and I just ran through the opposite route of the second street, to wherever it would lead to. I had switched off my phone too.
I boarded a bus, and took it straight into town. I got my nails and hair done while wallowing in sadness of so many thoughts, and went to an amusement park after to ride the ferris wheel.
While I was alone, I carefully removed my lens before it started and cried so much till my eyes hurt. By the time the wheel had gone like three times, I was feeling better already.
I bought ice cream after I came down at a food truck, walked to the nearest bus stop to board a bus and went straight to the cafe. I had the extra keys with me, and it was not yet time for the place to open until two hours later.
When I walked to the place, I saw that Mrs. Carr was there already, and I was surprised to know that she was around the cafe at that time. I helped her carry the groceries she bought from the store, and asked if she had closed from work already.
She told me that she had quit her second job, and was going to run her cafe fully in three shifts. We talked and laughed about Mason and his grumpiness, and I was delighted that I could forget my worries temporarily.
Mason came to the shop almost an hour later, and he frowned hard when he saw me laughing with his mum. He had tried calling me so many times, and my phone was already switched off making it so bothersome to reach me. I apologized for stressing him out, and we had snacks over some work.
He offered to go and get groceries again, after we estimated that what she bought would not be enough. And him coming back to the cafe, made him realize the craziest turn of his life.