Twenty-five

"Your father came home."

"My… what?!" I exclaimed. I was about to reply to her and ask further questions when a hand forcefully snatched the phone from my hand and switched it off immediately. I was too pissed to act as I just sat there staring at the devil that just did that. Xavier.

"Are you not time conscious or something? Because I told you to take your time, you want to spend the whole day here?" He asked, raising his voice a bit at me.

I could take a lot of things, but one thing I would not take is someone shouting at me, especially when I had no fault whatsoever. "Don't raise your voice at me," I replied calmly, despite being annoyed. That was one of the many lessons I learned from my grandmother. When speaking with someone and the other party is angry, you don't have to also get angry. It would only cause disaster. Be the calm one when the other person is angry.

"And what if I do? What would you do? Beat me?" He retorted, his voice still laced with anger and still very loud.

"