5. HER RETURN

SEVEN YEARS LATER.

CAMPVILLE.

Singing Queen's "Somebody to Love" he hit the high note sweetly, his voice resonating melodiously.

“Jayden!" I called.

“You have to be fast, else we'll miss the flight"

“Ten more minutes, mamma mia and I'll be out!" He blared from the washroom.

“Ten?" I asked and we both chuckled.

Over the years I've grown accustomed to my son's unending wash in the bathroom. He made it his studio, rhyming and humming and hitting different notes while scrubbing. Jayden had undeniably inherited my talent for singing as a hobby, he made my heart skip a beat when he talks about basketball, Richard's favorite, but like they say an apple apparently does not fall far from the tree.

I stared at my mirror admiring my face the way I did every morning for six whole years. Four years ago, I had conducted a facial surgery and I couldn't help but admire my look. I loved the new look of my chin, my lips augmentation and my cuter nose. It helped me heal.

When I first arrived in Campville, it often seemed like I saw Celine in my mirror, and I was constantly reminded of my anguish. I had to ditch the face.

“You're still there, mom?" Jayden asked, popping his head from the washroom and jolting me from my thoughts.

With a jocular voice, I replied, “Ofcourse I am"

I knew what my smart ten year old meant by that question. He was literally chasing me out of the room because he needed to put on his clothing.

“You can give orders when you're in your room, Jay. For now, I have all the right to say no because I'm in mine" I declared, poking out the sticky notes that hung on my mirror.

In the order of how I read them, I stuck out, "I am beautiful", "I am worthy of love and respect", "I can achieve my goals", "I am deserving of good things " and lastly, "I'm enough". My new friend, Nova, had suggested I do that. I had seriously battled with low self esteem during my stay in Campville

Taking the Vogue magazines I had featured from my cabinet's top, I smiled, happy at the position I had attained over the years. A picture of the new me was visibly displayed on the cover;

STARR GRIFFINS,

COUTURIER AND CEO OF STARR FASHION HOME. CAMPVILLE'S BIGGEST SENSATION!.

I folded the sticky notes and threw them to the floor, and I placed the magazines in a box we would take with us to the airport. Jayden came out and we almost collided. He was drying his deep brown hair with his white towel, another was tied to his small waist and his blue eyes glistened as our gaze met.

Why did he have to possess Richard's adorable eyes too? It was literally haunting.

“Please, mamma mia. I brought my clothes in here" He begged again.

I shook my head, marveled at how my son demanded privacy at his little age. Just then, my phone rang and Jayden made a sigh of relief, grinning widely when I shot him a fierce glare.

“George" I muttered, swerving my auburn long hair to the back.

I wondered why I always blushed whenever his name is displayed on my screen.

"Scarlett, can I take your relocation to Atlanta today seriously, or is this some kind of joke?” he asked.

I made to correct my name, “I've told you times without number, it's--"

"Starr" he completed.

"My bad... Forgive me mademoiselle!" He joked, and I felt Jayden hand pushing me tenderly behind.

I rolled my eyes, and moved to the living room, serving the spaghetti and steaks I had made earlier. We would have to eat that before we leave.

"I was serious when I said I'm moving to Atlanta." I assured George.

"I can't wait to see you" I heard him utter nervously.

I felt a little hot all over, and I made to reply same but Jayden came into the living room that minute.

"Goodbye George. By evening, we should be at your place"

"Mmmhh..." He responded and the call went off.

"Who's this George, your boyfriend? Dad?" Jayden asked, taking a steak and munching on it noisily.

"Jay!" I shrieked.

“You’re always on calls with him, mamma mia. It’s not my fault, you know."

I smirked at him and totally changed the subject, "Look, we need to hurry. It's almost 12p.m"

-

_________

By 12:15p.m, we arrived at Jordan Airways and we were both lucky the plane hadn't moved. I dressed Jayden's hair and rolled out his sleeves. He was fond of taking his sleeves all the way up to his elbows, despite putting on an Old Navy two piece and a white Nike sneakers. It made him look off and when I dressed my son, I realized he was almost as tall as me.

"Atlanta will be a lot better, Jay. Hope you aren't missing your friends too much?" I asked as we walked hand in hand into the airplane.

"A little" he shrugged.

"I miss just Mabel and Jesse" he added.

"I hope you get to see them once again" I said, feeling a little awful for changing locations suddenly without bearing Jayden in mind, but I needed to do that.

He did his normal routine of covering his ears with his blue headphones, folding his arms, shutting his eyes and licking his lips as he enjoyed the music.

From the news and social media platforms, I was quite making a buzz in Atlanta and the ladies all wished I was there to make their clothes. Georgie complained of missing me silly for over seven years and Atlanta was a bigger state. It wasn't easy to wave that off. This was also my chance to get my planned revenge, my pound of flesh right? I couldn't wait to see how the people over there would react to meeting one of the biggest fashion designers.

I stared at Jayden one more time, grateful for the permanent scar on his face. At five, he had an accident that left the visible short scar at the right hand side of his face. Atleast, that was another way to conceal his identity despite the change of name. However, with or without the scar my smart fabulous son didn't look an inch of how he looked like at three. The illness stricken chubby Liam was now a lanky Jayden, too handsome with bright blue eyes and pink lips. I didn't need to wonder why the girls at his school all wanted to be friends with him.

"Stop staring at me that way, mamma mia! People would think you're my glamour queen" he muttered, still shutting his eyes.

I pinched myself and asked in surprise, “Jayden, who taught you that?"

Swiftly, he opened his eyes and pointed to a young girl at the right corner.

"See, she have been staring all this while!"

"She's my mom" he added proudly, clasping my arm.

Why was Jayden so observant, even when his eyes were partially shut. I almost pushed him away.

"She was probably staring because my face pops up on teevee every now and then, Jay! Not because I was staring at you" I corrected.

"Ah-hah! absolutely, Mom! The downsides of being a public figure"

I shot him a wild glare. Jayden was incorrigible.

He went on to say, “You know I hate when people stare at me so much"

I shook my head, diverting my gaze to the window. I wasn't ready for Jayden's ruckus today.

--

______

By the time we arrived at George's place, the weather had begun to grow dark. His daughter, Diamond was asleep and he suggested we left Jayden and Diamond in the care of Priscy, his housekeeper.

In his car, we rode to Savour & Spice, a lush restaurant in Atlanta and he acted so gentlemanly, helping me out of the car, holding my bag and pushing the restaurant's chair forward for me to sit.

"What's all this show for?" I asked in a chuckle, as he went on to sit opposite me.

"Show? You're a celebrity, Starr. I'm privileged to do you that honor" he said in a mock bow.

"Oh! Stop it!"

The waiter came over to our table and George ordered Grilled Chicken Salad for both of us. While we both ate, his eyes never left my face for a second.

"An additional minute of that stare will make my food topple over. You're staring at me too much!"

He made a short cough, surprised that I had caught him.

"My eyes are only admiring what they see. A mesmerizing beauty. I bet I've never seen a lady as pretty as you are in Atlanta" he responded.

"Don't patronize me, George!" I opined with a laugh.

"I'm dead serious, I love how you look" he insisted and we maintained our gaze for a few uneasy seconds.

At that moment, a female voice interrupted harshly, "Don't you dare speak to me!"

A man was following her behind, and he seemed to be begging as she made fast long strides advancing to us. My eyes caught sight of the expensive purse on the table close to ours, I guess she was coming for that.

"When would you learn to understand me? I only told him that--"

"I'm not interested in your flimsy explanations!" She cut him short, waving her hands in the air.

Her fingers almost poked his face. George and I looked at ourselves, they were couples obviously having a fight, but right here in public?.

She made to pick her purse, and when she bent over I got a proper view of the face of the man behind her.

Oh no!. My fist tightened on my dress.

‘Celine?'

She was a little more robust than she looked before I left Atlanta, and the man behind her was none other than my EX HUSBAND, RICHARD DERMOTT.

I had expected to meet them, but not just yet. On my first day back in Atlanta?.

George rubbed his hand soothingly on my left arm and I gulped nervously. Within me, I was reminded that I had a new face she wouldn't suspect a thing. That was a huge wash of relief.

I fanned my face with my palms, too shocked and nervous but her voice startled me.

"Oh my gosh!" She shrieked, letting her purse fall off her palms.

Celine had gotten a better view of my face.

"Is that Starr?!" She wheezed in astonishment.