*Andrea*I drove Austin home myself. Since they had already been here to pick him up, I figured out it would be better to just take him home.Alison lay on the sofa when I walked in with Austin. He said a greeting to her before proceeding into his room. “You brought him home again today, " her eyes shifted to the clock. “But it's not yet time,” I dropped on the chair.The event a while ago was tiring. I stood; I needed to quench the burning within me. “Is something wrong?” Alison asked.“No,” I opened the water bottle I had just taken out of the fridge. I walked with the bottle to take a seat on the couch in front of Alison.“You won't believe that Alejandro and Dave went to Austin's school at the same time. Both claim to be his father and request that he come with them,” I still couldn't wrap my head around it.It wasn't something that happened every time. “You can't blame Dave. He has always been like dad to Austin," I leaned into the chair.Sigh.She was right. It wasn't like I
*Alejandro*Soft jazz music resounded in the background. Glass clinked as people murmured. I walked towards the booth where Lucas was seated. He had a glass of tequila in front of him. He had his head down; his finger was dancing on the screen of his phone. “Son,” he raised his head, his eyes quickly meeting mine.“Dad,” he called and stood. We hugged, his cologne engulfing me.It was nice to see him extend his hand to me in a hug; it made me feel like I was on top of the world.“How have you been?” I asked, taking my seat, “I didn't know you were back. I got no call or text from you.” I said, signally a barman with my fingers. “When did you arrive in LA?” “I've been in this City for a few days now; as you can see, I'm doing well.” He said. I gave my orders to the barman.Lucas typed on his phone again before placing it on the table in our middle. “I guess you must have been busy?” He asked and I nodded. “I have been, but I'm sorry. If I had known you were around, I'd have made t
*Andrea*Sun rays beamed into the room through the window. I had that window locked, and I squinted my eyes, ‘so, who opened it?’My eyes were yet to adjust to the light flooding the room. I laid my back on the wooden frame, one hand rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.Everything was the same, but a feeling I couldn't put my hand on settled in the pit of my stomach.What happened yesterday? I tried to recall if anything went amiss.Just then, my nose tinged, and I yawned lazily.I turned my head, and my eyes fell on a man who was fast asleep close to me. I almost leapt out of bed; I was about to shout when I recognized him.Alejandro?What was he doing here? And on my bed? I furrowed my gaze. Oh no…I raised the duvet and quickly checked myself to see if he had touched me. But he hasn't; I was fully clothed. How did he get on my bed? I wanted to hit him or do anything just to wake him, but I couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I found myself scouting closer to him; his eyes were close
*Andrea*My head was spinning. Who was this Lucas?Of course, there are many people out there with the same name, so I can't be sure about this. But a Lucas that knows me is hard to come by. She must have probably told him about me. I tried to give myself various reasons why this Lucas can't be the one I know. It has to be someone else.My head suddenly turned heavy. Alison stepped into the sitting room with a bottle of water. I raised my eyes to meet hers, “here, drink water.” She dropped on the sofa, “is something wrong?” She asked me to place the bottle on the table since I refused to accept it.“Lucas, who is he?” I asked. Her hand, which was on my shoulders, fell to her side, and she quickly picked up her phone. “You went through my phone?” She asked. “That's not the question, Alison. Who is this Lucas that is in LA that knows me?”She sighed, her head falling. She placed her phone beside her.“I wanted to tell you, Andrea. I have been waiting for the right opportunity to te
*Nora*I walked out of Alejandro's study, anger coursing through my veins. I had gone through hell to make sure I got back into his life, and I was not ready to throw that away for anything. No, I had to do something.Walking into my room, I closed the door behind me and placed my back on it. My chest tightened as I raised the divorce papers to my face. I can't sign this. I fling it to the side before walking across my room to sit on the edge of my bed.After hearing Alejandro and Andrea's conversation, I knew something like this was likely to happen. I knew he might want to remove me from his life.I just didn't imagine that he would do so soon. I pace around my room. I should have worked faster if I had known that this would happen.I had brought Lucas here in the hope that he would help in making Alejandro stay home, but it was of no use. Lucas doesn't seem to have more effect on Alejandro as he used to in the past. I made dinner at home, and I went to Alejandro's office to tel
*Andrea*We were all seated in the sitting room. Alison and Lucas sat on a couch; Lucas had his hands entwined in hers. Austin was seated close to him and scouted closer to me. He noticed that the mood was a bit heavy. “I didn't know you were both in a relationship,” Alejandro said. “I planned on telling you today; I never knew you would bring me here.”The Lucas I know would have jumped from his seat to establish his discomfort in my son and me.“I'm sorry I kept this a secret, Dad. But you kept an even bigger secret,” Lucas said.Last night, I had told Austin that Alejandro was his father. After reading him a book for the night, I asked him, “What do you think of your new friend?” I asked.At first, he was puzzled. It wasn't until I mentioned his name that the realization hit him, and he sat straight, “he is super cool, Mom.” I smiled; he did have a good view of his dad, and that was good. “I wonder if he is single. Do you think he is married?” I froze at his question.“Why are
*Alejandro* I had just stepped out of my car when my phone rang. I picked up the call immediately when Andrea’s name appeared on my screen.I had been delayed as a result of traffic. Lucas got out from the other side. “We are here, Andrea, sorry just give us…”“We can't find Austin,” her voice rang out from the other end. I removed the phone from my ear, stared at the screen, and placed it back. “We can't find Austin. We came together, but he's gone. He's not in the restaurant. I don't know where he is. We've been searching over thirty minutes…” she was breaking down. I stopped on my track, my entire mood flipping.“What do you mean?” I began working, taking large strides. “When? How?” She didn't respond; she just kept sobbing. Noticing my change, Lucas asked, “Dad, what's wrong?” I ended the call, “Austin has gone missing,” I said, running towards the entrance like a madman.I didn't mind the curious stares I received immediately after entering the hotel.I looked around, but A
*Andrea*It felt like I was dreaming. My mind kept retracting back to the entrance. We had just stepped in, and he had run after Alison. I could still see Alison walking towards me alone. When she said she didn't see him, we went ahead and searched for him immediately. At first, I thought he was just being mischievous as always and promised to scold him in case of further occurrence. But after searching the restrooms and the hallway and not finding him anywhere, I began to feel uneasy. Then we had to search around the hotel. I searched outside; maybe he had run out. But he wasn't outside. After searching for over twenty minutes and not getting any sign of him, worries finally sipped into my heart. I couldn't hold back anymore, and tears began to roll down my eyes. I called Alejandro immediately.We'd been searching for over two hours, and he had yet to be seen. When Alejandro told me that he had been tracked, I wept; that meant my son had been kidnapped. He had been taken away.