BEATRICE: I tried to tell myself that I don't owe Drake any explanations, so why did my heart skip a bit when he asked where I was too? Why did it become difficult to answer that question? My mouth opened, but no words would come out of it. Dang it. I looked like I was already outlining the things that I will see in front of my house when I returned. "Are you perhaps with someone else?" Drake pressed, not wanting to let go of the topic. “I hope you will be able to swim.” "Where is the teacher?" I asked, changing the topic. "She already went home when I arrived here. She said she had some kind of emergency in her house. But you did not answer my question, Beatrice." "Are you hungry now, Grayson?" I inquired, still don't have any plans of answering his questions. If I kept on evading it, I looked like I was guilty, right? "I am, MOmmy. Could Daddy come with us? I want to eat with him. What did you cook, Mommy?" "Something delicious. Vegetables. Your favorite." His eyes bulged
BEATRICE:With Grayson gone, my ex-husband could now ask questions which he believed he was entitled to hear, but he did not. But he was not the type who would listen. He was stubborn. Very much hard-headed.Sensing that this would be a long talk, I pulled one vacant chair, and sat, still monitoring my son outside. There was indeed someone who was with him and Drake saw that man too. Seeing he had no reaction to the man, then he might be one of the bodyguards that he was talking about."You won't get any answer from me," I retorted, shifting my attention back to him. "You cannot demand anything from me, Drake.""You're avoiding my questions even if I did not still ask them. Which means that you don't want me to know."I scoffed. "What do you want to know?""Where were you? Why were you late?""You want to know the answer?""Yes. I want to know the answer."Unfolding my arms in front of my chest, I replied, "Fine. I was on a date with Josh." I saw the man whom you thought I was having
BEATRICE: Josh had a wife? But he never said anything about it. Not about his wife dead. Or even anything about that woman. He was married…Josh…for someone as open as him, I was not expecting that he was also capable of hiding something from me. Why? You think you're the only one who is allowed to keep secrets? the other part of my mind said. Josh was not like that. I thought he was an open book that he was not hiding anything from me. I did not know what was surprising. The fact that Josh was able to hide some important facts in his life while claiming he was pursuing me or that he had a wife and she was already dead while Drake was claiming she was murdered. Josh never said such things. Or anything about his wife. So I don't…Josh being a murderer? Images of his smiling face flashed in my mind. He sure did not look like a murderer to me. I shook my head, refusing to believe Drake's allegations.I was certain if that was true (not being the murderer thingy), Josh was hiding it
BEATRICE:“What is it to you if my brother knows about me and his nephew? Are you scared?” I asked, seeing how his face turned ashen. Wait.Why was he giving me this kind of reaction?What. Was he scared of Everette? He was older than my younger brother for crying out loud. Yet he was intimidated? Everette sure had a way of intimidating men surrounding me. But my ex-husband being intimidated by him? “I’m...embarrassed to face him, Beatrice. Or any member of your family. I don’t have the face to see them after what happened.”Grayson’s hand held mine tightly and did the same. “It’s natural that you will feel like that after what you did in the past.They were the living witness of how I acted in the past.” Of what a fool I was. Are you sure you’re not a fool now? Embracing this man into your life again is another sign of foolishness, Beatrice.That might be true, but I did not accept his feelings. What we have is nothing but for my son. “You should be,” I mumbled to myself. We smi
BEATRICE:Why did it have to be now? Why did their paths need to cross? I was not ready for this. Not prepared for any of the drama. Especially the fight. Would my brother stay still, or would he punch my ex-husband right away?Of course, he would throw me questions. Questions about why the heck I was still with Drake. Especially about fetching my son. Christina might have left me alone, but she sure had a husband here who would keep everything at check. Dang it.Oh, great. What a very nice day it is. Please note the sarcasm. “Beatrice,” Everette greeted through gritted teeth. “I never expected that you would tag someone.”I never expected that you'd be here, too, I wanted to say but stopped myself from doing so. Not in front of my son. “Everette. Why are you here?” I inquired, trying to make my voice as happy as possible, even if that was not what I was feeling right now. I wanted to run away and disappear for a few minutes. “Uncle Everette!” Grayson exclaimed and ran towards
BEATRICE: Everette's brows furrowed.“I…I never knew anything about that. Christina just said that she’s not ready to have one.”His wife was keeping the real reason to herself. “Why is she not ready when you don’t have any obligations? You've been married for how many years? Seven years?”He gave me a curt nod. “Christina's biological clock is ticking,” I muttered. “If you want her to have a pregnancy which she won't really have any problems with, then she has to get pregnant now.”You made it sound as if getting pregnant was easy. Remember what happened to you? You also find it difficult to get pregnant. I've been asking Christina about having a child since according to her, she did not have any medical conditions, but she always answered that she still had no plans to have one. “I…I don’t know, Beatrice. I’m only respecting my wife’s wishes without questioning her. It's her body. I will only wait until she gets ready.”“What about you? Don't you want a child?”He nodded. “I lik
BEATRICE:Drake was giving me a hopeful look while I looked for some words to answer. That was the last thing I wanted to see from him. Did he think I would easily give in like that? Having a child while my life was still a mess was something I did not want my grandchildren to experience. "Do you want it, Grayson?" my ex-husband answered for me. “Do you want me and Mommy to have…”Sex? Clearing my throat, I said, "That will happen at the right time," I answered. I was not yet in my menopausal stage. I could still carry a child within me. Like Christina, my biological clock was also ticking. And if I wanted to have another child, this year was the best year. The sooner the better so there will be less complications or no complications. The problem was that Grayson wanted his Dad to be the Dad. Not just some random men in the alleyway. "Oh. I want it to be as soon as possible, Mommy. I will be the best big brother in the whole universe," he declared and spread his arms just to show
BEATRICE:Why did he come here? What's his purpose? First, it was in the park. Next, here? Was this all a chance or was he trying to approach me? My head felt like it was going to split open for all the questions I wanted to ask, but with no answers at all. The man was scanning the environment and was also wearing a jacket. Since he was not wearing a mask, it was clear that he wanted me to recognize him. What is he trying to do? If I run towards his direction, will he run like what he used to do in the past? "Beatrice. What's wrong?" Everette asked me. His brows furrowed in confusion. Everything was wrong! That man…what did he want from me? Why did he return after a couple of years? If only he stayed hidden from me and pretended that he did not exist, then this will not happen anymore. I wanted to chaee him. The man and I finally met our gaze. In a split second, his eyes widened, as if he did not mean our way to cross.He was planning something. Whose relationship is what he i