Chapter Five

AEYRAH

I opened the door and almost had the breath knocked out of me as my cousin jumped on me, sending the both of us to the ground. 

"AEYRAH!" She screamed, still hugging me.

"Hello Maryah." I said, trying to catch my breath as she finally released me and helped me get up. My mother who entered with some dishes in her hands, snickered.

"Don't you dare try to be formal with me!" Maryah said and hooked an arm with mine, leading me to the dining table.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not being formal, cousin. It's just been a long time since I was back in Lakewood." I replied, smiling. I turned to look at her. "Gosh! You are so grown!" She had to be an inch taller than I was, and I was not short by any means.

Maryah shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "You weren't going to be the tallest for long, sweetie!" She winked and let go of my arm before settling in a chair. "Come sit next to me." She beckoned, patting the chair beside hers.

I chuckled and started to make my way to the seat when my aunt came in. "AEYRAH!" She exclaimed, opening her arms wide with a very huge smile etched on her lips.

What was it and all of them screaming my name now!

I laughed as my aunt wiggled her brows, waiting for my brace. "Hello, Aunt Rosette." I said, hugging her.

Maryah's mum was so slender and beautiful. Funny enough, I looked more like her, than my own mother. While Maryah looked more like my mother than I did.

"The last time I saw you, you were the most troublesome little thing." She said and pulled back to observe my face. "Aww.... don't tell me the city had dulled that feistiness in your eyes."

I rolled my eyes again and just laughed. "I'm sure I'm the same person as I was all those years ago, aunt." I told her.

The truth was, I wasn't. I wasn't the same person anymore. Although some of my memory from my last days at Lakewood were a little fuzzy, I knew I wasn't the same teenager anymore.

"I hope not." A cool baritone said from behind me, and I stilled.

It was the unmistakable voice of my father.

Aunt Rosette let me go and I turned to face him. 

Ishak hadn't changed one bit. He looked the exact same way he had, the last time I had seen him. Hos face was plain...rid of any emotion.

"Hello, pa." I said in a low voice, biting the inside of my lips to reduce how nervous I was feeling. It has been so long I saw him, and unlike my mother, I didn't know how to behave around him.

"Are you just going to stand there or you would come give your father a hug, Aeyrah?" He asked, breaking into a smile to my surprise. I gasped.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. What had happened in Lakewood in my absence?

Whatever it was, I was both excited and suspicious.

With little hesitation, I jumped into his arms and almost smiled in relief as he closed them around me.

"I missed you so much, pa." I admitted.

It wasn't just him. I missed the whole of my family.

Years away from them had been hell. But it had been necessary for everyone, including me.

"That's it?" Maryah asked, passing the bowl of bread to me. I took it and shook my head.

My cousin was a freaking encyclopedia of questions. I had answered a lot of questions through dinner and she wasn't satisfied. I was very sure she hadn't taken up to three bites of her food.

"What else do you want to hear? I quit the damn job and that was it." I shrugged, taking a bite of my bread.

"That's my girl." My mum said from her seat opposite me. "But what would you have had her do, Maryah?" My mum asked my cousin who was visibly unsatisfied.

"She should have kicked his ass. Show him she's from Lakewood." She said, tossing her spoon down.

I had been narrating the story of my first job to her. How my manager had not only punished me for complaining about a groping customer, but had also tried to sexually assault me too.

"Oh, I actually did. I left him in a really bad position by the time the paramedics and police arrived. It was the first time I tried a 'bone cracking' spell." I finally admitted, and almost choked on my food from laughter as everyone let out an 'ooooowww' at the same time.

"I would have been disappointed if you hadn't done so." Aunt Rose was the one to speak.

The rest of the meal went well with me catching up on everyone and everything that had been going on in Lakewood.

As I looked at my family, I couldn't have been more happy. I had thought coming back to Lakewood would make me sad, but it wasn't the case.

I was...happy.

A text came in on Maryah's phone and I watched her open it up and bounce excitedly, then rapidly text back.

My cousin had really changed. She was no more the shy and reserved girl I knew.

"Oh,Sis. You are coming with me." She said, pocketing her phone and looking at me.

I frowned. "To where?" I asked, as my heart did a little flip. If she was going to say anything about going out of the mansion....

"We have a party tonight. And you are coming with me." She said as a matter of factly and got up from her sit. "Let's go." 

Hell freaking no!

The last thing I needed was to go to a freaking party. "I've just come back. I should at least get used to_" I tried to speak but got interrupted by my mother.

"The environment? That's why you should go with her to the party. It's just a thing all the youngsters in Lakewood do once in a while." That being said, she swirled a finger and I was shot out of my sit.

"Dad?" I looked at my dad but he just raised his hands in surrender.

Where had my strict parents disappeared to?

"Cool! Bye, family!" Maryah yelled and dragged me out of the dining room.

The last thing I saw before we turned in a corner was my father laughing while my aunt and mother joined him.

I guess I did have a party to attend!

Hah!