COLD SUMMER

CS 3: BACK TO IT

Back to it (3)

He smiled and turned, his sleep was peaceful for the 1st time in 6 months and he’s never felt this much ease before. The smell of home made meal blew past his nose and he smiled as he opened his eyes, rose up and yawned. Someone had placed breakfast not too far from him with a bag and he knew it was no one else but her. When he looked around, the whole tent was empty except for his wallet and phone. He opened it quickly to check his belongings but all his properties were intact. He quickly stood up and went outside just to see a motorcycle, brand new, he noted. On it, was a note. He picked it up and read

“ride it home, it’s yours Alex”

He wondered how it got there, how she did it. He went back into the tent and headed to where the food was placed, he smiled.

“what a woman?”

“ive looked into what you asked me to” Arman said to her and she collected the papers from him

“who is he, Rebecca?” Arman asked

“None of your business” she said and Logan bit his lips

“wow, none of my business but you called me late at night to bring one of your motorcycles and things I don’t want to remember” Arman said

She turned to look at Arman slowly and he bit his lips

“why do you always want to know?” she asked

“I really don’t care but I was awake the whole night, digging out information about this Alex whatever”

“Logan, I want this whole debt to be paid off”

“With your money?” Logan asked her

“should I use yours?” she asked and he sighed

“sure” he stood up after collecting the files from her and left, leaving her and Arman

“you’re crazy Rebecca and I hope you don’t regret helping this stranger. You are weird” He said and left

“aren’t we staying with Daddy anymore” Teresa asked

“yes my dear, we are not staying with Daddy anymore”

“So will we be here with grandma and Grand pa?”

“Yes my dear, we will and it’s just for a little while” laurel hugged her daughter

She should be surprised that Teresa didn’t bother her about it. She knew her daughter too well and that’s why she was not surprised about it. There was no big bond between her and Alex and Teresa is more like her than Wave. If wave had been alive, she would have left him with Alex without hesitation. He would not want to leave his dad.

“we will be happy here and you will get to go to schools that fits your status”

Teresa smiled “Thank you mummy”

“I need to go, your grand father must be expecting me” laurel said as she stood up and Teresa nodded

“go mother, I’ll wait for you”

“ok. I will soon be back and when I do, we will need to find you a new school”

Teresa nodded and laurel left the room.

She felt fulfilled, she felt overjoyed, she was back to her real life and she’s happy that she’s been given the opportunity to show her daughter what living a good life means.

“has someone missed me?” She said as she walked into the kitchen

Rebecca turned and pursed her lips “is there anything special for me to crave for?”

“Gosh, you and that tongue of yours. Love you too”

“what are you doing here?, You didn’t tell me you were coming”

“Did I have to?”

“what if I wasn’t around, Gracia”

“about the camping, I knew you couldn’t last out there”

“camping?, LOGAN!”

Gracia laughed “he always tells me everything”

“great” Rebecca said and they both left the kitchen

“your birthday is coming up Rebecca, you’ll be 27”

“don’t care” she said as they went to sit at the dining

“your sister called me”

“Wow, she has time to call people about me”

“It wasn’t about you silly, she doesn’t have your time again. She asked about me and my family”

“Oh...” She paused “she hasn’t called me in months. Do you think she’s mad at me?”

“I don’t know, try to call her too. She was just looking out for you Rebecca, you didn’t have to snap at her for being a big sister to you”

“or maybe I should visit Ohio to see her”

“I don’t see that as a bad idea. At least, you’re not writing for the main time and you’ve handed the running of your company to Arman for the main time also”

“you’re very right. I think I’ve spent too much time here, I need to be around my family”

“for the 1st time, I’m hearing something worthy from you”

“f**k you Gracia”

Her and her sis had a fight about 8 months back and since then, none of them called each other and their mother had decided not to interfere. Rebecca had always been the problem cause she never listens and all they do is looking out for her but of course, she felt like they’re breathing heavily down her neck and it pisses her off everytime. Her mother hasn’t visited her ever since. Even though she calls but it’s not the same. She couldn’t even go to her sister when she had her 2nd child and she felt really terrible about it cause none of them told her about it, she had overheard it from Logan’s conversation with Gracia. Then, she realized how mad her family were but still, she had chosen not to apologize about it.

Laurel entered the glass house and saw her father gardening. She wasn’t surprised, that had always been his hobby

“a helping hand is here” she said warmly

“I will prefer none, thank you” he said without looking back.

She stood there watching him, none saying anything to one another. Then he broke the silence

“you left Alex” he started “why?”

“I was done with it…the marriage”

Liam was silent again. She had always known her father to be a man of little words. Her mother does all the shouting and nagging, not her dad. There’s nothing her mother does that her father doesn’t know about. Her mother is the iron fisted not Liam and she was really surprised that it was her mother that reached out to her Instead of her dad after leaving home. Her dad never called her once but she believes that he knows that her mother does.

“I heard about Wave”

“You know my son’s name” she said touching a flower

Liam stopped and looked at her “laurel, you’re not here because you want to bond back with us, you’re here just to take what’s yours back. I can see rage in your eyes towards me, you hate us”

“And why would I do that?” she asked, her arms akimbo

“because we were not there for you. The four of us abandoned you. Your mother called you once or twice in months and she said less”

Laurel bit her lower lip to hold back her anger

“you’re hurting Laurel, stop hiding it. Your son’s death has knocked hatred for us all cause no one stood by you during those hard times”

“If you had known that, why didn’t you just keep it cute and head on gardening”

“cause I’m sorry, laurel, I really am”

“sorry!, you’re sorry father. 8 years, 8 good years” this time, her rage wasn’t kept hidden, it was all over her

“just because I chose to marry Alex, you abandoned me for 8years, all of you”

“you had a choice Laurel and you chose Alex”

“So what if I did?, I loved him and I cared about him so much. He had no one, his family abandoned him just because he wouldn’t follow his father’s wish”

“You wanted to go with him”

“Cut the crap father, just cut it” angry tears were already running down her face “I loosed a child and none of you could come, even when he was sick, I called mother and asked for her support. Not financial support but her motherly comfort. All she did was send me money without saying anything to me and now, I return home and you all act like a goddess is back”

“Laurel…” Liam started and she cuts him off

“I don’t plan to stay long in this miserable place, I just can’t stand Alex anymore. I’m moving out soon” she stormed out and ran into her brothers

“laurel..” paolo started but she said nothing and ignored them instead. They were puzzled and went into the glass house

His door was unlocked when he got home but he cared less about it. The house was intact. So, definitely, no body had locked the door before storming off. He sat on the sofa and relaxed his back, his thoughts ran in.

The house, the most important thing is the house. He wondered what would have been his fate if Neil hadn’t given him the house as a wedding gift 8yrs ago. Neil was the only friend that stood by him and practically the only friend he had. Alex isn’t the much type. He talks to everyone but doesn’t keep them around, Neil was the only one that he had kept around till he passed away 3yrs ago and that moment, Alex knew that life will take a very bitter turn for him.

The thought of his debts came to him and that ran a very cold chill down his spine. By this time tomorrow he would have loosed an arm.

The cartel will make sure they get something in return for all the money he’s owing. He should probably head back to the cliff and jump off. Then her face came in, her unsmiling yet cute face popped into his head. He wondered who she was, she didn’t tell him her name.

Just then, his phone began to ring and he picked it up. Just by looking at the name that appeared on it, he could feel death and it’s messengers having a party in his house, he broke a sweat and decided to ignore it. It rang the 2nd and 3rd time before he decided to take the call

“Roger, hi”

“Who did you borrow it from?”

“Borrow what?”

“the money”

“what money?”

“Alex, don’t play dumb with me. You paid twice what you owe”

“I don’t know what the f**k you talking about”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I really don’t know what you talking about”

“A man came here and paid all your debt. He even knocked out about 4 of viking’s men. You need to have seen the fear in viking’s eye when the man mentioned the name, Rebecca”

“You mean my debt was paid”

“Everything my man, the man even doubled it”

Alex couldn’t say anything cause that means…he’s sending death packing. He ended the call without another word, stood up and went upstairs to get cleaning materials, he needed to clean his house before going job hunting or should he just stay home and rest for the day before trying to find out who the hell paid off his debt.

“Rebecca, who is Alexander Burnhàm” Grace asked looking through the files in her hand

“no man’s business” Rebecca said hijacking it from her hand before she moves further into pages

“Becks, who is he?” She asked again

“A nobody” she said “why do you care?” Rebecca added

“you shouldn’t go around digging up people’s background”

“I wasn’t digging up his background, ok. I’m just trying to help”

“I know you’re not tight fisted but you’re stubborn and this digging up is called, what?”

“I don’t know” she said as she poured herself a drink

The file recorded his parents to be dead, it also recorded that he has no relations and yet he spoke of one. Did they truly abandon him?.

She shouldn’t be bothered about a stranger she just met but she hoped that he isn’t on his suicide mission again. No one deserves a bad life, the world was just not shared equally.

“What are you thinking about?”

Rebecca looked at Gracia

“im so sure you have a lot to do my friend”

“Left it all for you, my friend”

“great, what a tender affection you have for me”

“Thank you my friend, that was really touching”

Rebecca scoffed and they laughed at their foolishness

“Let’s head out Rebecca, don’t you get bored of sitting at home”

“I don’t, I have nothing interesting out there” Rebecca replied Gracia

There was a knock on the door

“come in” Hanani said and the door opened

“hey” her mother said as she entered and Berry pursed her lips

“can we talk?”

Hanani gave a nod and Greta sat down on the chair

“I know that you don’t like me, you don’t like us all but we care about you and we’re one big family”

Hanani pursed her lips but gave no response

“I know you hate me because of your father, he has nothing good to say about me and that’s really obvious but I want you to know that even though I left for six years, I never forgot about you”

“What do you mean by six years?”

“I know Logan already told you that I left when you were 3months old for South Africa and still came back to fight for custody of you”

“What!”

Greta was taken aback

“You left me for 6yrs, you abandoned me”

“you didn’t know?”

“how would I know, he never tells me anything.”

“hanani..”

“So, grandfather was right about you. He never said the whole story but he would just drop a hint about how bad you are at being a mother. You’re the worst mother alive, you don’t deserve to be called a mother..”

“Hanani…” Greta didn’t realize that she had slapped her “Hana…”

Hanani stood up and left the room

“hanani…” Greta called after her but she didn’t respond

“you seem stronger today, Gary” The doctor said

“thank you Armando, I guess nature wants me to live the best of my one year”

He and Armando chuckled before Gary rested back on the pillow

“I haven’t seen Alice, is there any problem?”

“I guess I’m going to pass away alone on this large bed”

“has she left you?” Armando asked

“She’s about to, she’s leaving today”

“she can’t leave you, not into the hands of Kai and Bruce”

Gary chuckled “Are you saying that my sons will kill me?”

“Im not saying, I know that they will kill you, Gary”

“and they will bury me Armando. I care less. Ive seen my grandchildren, I’m good”

“Alex’s, you’ve not met Alex’s children and his son has passed away”

Gary said nothing and instead, closed his eyes

“Burnham, it has gone too far. Alex’s is going through a lot right now, he needs his family” Armando said but Gary didn’t say a word to him.

Armando sighed and stood up

“you don’t even want to talk about him, do you hate him that much?”

No response from Gary and that only drove Armando nuts. He picked up his box and walked to the door. He was about stepping out when…

“Worry not about Alex, Armando. He doesn’t need anybody’s pity” Gary said without opening his eyes

Armando looked at Gary but his eyes wasn’t opened

“how could you say that?” there was anger in his tone but instead of continuing, he left.

“laurel” she didn’t turn for she knew who had said her name. Her mother came to stand beside her

“you have every right to be mad at me, your father and brothers but you made your choice when you left with Alex and Baby Teresa”

Laurel didn’t say anything, she sipped her wine and minded the wind

“Laurel, I am deeply sorry about Wave and it really hurts me that is didn’t get to meet my grandson”

Laurel scoffed and looked at her

“what is this mother?, Why are you trying to say something to me?”

“you’re mad at everybody but you’re hiding it”

“I should head to Teresa’s room, she will need her mother BY HER SIDE”

She was about to go when Loisa held her hand

“you can stay mad at us forever but I want you to know that we love you and care about you, really deep”

“I’ll put that in mind, mother” she walked away and Loisa sighed

She looked at her hair and smiled. There’s nothing that worths more than her natural hair to her. She could have all the money in the world but she’s trading nothing for her hair. Her biggest joy at the moment, the feel of it, the touch of it.

“Will you stop admiring your hair and let hit the road”

“I never said I was going out with you”

“Nobody cares about what you said Rebecca, let’s go”

“yeah, right” Rebecca said as she sat back on the chair, Gracia groaned

Ofcourse, what was she expecting from Rebecca?. she will deliberately annoy her to send her away but she’s going nowhere. Rebecca can be very exhausting, tiring and pissing off but she’s the type of friend she’ll always be grateful to God for giving her in this one lifetime.

“REBECCA”

The name startled him and he wondered who shouted it into his ears. He looked around him, was he asleep?, When did he fall asleep again. His tummy grumbled and he tapped it and smiled at the thought of the food he ate before coming home. Rebecca, the name kept ringing in his head and he does not plan to forget it. He’s going to find her to know who she is, why she helped him, how she knew about his predicament and let her know how grateful he is but first, he needs to bath and eat.