Chapter 012
1007 Words
Elsie's Pov
I left Ryan's home with a heart heavier than when I had come. If I had any thoughts to stop tutoring Ryan earlier, those thoughts had now been altered. There was no backing out now, I would have said Ryan did plan this with his father, but from the look of things, he was much afraid of his father as I was.
Mother was already waiting back at home when I arrived. She saw how tired I was and immediately laid down the magazine she seemed to be invested in on the table.
"Elsie, what seems to be the matter?" She asked as she stood up tp her feet and began walking towards me.
"I have a headache. Nothing else." My mother could be really fragile sometimes, and dumping all that I had been going through just like that on her could have detrimental repercussions.
"No, you look like you have more than a headache." She said with genuine concern dripping from her tone, touching my head and neck to feel for my temperature.
"Your body seems warm. Shall we drive to the hospital?" She asks, clasping my cheeks in her hands.
"No, Mom, I promise I'm fine." I said, reaching for her hand.
"She's lying!" A voice echoed from behind us. I looked past my mother’s shoulder to see Ryan standing there, sipping casually from a glass.
My eyes narrowed at him immediately as if to say: "Don't you dare tell her what's going on."
He seemed to understand what my narrowed gaze at him meant but chose to ignore it.
"She's being bullied at school." He continued.
My heart skipped, my gaze returning back slowly to my mother.
Her jaw dropped to the ground, her eyes bulging like she had just heard the most abominable thing in this world.
"Elsie...you are being bullied..." it was more of a question than a statement.
I clutched the strap of my bag tightly, wanting to escape. I didn’t want to have this conversation but she held me back and blocked my path.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were being bullied and why am i just finding out now? How long has this been going on for?!" She asked all at once.
I took a deep breath before I answered and said, "It's not something I can't handle, plus, I didn't want to bother you."
"Bother me? I'm your mother. I need to know everything that's going on with you!" Her tone rose with every word.
My heart clenched at her last words. Before I knew what was happening, she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down onto a nearby chair with her.
"Now tell me the reason you're being bullied in school."
I bit down hard on my lower lip until I could almost taste the tangy feeling of blood on my tongue.
"You know what, there's no need to tell me. First thing tomorrow morning, I'm going to be at your school!" She said in anger.
My head shot up, "No mom, you don't need to show up, you're only going to make things worse. This is something I can handle on my own, I promise." I pleaded, my brows creasing with worry.
She looked at me as though she wanted to believe me. Then she heaved a sigh.
"I don't want to doubt you. But I can't be at peace knowing that you're being bullied and there's something I can do about it."
"I promise you mom. I'm finee..."
I caught Ryan rolling his eyes after I said I was fine. I looked terrible and I felt more terrible on the inside.
Mother went silent for a while, pondering on what next to say.
"Okay, I trust you can handle whatever is going on. But I'm not still convinced and you can't blame me for it."
"Adrian." She called without turning to look at him.
"Yes ma'am." He replied and took another sip from his drink.
"Can you do me a favour and look after your sister while you both are at school?"
"I'm always glad to help." His response was.
"And you can you be riding her more often to and from school on your bike?"
I looked up at Ryan, he refused to meet my gaze. "I can do that too. Excuse me, I have some other matters ro attend to." He said and calmy walked away.
"Now that's settled, do you want me to take you out to grab dinner?"
"Uhm...no thanks, mom but I have an assignment to turn in tomorrow, I got to do it now." I said and rose to my feet.
"In that case, I'm going to bring you dinner, okay?"
I struggled to let out a smile, "Thanks mom." I said simply and headed for my room.
I hopped into the shower and let the water run down over my head, down to my body. It didn't totally help me get rid of the storm in my head but it aided in suppressing it in a bit.
I stayed like that until I felt a cold chill in my spine. I washed up and got out of the bathroom when I heard a knock on my door.
I sighed as I grabbed a towel and draped it around my chest area. "Mom, I'm not hungry now. Can I come get the food later?"
Silence ensued, then another knock came.
"Coming mom." I said as I wringed out the water from my hair.
I threw open the door instantly, not expecting Adrian to be at my door bare chested. My breath caught in my throat.
He dragged his eyes over my body slowly before he stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"Adrain...what...what are you doing here?" I stuttered, muttering at the same time against my breath.
"I came to check up on you." He said in a low tone that signals to my inner thigh.
I wrapped my hands around myself as though that could stop his ravaging gaze on me.
- Writer
