Responsibility
1208 Words
"okay, i'll tell you," eva agreed with a deep breath, "let me make you some tea first."
sofia feels guilty, she realizes that by telling stories, eva will remember her bitter past, "allow me to apologize too, eva. i know a little about arsenio, and i understand this is hard for you."
"you are right." eva did not deny what sofia said, "but, i understand your situation sofia. i hope that by knowing dominic's past, you can make a decision to choose the two men who love you."
sofia felt awkward eva knew it all, "is it clear to my eyes?"
eva carved a warm smile, "a newly married couple looks happy just from the look in their eyes when they look at each other. without needing cindy to tell me, i know something is wrong between you two."
"i didn't mean to drag arsenio into my troubles," sofia admitted quietly, "but from the start our relationship was complicated so what happened to us just happened." and he is afraid of her feelings for him.
"i see. then let me make tea first."
sofia nodded, she appreciated eva who didn't pressure her to talk more about the problem.
eva went to the kitchen to make black tea with milk. he offered what sofia wanted too, but was refused, in the end he only made one. he sat back down, took a few sips before starting, "you already know how dominic and i met?"
sofia certainly remembers what arsenio said. now it's time to find out if it's true or not, "you met at the villa owned by the mateo family, right? it's in the hometown of you two."
"right," eva replied, "i don't want to go into details about how it happened, but basically because we drank a lot of alcohol, and the biggest trigger for all of that was because we liked each other when we were in high school."
"let me guess? that forgotten love just came out?" sofia asked awkwardly because eva's story was almost the same as what she was experiencing now only more complicated because she still loved dominic.
"you can interpret it that way. we used to be close, but dominic is a year older than me, he graduated first, i lost contact with him because he's in college and lives in new york." eva continues, "i didn't have time to search because i had a bigger problem: my limited freedom."
"limited freedom?" sofia is a little scared to know about this.
eva took her tea, drank it down to half, after that she didn't say anything, preferring to stare sadly at the cloudy night sky, "i ..." this is hard. he drank again until he finished, "sorry. i want to make more tea, sofia."
"take your time." sofia seemed to reach the deepest wound in eva's heart. he really feels very sorry, after this he will ask for things that are too heavy to tell.
eva brought a tray of teapots, cookies and two new glasses, placed them between the two of them and sat down again.
"um ... i said i didn't want to drink." sofia was sure that one extra glass was for her.
eva smiled a little, "i'm sure you'll need it."
sofia just stares. waiting for eva to continue the story.
"where were we?" eva asked with an empty laugh, "ah ... yes how did i become a victim of my own dad's violence."
"wait." sofia immediately cut eva's words, "you don't need to tell me about your dad. i already understand!"
"but ..."
"eva, i understand." sofia said, holding eva's cold sweaty hand, "i'm proud you got through it all."
"sofia ..." eva was stunned for a moment, then closed her eyes letting tears roll down her cheeks, "thank you."
sofia took a tissue from her bag, handed it to eva, "no. i'm sorry."
eva accepted it, she took a deep breath, "when i found out i was pregnant, i tried to contact dominic, but couldn't. he changed his cell phone number. maybe he didn't want me to disturb him." he continued sadly, "i was lucky to have arsenio's cell phone number at that time because he was the one who drove me home." he paused, embarrassed and awkward to continue, "believe it or not. he's the one who caught us while um..."
sofia keeps her cool expression as much as possible. as much as possible not to imagine her lover cheating on her.
"i asked arsenio to help me meet dominic, that's where i got to know cindy and you," eva said, "and i have to admit you're very beautiful. it's only natural that she prefers you over me."
"you're much prettier," sofia was a little shy about getting compliments, "inside and out."
eva smiled for a few seconds, "you wouldn't have said that if you knew i hated you so much before."
"oh..." sofia remembered arsenio saying that, but she couldn't blame eva for being at her lowest point, "but you aren't now."
"because skylar..." eva admitted with a genuine smile, "seeing, holding, and touching skylar changed me a lot. i realized that hating the woman that dominic loves won't get me anywhere so i decided to focus on raising skylar, with or without dominic. ."
"i see..." sofia mumbled "finally dominic wants to raise skylar with you or not...?"
"he ..."
***
flash back
***
"dominic, please!"
"no way!" dominic refused, removed his hand from his arm, "i told you to abort that thing inside your belly, but you chose to oppose me, so you bear the consequences yourself."
eva lost control without realizing that her hand had thrown a hard slap on her left cheek. he looked at his trembling palms reddened, "you ... this is our baby. i don't ask for your responsibility anymore. i just want to ask for your help so that our baby is not sent to foster care!" she already loved the baby growing in her womb, there was no way she would give it to anyone else.
she wants to raise her own baby!
eva caressed her big belly lovingly, and blushed at the slight kick of her daughter.
"you smile like a maniac." dominic said he couldn't believe what he just saw.
"you would be like this if you were in my position!" eva snapped angrily at her nonsense criticism, "i'm here to ask you to tell your parents to cancel their wish to send our baby to foster care."
"parents know what's best for their child, so i have no reason to go against their decision," dominic said mercilessly. he couldn't believe what he said that he would disappear from his life if he granted his wish.
his future is at stake here.
"if you called me here just to talk about this, i'd better go home." said dominic sharply. "don't waste my precious time."
"this is your son, dominic miller!" eva screamed with all her might out of anger in her heart, "you are really assh*le! wait until sofia and arlyne find out about this!"
"no. they won't know this," dominic replied back unafraid of her threats, "once you tell them, i'll make sure you regret doing it, little eva."
"you're threatening me!?"
- Writer
