Mommy, Who Is My Daddy?

5.

When we landed in the States, we stopped by a restaurant as Sofia requested.

"I want to have tagliatelle with wild mushroom sauce!" She had been crying at the airport. I couldn't convince her to wait until we got home, she'd create an awful scene, as she was already annoyed at her mother because of the sudden expulsion from black Kenya (as she preferred to call it.) I understood her feelings. It was the first time she had visited Africa.

Mrs. Carter and I spoke for a moment before I bid Sofia goodbye. Firstly, I had decided to go directly to his office, but I eventually made a detour and went to our house. I felt I wasn't looking good and I needed a shower. As the cab pulled over in front of our house, I alighted and hastily walked in. I glanced at the time, it was just a few minutes past lunch hour. I felt Ethan must have skipped lunch, as he usually did, so I chose to prepare a quick lunch box. He'd be pleased, I knew it. Once I reached the main door to the apartment, I punched out the password and the door opened. The lights were on, so I thought Ethan, in his routine haste, had forgotten to switch them off.

I went to the kitchen and washed my hands before going up the stairs. Everything seemed just as I had left it until I opened the bedroom door; I was in shock, wondering how on Earth my lingerie was lying carelessly on the floor. Did Ethan rummage through my stockings? Why? But then I looked closer around the room, Ethan's shirt and pants had also been flung on the bed. What was going on here?

To my astonishment, I heard a loud chuckle, it came from the bathroom, and it wasn't a man's it was a woman's! My heart sank. Ethan was with a woman? In our house?

"What the hell is going on here?" I yelled, flinging the bathroom door open. Ethan was unashamedly n***d in the bath with a woman who was...

"Chloe?" I staggered, blinking profusely in disbelief. It couldn't be Chloe, no, I wasn't seeing right, I was hallucinating, no, not Ethan and Chloe, no, this wasn't happening, it wasn't real. I tried to convince myself as my heart painfully pounded in its cage.

"Oh, Layla." She came out of the bath in stark nudity. I could only find the strength to stand on my feet by leaning on the wall. Ethan was staring unaffectedly at me. I thought I was imagining things until Chloe touched my face with her wet hands.

"Tsk, tsk...poor Layla. She found us out, oh my gosh!" She mocked wickedly. Tears had begun to spill down my cheeks. I flung her hands away, but she hit me hard on the face, bruising my flesh.

"Who do you think you are?" She yelled at me.

"Be easy on her, my love. She's just arrived from a journey, you know, she's not as strong as you, she's feeble and weak and so frigid..." Ethan feigned sympathy. I became so weak, I couldn't move a limb. I was unable to talk, I just let them do all the talking, to my detriment. In all of my wildest imaginations, this scene had never shown a hint of ever happening. I was feeling like a character in a movie, a character whose peripeteia stemmed from her naivety. I was falling to pieces.

"What should we do now, huh? What should we do, dear Layla? Ethan loves me and not you." Chloe's bitter eyes gazed malevolently at me. I felt like strangling her at that moment, but I just couldn't. I didn't understand why, but I couldn't, I felt handicapped like I had always felt all my life. Not only that, but I felt like I was being thrust into a dark, bottomless pit where I could never clamber out to see the light of day. Furthermore, I felt I was in total darkness. Oh, how blind I was! I should have known.

"You should get your dirty a*s out now while I go back to f*****g my girl."

Ethan? He really did say that.

"One more thing, before you go...on the bed is a file. I need you to sign those divorce papers. Isn't it highly time she did, honey?"

"Of course love."

"Divorce papers?" I said. Had they planned this all along?

"Yes, Ethan wants you out of his life. You are no longer of use to him. You shouldn't waste your time here. There is nothing left for you, don't you get it?"

It was still impossible to believe that all of these hurtful words were coming from the lady I'd loved like a sister.

"Get the hell out! Come on Chloe..." My eyes were blurry with tears. I gasped as Chloe shut the door on my face. I slumped on the floor, feeling dizzy. Suddenly, I was unable to breathe. I held my chest; I felt like throwing up. Grabbing my purse and car key, I hurried out of the house and barfed all the pasta I had taken a while ago. When I was calm, I burst into fresh tears. But I couldn't stay there any longer, I felt I would do something stupid. I got in my car and for a second, I rested my aching head on the steering wheel in an attempt to regain my composure. However I tried, I just couldn't. I screamed.