"Son? What the heck is happening here?" Mrs McCall asks in utter confusion.
Jerol has been a statue ever since times in memorial. I doubt if he can even hear his mother's voice. His eyes are not focused so much on this woman's face but on her belly, and I can't help but think that he is getting a kick out of thinking that he may be the father of Ellie's baby. I know how much he wanted a baby, how much he still yearns for one. I am cognizant that he also loved this woman with the whole of his heart. He went insane when she left, and that alone elucidates how deep he was into her. That is why I don't think he is even aware of his brother's presence. His entire focus is on the belly bump and I'm sorry for what I am feeling right now.
"Umh...baby?" I call in a low soothing tremor, and by good luck, I manage to snap him out of wherever he was lost to.
The peek he gives me is a look of confusion, as if he has a zillion things to say and yet nothing to say at all. Or he just does not know where to begin and how to say it.
I get his turmoil and loss of words. I mean, he deemed this woman a ghost for those few months now. He looked for her but all his efforts hit a hard rock. And just now, when he had let it all go, when he had forgotten her, when he had finally found himself again, just when he had learned to love me, the ghost just reappears?
From where?
And just now of all times and days?
Why just fucking now?
And, hang on...
I snap my eyes at the two faces before us again. This one, I don't know his name yet, but where was he all this while? While Jerol was having a crisis, where was he?
"He is somewhere in the world, having fun!" Those were the exact words of Mrs McCall when I couldn't suppress my curiosity about this other son that not even Jerol mentions. It felt weird that he didn't care about his brother. I never saw him call Jerol even just once all my five months in this family.
So, he was having fun? And he returned with this nightmare of a woman? Is she the woman he had been having fun with? They seem like two people who know each other well, according to my accurate conjectures, and that is, if I am in my right senses, right? I mean, she was his brother's fiance, so what can possibly explain what I am thinking if I am not losing it?
"Now, what the fuck are you staring at, you cheap whore?!" I'm snapped from my stare cruise by the animalistic outbursts of this other brother who seems worse than a dirty-mouthed jerk!
Son of a...
I am sorry! I didn't realize I was browsing the layers of his gloomy disconcerting face all that while. But, what the fuck gives him the right to call me a whore?
I was about to squirt all my beef at him, but I caught Jerol's sight. He just shifted his gaze to his brother for the first time, and I wish he would have just stayed unaware of his presence. The look he is giving his brother is a look of dread. His eyes are bleeding something more than death. Something that made their father stand between them.
Something is odd! So odd between these two brothers. They seem like some kind of rivals - mortal rivals, I would say.
"Cut it out you two, please! The media and the guests are watching!" Father pleads.
"Tell your beloved son to calm the fuck down. I thought he changed..."
"One more word, Grego, and I will send you back to where you came from with broken bones and teeth less. And if you don't want to return back there in a filthy casket, you better respect my wife!" Jerol yells, and at this time, Mrs McCall had to speak to the media to stop capturing the scenario.
What a mess! This was deemed to be the happiest day, but now, I can't tell how this will end - how the day I was so anticipating will end. All glory to this bitch and her Mr arrogant.
"Wife?!" We all snap to that angelic voice of this Ellie, the ghost woman.
Why is she astounded? Why is she creaking hurt, huh? What was she expecting? That Jerol was still waiting for her after that long and given the way she arrogantly left him? She must be...
"Yes, Ellie! My wife! Any problem with that?" Jerol clarifies, and the bitch conjures a miserable face. She is even about you break down in tears, but I am getting a creepy sense of her actions. Maybe it's me and my possessiveness for Jerol that is refusing to see any good thing about this woman. Or maybe there is some sense in what I am sensing.
"How could you, Jerol?!" There. She is in crocodile tears, but she is making it so real and pitiful. "What about me and our child?" She cries out, and now everyone is surrounding us. Fortunately enough, no one is taking videos or photos. It would be such a scandal if this leaks out. It will be a shame for such a distinguished family.
"What about you, Ellie?" Jerol fumes, trying as best as he can to remain calm. He is clenching my hand, the best way he knows to calm himself down, and this picture is stroking the arse of this pregnant contentious bitch. "And the child? What fucking child are you talking about? The one you lost? The..."
"I did not lose our child!" She barks, invoking a chilling lull in the area. I guess she just realized that her cloak was of no use. At least not the way she had presumably anticipated. She drys her tears, wearing a bitchy face - bold, plastered with pride. A look that according to me says, "I am here for a mission, and I ain't losing".
"You told me yourself that you lost the baby. You even blamed me for that before leaving, remember?" Jerol speaks.
"I know what I said, but that is what I thought. I slipped and when I saw blood I got scared. I didn't have anyone to rush me to the hospital immediately and, you didn't return any of my calls when I needed you the most, Jerol. I thought all was gone."
Am I the only one who finds her explanations just plastic, like her? The fact remains she is pregnant. Why did she leave then? Why did she lie?
"I suppose that you knew the child was safe when you got to the hospital. Then why did you return with a different story? Were you just looking for a way out by blaming me and lying to me?" Jerol speaks.
"I wanted to teach you a lesson. To be a responsible man. I wanted to remind you of the promises you made when we began this journey. That you will never leave my side. That I will never miss your presence. Promises you had completely forgotten. You were so occupied with work to the point of forgetting me and our baby." She screeches.
Ahem! I have nothing to comment on that, but just a by the way, I feel she is just playing the victim here. I know Jerol, and I can attest to the fact that he isn't who she is depicting. Madam, crying baby!
"Still, whether I failed on my promises or not, nothing, nothing justifies what you did to me, Ellie! You of all people knew how much this baby meant to me, yet you had the guts to lie to my face and storm out of my life with my baby? You are heartless, Ellie! I can't even believe I loved such a cruel person." Jerol discharges a bitter smirk, caging his forehead between his hand to massage his temples with his thumb and middle finger.
He is bleeding inside. He is losing it. He is about to explode. I know him well. I hug his arm tight, soothing him, letting him know that his redemption is right here. He can't break down.
"I am sorry, love. I realized my mistake, and I am here to correct my wrongs. I brought your baby back to you, Jerol. See, we are here, me and your baby!"
Can I slap this bitch?
She is here? With a baby? She brought the freaking baby back? That shit is she puking?!
What about me? I may not be flaunting my pregnancy, it may be a top-secret, but I am fucking pregnant too, and heaven knows I can never do to Jerol what she did. So she is back? As what? His baby mama? Or does she expect to be welcomed back with open arms just because she brought the baby she denied him a chance to be with throughout her months of pregnancy? The nerve of this bitch!
"You are a father, Jerol! My love, we can start again - you, me, and baby Jerol Jr. Here is the baby you so much wanted, my love." The witch speaks, making my ears itch. I watch as she takes a step forward.
My love!? The balls this insolent bitch has have gone through a sequel of refinement, I say. And she is stroking my demons really badly!
I grab her hand before she reaches for Jerol's hand, holding her back. She fires at me with her devious glares, and I fire back.
I don't care what they had. I don't give a damn why she is back, neither do I give a fuck about anything, but disrespecting me is something I won't condone. If I did not let the High and Mighty Mrs McCall throw me out of Jerol's life when I had absolutely no grounds whatsoever to fight for my place in Jerol's life, this whore must have no senses at all to think that she can just take my place.
I am the one Jerol acknowledges as his wife. I am the one who stood by him when everyone left, when she abandoned him. I am the one he now loves. The fact that I am the one he is holding on to right now is more than enough proof that I am the only one he wants. The one he needs.
"Let go of my hand, you..."
"I will, if you step away from my husband." I cut the bitch off, my dominant tone peeling off her mask of bravery and it kisses the ground. "And I will not think twice about slapping some sense into your empty skull if you dare insult or disrespect me, Ellie!" I speak with so much bravery that scares even myself. I didn't know I had such vigor but thanks to this bitch, I now know and I will ooh use it and everything in me to fight for my place and my right. I am not a pushover, you know? Never have been, and never will be!