COMPLICATED – Episode 2

COMPLICATED

Written by Princess Juliet

Episode 2

Arriving Seattle

Seattle—Washington D.C, America.

~~

The airplane landed upon the brightly lit tarmac, wheels kissing earth with a small and joyous bounce.

Abruptly Atarah opened her eyes and clutched her hands to her heart, the loud screech of the brakes had awakened her.

She looked around dazedly and saw that the passengers were all exiting the plane.

The realisation hit her at that moment. ‘Dang it! I am already in America.’She hastily rose to her feet and reached up the overhead bin for her suitcase and handbag, then stepped out of the plane, wheeling the suitcase behind her.

The weather was perfect—warm but not too hot, breezy but not too chilly. Atarah was so excited. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them, took a massive gulp of the American air. It tasted fresh and it felt very welcoming.

“Joanna.”The sudden sound of the not too familiar voice made her cringed.

She turned around and saw her, the woman who abandoned her, her look-alike, her very own mother.

Startled, she froze, her eyes widening.

“Joanna.” Her mum called again as she raced over to hug her.

Atarah expression revealed surprise for a few moment, and then her eyes flashed in anger.

“It is Atarah now,” she released herself from her mum’s embrace and glared at her, “so don’t you ever call me Joanna again, the name sucks.” she raised her finger in warning.

Her mother swallowed hard. She couldn’t help but feel a trickle of coldness at her daughter’s still gaze.

“Alright,” her voice was barely above a whisper and that made Atarah satisfied.

‘How dare she try to warm up to me after abandoning me for so many years’ she rebuilt the walls around her heart.

“So,” she snapped at her mother, “can we go now? Where is the car?”

“It is parked over there,” her mum pointed to a yellow vehicle parked along the side walk and Atarah raised her eyebrow, puzzled.

A taxi? She came to pick me with a taxi, but why?

She silently walked behind her mother to the taxi, her mind was full of thoughts, confused thoughts.

Just as she was about climbing into the rear seat, her eyes caught sight of a familiar face on a huge bill board.

She scoffed, it was the rude jerk, the same one she ran into at the Philippines airport but this time around he had a blue hair.

“So he is even a model,”she said this out loud.

“Who?” Her mother followed her gaze and her face grew serious, she noticed the “persistent stare” of the blue eyes in the billboard and immediately looked away.

“Get in, let’s go.”she put her daughter’s suitcase in the trunk before climbing into the back seat.

Atarah heaved a deep sigh and followed suit, closing the door behind her.

She dipped into her pocket and brought out the paper drawing which was now a bit squeezed.

Straightening it, she stared at it and smiled sheepishly

He is so cute!

“What is that?” Her mum asked, looking at her curiously.

“Nothing,” Atarah folded the paper and returned it into her pocket, then she looked out of the window, watching the beautiful scenery with a soft, dreamy smile lingering on her face.

~~~

The taxi driver braked and pulled out in front of a small farm house. Although it looked modern, the paintings were old. No neighbours, there was no house visible from any place except the hill tops and that is within a mile away.

Atarah stared at the building open mouthed and confused. “Is this your home?”She found herself asking.

Her mother just smiled. She paid the driver after alighting, proceeded to the trunk and took out the suit case.

She got to be kidding me! Atarah got out of the car, banging the door shut. “Where is your family?”she looked at her mother intently.

“You’re my only family here, Tarah,” Her mother walked past her and to the front porch, dragging the suitcase along with her.

Atarah wasn’t satisfied with that answer, she followed behind her mother, frowning.

“What about your new family? Your new husband? Nana told me you remarried, she told me………”

“I told her to tell you that,” Her mother turned around abruptly causing Atarah to run into her, she bumped into her mother’s shoulder.

“But why?”Atarah had never been so confused before, “Why did you make up all those insane stories?”

“So that I can work and take care of you.”Her mother replied cooly, “There is not much high paying job there in the Philippines, you know that right? I had to make sure you were comfortable.”

“But you abandoned me.” Atarah could feel her eyes brimming with tears. She ducked her head and quickly wiped them away. “You abandoned me for almost twelve years.”She choked through constricted throat.

“I had to protect you,” The words were out of her mother’s mouth before she could stop them, she bit her lower lip and cursed silently.

Atarah watched her suspiciously. “Protect me from what?”

“Em…Nothing.” Her mother chuckle was low and soft. “Let’s go in child,”She opened the door and hurried in before Atarah could ask any more questions.

Atarah tilted her head to the side, her expression puzzled
What the heck is that?

“Come on in, Tarah,” came her mum’s voice from inside, “you need to shower, eat and rest.”

Atarah stepped into the house and looked around in surprise at the sparely furnished sitting room——two sofas, fan, a television and a centre table. There was no chandeliers, no flower vase or any fancy decorations. Gosh! Her house in the Philippines is way better than this.

She was even more surprised when she noticed the lone door, meaning there was only a room in the house.

“That is your room, Tarah.”her mother pointed to the door, smiling.

What about you? Atarah wanted to ask, but couldn’t think of a way to word the question.
They weren’t really on speaking terms, she couldn’t even trust her yet.

“Thanks,” she merely said and walked into the room through the door.

This room was smaller, but still it had beautiful decorations, a medium size bed, paintings on the wall and a wardrobe.

Atarah smiled knowing fully well that her mother rearranged the room just to make her comfortable.

Tossing her handbag on the bed, she reached into her pocket for the paper drawing and glued it to the wall before collapsing on the bed.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, almost as if she were trying to relax. In her mind, she hoped to find a decent part time job so she can move out as soon as possible.

~~~~~~
Medina, Seattle city—- The Hobson’s mansion.

~~

Eating in the dinning room felt too formal and a deep silence permeated the room, the only sound heard as the family of three ate was the cutlery scraping the plate.

A middle age man, a woman and a younger man who was their son.

The table was laid with different varieties of food enough to feed an orphanage for a month, assorted wines was not left out. Three maid stood waiting at a corner, along with the family cook,this explained how rich the Hobsons were.

The middle age man, Trent Hobsons suddenly dropped his cutlery across the plate and sighed. “Where did you say your younger brother is again?”He directed the question to his elder son, Greg.

Greg chuckled lightly and wiped his mouth with a napkin before answering, “He should be on his way home.”

This response only infuriated his father and he banged his fist on the table angrily. “That is not the answer to my question, Greg. Where the heck is Jayden?” he half shouted.

“Calm down darling,” His wife, Mary patted his hand gently, trying to calm him down and he focused his gaze on her. “Jayden is no longer a kid, he is twenty two, he is an adult now. He is probably somewhere……”

“Trying to be a nuisance as usual,”Trent spoke through clenched teeth.

“That is a harsh thing to say, Trent.” His wife rebuked him, “My son isn’t a nuisance. He is a doctor in training, a researcher………” She turned around, when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.

Jayden! A rare smile lit up her face.

Trent scoffed, seeing his son’s pink and white hair. “Where are you coming from, young man?” he thundered.

Jayden stopped for a moment. He acknowledged Greg presence with a nod, completely ignoring his parents as he trotted up the stairs.
They were at it again.

“I’m talking to you Jayden,” The waspish tone of his father’s voice brought him to a halt.

“The Philippines,” He grunted his response without bothering to turn around.

“For your stupid research right?” Trent ridiculed his younger son and Greg coughed out loud, irritated by his father’s mean remark.

Trent just glanced at him. “How many fails do you need to have before you realise that the permanent cure research you are working on is totally impossible?”

Jayden eyes flared with anger. He tried to conceal it with a fake smile as he turned around to face his father. “That is not for you to worry about, dad,”he laid a mocking emphasis on the last word. “I don’t bug you for money anymore, do I?” He held his father’s gaze, as if daring him to do his worst

“That is enough, son.” Mary was quick to intervene, “Go freshen up and come down for dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,”Jayden muttered and stormed off to his room, slamming the door shut.

He sat down on his bed and took off his shoes and socks. The door opened just then and Greg’s scent filled the room.

“I know you’re here to scold me,”Jayden voiced after taking a deep breathe.

Greg chuckled, “No bro, I’m here to check on you. How is the research going?”

“Not bad,” Jayden looked at him with eager eyes, “I met with Dr Aidan. He is a renowned doctor in the Philippines,” he quickly explained seeing Greg confused look, “and he agreed to work with me.”

Greg nodded and smiled a slow smile. “But why are you so interested in finding a permanent cure to this illness?” he still couldn’t understand his brother.

“Because I am a doctor in training,”was Jayden response.

“Come on,” Greg argued, “I’m a doctor too,”

“Then you should understand my passion,”Jayden rose to his feet and moved toward the bathroom, eager for his first hot shower in days but Greg voice stopped him.

“Dad wants to see us downstairs.”

“Why?” He gave Greg a really dirty look.

Greg began laughing, “Chill bro, I am not dad,” he tried to stifle his laugh, but it came out as a snort, “Just come downstairs and let’s hear whatever he has to say,”he smirked at his brother before leaving the room

“But I need to bath,” Jayden called after him.

“It won’t take long, lil bro,” came his voice as he trotted down the staircase.

Jayden let out a deep tired sigh. “Can’t they all act like I’m invisible, gosh.” He facepalmed himself in frustration, put on his slippers and walked out of the room and down the stairs into the sitting room.

“What took you so long?” His dad queried him, he was sitting on the longer sofa, right beside his wife.

“Nothing,” Jayden plunked down on the other end of the sofa, opposite Greg.

Trent watched his younger son silently, wondering how and why he became so rude and stubborn ‘But he wasn’t like this before’ he lifted his eyebrow thoughtfully, could it be …………

“Darling,” Mary shook his shoulder and that disrupted his thoughts. He cleared his throat in an effort to compose himself and finally found his voice.

“I want you to re-dye your hair to its original colour.” He told Jayden

Jayden scoffed, “Is this the reason why you called me down here? To talk about my hair.”

“No honey,” Mary smiled sweetly at him, “Your father and I have a good news to share.” She looked from Greg to Jayden before squealing out, “The Garcia family sent a marriage proposal this morning.”

“What?” The boys stared at each other, shocked.

“Yes,” Mary beamed, “They don’t care if it is either of you, they just want their daughter, Nancy to marry into this family.”

“Oh! It is a contracted marriage then,”Jayden drawled derisively.

“Will you to agree to it?”His dad gaze was fixed on him.

“Who? Me?”The question stunned him. “Hell no! Nancy is my best friend and I don’t think our relationship can survive marriage.” Saying this, he got off the sofa and stormed upstairs to his room.

What a crazy family!

TBC