COMPLICATED – Episode 20

COMPLICATED

Written by Princess Juliet

Episode 20

Their special bond

Jayden was in a complete daze. His heart was thumping so loudly in his chest that he felt so sick to his stomach.

With his hands trembling, he read the letter over and over again, word for word, line by line, his eyes frantically searching for a mistake, any mistake at all.

“There must be a mix-up somewhere,” He muttered to himself. Try as he might, he couldn’t just accept the truth. He allowed himself to get into the feeling, even though his mind was screaming to get out. “No, this is not true.”His voice was almost a whisper and he looked up at Nanny Evie, conflicted. “This can’t possibly be true, right?”He was helplessly frustrated and just wanted her to assure him that what he was thinking never happened.

Nanny Evie turned her face away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears coursing down her cheeks. She felt his pain as her own and wanted so badly to give him the assurance that he needed. But no, telling him the truth comes first and he needed to brace himself to accept it. “But the letter is saying otherwise, child.” She chose her words very carefully and Jayden scoffed at her response.

“To hell with the letter.” He screamed and stood up in a billowy huff, causing her to flinch in surprise. Perhaps she hadn’t expected him to react this way. “How do you expect me to believe a mere letter over a medical report? Hun, tell me, with handwriting that is barely even legible?” He stood staring at her with raw angry eyes, his veins standing out at his temple with passion.

Nanny Evie swallowed hard nervously and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, feeling the sting of tears behind her eyelids, afraid to see the tears welling up in his eyes.

“I bet it was written by a drunk,” Jayden sarcastically drawled and she let out a deep, long sigh.

“You should talk to your father.”Was all she told him as she had no ready answer to his questions. It was just a suspicion, her suspicion she’d been harbouring for a long time.

“Oh yeah! And that’s what I intend to do.”Jayden snorted indignantly, “That old man had better have a good explanation for all of these.” he muttered under his breath and with that, slid his feet into black plain slippers, picked up his car keys and stormed out of his room, leaving Nanny Evie all alone to drown in her tears.

He tucked his hands in his pocket as he started down the stairs and when he got to the last flight, he was in time to see his parent walk into the sitting room, looking so tired and exhausted.

“Dad,” He called out angrily and they paused, his dad and step-mum and turned in his direction.

“Not now, Jay,” Mary said dismissively seeing his livid face and Jayden felt a sudden spurt of irritation rise within him.

“I’m not here for you, woman.” He gazed at her with a sharp, penetrating look that made her heart pound.

She shuddered and looked away, embarrassed by his rudeness and mumbled something inaudible before running past him and up the stairs to her room.

“That’s a rude way to talk to your mother, Jay.” Trent scolded his younger son immediately but Jayden would hear nothing of it.

“She is not my mother..” He yelled, almost hysterically and Trent gasped, alarmed by his angry outburst, this was his first time denying her.

“…..Yes, she was never my mother, to begin with, and will never be one…..”Jayden went on. He could feel the resentment growing inside him like a tumour and it didn’t seem righteous at all. “How do you expect me to call your mistress, another woman ‘ mum’ when my mother was probably murdered? How do you expect me to live with the guilt when she was…” His voice trailed off into silence when he noticed his father’s confused expression and he handed him the letter on an impulse. “Just take a good look at this.” He breathes out his words.

Trent hesitated a little before taking the old-looking paper and reading through the lines.“What?” He glanced up sharply, his lips thinning down and his face paling. “How did you get this?” He asked in a fierce whisper but Jayden wasn’t ready to answer that and completely ignored the question.

“Is what is written there true, was someone after my mum’s life?”He asked instead and Trent shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, carefully avoiding his eyes.

“Talk to me dad,” Jayden was furious with his silence, “did my mum die in childbirth or not?” That was all he wanted to know.

“Erm…Yes, I mean no….” Trent was flustered, he didn’t know what to say or how to explain to his son the incident that surrounded his mother’s death.
It’d happened so fast that it left him confused and grief-stricken for years. How she’d screamed that morning complaining of labour pain at just six months of pregnancy was still fresh in his mind and seemed almost unforgettable. It was like a mystery to him, a mystery he could not explain……

“I’m talking to you, dad.” Jayden ear- piercing scream interrupted his thoughts and with his chin set determinedly, he looked at him calmly.

“I can’t really say what happened to her but we found harmful substances in her bloodstream.” His confession made Jayden’s blood run cold and he blinked his eyes twice in disbelief.

“Meaning she was poisoned?” His voice broke with emotion as he asked this and Trent turned his head away to stare into the distance, a vacant expression on his face.

The answer was in his eyes and Jayden understood clearly that his mum was poisoned. Slowly, he turned and walked out of the house in a daze and staggered on trembling legs to his car. He was depressed and in a confused state of mind.

Wrenching the door open, he climbed into the driver seat and stepped on the engine and sped off to the first place that popped into his head—His modelling agency.

~~~~ 2:00 pm ~~~~

It was mid-afternoon and the general lecture had just ended. Atarah and Hilary happily walked out of the lecture theatre and went by the shortest route, across the fields and down a narrow road, heading to the bus station.

The sun was out in full force, pushing its temperature up to at least ninety-five degrees and they had to squint at it to see the walkway more clearly.

“Are you still going to his office?” Hilary broke the thick silence between them as they got to the bus station and Atarah nodded her head in response, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.

“Alright then,” Hilary giggled lightly as she pressed a paper against her right palm and Atarah’s eyes grew wide in surprise as she glanced down at the tiny writings on it. It was the address to Jayden’s home and she was very grateful to her friend for not forgetting the promise she’d made to her.

“Thanks, Hilly.” A satisfied smile stretched her lips as she carefully tucked the paper into her back pocket and Hilary nodded, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

“Good luck winning your man back,” She winked and gave Atarah a sloppy kiss on the cheek before running off to a black private car.

‘Rich kid.’ Atarah watched her in admiration until she climbed into the car and then took a public bus to The Hobsons hospital.

~~~

Finally! After a thirty minutes drive, the bus screeched to a halt outside the hospital and Atarah paid the driver after alighting.

With slow steps, she walked into the building, her heart thumping wildly in her chest and came across Greg in the hallway. He was looking a bit different with his bandaged nose and was leaning against the door to his office.

An uncomfortable feeling other than anxiety washed over her and she could feel the awkward tension between them, it was almost swallowing her up.

“Hey,” Greg greeted dryly and she nodded her head slowly in response, carefully avoiding his eyes as she walked past him.

“Jayden isn’t in the office,” his voice echoed into her ear and she stopped walking and looked at him, alarmed

But why? She wanted to ask but then bit her lips hard, reminding herself.
She didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore, not even as a friend.

“Thank you,” She simply said, turned around and began to walk towards the entrance when she suddenly remembered her neck chain.

“Can I please have my neck chain back?” She turned back to look at him and Greg was horribly confused

He looked at her with his eyebrow raised questioningly and she let out a deep sigh of frustration before answering.
“I’m talking about the neck chain I gave to you at the hospital twelve years ago.”

“Oh, that!” Greg commented sarcastically, finally understanding her. “I’m not the one you saw in that hospital room,” He confessed and Atarah’s eyes nearly popped out of her head “What?”

“I never visited you, Joanna and I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“But you were there beside me, I saw you………”She began to protest but stopped in mid-sentence when her eyes landed on his blonde hair.
‘Blonde? Black?’ She was beginning to get rather confused and blinked into thoughts absentmindedly. The little boy at the hospital twelve years ago had dark curly hair, that she could remember vividly. ‘ But why…..how is that possible?’ She wondered in silence and without another word, walked out of the hospital, her mind crowded with confused thoughts.

Feeling dazed, she took out the paper from her back pocket and proceeded to skim through it when her phone suddenly buzzed, indicating a text message.
She fished it out of her bag to check out the sender and noticed it was Hilary

“Jayden is here talking with my boyfriend, come asap.”
Like seriously! She almost cried out in relief, completely forgetting her worries and took a taxi to the modelling house so she wouldn’t be too late.

~~~~
Ford modelling agency was basically a few minutes drive from the hospital so Atarah arrived there in no time. When she paid the driver, she alighted from the taxi and rushed into the building, bumping into anyone that passed her by.

They all looked at her as if she was crazy but she was least bothered about that and just wanted to see Jayden.

She passed through a narrow passage to the glass room and found him leaning against a large desk as he talked in whispers to Toby. Hilary was sitting lazily on the sofa and was watching them with a puzzled frown on her face.

“Hi,” Atarah greeted shyly and only then did they notice her.

“Welcome, girlfriend.” Hilary squealed loudly and began standing up, attempting to run to her but Toby pulled her down and wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly against him.

“She isn’t here for you, babe,” He cautioned and Atarah couldn’t help but feel grateful to him.

Slowly, in a trance-like state, she walked over to Jayden who was just staring at her, blankly and stopped when there was just a two-step distance between them.

“I’m so sorry……” Before she could complete her statement, Jayden pulled her closer to him and hugged her tightly. ‘To hell with the kiss, to hell with her mistake.’ D**n! He couldn’t control the emotions in his heart anymore and just wanted to hug her forever, love her forever and cherish her forever.

“I love you, Tarah,” He whispered in her ear and Atarah could hardly contain her happiness on hearing that.

She gently broke the embrace and stared at him with round, brown eyes

“You love me?” She wanted to be sure that she heard right and Jayden firmly pulled her body against his and brushed her lips with his. “I love you, princess.” He gave her a response and she melted in his arms, consumed by the raging fire of emotion his embrace never failed to ignite.

“I love you too, Jayden.” She whispered almost inaudibly and stood on her toes, gripping his shoulders as she kissed his lips.

Jayden didn’t falter and returned the kiss passionately. His mouth was hard on hers, unyielding; then he put both arms around her and held her tightly to him. His lips softened. She could feel the rapid beat in his heart, taste the sweetness of apple still in his mouth. She wound her hands into his hair, as she’d wanted to do since the first time she’d seen him. His hair curled around her fingers, silky and fine. Her heart was hammering, and there was a rushing sound in her ears, like beating wings—–

“This calls for celebration, peeps,” Hilary’s loud voice brought them back to mother earth and reluctantly, they pulled out of the kiss and stared lovingly at each other.

“You are right, babe,” Toby supported his girlfriend, “Let’s all go clubbing.” He suggested and Hilary clapped her hands excitedly.

“Should we?” Jayden looked inquiringly at Atarah and she nodded her head in agreement, her eyes sparkling brightly.

“Fine then,” He heaved a sigh and throw his hands into the air in defeat, “but I’ll have to go change first.” He added as he looked down at his slippers and frowned disapprovingly.

“No problem bro,” Toby gave him the go-ahead and he took Atarah’s hand into his as they walked out of the glass room. “I’ll meet you guys at the club.” With that, they both walked out of the building and outside to his car.

“Thanks,” Atarah muttered as she opened the door at her own end and Jayden passed her a curious look

“For?”

“Forgiving me.”

He smiled lightly and climbed into the driver’s seat, closing the door behind him. Atarah mimicked him, sitting comfortably beside him and he leaned forward to peck her lips before starting the car and speeding down the road.

~~~

By the time they got to the mansion, it was already early evening and Atarah couldn’t help but admire the beautiful surroundings as Jayden drove through the gate and into the mansion.

‘Wow!’ She caught her breath when she saw the sight. The mansion was d**n huge and was surrounded by a beautiful orchard, a garden and a pool too, jeez!’ She could not hide her astonishment.

“I’m coming,” Jayden simply said as he alighted from the car and she nodded her head absentmindedly and looked around her with interest and awe.

She slowly climbed out of the car and looked towards the pool with huge eyes, breathing in the cool air when she had this sudden strange feeling that she was been watched and she was so sure about it.

A bit startled, she moved her head up and saw the beautiful woman with blonde hair that was leaning against the balcony railings and watching her closely.

“Good evening ma,” She greeted her with a gallant bow but Mary didn’t respond.

She just stood there, staring hard at her, wondering where she’d seen her before. She looked so familiar to her, strangely familiar.

TBC