"Detected."
Alejandro.
He hadn't noticed that he had driven on the way to his house, with a smile on his face.
He shook his head violently and slapped himself.
What is happening to me?
He didn't understand. He had never felt this way before, so he had no means of characterizing his emotions. He didn't even know what to make of them.
He had always been an unsmiling, unruly, broody, cold and self-centered man.
But ever since he met Isis...No.
This can't be happening. I am still Alejandro Xylon Dominic. I can't let it happen.
He hadn't even given any concrete thought to his sexual appetite that whole day except for admiring Isis' assets, and he didn't understand if it was because he started to lose interest in Isis or sex, altogether.
But how's this making me want to draw closer to her? In a more, noble manner...
What the fuck Alejandro?
He placed his left hand over his mouth as he steered left, into his street, still pensive.
Alejandro was in denial. He was unaware that he was his own worst enemy and the only thing he had to do was to let go of himself.
His thoughts did not want to dislodge themselves, no matter how many times he shook his head or slapped himself.
He parked his car in his garage, in front of his black Mercedes CLA class.
Which reminded him of Sergio.
He had bought him that silver-gray Mercedes together with the yellow jeep he was in, that very same day.
He had looked at all of his cars and couldn't find one modest enough to take Isis out with. Just imagine the trouble you willingly put yourself through for a girl.
He violently shook off his thoughts and reverted back to Sergio.
"That old toad messed up my plans. That is why I'm in this mess now. He gave Isis an opportunity to get closer to me, throwing me off completely of my game!"
"Fuck-shit!" he yelled, as he punched the steering wheel.
He'll have to pay.
For what exactly? Because of your sincere concerns about your devilish missions or because you cared that he was part of the reason why Isis was hurt?
He sat still and listened to his heart beat faster at the thought of Isis.
Isis.
Isis threw her backpack onto her bed and walked into her bathroom, staring at her face in the mirror.
She started to cry, placing both hands in her hair and holding them there.
There's so much happening in my life right now. God, which way do I go from here?
Her mother was an adulteress and her heart had started to vibrate for someone.
It can't be love.
She felt overwhelmed, walking over to her shower and opening the water.
She had stripped and walked in, her thoughts trailing off with the hot water, as it pricked her back and camouflaged her tears.
Her thoughts were twisting and turning, suffocating her with their whispers, confusing and angering her, but yet they were her abditory.
She didn't know what she'd do about her mother, or about Alejandro.
She decided to let her heart lead.
As she got out of the shower to dry herself, Isis made a mental note to gather everything that belonged to her father in hopes of drawing closer to him, even if he was no longer present. She didn't want to forget him like her mother had done. So she'd thought it perfect to rediscover his legacy and keep his memory fresh in her spirit.
She got dressed in her pyjamas and made her way downstairs, not caring what her mother had decided to do with the statement she had made.
She glanced out of the kitchen window, and noticed that the silver-grey Mercedes was gone.
Pobre idiota.
She walked around in the dark carefully, placing her hands in front of her, for fear of bumping into something, and hurting herself.
She was on her way to her Mami's room, in desperate need of her grandmother's cuddles.
Aisha.
Sergio had walked out of her room, almost as if the gravity of their affair had finally dawned on him.
But she knew better.
He felt guilty for the graver mistakes that they had both committed in the past.
She decided not to dwell in her thoughts.
But she felt numb.
Walking into her bathroom, fazed.
Aisha stood there, sunken eyes staring back at her. The makeup was gone from her face, her hair was frizzed, and she was clad in her red lingerie and black gown, wet from the sweat of her hyperventilation, showing off her chubby midriff and too-tight sleeves.
She fell forward, catching herself on the porcelain sink and bowed her head, shoulders shaking. A sense of deja vu swept over her, as the ghosts of her past paraded around her and within her, a sneaky reminder of all the nights she had spent here with Sergio, even when Archimedes was alive.
Archimedes had once caught me with Sergio.. And now his daughter.. That's why I had to...
She struggled to keep breathing as her entire body seemed to sag with exhaustion and numbed agony.
She stood on the brink of something she couldn't describe.
The weight of everything seemed to press down on her shoulders and she struggled to take, even a single step forward.
It was too much.
She had heard Isis leave her bedroom and go downstairs.
She thought about all of the years where she hid behind the image of a 'good Christian woman' to go on pleasing her flesh, unnoticed.
She knew that history would repeat itself, and she could not afford to lose everything she had worked so hard to build.
"I can't let Archimedes' brat ruin everything I've built. When push comes to shove, Aisha Kasmira is always the last woman standing." she said maliciously, as she gazed at her own reflection in the mirror.
I'll take care of her later.
Isis.
Isis gently knocked on her Mami's door and walked in without waiting for a response.
She creeped under her Mami's covers and snuggled towards her.
"Isis?", her Mami queried, worryingly.
"It's me," she whispered.
Isis' Mami took her arm from behind and wrapped it around herself.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Isis removed her arm from around her Mami's waist and got out of bed to go and switch the light on.
She had tears streaming down her face.
Her Mami reached to her bedside to grab her glasses, and she put them on, sitting up and asking Isis what the matter was.
"Mom is sleeping with another man. This is the third time I've caught them. Just now, he was in her room for the second time this week and I saw them together."
Her grandmother looked away, and sat silently.
She looked like she was the one who had been caught cheating.
Isis squinted at her grandmother and walked closer, towards her.
"You had known about it this whole time, hadn't you?"
Silence.
She put her hands up and scoffed, turning to leave.
"Isis."
She stopped in her tracks, right hand still on the doorknob.
"Your mother is a very, very evil woman. You need to pack as many things as you possibly can and leave this house. Go to Zainab's or better yet, somewhere she'd never find you. After your father found out about her infidelity, he just disappeared and I just want you to be safe, in case she had anything to do with his death. She'd do anything to keep her reputation in tact. I know she feels threatened by the fact that you're aware of her dirty secret."
Isis swiftly turned around to face her Mami, evidently shocked.
She opened her mouth to speak but the words would not come out.
Suddenly, her grandmother got out of her bed and walked around to the other side of her room. She opened her cupboard and moved her clothes to the side, revealing a safe.
She punched in some numbers, opened the safe and retreated a wooden box, about the size of a male's shoe box. A male with really big feet.
Alejandro's feet perhaps?
"Take this." she said, as she placed the box inbetween Isis' hands.
"These belonged to your father. He left them for you. It'll help you with whatever research you're going to want to do."
She looked at Isis' dead in the eye and said, "It's time."
Time? Time for what?