When I opened my eyes. I was startled to see Elena before me. She had a worried expression on her face. I rubbed the sleep off my eyes and sat up then raised an eyebrow. "Miss, I apologise profusely for waking you up, but Mr Wolfgang is downstairs and has been waiting for you to leave."
"Why?", I countered. Knowing exactly why he was downstairs waiting. I swear that asshat should just leave me alone and let me be. Anyway, I was not too bothered because of my plans to leave. It would not hurt to give him a day with me sighing I responded, "Let him know that I will be down in 20 minutes."
She bit her lip, nervously but complied. I went in and poured myself a bath and added vanilla extract bath salts. I docked my I-Pod then played my chilled vibes playlist the first song that started playing was Girlfriend by Icona Pop. I relaxed and allowed my body to soak.
Halfway into my playlist I saw Elena peak her head in. "Oh shit! how long have I been bathing for?", I asked sarcasm dripping in my voice. "45 minutes Miss." I giggled like a five-year-old. Axel was going to be so pissed. I glanced at the time and it was half past two.
I was surprised that he had not come in himself to scold me. I spoke too soon as I was applying body lotion, I watched him enter. "Can you not see that I am getting dressed," I asked him with a smirk on my face.
He just glared at me. "Alexandrite did I not tell you last night that we would be leaving at 12:30 sharp and here we are two hours later. You are sitting naked on your bed." I nodded slowly and watched as his eyes flashed.
He breathed out a shaky breath "you will ride with Christophe to school every day." I just nodded. I was sick of this shit and I did not want to start arguing with him again. "Wait outside give me five minutes Axel," I breathed. Triumphantly he exited my room and did as I told him. I heard his footsteps stop after he closed the door.
I wore some daisy dukes that just covered my ass and some white vans and paired the shorts with a long white T-shirt that stopped where the shorts ended. I then tied my braids up in a high pony and applied mascara onto my eyes and Lilly Singh's Bawse red lipstick.
I was ready for the bullshit lunch.
It was super awkward in the Limo that we were being driven in. I did not know who they were, and they just knew that I was the love child of Axel's former flame.
The wife and daughter looked like they had met death himself when I slid into the car. I smiled a bit when their faces went pale. They couldn't believe I was wearing such trendy clothes, I guess.
The wife was wearing an A line floral dress paired with gladiator sandals and had a white cardigan tied around her shoulders. The daughter, Allison, was wearing the exact same outfit except her mother's dress was yellow and hers was green.
The boy Christophe was wearing stone-coloured chinos and a white polo shirt paired with black loafers just like Axel. I rolled my eyes, what a picture-perfect family. When we got there, Axel walked out and led the way.
The wife greeted everyone as we made our way to the table. All the people she had greeted would smile at her kids and then as soon as they saw me, they would stare at me.
I felt super goofy and hella stupid, so I gave them a bright grin. We were seated and then Axel cleared his throat.
"Um thank you all for coming, I would like to formally introduce you all to my daughter Alexandrite, she is 17 years old. She is the product of my old relationship. I dated her mother while I was in High School before I met Jade".
He cleared his throat and looked at us all. After a moment, he continued "The same age as you guys actually just a few months older", he breathed.
I felt the colour completely drain from my face. Axel had not wasted any time moving on... no worse he had gotten with her while he was with my mom.
My world stopped spinning and I felt my body become motionless; I could barely breathe. I just sat, trying to process this one sentence. She looked unconcerned as if she already knew.
"Allison and Christophe are twins Alexandrite" he added. All my smart words had left me, and I found myself with nothing to say. I felt numb. I knew Axel was an ass, but I had not realised the extent of his condition.
"Nice to meet you", they both said looking at me, with a matching look of condescension painted on their faces. I nodded. I was bereft. My capacity to feel had run dry all there was pain. There was nothing I could do. The extent to which he had hurt my mother just made me feel cold.
"Excuse me", I murmured getting up and heading to the bathroom. In my haste and disorientation, I had managed to get directions from a waiter. I went in and closed the door behind me in a stall. I called my mom. Feeling like she was the only one who was not in on this bad joke I had to fill her in.
"Mom it's me", I whispered. Of cause, she knew who it was since she had my number saved but logic just was not my greatest ally at the moment. It had evaded me.
"Baby, what's wrong?". She asked panicked. "Axel... mom..." I trailed off. "Alexandrite you are scaring me, what did he do... did he hurt you", her voice sounded frightened and on edge.
I inhaled deeply. Trying to steel myself enough to just should just tell her and stop beating around the bush, I exhaled and allowed the words to flow from my mouth. "He didn't hurt me... well not physically at least. He has a family, a wife and two kids here." I heard her suck in a sharp breath.
I decided to continue, "The kids are the same age as me, mom". I could not hold myself together. I broke apart and started crying, she deserved more than what Axel had given her. My mother is a queen she deserves a man who treats her right. She cried softly on the phone with me.
After a while she said "I knew he had a family and probably should have told you before you left. Um but I did not know his kids were the same age as you. So, he got us both pregnant*she sniffled* at the same time but chose her over me?!", She asked rhetorically. I swear I could hear her heart breaking on her side of the phone.
"He made me think that he was choosing his career over me but meanwhile he was starting a family with another woman". She continued to sob, and I knew I had to now be strong for us both.
"Mom, you are a gem, you deserve it all. More than the shit that these men give you" In that moment I made the choice to tell her what Doug had done to me so that she could have a clean break from all the toxicity in her life once and for all and rebuild. It was the only way... even though her heart was breaking I could not allow her to seek consolation from him after hearing this revelation about Axel.
I exhaled deeply hoping to find the strength to continue this verbal assault on her "Mom ... Doug beat me". I heard her gasp. " No Alexandrite you... you would've told me you wouldn't lie to me. Silence rang loudly on the other end as she came to the realisation that all my incidents were caused by him and were not accidents at all. "All those times-"
Her voice sounded like it was strangled, and she was pleading with me "no baby please no." She was losing it completely, maybe I had overwhelmed her too much with all this information. My intentions might have been pure, but the execution might just have broken her completely.
Her sanity was on the verge of shattering. I heard a door open on her side. "Did you do it", she yelled. I was unable to hear what the response was on the other end. Instead, all I heard was the shattering of glass. I had fucked up royally, I had to go and be there for her. I had shattered her world and left her alone to cope with it all.
In that moment I made an easy decision. I hung up and went to wash my face.
Axel's wife was waiting outside my stall. I glanced at her and continued cooling my face. "I can imagine the revelation of us has been a bit much for you". I glanced at her through the glass, she looked poised serene, but she was not gloating. "He chose you over us, you won. I'm done", I told her.
She looked like she was deep in thought for a moment. After a moment, her face crumpled a bit, then she said as I was drying my face, "I never felt like I won. I knew there was someone else... he told me that he had ended it and had only dragged on the relationship because of the bond they had shared. He had not known how to walk away. Years later when you were 10, I guess... that was when he informed me about you. At the time, I did not know what to think of it all but I chose to forgive him because he really is a good man."
Sincerity rang through her voice. She smiled weakly at me thinking her little confession would mend everything. A bold assertion. I cleared my throat then replied, "Thank you for that but you will never know the pain that we endured as a result of his selfish actions." I saw her flinch.
"That kind of hurting ... it just cuts too deep. I can't do this shit right now."
With those words, I threw the paper towel I had used to dry my face in the bin and walked out leaving her behind. I saw a tear fall down her rosy cheek in the mirror as I had taken a final glance. Maybe she had a heart, but I could not stay here and play house, while my mother needed me.
I bumped into Wolfgang on the way out of the country club's restaurant. My mind was made up I was getting onto the next flight out. My uber was waiting for me. I had ordered it while Jade was talking to me. "Alexandrite wait let me explain", he pleaded.
I wanted to tell him that he had hurt me so badly and my mother even worse. That she had been dating assholes since he left because she had convinced herself that was all she deserved. Emotionally unavailable men that would be physically there but leave her feeling empty on the inside. While he was happy and content with his perfect life and family here. I looked him square in the eye and said "Nah" then brushed past him, going towards the entrance of the country club, and got into the awaiting car. We drove in silence as I booked the flight.
I was going home.
I still felt numb though how was I going to fix my mom?