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Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 : Unexpected phone call

Helene and I headed towards the dining room and my eyes were still red because of crying.

To our surprise, everyone wasn't there anymore. Instead we heard some voices coming from the living room. Arriving in the living room there was only my father and Lucia there, they were laughing. You know what was making me cry , it's his way to look at Lucia, I saw happiness . He never looked this way to my mother. I know that their marriages were arranged and there was no love between them but aren't Helene and I sufficient to make him happy and stay with our mother. How dare he be happy with another woman ?

"Where is mother ?", Helene asked

"She said that she is very tired from her day so she went to bed", my father replied calmly to Helene.

"Helene, honey, I would like to talk to your sister alone . Can you go with Lucia in the kitchen, your dinner is there ", he said.

Helene stares at me like she is asking if I'm fine, so I nodded my head to reassure her and she finally went with Lucia in the kitchen.

"Ellie, sweetheart, we need to talk", he said while trying to touch my shoulder.

"Don't you dare touch me", I replied angrily and waved my shoulder behind. "And for your information there is nothing to talk about; you chose your own happiness before Helene and I", I said with a hot tear falling in my eye.

"Honey, please let me explain myself", he said.

"Sorry, but I don't want to listen to you . I'm so angry with you right now that I can't think right and I don't even want to see or talk to you", I said looking down.

"I understand, you are angry because I didn't tell you that I have a serious relationship with Lucia and I'm sorry for that, but please give her a chance. She is a beautiful person and you liked her so much when you were younger," he replied to me.

"I think I'll go home now, I had a tough day", I said, turning my back to him.

"Honey, if you are ready to talk to me I'll be there and I know you may not come but Lucia and I are having an engagement party next week if you want to come to know that you are welcome," he said with a little sadness in his voice.

I went to the kitchen to say goodbye to Helene but then I remembered when I was in the door that Lucia would be there too. When I was about to leave without saying it, I heard Lucia say "I put your dinner in there" handing me a lunch box "these are shrimp and pork ribs", my favorite dish.

She knows pretty well that I'll never refuse shrimp and pork ribs. She left the box on the kitchen table a but before she left I turned around and said "you think that by softening me with my favorite dish it would go better. Guess what ? That doesn't work", while throwing the box in the trash.

Finally I arrived at my house, I took off my shoes and my clothes and headed towards the bathroom to take a long and hot bath. A few minutes later, my ringtone rang, it was Larry. Him and I have our little ritual in such a situation : we watch Jolly Bird, it is a musical with very catchy songs while eating chocolate, caramel and hazelnut ice cream.

"What are you doing here this late ?", I asked with a tired voice

"Helene called me and I know about your father and Lucia. ', he replied with sorrows in his voice.

"Of course she called you", I said annoyed "please come in".

Earlier that night

"Sorry, Mr Carter but you don't have the qualifications required for this job", that's what I heard all day. I have done so many job interviews but no one wants to hire me because of my lack of qualifications. My name is Nathaniel Carter, son of Barbara Carter; I don't know who my father really is and my mom never reveals to me his name.

I only went two years at college because my mom got very sick when I was 20 year old. I had to use my student loan to treat her and I also had to do several odd jobs at the same time. Since then time has passed, I have stopped school to look after her and work full time. She is much better now after all. It was already 7 years ago.

Back home after several job interviews, I took a shower and begin to pack my things because in three days I'll be homeless, no way I'll tell that to my mom otherwise she is gonna be worried and it's not good for health and she already have so much on her plate that I don't want to add more problem.

I still have two days to find a job and a new place. When I turned on my phone I noticed that I had many missed calls from an unknown number. It has called me thirty times since this afternoon, should I call them back, perhaps this a job offer. "Come on Nate, call them back", I repeated several times in my head, holding the phone in my hand.

I'll call them back tomorrow. It's a bit late anyway, but I accidentally pushed on the call button. "Oh, no, no ! What have I done ? Hang up this damn phone Nate" but before I have time to hang up, I heard a woman voice, calm and a little bit tired picks up the line, and said

"Hello ?"

Is it weird that I found this voice hypnotizing ?

"Hello ?? Is anyone there ?", the voice said.

"Uh,...Yeah, I'm sorry to call you this late but you called me thirty times today so I decided to call you back", I replied.

"Oh ! Actually it's my friend's phone. He is a little busy now ? Can you leave a message ? Or maybe I can tell him to call you back ?", the voice replied.

"You know what ? That's fine, no need to call back. It's certainly a wrong number, so good night.", I said.

"If you say so, good night sir", the voice replied.