Jeremy silence had been extremely bizarre. He had not talked since they left the house of his grandparents.
"Jeremy, are you okay?" Vivian asked as she parked the car in the parking lot of Childware, the children's mall. She never wanted to ask him because she didn't want him asking her questions, but she couldn't ignore the silence of a lively kid.
He nodded his head. "I'm fine," Jeremy said. He had his eyes on his spiderman. "Can you please call grandma? I want to talk to her."
"Once we are done doing what I promised you, we are going to call your grandma, OK?" Vivian said to him, smiling.
Jeremy was confused. He didn't know what she promised him. "Promised me?" He asked her, confused.
Vivian giggled. "Remember I told you we were going shopping before going to my house?" She stared at him with a smile as he showed his expression of remembrance.
Jeremy's face lifted with a smile than he frowned again.
Vivian didn't know what was up with the kid. She was at the verge of losing patience.
Children are kind of hard to handle.
"Aren't you happy about shopping?" She asked him nicely.
"Of course I'm happy. But I haven't done that before," he retorted.
"There is always a first time for everything, kiddo." Vivina held his chin. "You don't have to be sad that you haven't gone shopping before. You should be glad that you're about to."
"The thing is, there are lot of mature kids in there. And here am I, Jeremy, the kid who gets excited about every little thing. I don't want to embarrass you." He looked very serious about that.
Vivian laughed. The kid was just unbelievable. What could have possibly made him to think like that.
"See, you're already laughing at me." He frowned.
"No, no, no, Jeremy. I'm not laughing at you. It's just that what you said was hilarious," she said, laughing at the end. "Jeremy, she began in a serious voice, "other kids in there are probably thinking the same. Once you enter in there, people think you're the most mature."
"Really?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah," Vivian retorted. "See, Jeremy, to make it in this life, you just have to be normal. Changes and conformation shouldn't turn you into what you're not. Let the world accept you the way you are."
Vivian didn't know she had such wise words stored in her head that her father used to call dumb.
"Let's go now, honey."
She helped him unbolt his seat belt. Hand-in-hand, they walked into the mall together.
Jeremy was strucked with amazement when they entered the mall. He would gain interest in one thing then lose it the moment he saw another.
They were inside the shirt store picking shirts for Jeremy when Vivian received a call. She left him browsing and walked to the other shelf far from him.
Jeremy continued browsing until he spotted a spiderman shirt that he fell in love with at first sight. When he looked at the price on the shirt, he wanted to put it back, but he couldn't.
He walked to the corner where his aunt had gone to talk to ask her if he could take the shirt though it worthed $30USD which was about 4,500 in Liberian dollar.
As Jeremy went closer, he heard his aunt whispering in a loud voice. "You should be glad that I have him. Do you even know what I had to do to my mom before taking him from her?" There was a long pause. "This is the last thing I'm doing for you," Vivian said, frustratingly running her fingers through her hair. "Jeremy is a smart and lively kid. I have to make him happy, or he will start to miss his grandma. He has already started telling me to call her."
Like he hadn't heard anything, Jeremy went to her, smiling. "Aunt, Amira..." He called her before reaching to her.
"I have to go now. I will call you back," Vivian said before hanging up.
"What is it, Jeremy?" She asked him, faking a smile.
"I want to use the bathroom," he told her.
"Alright. Let's go." She noticed the shirt in his hand. "You like that?"
"Yeah, but it's expensive," he replied.
She took the shirt from him and looked at the price tag. She smiled down at him. "You can have it. I will give it to the cashier to keep it then pay when you are don't urinating and shopping, OK?"
Jeremy nodded joyfully.
*****
He was there before she arrived. Rachael thought he was already there when he called her, or, perhaps he was a better driver than her.
Steve was leaning at the front of his gray Maserati MC20. His legs were crossed from his angles, and his arms were folded as Rachael car light flash on him. He was still wearing his dark blue coat and Gucci shoes.
Someone who didn't know they were twins would've mistaken them for a couple who was matching outfit, or someone who knew would have thought they were doing the twin stuff, because they were wearing the exact same color.
"I wondered how you would have come to carry a whole package with a taxi," he said when she stepped out of the car that he had ordered her driver to take to her office.
"In case I didn't say before, you look really hot in this suit," Rachael complimented him, changing the topic. She was aware of her brother's likeness for compliments.
"Thank you, sis," Steve stated, bending his elbow for Rachael to get a hold of it. "I didn't want to say this, but your ass looks really good in this dress." Rachael nudged his arm. Steve laughed.
"That's not a nice thing to say to your sister, Steve," Rachael said in a jovial, but yet serious tone. "I'm not some of those girls that you flirt with. I don't even know why they come flying towards you like house flies after you've done nothing but flirt with and use them."
"I'm cute," he said. "Secondly, I have a good dick that makes them come back for more."
"Shut the fuck up, dude." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that dick of yours is as ugly as your face."
"That's not a nice thing to say to your brother, but, maybe, some women like ugly things," Steve said, chuckling. "That's why they keep coming back."
"Just shut up..."
They headed for the glass door of the children's mall together. People were still in the mall shopping for their children.
Steve felt how tense Rachael became when they entered the building; he held her arm a little bit tighter, giving her the confidence she needed.
Just like she had thought, some people left what they were doing and began staring at her with different facial expressions. Some began whispering to whosoever they were with.
"Ignore them," Steve said to her. Though his eyes were focused straight ahead, Rachael heard him clearly. She smiled briefly.
She was so grateful that Steve was with her at the moment. Who knows how it would have been if she had gone alone.
Rachael stopped herself from imagining what people were probably thinking or saying about her. As long as her brother was with her, she was sure that she was very safe.
"Rachael," Some people called her name as she and Steve were about to get on the escalator. She pretended not to have heard them when a light that she was sure was a camera light flashed on her.
"What do you think your fiancee and that woman have in common that could have possibly made him to do exactly what he did?" One of them asked.
Rachael continued walking. She didn't even turn to look back at them. The more she ignored them, the more questions came flying at her.
"Rachael, do you think your fiancee had an affair with her?"
"Could it be he is into something illegal and she wants her share so she's blackmailing him?"
"Are you sure you're the only one he is in a relationship with?"
"What are you going to do next, Rachael? Are you going to leave him or wait for the other woman to confirm your wedding?"
"Do you think the event from yesterday will affect your father's or your career?"
"Where is Charles at the moment?"
"Why did you allow another woman to ruin a special day of yours?"
"If you could, would you have agreed to let Charles marry you both yesterday?"
Almost hundred question had been thrown at her before she could reach the top of the escalator. She had experienced this before, but the tension from this one was different.
"Get me out of here, Steve," she said to Steve. "I'd rather wait for you in the car. Please."
"OK," Steve said.
Just before they could turn to walk back down the escalator, a group of security men joined them and led them to a room that was secluded.
Rachael sat in one of the large, violet chairs that was in the VIP room of the mall. She placed her head on the top of the chair and sighed. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about the questions she had been asked.