"Why should I do that? I have nothing to gain or lose anymore, Chloe. Look at my life. Is there anything to admire about it? Do you think it can get better than this? Hell no! Do you think it can get worse than this? F*cking yes! Listen, Chloe, I have done all I can to be both a mother and a father to you, but it was never enough for you. I vowed never to let you know about it, but you've pushed me to the limits," Lisa said at first in an angry voice and then slowly in a helpless voice, and Chloe scoffed as she shook her head.
"Don't try putting this on me!" She almost screamed as she rushed to her closet and started throwing away Martin's gifts on the floor. She thumped on them angrily, and Lisa just watched and let her let go of her anger.
She had a heavy heart, and her breathing was so irregular as she thought of burning those clothes and, in the process, burning down their entire house, just like she had felt when she met Martin that day at the park.
It was the first time she was seeing him outside their home, and though she wasn't alone, she was so afraid of him.
What if he decided to beat her up like he beat Lisa?
"Who is he?" Janely had been the first to ask, and Chloe had looked at her friends helplessly and at Martin with hostility.
She felt like jumping on him and slapping the shit out of him, but her legs failed her as she couldn't even move.
"Goodness! She hasn't told you about me?" Martin asked with a smirk as he lightly squeezed the hands of the young boy he was with.
"No," Janely and Rina shook their heads in denial as they looked at Chloe expectantly.
The wide park suddenly seemed so small that Chloe wanted to be anywhere other than there.
She wished she could disappear into thin air and stop the uncomfortable conversation that was going on.
"I'm here…" Martin started by. Chloe's loud screams interrupted him and brought a lot of attention to them.
"What were you going to say? Who are you to me?" Chloe went on shouting, and a few concerned parents walked over to ask them if all was okay.
At first, Chloe looked at them strangely, wondering why they were meddling in her business, then with embarrassment as realization hit her that she had caused a scene, so she mumbled an apology and said she had just lost control of her emotions and that everything was fine.
"Thank you," she told the concerned parents with a plastic smile, and that convinced Janely more than anything that there was something Chloe wasn't willing to admit.
She had a sick gut feeling that the man had to be so involved in Chloe's life, either as her mother's lover or something else but it didn't for once cross her mind he could be her father.
"Can you please excuse us for a while?" Chloe politely asked her friends, who acted like they weren't the ones Chloe was addressing.
"Please, I'll be fine. You can stay at a safe distance in case I need you," she added as she looked at Martin with challenging eyes, and she saw him tense. In the present, Chloe could now assume Martin thought Lisa had told Chloe about him.
"What do you want? Why are you following me around? Please don't say you're looking out for me, yet you derive some unusual satisfaction in beating up my mom," Chloe hissed as she turned to look at her friends and see if they heard anything.
"First of all, I just saw you as I was passing by and decided to say hi," Martin lamely defended himself, but Chloe continuously shook her head and urged him to shut the f*ck up.
"Chloe, I don't mean any harm towards Lisa and you. I only want to continue supporting you two because I love your mom, and I know she loves me too, but she might be afraid of how you'll feel about all these," Martin said in a low compassionate voice, and Chloe turned to look sharply at him.
"Fuck you!" Chloe cursed.
"Will you please stop cursing?" Martin asked in a polite tone.
"Do you really think I am a child?" Chloe cursed, and Martin slowly shook his head.
"Why do you beat up someone you're in love with, Martin? Do you know how many times I have had to treat her wounds? Gosh, it has almost become a norm, and I can't always sleep when she cries herself to sleep in her room. I have stood at her door and heard her call out to God, and it doesn't look like how a person in love acts. So please," Chloe said with folded hands in the prayer sign.
"Cut me the slack and tell me what exactly is going on."