Jolynn stared at the two figures before her.
"What!?" She could only exclaim, not believing her eyes.
The older woman, Dena moved to hug Jolynn,but she pushed her away.
"Waht are you two doing here?" Jolynn asked again,venom coating her tone, her eyes shooting daggers, if looks could kill.
Lawrence and Dena were Jolynn's parents, but at the age of 12 they abandoned Jolynn and her two siblings of 7 and 2 respectively. Their sudden appearance now shocked Jolynn and she knew that whatever their reason was for showing up, it wasn't a good one.
Dena recoiled, hurt flashing across her face as she took a step back. "Jolynn, please, we came here to make amends. To apologize for what we did and to try to make it up to you and your siblings."
Lawrence stepped forward, his hands outstretched as if to calm Jolynn down. "We know we messed up. We were young and foolish and we made a mistake. But we've spent years trying to make up for it. We just want a chance to prove to you that we're not the same people we were back then."
Jolynn's eyes narrowed, her fists clenching at her sides. "You expect me to just forgive you? After all these years of not even bothering to check up on us? After leaving us to fend for ourselves? You expect me to just welcome you back with open arms?"
Dena stepped forward again, her eyes pleading with Jolynn. "Please, Jolynn."
Her response was to close the door on them, but Lawrence stepped in.
Dena and Lawrence exchanged a worried glance between them before Lawrence spoke up. "Jolynn, we know we have a lot to answer for, but we're here to make things right."
Jolynn raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Make things right? You left us without a word and now suddenly decide to show up after all these years? What do you want?"
Dena stepped forward. "We know we messed up, Jolynn. But we're here to ask for your forgiveness and to make amends. We want to be a family again."
Jolynn scoffed. "A family? You gave up that privilege when you walked out on us. You don't just get to waltz back in and pretend like everything is okay."
Lawrence stepped forward, his voice softening. "We understand that we can't just erase what we did, Jolynn. But we want to try. We want to make up for lost time and be there for you lots."
Jolynn scoffed, "So, this is not about the fact that you heard I was getting married to a rich man?" The thought just came to her mind, and just like that, her parents demeanor changed.
"So what?! Don't you think we deserve to be pampered by you, we're your parents, without us, you wouldn't be here." Dena placed her hands on her hips, her actions angering Jolynn further.
Jolynn's anger boiled over at her mother's words. "Without you? You mean without the people who abandoned us when we needed you most? You think you deserve to be pampered after what you did?"
Tears welled up in Jolynn's eyes as she thought of all the years she and her siblings had struggled, all the times they had gone hungry or been unable to afford basic necessities. And now her parents thought they could just waltz back in and demand to be taken care of?
"You have no right to demand anything from me," Jolynn said through gritted teeth. "I don't owe you anything."
Lawrence stepped forward again, his voice pleading. "Please, Jolynn. We know we messed up. But we're here now, and we want to make things right."
"How can you make things right?" Jolynn demanded. "You can't just wave a magic wand and make everything okay."
"Don't beg the ungrateful brat," Dena gritted out, glaring at Jolynn.
Jolynn felt a sudden surge of anger and stepped forward, her eyes blazing. "That's it. You need to leave. Right now."
Dena and Lawrence exchanged a worried glance, realizing that Jolynn had enough. They knew they had pushed their luck too far by mentioning her wedding and making demands of her.
"I'm serious," Jolynn said, her voice cold and hard. "You need to leave and not come back."
Without another word, Dena moved forward, only to land a sounding slap on jolynn's face.
She gasped, "Ha." Their little commotion alerted the neighbors and that is never a good sign.
The neighborhood was a peaceful and quiet one, but Jolynn's strange actions and visitors has brought attention to their house. This made their next door neighbor, a very nosy woman, Mrs. Tellz to call Leo, the real owner of the house and Jolynn's fiancee.
Leo was in a very important meeting when he received the call, it was hard for him to drop everything he was doing to attend to Jolynn, so he called her instead.
Jolynn was in the middle of telling Dena off, threatening to call the police on them, when Leo's call entered.
"What's happening?" Jolynn could evidently hear annoyance in Leo's voice.
She took a deep breath, trying to sound as neutral as possible, "Nothing is wrong, why do you call?" She tried to divert the topic.
Leo sighed, " I got a call saying someone is making a ruckus in my house, Jolynn,take care of it, will you?" Without waiting for response,he hung up, causing a sigh out of Jolynn.
She knew their marriage was of convenient, what she didn't expect from Leo was the lack of emotions in their conversations. It angered her.
With that anger, she turned to her ill mannered parents, I want you to leave now and never come back." She turned and slammed the door on them.
"Who was that?" Her little sister asked, looking curiously at her.
Jolynn mustered a little smile, "No one little girl, no one at all."
But, deep down she just wants to lay on the bed and cry her soul out.
Why now? She asked herself.