"I should put up a 'no visit sign' by the gate to keep unwanted guests out," Jasmine angrily chopped the apple in her hand into tiny little pieces.
Henifer pressed her lips together in silent prayer that she doesn't cut her finger in the process. Surprisingly, the sharp knife scantily grazed her skin.
"I apologize for coming to visit you unannounced," Henifer voiced.
"People keep apologizing to me today. I fail to understand, why," Jasmine poked one of the pieces with the knife and brought it to her lips. She slowly chewed it and swallowed. "Why are you here, Hen…Mrs He…"
Jasmine was puzzled on the appropriate way to call out to Henifer. Her eyes moved around the kitchen counter apprehensively.
"Henifer will do," Henifer cleared the confusion Jasmine had on how to refer to her. "I came to speak to you about Elisa. My worry for her comes from a place of concern and deep regret. Hence I wanted to ran by you first," she put forth her purpose for coming to visit.
Her words were like sharp icicles piercing through Jasmine's heart. She felt the massive difference between herself and Elisa from Henifer's statements.
She had cried out for Henifer to help her all her life and the woman couldn't be bothered to care. The first chance Elisa's problem catches Henifer's attention, she came running like a blood hound.
Jasmine clenched and unclenched her fingers around the knife. Her emotions coming closer to the surface than she likes them to be. Her encounter with Leah and Jalana provoked her emotions, but Henifer managed to melt through her icy barriers.
"How is she? Is it possible for me to see her?"
"She's Monica and Richard's eldest daughter, why do you want to see her?" Jasmine set down the knife, she didn't trust herself not to make a regrettable mistake with it.
"I once raised her as my own daughter. That was before I found out she's…I am worried for the part I might have played in her condition," Henifer let out.
Unable to put into words that Elisa is her ex-husband's daughter. It was a touchy subject for her, one that she feared might tear open all her past wounds.
Her life partner and best friend betrayed her, they cheated her in the most disgusting way possible. And rubbed salt to her wounds by parading the seeds of their betrayal right infront of her.
She had buried her past behind her and tried her best to live in the moment. Nevertheless, the past found ways to sting at her healing heart and remind it of it's permanent scars.
"I know I'm not her mother but I care for her. I wasn't able to be there for her in the last sixteen years but I'm here now. And I hope I can make up for the years I've been away," her eyes grew heavy with tears.
Henifer fetched a handkerchief from her purse and wiped away the tear at the corner of her eyes. She raised her gaze and blinked away the tears. Henifer felt it needful to remain strong, to avoid breaking down and be a shoulder for Elisa to lean on.
However, going down memory lane provoked her buried feelings to float to the surface. She was on the verge of falling apart.
Jasmine saw through the strong mask she put on. With one look Jasmine understood the emotions Henifer surpressed underneath the soft-composed facial expression she wore.
She'd seen everyday in her reflection in the mirror. The pain, heart ache, suffocation; buried underneath layers of indifferent and aloof expressions. No one spoke the language better than her.
"Is sixteen years not enough to heal?"
"The scars serve as a reminder every time and every effort to heal gets trampled," Henifer answered.
"The pieces can't be put back together?"
"They can but not without cracks. The void that comes with the cracks is unending."
"And insatiable," Jasmine added. A tear rolled down her eye.
She quickly wiped it away, amazed at herself for her reaction, she stormed out of the kitchen without a word and run upstairs.
"Did that go well?" Jalana inquired from Jacob. They watched the conversation between Henifer and Jasmine from the window. Trying to make out the details of their discussion.
"The last time I saw my sister cry was when we were five. That's also the last time I saw her running," Jacob enlightened Jalana. "No, that went terrible."
Jalana sighed, she didn't expect miracles to happen but hoped something positive would come from her mother's effort. Henifer went against her principles to meet Jasmine and that counted for something in her book.
"I know my mom, she's as stubborn as they come. She won't leave untill Jasmine submits to her," Jalana confidently said.
"And I know my sister, she doesn't submit to anyone," Jacob firmly stated.
They watched as Henifer traced Jasmine's steps and disappeared to the stairs. Jalana crossed her fingers, praying with all her heart that her mother finds a way to win over Jasmine. She longed for their whole family to be complete.
On the other side of the house, Jasmine hurried into her colossal bedroom, the door trembling at the sudden slam.
She raised her hand to her chest, suffocating with every breath she took, all the feelings she spent years burying and forgetting without working through them came floating to the surface, threatening to take her under. Jasmine took deep breaths. Murmuring her day to day chants.
"I'm alright, I'm better than my situation, I'm indestructible," she chanted over and again to reassure and calm her nerves.
Jasmine had demons in her, by fortune luck she always managed to control them. Untill this day when they took control of her. Rendering the powerful influence of her chants useless.
In a lightning swift reflex Jasmine reached out for her pocket knife. Chocking for breath as her emotions overwhelmed her. She wanted the pain to be gone, the weight on her shoulders to be lifted, to be freed from the chains of her life.
In a moment of weakness, she pressed the knife to her wrist, prepared to do the unthinkable to end her misery. Just then, Henifer peeked her head through the door to inquire if it was alright for her to enter.
Her motherly instincts kicked in, Henifer had no clue what powers took control of her body. The speed she used to reach Jasmine, disarm her and pull the girl into her arms stunned her.
"This isn't the answer, my dear," Henifer held Jasmine closely to her chest.
"You're sixteen years late to save me," Jasmine whispered, she passed out in Henifer's arms.
Henifer held Jasmine's unconscious body with shaking hands. Jasmine's last words resonating tauntingly in her mind. The words hurt as they were true; not only for Jasmine but for Elisa too.
"I'm so..so sorry," words flowed out of her quivering lips.