Walking into the living room of her brother's apartment, Carissa slowly turned and observed Sophie who closed the door behind.
"Um. Where's Daniel?" She forced a smile, looking around. She didn't want to talk about what conspired between her and Duncan earlier so she tried to avoid it.
"That boy. I guess he's probably asleep. And," Sophie looked around them and sighed. "Your donkey-head brother is probably not home."
"Hm. As expected."
"I guess he's somewhere in a bar drinking up and reminiscing." Sophie chuckled. Her sudden elated expression dwindled as she placed a hand on Carissa's shoulder.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. On behalf of my hot-headed husband, Duncan, I apologize. He shouldn't have spoken to you in such a manner earlier. It was embarrassing."
"It's okay. I'm not surprised. I kind of pissed him off." Carissa chuckled and breathed out heavily before tilting her head and shifting her gaze elsewhere.
"I was hoping you could open up to me a little if you don't mind."
"About?"
"That, uh, David. You had a thing with him?" Sophie raised an eyebrow, seeking an answer.
Carissa exhaled. "Yes. Technically we had a thing going on between us before our long separation."
"Oh?"
Carissa shook her head. "We are done and our strange relationship was one of a kind which Duncan despised because David was from a poor background and we were so rich. But…" took a brief pause and muttered to herself, "tables turn."
"I'm sorry. I don't want to ask much about your past and all that. It's just that, I felt a bit sad knowing you kept things about yourself from me when I opened up regularly to you. Gosh, we lived under the same roof for four damn years and I kept thinking that baddie-insane Lucas was your child's father."
"I'm sorry. Didn't think of telling you back then."
"It's okay. I never asked, anyway." Sophie exhaled as she saw her mother walk out of her son's room.
"I knew I heard your voice right, Carissa my dear," Sophie's mother cooed.
"Good evening, Aunt. It's good to see you." Carissa hugged her.
"Good to see you too. Please do visit me often again so I can at least see you before your brother drives me to my early grave."
"Come on, Mother." Sophie rolled her eyes, thinking of what to say. She wasn't all too surprised by her mother's utterance given the fact that she didn't have a good relationship with Duncan but she hadn't expected her to say that.
"What? He's quite irresponsible and nothing like Carissa."
"Stop it, mother. He's my husband and Carissa's elder brother."
"Well, I know. I'm glad it's Carissa here and not her parents who won't easily admit the irresponsibleness of their son, especially Joyce. I just cherish Carissa"
Carissa let out a soft sigh. She was happy that she was adored and didn't feel hurt about what Sophie's mother was saying, which was true. Moreover, the woman still had a strong dislike for Duncan because at the beginning, he had wanted Sophie to abort her child after finding out she was pregnant for him. That was the time when things had gone all bad for Carissa's family after the sudden crash of their company that left them bankrupt and pushed Carissa to start shouldering the burden of the family after her divorce.
"I know well that if it wasn't for Carissa who had asked you to live with them, Duncan wouldn't have let you keep that child because he considered it a burden…"
"Enough mother. Daniel is inside and I don't want him hearing you saying all these horrible things about his father," Sophie pleaded.
"I'm telling the truth and it would be good if the lad knows so he grows up to become more like his Aunt, Carissa, and not his insensitive father whom you had claimed loved you so much like crazy back then."
"Well, it's your fault too, mother. Don't just see fault in Daniel alone," Sophie scoffed, giving her mother a blaming look. Carissa took a step forward to intervene but was a second late as Sophie let loose her tied-up emotions in a wick of incense.
"You only see the wrongs of Duncan. What about you? You abandoned me when you found out I was pregnant…"
"Yes, and it's because I was disappointed and didn't expect you'd let me down by getting pregnant before finishing college."
"Really? That's crap. I'm sure as hell that you'd love and adore Duncan back then if things didn't turn bad. If the Draven family hadn't gone bankrupt!"
"Are you trying to insinuate that…I only cared about money and not your happiness?"
Sophie opened her mouth to talk but Carissa stopped her by holding her hand.
Sophie's mother chuckled in disbelief and shook her head. She took her bag from the chair and hung it before showing her set of white dentitions to Carissa.
"See you some other time, Carissa." She waved.
Carissa returned the smile and nodded.
"I've put Daniel to sleep. Take care of your unborn baby." With that, Sophie's mother left after stealing a glance at her daughter's stomach.
"You went too far, Sophie," Carissa reprimanded softly.
"I know." Sophie sighed and sat down. "She pushed me. But I didn't say anything wrong."
"I think you misunderstood your mother and…" Carissa's phone rang. It was her mother calling but knowing full well it was Angelina, her daughter calling with her mother's phone, she smiled and answered the call.
"Hello, my angel."
"Hello, Mom. It's past 8 and you weren't home for dinner earlier. Where are you? I'm waiting for you so we can have dinner together."
"Oh dear. You've not eaten?" Carissa furrowed her brows in worry.
"No. Though Granny tried to force me and Grandpa was quite persuasive, I didn't give in because I always have dinner with you."
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm on my way home."
"Alright. See you soon. Love you, muah!"
"Love you too, dear," Carissa replied, trying not to laugh so hard.
"I guess a daughter wants her Mom home soon before she gets the police running a search," Sophie joked and they giggled.
"I need to leave now before my daughter turns into a tigress. Bye. My regards to Daniel." Carissa hugged Sophie and left.
"You're at my place most days, cuddling or gossiping with my mother, Daisy, and it signals joblessness," Carissa teased as she walked into her room with Daisy.
"Your mother always makes me gossip with her and you know I just love Angelina so much. She smells like ice cream and…" Carissa shot a weird look at Daisy, silencing her.
"She just smells nice, Carissa," Daisy rephrased, smiling. But noticing how worn out Carissa seemed judging by her facial expression, Daisy's smile disappeared. "What's happening to you?" She grabbed her shoulders and stared keenly at her face.
"What, Daisy?"
"You've got some kind of teabags beneath your eyes."
"Stop joking."
"I mean you look worried. You look like a janitor or a hopeless cleaner who had a bad day. Was there…?" Carissa paused abruptly and was quiet for a few seconds before she gasped. "Tell me, Is that jerk, David making you overwork?" She asked with a lower voice.
"No. He doesn't." Carissa Fred herself from Daisy and turned around. "I'm his P.A. People like me tend to work our butts out, you know."
"But, you…"
"Stop." Carissa turned sharply and motioned at the door. "Please, leave now. I'm exhausted and I need to freshen up and get some rest."
Daisy nodded and gave her a quick hug before dashing off.
"Phew, she's so observant," Carissa muttered before slumping on the bed.
One morning, preparing for work, Carissa's gaze caught the scrunchie in one of the tops of the drawers by her bed. She felt pulled to it due to the attachment she had to it. It was a gift from David and she felt he might remember it if perhaps he saw it.
"Mom, you're ready?" Angelina's voice boomed in before the little girl came rushing into the room.
"Yes, darling." Carissa squatted and carried her, smiling.
"You look beautiful today, Mom."
"Aw, thank you."
"This would look good on your hair." She pointed at the scrunchie, making Carissa chuckle.
"You think?"
"Yup."
Carissa thought for a second before asking, "Dear, if perhaps I offended someone in the past, but the person is estranged now, what can I do?"
"Fix things right," Angelina cheerfully advised.
"Even if…the person doesn't seem to want that."
"Yup. Try to settle the differences since you're the offender. It only makes sense and makes you the better one even if you've wronged the person."
Carissa stared at her for a moment, stunned by her daughter's intelligence. She kissed her forehead and placed her down.
"Thank you. I'm happy to know my daughter has become intelligent now."
Angelina grinned.
Staring out her outfit one more time, Carissa thoughtlessly put on the scrunchie on her hair and left with her daughter.
Later in the day at work, Carissa went to David's office to give him a file.
"The documents George asked me to forward to you are in the file." She placed it on his table and stared at it, waiting for confirmation.
"You still have that?" David asked and for the first time since they met, his voice was soft and Carissa felt a bit of emotion in it.
As she lifted her gaze and caught him staring slightly above her head, she tried not to assume he was staring at the scrunchie.
But David was actually staring at it and the memory of him gifting it to Carissa flashed his mind.
"It looks good on you," he said, partly lost in his thoughts.
His reply prompted Carissa to touch the scrunchie and she flushed as he nodded in confirmation. A smile parted her lips.
'He remembered this then he might still feel something for me,' Carissa happily thought.
She didn't expect her less than a minute of happiness to be crushed in the next minute.