Coral Miller
The news of aunt Lydia's passing hit me like a ton of bricks. It was as if the world had been knocked off its axis, leaving me reeling in disbelief and sorrow. She was more than just an aunt; she was my confidante, my rock, my guiding light. Losing her felt like losing a part of myself.
But, Evans words had a profound effect on me, touching me in ways I couldn't fully explain. He possessed a unique ability to connect with me on a deeper level, leaving me captivated and vulnerable. My past with Kai had made me wary of love, but Evans seemed to effortlessly break down my defenses. He was the ideal man in my eyes - handsome, charming and kind. His physical appearance, his contagious smile, his thoughtful words and his confident demeanor were everything I could ever want in a partner.
"Coral, it's going to be fine" Evans said, with a smile on his face.
Aunt Lydia, I definitely was going to miss her a great deal, but I'm happy I'm not going through this pain alone Evans was here with me and that gave me so much peace.
"Thank you so much Evans" I said with a smile on my face.
"You want to tell me a favorite memory of you and your aunt?" He asked, his face laced with curiosity.
"I'm not sure I want to talk about it" I said dryly, not so interested.
"C'mon, I want to live and see in those memories how so great your aunt was, please?" He said, giving me the puppy eyes with his beautiful brown eyes that were glistening under the light.
"I want you to know that there's no pressure if you don't want to share it," He added, with a smile on his face.
He really does know how to get his way with things so easily.
"Okay, fine I'll tell you" I said, chuckling lightly.
"Yes!" He exclaimed happily, throwing a victory fist into the air like as though he had just won a lottery.
I immediately got wrapped up in my head wondering what my favorite memory with my aunt was. We've had a lot and I loved each and every one of them, not until this one came rushing in. It had both the good and ugly but I guess that's what made it my favorite. I told him in detail how everything happened.
"Coral Miller, you're not going anywhere young lady" my mom shouted, standing at the entrance to the living room.
I stood by the door leading outside the house, staring at her like there was nothing she could do that would stop me. I gave her a once over, she was putting on her favorite pajamas that dad had gotten for her the last Christmas we all shared before he died, her hair was in a very messy bun and she had dark circles underneath her eyes, she looked extremely stressed probably from all the extra night shifts she's been doing lately. She was an assisting nurse and that for sure required and took a lot of her time.
My gaze caught a family picture in our living room, a picture of my mom, dad and me. We were very happy, my mom was very beautiful, her milky, porcelain skin was so beautiful, her smile was the biggest, her long black and her blue eyes were to die. She looked totally different from the pictures she had gotten worse ever since the passing of my dad.
"Mom, there's no stopping me. I'm going to see Kai and there's nothing you can do about it!" I shouted back at her, stomping my feet on the ground.
"Coral, stop this nonsense at once" She shouted, a voice a little higher than before.
"You're going to stay at home and clean the house and take care of it." She added.
"I already have too much on my plate, working overtime so we have a Roof over our head and food to eat and don't forget your school fees too and every other bill that comes. So you'll do as I say young lady!" She shouted again, her voice filled with anger and frustration as she walked out of the living room.
She walked back into the living room. " You think Kai loves you? Get out of your head coral, he'll only get your heart broken" She said calmly, about leaving the living room.
"What would you know about love?" I asked, my arms folded on my chest, waiting for her next outbursts. I knew the buttons to press whenever I wanted to get my mom angry.
She turned around to face me. "What did you just say?" She asked, her brows knitted in confusion and her face laced in anger.
"Yes, you heard me right!" I blurted out. This was getting out of control, if dad was here he would have controlled the situation before it even got to the situation.
"Coral, I loved your father so much and there's no denying that. I and your father showed you unconditional love, we showed you how we loved ourselves" she said, trying to burst out in anger.
"But you never showed that you loved me," I said, pausing a bit, as she walked slowly towards me.
"All we ever do is fight! You don't care about me or how I feel all you care about is your stupid job that you're not even happy about and the one person that cares about me, you're stopping me from seeing him." I said, looking up at her as she stood right in front of me.
A resounding slap rang out, followed by the sharp sting on my cheek. I grasped my cheek in pain and continued staring into her eyes.
"You don't know what I've sacrificed just for you, just for this family, you don't know what I went through and let me tell you, you have no right to say that I don't love you after everything have done for you, for us" She said, her eyes clouded with tears that threatened to fall as she walked out of the living room. She never cried in front of me before.
"Fine!" I shouted and walked out of the house slamming the door.
I was too angry to go and meet Kai, so I went to aunt Lydia's place and poured out my heart to her. I narrated everything to her and she calmed me down.
"Your mother loves you a lot, coral, you just can't see it" aunt Lydia said.
"How would you know?" I said, sobbing with tears streaming down my eyes.
"Because your grandparents before they both died they hated her for marrying a man that was black, just because of his color and disowned her when they found out she was pregnant with you" aunt Lydia said.
"What!" I exclaimed in shock.
"Your grandparents didn't want a mixed race, they wanted your mom to abort the pregnancy and divorce your father and marry from our culture, our race" aunt Lydia said.
I was beyond shocked, my mom disconnected with her only family for love, for me. My mom never told me this stuff and I was sure that she wouldn't tell me about it even till her grave. But aunty Lydia did.
Remembering this memory only made me realize how much my mom loved me, but always found it hard to express it.
"Dang that was one hell of a story! I'm sorry about all that" Evans said, his voice laced with pity.
"Nahh, it's fine actually" I said, lost in my thoughts.
"Are you sure About that?" He asked, searching my face to know if I was pretending.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, putting on a fake smile.
"Thanks for sharing this with me, I know it was hard doing it. But I'll treasure this memory and make our favorite aunt Lydia live on forever in my heart also" he said, smiling at me.
Oh heavens! Evans was a lot.
"Cherry," he called out, looking at me.
That goddamn name that gets to me everytime.
"Do you want to get out of this place? You know, just get some fresh air. I don't want you sulking here in this place," He said, putting every effort to make sure I wasn't sad anymore.
"I'm not so sure about that" I said reluctantly, knowing quite well that I wanted to, so badly.
"You know, I'm supposed to be at home right now" I added, if it was any consolation that he'd agree to just let me just be here with him in this room.
"Come on, let's take a walk, get some food, maybe, go to the park," he said, trying to lift my spirits.
I really wanted to do all that he had listed but somehow I felt it wasn't right doing all that.
"I don't want to, Evans," I said, sadly.
There was a deafening silence that came afterwards and then he spoke out breaking the ice or rather breaking my heart.
"Coral, I'll only be in Melbourne for this night, I'll be going back to New York" he said, staring at me.
"What?!" I shouted in surprise.