"Have you been able to find her?"
"She has been missing for days now, and you still can't find her," I ask the private investigator I hired on the phone.
"Sir, please exercise patience; it's been hard trying to get her location." "You've been saying that for years now; its been two years and you still haven't found her; you are just incompetent." I shout angrily and smash the phone on the wall.
I look towards the picture on my desk and feel a sense of pain and regret.
"Claire, my baby, if only I hadn't shouted at you that night, we would still be married."
It's been 2 years since Claire, my wife, left our house after I shouted at her. Ever since we got married, Claire was always insecure about the women I meet, where I go to, and the time I get back from work. It was so stressful, so I shouted at her out of frustration, and she just left. I felt it was kind of weird that she would just leave like that, but now I feel very sad and I regret it deeply.
I hold the picture frame of her to my chest. I really miss her.
"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but these are the documents you asked for." I hear my PA's voice.
"You didn't knock Miss Silver," I ask while I try to put myself back together.
"I did, sir; I didn't hear a response, so I just entered. Sorry if I disturbed you, sir."
"No, its fine, just drop it there and get me a cup of coffee." I tell her while rubbing my temples, I can feel a headache coming.
"Okay sir".
" , cancel all my meetings for today. I am really tired." I tell her while trying to pack the remaining documents.
"Okay, sir, so I should forget about the coffee?"
"Yes, Miss Silver. I will be going home now; please do not contact me if it is not important.
"Okay, sir, have a nice day."
"hmmmmmm"
I enter into my Lamborghini sports car and head home. I get into the house and I am once again greeted with loneliness—2 years of loneliness—of not having a partner, a companion, someone to come back home to. That's why I find it very hard to come home because its just me and my maids that I do not even see. I hear my phone ringing from my suit pocket and get it and look at the caller to see its my mom.
BEEP BEEP
"Hi mom, good afternoon."
"do not "hi mom" me?" she says angrily,
"where are you? I just got to your office and discovered that you are not there; your secretary said you have gone back home."
"yes ma, I came home because I wasn't feeling well."
"oh my boy, why don't you come to the family house and I take care of you?"
"No, mom, I don't want to be a burden to you."
"Norman Jr., get your house to the house right this minute!"
"Okay, mom, I say grudgingly.
" I enter into my car and drive to my parents house. "
Now let me introduce you to my family, My name is Norman Jnr, my dad's name is Norman Jonathan and my mom's name is Norman Izabella, I have two sisters pearl and Isabel, and yes I am the second child and first son, so I have an older and a younger sister. My parents like to call us back home at every inconvenience we have. One time my elder sister had her heart broken by some jake guy, and my mom called all of us back to the house to cheer her up. Do not get me wrong, I love my family, I love my mom, but she can be... well... extra. Hence, the reason I am going home.
I drive all the way to my parent's house, which is a thirty-minute drive from my house. The décor of my parents house has a lot of ancient artifacts, both paintings and sculptures, that are in the tens of thousands.
I enter the mansion, and I am greeted by Roberto, my parents butler.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Norman good to see you again."
I laugh and say, "Mr. Roberto. You saw me last week."
"That's a long time if you ask me, Mr. Norman."
"Okay, what ever to say, Robert, How is mama and pinkie?"
"They are fine, sir; I would send your greetings."
"Okay, and tell pinkie to tell me when she gets into college."
"No problem, Mr. Norman, I will tell her."
I walk into the family parlor and I am see my dad talking to my sisters about his favorite story, "how he met our mom".
"as we bomped into each other in the hallway of our college, I looked up and I saw...
"the most beautiful woman in the whole world," my sisters and I say at the same time and laugh.
"Oh, stop it guys, your father is just trying to say I am so beautiful that he couldn't resist me," my mom says while trying to give my dad a seductive look.
"yes, you are my dear; my dad looks at her with puppy dog eyes...
"Mom, I really wish we found love like you and Daddy; we are all successful yet we haven't found true love, some that have, their partner ran away, no offense Norman", Pearls says.
" none taken."
"Don't worry, dear, your own will come; just exercise some patience, it will come, my dear," my mom tells my sister, pearl
"speaking of finding true love, Norman, your PA is so pretty, you should invite her for dinner," my mom says.
"Norman has a new PA? I wonder how long she will stay." Isabel says,
"No, mom, that's my PA, we do not need to invite her for lunch; besides, she has her own family."
" it doesn't matter, dear; she should be introduced to the whole family."
"But mom, you never invited Johnson for dinner before?"
"that is not true; your dad invited him for the fishing competition last year."
"Mom, the two situations are not the same."
" Invite her Norman Jr., listen to your mother, my dad says with an authoritative tone.
"ok….."
God… this family.
"Time for dinner; come to the table" says the chef
"So Norman, have you been able to find Claire?" my sister pearl asks
"No, sis, the incompetent private investigator keeps saying to give him more time." "Maybe she doesn't want to be found," my mom says. My sisters shout,
"My love, I think you are being too hard on him," my dad tells my mom.
"I am not being hard on him; I just think she doesn't want to be found if she has been missing for 2 years and you haven't found her, and I never liked her; she was too materialistic.
"Thanks, dad and mom, for the dinner, but I have to go home now." I stand up to leave the table.
"Norman, you can't drive this late; just stay in your room for the night," my dad says pleasingly.
"Okay… goodnight everyone."
As I climb up the stairs to my room, I can hear my dad talking my mom,
"you shouldn't have talked to him like that", Bella.
" I am sorry but he needs to hear it, She wasn't good for him and she never will be good for our son, Just look at the stress she put him through when she was here and even when she's not here, he is still stressed up trying to find someone that doesn't want to be found".
"But mom, you should have said it..."
I get to my room and close my room door. I really do not want to listen to what they have to say anymore, but what if she is saying the truth—that Claire doesn't want to be found? No, that's not possible. She loves me, and I love her too, so why won't she want to come back to me?
Still in my thought, I try to get some sleep so that I don't wake up late.