CALEB
The music from the speaker drowned my friends’ squabbling. I sighed for the umpteenth, ruffling my hair in confusion. I made her leave, though, I know I made the right decision, I was finally free from her. But, why don’t I feel relaxed and happy? I should be drinking and chatting with my friends, but, here I am, sitting obscurely away from them. “Hey, Caleb, what’s wrong with you?” Kim asked, waving his hands across my face. I sighed and forced myself to draw closer to them. Julius and Casper ended their childish squabble, their eyes bored into me, expecting an answer that I didn’t know how to give. Julius is engaged, though it’s a marriage allegiance between his family and Sophie, but he never seems to have a problem with it, as far as his numerous affairs don’t affect their relationship. Casper is still single, but not searching or ready to settle down. He’s a dangerous flirt. I can’t count how many times I have caught him flirting with Rosy while we were still married. Kim is mysterious, no one knows when he wants to settle down with a woman. He wasn’t a flirt, but he had a bit of bad luck with relationships. It never lasts for three months and the lady calls it quit. I was the one different, and they knew it and respected me for being different. “Is Rosy doing okay?” Casper asked, staring worriedly at me. I snapped out of my thoughts and stared at them blankly. “She should be, it was for the best anyway,” I coughed out. They furrowed their brows in confusion. “What is for the best?” Kim asked. “The divorce, she signed the divorce papers today.” The liquor in Casper’s tumbler spilled on his pants. Kim stared at me with his jaws dropped. “Wait, you carried out your threat, you divorced Rosy?” Casper yelled in my face. Julius chuckled and threw a handkerchief at Casper. “I told you that guy is sick in the brain, didn’t I?” he muttered. “How could you do that to her? You two just lost Sherry!” Kim snapped, glaring at me contemptuously. “You know how hard it was for her! She’s yet to recover from the shock, dude,” Casper said. I slammed down the glass on the counter and spun my head in their direction, my eyes blazing in anger and bitterness. How dare they chastise me? This was all Rosy’s fault, why the heck are they making me look like the villain here? “She killed Sherry!” I blurted out before I stop myself. Kim sighed, Casper twitched his lips in disgust and Julius rolled his eyes. “Stop saying that nonsense, Caleb, that’s childish!” Kim snapped, staring at me in disgust. “How long will you keep saying that? And how long do you want people to keep on believing it?” Julius muttered. “What?” I can’t believe that they are on Rosy’s side. They support her for taking our daughter away! “Cut the crap, Caleb, you’re just looking for a victim to lay down your anger on,” Kim said. “Yeah, and that bait was poor Rosy,” Julius backed him up. “To think that Rosy gave you all the love she had only to get stabbed with betrayal during her weakest point, dude, you aren’t human.” Casper’s words cut through me like a two-edged sword. They were saying that to me? They never believed me, and yet they kept quiet when I blamed Rosy. They are the real betrayers, the cunny disappointing friends. I felt like I didn’t exist to them anymore. Why should I be amongst the people who hate me? “Well, that’s fine, you can go ahead and spill your trash, I don’t care,” I replied and turned my back to them. “You got it all wrong, Caleb,” Casper said. I groaned and cranked my neck, glaring at him. “If you want her then you can go for her, besides, you’ve always admired her even when we were still together.” A smirk curved up Casper’s lips and I knew that he was cooking up one of his mischievous tricks again. “Really? You wouldn’t mind if I dated Rosy?” he whispered. Julius and Kim burst into a peal of wild laughter, throwing back their head and choking on their liquor. My eyes darkened and I banged my fist on the counter. The man behind the counter backed away in fear. Their laughter died down and Casper’s mischievous smirk disappeared when they saw the terrifying look on my face. “Don’t even think of going close to her. A Casanova like you don’t deserve someone like Rosy.” Their eyebrows shot up in surprise as they stared at them. I slammed my debit card on the counter and slipped out of the club. “He doesn’t deserve her either, maybe that’s why he divorced her,” I heard Casper say. I growled in annoyance as their jeering laughter trailed after me till I escaped out of the clubhouse. The cold hair that hit me immediately when I walked out made me stagger back. I felt tipsy as I walked towards my black SUV. I searched my pocket for the keys and slipped them quickly into the lock hole. I unlocked it and pulled the driver’s door open but a crisp familiar voice stopped me from entering the car. I spun around and saw Kaitlyn waving at me. A smile splattered against her face as she crossed the road towards me. I groaned in displeasure. The last thing I want is to have the annoying witch close to me. “How have you been, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your daughter’s funeral,” Kaitlyn muttered when she got to where I stood. She never wanted to come anyway. I rolled my eyes secretly. “I don’t have a problem with it,” I grumbled. “How is Rosy?” she asked. I wonder why everyone asks me the same question. ‘I don’t have an idea, we are divorced.’ I wanted to say but changed my mind. “She’s fine.” Why should I let her know about my marital issues? Kaitlyn was one annoying bug that has always stuck in my life. We went to the same kindergarten and we’re family friends too. “I heard that you two are divorced,” she blurted out. I cranked my head at her, surprised at her discovery. “How did you know?” “Oh, your mom called, she told me you two got divorced today,” she chipped, smiling widely. Is she happy or what? I stared at her suspiciously. “Have the divorce been finalized?” she muttered. “Why do ask?” I snapped. “Just looking out for my best friend,” she tugged on my sleeve. I scoffed and slapped her hand away, slipping into my car. “It’s a good thing that you’re single now, you got married too early. It’s time you enjoy the joy of bachelorhood!” she yelled as I ignited the car and drove off aggressively. **** As I walked into the house, the depressing feeling of loneliness hit me. I shrugged it off and walked stealthily into my bedroom, trying hard not to wake Mrs. Joyce. The first thing I noticed in the bedroom was emptiness, Sherry’s picture was gone. I walked up to Rosy’s wardrobe and pulled it open. Her wedding dress fell out. I stared at it for a while before glancing at the almost empty wardrobe. All her belongings were gone, the only ones left behind were the things I got her. I staggered to the bed and found an envelope lying on top of the drawer. I chuckled and pulled it open, checking out what was inside. The divorce papers and what seemed like a letter were what I found in it. My throat knotted when I saw that the alimony had been canceled. I dropped the papers dejectedly picked up the letter and opened it. I read through the contents and the paper slid out of my hand. Guilt seeping into my conscience. Her wedding ring was right there on top of the drawer too, her memories were all gone. Yes, I hated Rosy for being cunny and irresponsible. But, was letting her go the perfect idea? I won’t be expecting a Rosy when I get back home, there will no longer be a caring wife all over me, trying to make me feel happy. There won’t be a Sherry, a Rosy, or a family. I turned out to be just like my friends, nothing makes me different anymore.5 years later ROSY The customized shrill ringtone of my phone blared out, making me snap my eyes open. I groaned, wondering who was distorting my blissful sleep. I propped up on an elbow and scrambled for my phone which repeatedly kept ringing in the drawer. I dug it out of the pile of books filled up in the drawer, and glanced at the screen, half awake. “Evan?” I muttered. A smile crept into my face as the name flashed back and forth on the screen. Taking a deep breath, I accepted the call and placed the phone on my ear, waiting to hear the enchanting voice of my fiancé. “Honey, still sleeping?” his assiduous voice boomed into my ear. “Ugh huh,” I muttered in reply. He chuckled lightly and my cheeks heated up. “I’m thinking of coming over for breakfast, what do you say?” Evan asked. The heat on my face intensified at the mention of ‘breakfast’. I knew what Evan’s breakfast was like, it always comes with a lot of hot make-outs and kissing.
ROSY The receiver dropped from my shaky hands. My heartbeat increased, it felt like my heart would explode from my chest soon. I gasped, staggered back and almost fell to the ground. Evan caught me by my waist and led me to a couch. My body shivered in fright, I felt like I would die the next minute. Even though my father and I never had a daughter-and-father relationship. I still love him so much. Is everything going to be alright? Is my dad safe? Different negative thoughts ran through my head. “I need to head back to Sicily. I can’t spend a minute here any longer.” I sprang up before Evan could try to stop me. In a mad dash, I headed into my room and ran to my wardrobe, dragging out some of the clothes in it. I flung out a suitcase and started piling the clothes into the suitcase. “You should take it easy, don’t rush too much. You might end up hurting yourself,” Evan spoke up behind me. “I’m fine,” I snapped huskily, dumping the last batch of clot
I stood, dazed, as I glared at Karen. “What do you mean? Emma is coming back?” I snapped. “Are you deaf or something?” Karen snapped back, rolling her eyes in disgust. I sighed and slumped into a chair. Why does she have to come back Emma is my younger sister, my stepsister to be precise. Emma is just like her mother, pretentious and vicious. She is the most terrifying being I have ever come across in my entire life. It was never a tag-along for Emma and me, her mom did a fantastic job of poisoning her mind against me. “Soon, Emma will be the chief director of the Connor Foundation and also the CEO of the Connor group of companies.” Karen chuckled, narrowing her eyes at me. A surge of anger washed through me as I glared at her. How dare she wish for that in this delicate situation? Have she no remorse for my dad? A feeling of raw hatred sprang up inside of me. I didn’t care about causing a scene any longer. I felt like ripping off her hair from her scalp. “You’
“Bad news?” Karen fidgeted. My heartbeat accelerated as we anticipated a not-so-positive answer from the doctor. “We tried our possible best to save Mr. Connor…” he trailed, glancing down at his feet. “And…and what?” I stuttered, shoving past Emma. “Ugh huh?” Karen muttered. I could see fear building up in her eyes as she stared at the doctor. Emma didn’t feel moved, she crossed her hands against her chest and turned up her lips in disgust. “Just spill it already and stop wasting our time!” She snapped and regretted it as Karen shot her a glare. “Mr. Connor is dead.” My heart stopped beating, my eyes rolled up and the white smooth walls of the waiting room spun around me. I felt my head grow light and my feet get heavy. I couldn’t stop myself from staggering back. It felt like a force was dragging me farther away from them. “My… my father is dead?” Emma’s stammering filtered into my ear and I tried to shake off the dizziness seeping into my head. “What
The funeral service went smoothly even though they were a lot of hate, malice, and pretense between us, we put up a façade that we were on the same page concerning my father’s death. The real truth is that I was the one who felt shattered and broken by his death, Karen and Emma were the total opposite. When I watched my father being dropped six feet down, it struck me that all my dreams of reconciliation with him had been buried. How tragic can life be? I couldn’t even spend a moment of pure bliss with my dad before his unexpected demise. Same with Sherry, even though we were always happy, that ominous day was different. Sherry never heard me mutter a word of forgiveness till she died, I only heard myself screaming those words of forgiveness when the ashes had settled on the ground, when I never saw a glimpse of that smiling angel again. My dad never forgave me either, or did he? Did he forgive me on his deathbed, in my absence? When he knew he was going to take h
I couldn’t be less grateful as I sat in a corner, watching the guests drift away in little groups. No one bothered to talk to me, they all pretended that I didn’t exist, and those who mistakenly noticed me threw a hateful scowl at me. “Hey, I will see you later. I have to go now,” Veronica whispered beside me. I diverted my attention towards her and nodded sulkily. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay at my place?” She asked for the umpteenth time. I shook my head negatively. Veronica sighed in frustration and stood up. “Alright then, take care and ignore Karen.” “I have always been doing that,” I muttered. Veronica faked a smile and walked out of the building, ignoring the lustful stares she was getting from men. I got up and ascended the stairs without attracting toxic attention towards me. As I closed my bedroom door behind me, I slipped down to the floor and then let the bitter angry tears spill out in great measure. My hands clenched the hem of my
“Wait… wait… what?” Karen stuttered, her eyeballs bulged out. Emma gasped, swinging her head in my direction, her jaws were dropped in abashment. I stared at them, dazed. I couldn’t understand a single action displayed before me. The only thing on my mind was “Get away from here, Rosy!” What does he mean by me becoming the future heiress of the Connor’s fortune? I don’t even have the right to my dad’s company, talk more of becoming an heiress. Perhaps he was mistaken, I and Emma’s name must have put him in a confused state. “Do you mean Emma?” Karen asked, my eyes caught her shaking fingers and I realized that this wasn’t the joke at all. “He said Rosy,” Mr. Jones replied, narrowing his eyes at Karen. He never liked her right from the day my dad introduced her to him. I can still vividly remember that day because it was my fifth birthday anniversary. “I was just joking, I only said that due to the way you two treated her,” Mr. Hamilton apologized, chuckli
I smiled as I folded my clothes into my suitcase. A rasping knock on my door made me stop what I was doing and glance at the door. The door burst open before I could respond. Veronica sashayed into my room, her silver-colored handbag dangling on her arm. She is the only one that enters my room without my permission. I wonder how long I will have to put up with this crazy best friend. She took off the sunglasses she was wearing and glanced around my almost empty room. “It seems like you will be taking every piece of article in your room,” she chipped, popping a bubble gum in her mouth. “It’s not like I will be coming back to this house,” I muttered. “Seriously? You will never show your pretty face here again?” she asked, staring at me in disbelief. “Never in my life,” I responded. The serious look on my face proved to her that I had made up my mind concerning it. I have always prayed for a day when I will finally move out of the Connor mansion and never have a rea