You are mine

Chapter Nineteen

The frown on my father’s face as he holds the flyer in his hands. It’s pretty clear that he isn’t happy. I look at my mother, and she has the same expression written on her face as my father.

I can’t blame this on Owen. He did it to protect me in his own way.

I feel like this is going to be a long evening.

“Let’s take a seat. I will explain everything to you.” I sit on one of my couches, waiting on them to do the same.

My father puts the flyer down on the table. He sits on the couch in front of me.

While my mother takes her place beside him, she replaces the cushion beside her. It was clear that she didn’t approve of the way it was positioned before. She pats the pillow a little.

I roll my eyes at her action. This doesn’t surprise me coming from her. My mother loves things to be neat and in order. That’s why I put a lot of effort into cleaning my apartment.

I let out a sigh. “So you want some answers about the flyer you found pinned on the wall?”

They both nod their head at the same time.

I clear my throat. “You'll have to promise not to interrupt me until I’m done talking.”

My father is about to say something when my mother interrupts him as she puts her hand on his. “Let’s see what she’s about to say first, honey.”

Here goes nothing. I say to myself when I see my father nod his head.

I cough. “A couple of weeks ago. I learned that Elliot cheated on me with one of his coworkers. I broke things up with him the moment I learned the truth about his betrayal. After that, he came to my place even after I asked him to stop coming by. He came again when I was absent. He must have pissed off the wrong person because when I came back I found one of these pinned on the wall.”

I’m not ready to tell them about Owen.

Say that I do. What will I say? How am I going to present him to them? So this is my new neighbour. We have casual sex whenever it pleases us. But he’s not my boyfriend.

I don’t think it will end well for either of us. My parents will have a stroke.

My mother runs her fingers over her mouth. “You know, darling. Just because he cheated on you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t forgive him. I mean look at your father. He cheated on me, and I found the strength to forgive him.

I widen my eyes as my jaw is wide open. “What?”

My father looks at my mother, glaring at her. “Penelope, why would you say that to our daughter?

She shakes her head, shrugging one shoulder. “Oh come on, Jeffrey. Our daughter is old enough to know the truth. Besides, it happened before she was conceived.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to digest what my mother drops the bombshell on me. “How could you… When did… Why would you…” I can’t even complete one sentence, looking at my father.

Do I really want to know?

“It’s not important. It was a long time ago.” My father grunts as he speaks.

“Not important?” I snap at him. Which is rare, considering he’s my father. “Up until now, I thought my parents had the perfect marriage. Now I’m learning that you cheated on mom! How could you do this to her?”

My father points his finger at me. “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady.”

“That worked on me when I was twelve. I’m twenty-two, now.” I get up from the couch and go to the kitchen. I remove the lasagna from the oven before I burn it down.

Who would have thought that my evening with my parents would have turned out this way? I still can't believe that my father cheated on my mother.

“Does Jackson know?” I put the lasagna on three different plates.

Jackson isn’t my brother. My parents took him in when his parents kicked him out of the house when he told them he was homosexual.

“No, and I would like to keep it that way. You weren’t supposed to know either. Your mother let it slip up.” My father is still angry at my mother.

“I’m sorry, okay? I thought it could have been a good example for her to forgive Elliot. He’s a good man who made a mistake.”

As I put the plates on the table, I look at my mother. “He cheated on me more than once, mom. To tell you the truth. At some point, I was about to break things off with him anyway.” I look at my father. “How could you do this to mom?” I ask once more.

I can’t let this go. I need to know the truth.

My father takes the first bit on his lasagna. “I was young and stupid. Your mother made me feel things that I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. So I slept with some random girl to prove to myself that I wasn’t having feelings for her. I regretted my action once it was over. It took your mother a year to take me back.”

Is it me or do I know the story already?

Does this mean that Owen will do the same to me? If he wants to, he can. We aren’t technically together.

Is the circle repeating itself?

Am I questioning Owen because Elliot cheated on me? Hearing my parent's stories makes me judge him.

No, I have to believe that he’s different or else I will always question his every move. That won’t end well for either of us.

“This was why we pushed you so hard to be with Elliot. We thought he was one of the good guys as he would never do this to you. But now you are telling me that he didn’t only do it once, but a couple of times. You made the right decision to break things up with him.”

After that, we started to eat in silence.

I look at my parents. Even if I know more about their past. Who am I to judge them?

At the end of the day, they are still my parents, and I love them. If my mother forgave my father, I should do the same. As they said, it happened a long time ago. It was before I was even born.

I’m no better. I’m sleeping with a man, and I don’t know what to call our relationship.

Everyone has the right to decide how to live their lives.

And that’s a fact.

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