A childhood Promise

Chapter 7

“He told you what?” Lucy gasped unbelievingly. Just as the school day came to the end, I caught the bus and texted Lucy to meet me at the coffee shop. The whole Eric’s incident was not something to discuss at school, especially when your mates never leave you alone.

“Lucy calm your horses down, I cannot stand Eric now. Isn’t my hatred very prominent towards him? He knows that right? Then why? Urgh.” Oh yes, just by looking at some people you know you’ll be charged for your first assault.

“What if he really loves you, Rose? Well I don’t think so that man whore can ever fall in love but think about it.” Lucy calmly said while sipping her coffee. Her half face is very bright by the sunlight reflecting on her face from large window beside us. I hushed her irritatingly. I’m not brave enough to hear the ‘love’ word.

I sipped my first sip; my hot coffee has turned warm now. She spoke again. “Okay fine, you’ve got a list of things to handle now.” I raised my brow showing my uncertainty. “Firstly, shut Cora up. You don’t want to risk your reputation. Secondly, go catch Eric and ask him what was this all about. You two must talk baby.” She’s right at Cora’s part but wrong at Eric’s.

“Fat chance of that happening, my dear.  I’m just going to ignore him. There’s no point in talking. I’m not going to show him that I’m taking his drama seriously. Or even I am thinking about it.” I uttered, holding cup for my second sip.

“Rose, don’t forget he’s your prom partner.” Shit.

“We’ll see.”

Things never go planned. While I know how much Eric loves to fool around, something in whatever he said seems to be real. I’ve never seen this side of him. Even if he was serious or let’s says that any boy loves me right now, I just avoid it. I was happy being miserable. It somehow felt right. Just the thought of him and tears filled my eyes already, I tried not to blur the sight while driving but I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop the irritation of what I had done to myself. How I'm never able to move on.  I just needed space and that is it. I wiped off my tears, hoping someday something won’t make them occur again, as I turned the car in the parking.

Sitting on the couch, I find my mother looking very unusual. Her skin flushed and her nose which was almost showing that she recently cried. Oh my God, what happened while I was gone? I throwed my bag at the dining table and rushed to her. She straightened herself, when she noticed my presence and tried not to pretend she’s hurt. But her face is so readable.

Before approaching her, I saw an enveloped torn open on the coffee table. My body got panicked; I cannot bear to hear any other bad news. What is it about? Another letters from father after all this time?

I grabbed the envelope and found thick sheets of documents stapled together. I read & read until I had enough guts to speak to mother.

“Mom?” her name cracked from my throat.

She lifted her head up and slowly finally met my eyes. “Your dad left us with nothing.” Her words squealed as the tears paved their way down from her eyes.

So it all makes sense now, our house is going to be auctioned next week. This is how Dad’s loan going to be paid. He fled and left his family hanging on the risks. I curse myself to find a father like him. I hate him a lot. Who do this to his own family?