Nothing Else Matters - Perrie Edwards

Chapter Twenty Five

By the time I got to the street she lived on and was stood watching her house, I had completely bottled it and wanted to run home. But I stood rooted to the spot, knowing that if I didn't do this now, I would just torture myself for another few days, then come back.

The area she lived in was nothing short of magnificent; the houses were probably only a little smaller than Perrie's, I couldn't imagine how much one of them cost. Obviously when she met someone else and married him, she had married into money. A hell of a lot more money than she had with my father.

"Come on Jakob, stop being a wimp." I muttered to myself. Before I could think about it, I marched right up to the door and knocked. I shouldn't really have expected her to answer. That would have been too easy. Of course she didn't.

The boy who answered the door looked so much like Alfie; I almost fell over. I actually felt sick looking at him. This is my little brother.

"Hello, can I help you?" He smiled politely.

"Y-yes. Sorry, hello. I was wondering if your mum's in?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen. I'll just go get her, hang on."

He disappeared, half-closing the door. I wanted to run then, more than ever. Seeing him had completely thrown me off. Before I knew it, she was there. She smiled, a strange look on her face, as though she had seen me somewhere before.

"Hello love, are you okay?"

I couldn't answer. Nothing happened when I opened my mouth.

"Oh, hold on. I know you! You're the lad who helped me find Ben's birthday present." Lowering her voice a little, she said. "He loved it, what you found for me. He was really pleased. He wants a drumkit next. Does your place sell instruments too?"

As if suddenly realising I was at her front door, she added. "Is there a reason you're here love?"

Her innocent, slightly confused expression and simpering voice suddenly made me feel furious.

"You don't know who I am, do you?"

"... well yes, you're the one who-"

"No. I mean you don't know who I really am. You don't recognise me at all. Do you?"

"I think you've got me confused with somebody else love." She frowned, raising her hand to the back of the door.

"No, I definitely haven't because I actually remember you." I snapped. "Let me help you out; my name's Jakob Hunter."

Finally, that recognition. That look of utter shock. She went completely white.

"Oh. So, you do remember your other children then. Only I seem to recall you saying you only had the one."

She didn't say a word, she was looking at me like I'd just popped out of the ground with six eyes or something. I found I couldn't stop myself all of a sudden.

"Just in case you need reminding, there were three others after me, Ellie, Maddie and Alfie. You'd probably have even more trouble recognising them than you did me since they were even younger when you left us."

Still nothing.

"Haven't you got anything?!" I said much louder and she flinched. "You've got to give me something. You stood there without the slightest clue you were talking to your son you abandoned. You left four kids without a mother for sixteen years, you broke my dad's heart, you went off and married some other man and had his kid. You've got to give me something, just tell me why?!"

My throat became sore and my view of her was blurred by the tears in my eyes.

"You've grown so much." She whispered, raising her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide and staring.