chapter twenty six

I woke to the sound of persistent knocks on my door. For a moment l thought that l was in my personal bedroom at home before l heard an unfamiliar voice speaking behind the door.

"Hello miss, time for breakfast"

Certainly it was, l caught a whiff of sweet scented herbal tea in my room.

"Alright, l will be there in a few minutes", l mumbled sleepily.

"Alright, come to the balcony, that's where the tables are laid. By the way, it's a glorious sunny morning", she said in cheerful voice.

Ok this one is a talkative one.

"Thanks, l will be there"

After that l heard her retreat from my door. I sighed and looked at the ceiling, wanting to count to ten to get out of bed.

I saw a faint cloud of white steam trailing above me. I turned to follow its source and saw a nice looking white mug with a heart pattern sitting on my lamb stand.

I quickly rolled to my side and looked at it. It was sitting on a little note. I picked the mug and sniffed the sweet aroma of the herbal tea before taking a sip.

I felt my body relax immediately after my first gulp. It tasted heavenly, like warm dew gathered from petals of fresh flowers.

I took another sip and took my time savouring its faintly sweet taste. Way to start a morning l thought.

I put the cup back on the night stand and picked the little note beside it.

"Please drink the tea, it helps ease tensions in your body and relax your mind", it read.

'From who?', l thought.

Of course, who else.

I stepped out of my bed, remembering that l was half naked only after l was fully out of the covers. I grabbed my change of clothes from the night stand and headed for the bathroom.

I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. As l stood before the mirror, my eyes landed on the red bruised teeth mark on the side of my neck.

How it left vivid reminisce of the previous night. It didn't look like it would fade anytime soon.

I picked the dress l was supposed to wear and studied it. No matter how you would wear it, you wouldn't make it cover the bruise.

It was even the most flirty dress of all that l had worn before. The blue floral top part bared my shoulders and the fixed skirt part stopped at my mid thighs.

I had no choice but to wear my long coat, even though the day was remarkably warm compared to the previous one.

I walked out of my room and went straight for breakfast. I wasn't familiar with the passages but it was easy finding where l was going, l just followed the scent of coffee and the sound of people chattering.

I made it to the balcony where surely the morning sun was beautiful orangish and warm. The breeze was calm and fresh.

I was grateful that we were not having breakfast on one table, there were many circular and square tables scattered all over the balcony, although not disorderly.

I spotted auntie Yolei and Deborah sitting almost side by side at the table in a corner. They were having their toast and butter.

My heart skipped multiple beats when my gaze fell upon the girl sitting across them. Keisty was spooning her omelets. Although she could hide it from anyone else, l could see that she was apprehensive. Her posture was a bit stiff.

I took a deep breath before walking in their direction. Auntie Yolei saw me first. She stared at my coat curiously as she watched me approach.

"Good morning", l mastered a cheerful tone plastering a forced smile.

"Hello, morning sweetie"

"Hey, good morning"

I pulled out my chair beside Keisty and sat down. After making myself comfortable, l looked to Keisty.

"Hi", l softly said to her.

Her cheeks reddened. I saw her fidget a bit in her seat before responding.

"Hey", she awkwardly mumbled without sparing a glance in my direction.

I turned back to look at auntie Yolei and Deborah who immediately resumed eating after staring at the show we were playing before them. I took two slices of bread from the loaf on our table then grabbed Keisty's spoonful of omelets which was halfway into her open mouth. I put the omelets between my two slices then returned the spoon into her plate.

I angled my chair to face Keisty's and crossed my legs then started munching on my bread, intently staring at the side profile of her face, waiting for her to face me.

I was purposefully teasing her. I don't know why l was doing it but l was enjoying it. Maybe it was the fact that l didn't want to let her go easily after what she did to me last night or because l wanted her to loosen up.

Keisty shakily picked the spoon from her plate and she mouthed her eggs quietly. Her cheeks were like ripped tomatoes and l was finding pleasure in it.

"Isn't it a bit too warm today to be wearing a coat?", auntie Yolei asked.

That made me freeze, melting all the little confidence l had gathered. l turned back my chair to face auntie Yolei.

"I- l'm feeling a bit cold today", l said with faked calmness.

Auntie Yolei's eyebrow twitched, so that's where Keisty got it. Her gaze darted between me and Keisty suspiciously. Deborah's hands were automatically spreading butter on her toast but her eyes were on us.

"Anyway, how was last night?"

My breath hitched in my throat. I felt all my blood rush to my face. Heat rose up my neck, the sensation of sweat tingling in my hair.

"I mean the dinner", auntie Yolei finished.

"Ahh", my attempt to laugh came out strained and strange. A laugh of relief, "that".

I stopped to think, wait, l was the only one who laughed. This only made things more suspicious. Auntie Yolei is testing us.

I looked up, realizing that l had been staring down the table for a while. My eyes immediately met auntie Yolei's intense gaze, she was looking at me with those eyes l knew were hypnotizing so l quickly averted my eyes.

"Arielle, you didn't answer my question", she said it with a subtle command.

I wanted to look at her but l was fearing that l wouldn't be able to stop myself from saying somethings.

"It was okay mom", Keisty butted in. I inwardly sighed with relief.

Under the table l felt Keisty taking my hand and placing it over her smooth warm lap then gave it an assuring squeeze. Something stirred up in me when my hand touched the soft exposed part of her leg that the frilly red skirt wasn't covering. I gave her a small grateful smile instead.

Auntie Yolei nodded, deciding not to push it any further but l was certain that she wouldn't let it go like that. We finished the rest of our breakfast in silence, save the clanking of the fork and table knife. No one daring to start any conversation.

A question suddenly popped in my mind. I cleared my throat with hesitation. Everyone looked at me.

"My mother is still alive right?, why doesn't she come to see me?"

I saw everyone around the table tense, including Keisty. Did she know too?. Auntie Yolei stopped chewing for a second, l noticed the slight shiver in Deborah's hands.

That was when l realized that they all knew about it except me. They were keeping me in the dark.

I eyed them expectantly, waiting for at least one of them to give me a little, just a little insight. It isn't fair to keep a child from her mother and not telling her the reason.

I looked at auntie Yolei. She cleared her throat before l heard her familiar words .

"Honey, it's not yet..."

"No!, please when shall it ever be the right time? At least just tell me something, anything that l can hold to"

She didn't respond to my request. She ignored it like l haven't even said anything. For the first time, l felt anger towards her.

I looked at Deborah instead. Her gaze fell to the plate on the table before her. She wasn't going to say anything.

My last hope, l turned to look at Keisty. She was equally apprehensive but l thought l could at least try.

"Keisty", l whispered in a soft voice. She turned her head a bit to look in my direction but without looking directly at my face. I continued.

"Keisty, tell me something, anything", l used my sweetest voice.

Conflict showed over her face. I had put her between a rock and a hard place. I saw her lips tremble, l already knew the answer that she was fearing to tell me.

"A-Arielle, l'm so sorry, but l..."

I stood up before she could finish her sentence, she flinched at the sudden movement. I had heard enough and l wanted to go cry out somewhere, or pull my hair out with anger.

"A-Arielle, wh-where- are- you going...?", l heard Keisty stammer.

I turned my back from the table but before l could make a full step forward, l felt someone grab my arm firmly.

"This is not the time nor the place. We will talk about it when we go back home", auntie said with a scolding tone .

I nodded sheepishly, realizing that my behavior right now was uncalled for, but who could blame me.

Her features softened at me as she saw the confusion in my face. She fixed her eyes in mine. She pressed the back of her hand in my forehead then the side of my face.

"You're acting a bit off, are you not feeling well?", she asked concerned. "And you're sweating"

Before l knew it, she had unbuttoned the top buttons of my coat and pressed the back of her hand over exposed part of my chest. In panic l quickly tried to reach up to cover my neck, but she caught my hand halfway.

"Wait, is that a...?", she said moving back the hair that was covering the crook of my neck. She narrowed her eyes examining the red bruise.

"Arielle?", she said my name like a question as though she was no longer sure of who I was.

I looked back at her bewildered face. All the guilt l wasn't feeling before was now pouring down on me. I wanted to cry, for a reason l wasn't sure of. It felt like l was being a disappointment to everyone, like l was now proving everyone perception about me wrong, l was even proving wrong to myself.

There was no more need to hide anything now. I removed the coat leaving me in the blue shoulderless short dress.

I felt the sensation that everywhere around the tables, people were gawking at me. It was the first time l had exposed much of my skin since yesterday. I had forgotten how my skin was so pale compared to others, it got me wondering wether it was that l hadn't recovered from the long stay in the hospital yet or was it my natural skin tone? The bright sun in conjuncture with the flirty dress weren't helping to cover the prospect.

I started feeling a bit too exposed which made me uncomfortable. Auntie Yolei observed.

"Let's go home, now", she hissed angrily. Only loud enough for our table to hear.

She grasped my hand with a firm grip and pulled me with her to grab her car keys. I felt like a rebellious teenager being dragged by her mother after sneaking out at night to an obscene party.

In my peripheral vision, l saw Stewart gaping at me from a table at the other end of the balcony. Well, what can you say, my behavior was surprising even me right now.

"You're going to tell me everything, and l mean it, or else you don't want to know what comes up next", auntie seethed in a low voice, yanking me with her.