Chapter 20: Chapter 20

2019

PEARL’S POV

A better part of me was happy the whole attention has shifted from me getting engaged to Sebastian but at the same time, I’m sad about the outcome of the situation. The fact that Aurora was now in my shoes seemed weird and selfish to me. It makes me feel as if I gave her some bad luck by letting her go to the party with Sebastian.

If only our parents weren’t that cheap! I bite at my lower lip as I walked down the stairs that morning, ready to leave for work. I was hoping to avoid both of my parents and not have any conversations with either of them. It was better that way. As I made my way to the fridge to grab a bottle of water before leaving the house, someone groaned from behind me, I didn’t need to be told, I knew it was my mother.

“Are you happy now?” I rolled my eyes. I turned to face her.

“Good morning to you too, mother?”

She shook her head as she glared at me. The look in her eyes was regret, and whatever that accompanied it. On other days I would’ve been interested but today wasn’t that day.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“No, I wasn’t concentrating” I lied, my lies hanging in the air, washing over my mother as she clenched her jaw.

“I asked if you were happy now,” She repeated herself, much to my dismay.

“About what?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“Are you happy that you’ve finally escaped getting engaged to Sebastian by being heartless and selfish at the expense of your sister’s happiness?”

I almost spit out the water in my mouth. I opened my mouth to say something harsh but I stopped myself it wasn’t worth it.

“You know what, Mother, I don’t want to have this conversation with you right now,”

I walked back to the dining area to pick up my Hermes brown leather bag and my phone that was right beside it.

“I think you should have that conversation with me,” She argued.

“We already did the other night and you know how that ended,” I reminded her, hoping she’ll remember the shouting spree we had two nights ago.

“You’re wicked, Pearl,” She stated with so much confidence that it scared me. I turned to face her, placing my bag back on the table.

“You think I’m wicked, why? How? I’m the one who deserves an arranged marriage to a man that I don’t know one thing about,”

“You know how fragile Aurora is. You know she can’t do this,” She yelled.

“And Pearl is the one who can get into an arranged marriage like the world doesn’t give a shit. Before you talk about how wicked I am, why don’t you ask yourself and father how nice you both are and how responsible the two of you are as parents to drag your daughter into an arranged marriage because of money,” I yelled back.

The next thing I felt was a hard hit on my face. My face hurt like a bitch and I fought the tears threatening to spill from my face.

“You’re ungrateful! After everything we did for you and Aurora, you dare question our judgment,”

“Yes!” I told her. “Because real parents don’t do that shit,”

She banged her hand on the table. I’m sure everyone in the house was listening to our heated argument because of how loud we were.

“Don’t you dare Pearl, don’t you dare tell me what real parents are when you’ve never been one and you’re not one,”

I clicked my tongue as I listened to her words.

“Real parents take care of their kids, real parents protect them, real parents try their best to make their kids happy not throw them into a lifetime of unhappiness like what you’re about to do to Aurora. Instead of asking me if I’m happy with the turn of events, ask Aurora if she’s happy with the turn of events. I’m done having this conversation with you,”

I picked up my bag for the last time and began walking away from her. Before I could reach for the door, she called me.

“Pearl, why are you always mean to us? I’m your mother,” She asked me, looking straight at me. It wasn’t like she was remorseful or something. She just had a normal expression on her face.

“You got what you gave. Don’t worry, I will soon leave the house for you and father. At least, if you don’t see my face often, you won’t regret having me as a daughter anymore,” I informed her.

I didn’t bother to wait and hear her response, I just walked out of the house and closed the door. I rested my back against the door gently as that lone tear dropped from my eyes, the same tear that I’d been trying to hold. I placed my hand against my cheek and I could still feel the pain. Still, it wasn’t as bad as ten other pains I’ve received because of her.

A loud and repeated horn of a car got my attention and I saw a black familiar car waiting outside the house. I walked closer to it gently, not too close to be able to run if it was a dangerous person and not too far, to be able to see who it was.

The window suddenly rolled down to reveal Lucas Anderson and I rolled my eyes. Wait!

“What are you doing here?” I asked, shocked at his sudden appearance in front of my house.

“To save the day. You looked like you could collapse a few seconds ago,”

“I thought you were a kidnapper,”

‘If I was kidnapping you, I wouldn’t come alone in a rolls Royce,” I glared at him.

“Come in,” he commanded.

“No, thank you. I don’t want to be seen with you,”

“Pearl, get in this moment or would you like me to go pay your father a visit,”

‘Threats don’t fit you,”

“You don’t know about that,”

“You still haven’t answered my question. How come you’re here?”

“It’s a secret”

I glared at him. Reluctantly, I opened the car door and entered. He was staring at me for what seemed like seconds. His eyes filled with unspeakable words as he took in my face.

“What happened?” He asked.

“Nothing of importance,”

He suddenly moved closer to me and touched my cheek. My breath hitched with his touch and I was frozen at a spot. He stared at me before turning to stare at my red cheek. His touch was so tender that I could melt under it and his caresses were unexplainable.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not like others,” I confessed, knowing he would understand me fully well.

“I told you it would get better, didn’t I?” I nodded, remembering his promise seven years ago when I was stupid and innocent to believe him.

I hit his hand away from my face. “What happened after that promise? You disappeared from the surface of the earth” I mocked him.

“It was for the safety of everyone I love. I did it for y’all,”