Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Lora paced up and down in the courtyard where she usually meets with Alfredo. “Why is he not here yet? He’s never been this late.” She asked out loud as she glanced at her wrist watch, her brows furrowed a little as she saw how late Alfredo was getting.

Alfredo Verano is her boyfriend from school, they have been in a relationship for three years now, secret relationship as Lora would call it and only Catalina her best friend also from the same school knew about it.

“It’s Sunday today and its long past the usual meeting time, did he forget they are meeting today? How could he forget?” she thought still pacing up and down the courtyard, she looked at her wrist watch, its’ past 3pm already.

They usually meet here by 12noon every Sunday few weeks after they started dating three years ago, she has looked forward to this meeting since the day of their graduation and she believed they are going to spend more time together now that they no longer have school activities and classes to attend.

Alfredo usually say it’s because of school activities and classes that makes his stay with her short, she could still remember one afternoon when they were together, he had told her that she shouldn’t worry that once they’ve graduated from school he would spend more time with her, and that their relationship would no longer be a secret.

Alfredo was the one who had wanted their relationship to be kept secret as he says he doesn't want it to affect their studies or their activities in school, she had smiled that day at him saying she couldn’t wait for that to happen and that she is looking forward to it.

She paused and stood still for a while staring and fondling with her fingers as she remembered their conversation that day, wandering if he would really keep to his words now that she thought of it or if she was being a fool for him by believing in him as Catalina’s word suddenly replayed in her thought when she said that she should not think that she was going to have a happy ending with Alfredo.

She glanced at her wrist watch again, she could not believe that she had woken up early this morning, cleaned up her entire house and the surroundings and even prepared a picnic for them only to be stood up like this.

He never even wished her a happy graduation, not even a text. “How can he be so cold and indifferent about our relationship?” Lora muttered as tears began to gather in her eyes, this is not the kind of love she wished for, she thought, as she had fantasized about the way she wanted her relationship to go. She had been privileged as she had thought to be having such kind of relationship with a handsome guy like Alfredo, who she considered her prince charming like in the books she had read but now she was beginning to think otherwise.

She texted and called him already, since the morning of their graduation but he is yet to reply. “He didn’t even notice me at the party.” Lora thought as she remembered that day at the school graduation party, he looked like he was having a time of his life dancing with those girls and even Catalina who he was aware was her best friend, she thought. She had not allowed it to bother her very much because it was their agreement but after the graduation party he should have called her but he didn’t, not even after she called and texted him.

Lora became a little exhausted from pacing up and down, especially with those sad thoughts flooding into her memory, she turned around and looked at the neatly laid mat on the field and the picnic which she had prepared for them to eat, then bit her lower lip in anger and walked back to the mat and sat down, she had prepared so much food and set up this place nicely with love, now she’s thinking whether or not to give him a call or to text him just in case he has forgotten.

She shook her head back and forth thinking that it was a bad idea to call him and remind him about their meet but then after a brief second she finally decided to call him, she picked up her cell phone which was laying on the mat and dialed his number, she called him three times but he did not answer.

“The guy I called my boyfriend haven’t called or texted to wish me a happy graduation, he has even forgotten about our meeting and he still won’t take my calls.” She said out loud and drops her cell phone angrily on the mat, feeling frustrated as her heart swelled with anger.

Then the thought of her parents came back to her mind. “Why do they all make me feel so alone and unworthy of love.” She asked out loud as tears slowly began to flow unconsciously down her cheeks.

At least her dad called her the very next day even though he wasn’t present at the mansion to celebrate her graduation with her, what about her boyfriend? And even her mum? How could she forget about her totally, as if she never existed? What kind of a mum is she? She bet she is having a fantastic time with her lover and have forgotten about her completely, her dad told her that her mum left them because of that lover of hers, something she was finding hard to believe before but now that she thought about it, she thinks that her dad was right about her mum, what kind of a mum abandons her child for another man? Lora asked inwardly, pressing her lips together and ignoring the tears that fell from her face.

If only she could be more like Catalina, gorgeous and spontaneous, maybe, just maybe her mum would have come back for her just as she had promised and Alfredo would have taken her seriously, she said, still pressing her lips together and peering at the food she had prepared for herself and Alfredo.

These thoughts ran through her mind as she sat down there on the mat in the courtyard tears still flowing from her eyes.

Then her mind unconsciously drifted to what had happened to her on her sixteenth birthday, she and her mum where supposed to meet each other on the street before her house, she watched as her mum stopped across the street and went away in a hurry without meeting her, she furrowed her brows at the recollection of that days event.

She still didn’t know why her mum left the way she did on that faithful day, she had tried to ask her then but didn’t know how to go about it, now that it all replayed in her head, she guessed that it’s because of her appearance, maybe she isn’t properly dressed as her mum is a super fashion star, she could still remember what she was wearing on that day.

She was wearing a blue jean, a white top and a pair of brown slippers, maybe she was ashamed of her, and maybe she just didn’t fit into her world.

After that incident her mum hardly calls or take her calls, now it’s Alfredo who won’t take her calls, as these thoughts ran through her mind, she reluctantly glanced at her wrist watch again, now it’s past 5pm, this time she lost all hope that he would show up, she quickly stood up and began to pack up in anger as she came to the conclusion that Alfredo is no longer coming to see her.