Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Chapter 67.

‘’Really? Alvin is my son? What the hell?’’ Aliana seems confused. She is screaming to the top of her voice and I am just glad that she is a strong woman.

She told me her story. It was so emotional and well, I haven’t done much to help her but at least she has succeeded in finding her son.

Mrs. Williams is a very wicked woman, I have said this before. She did all this to what end? Did she even gain whatever she wanted? I hope she did because that’s literally too much work to be done for free.

Harry who is oblivious of whatever is going on walks to her sister.

‘’Where did you find that?’’ he asks worry lacing his voice. I hope we did the right thing when we decided that we come here. I hope this decision doesn’t create any chaos.

‘’Keep reading the letter, Aliana and you will understand what is going on. Clara’s mum apparently knew so much from Jenna. Her life and that of her family was always threatened by the so-called Jenna. She is literally an obvious bitch and if she isn’t stopped soon, she will never stop.’’

‘’What are you guys talking about?’’ Harry asks again feigning confusion. ‘’You mean my mum has more secrets?’’

‘’More than you can ever imagine Harry. Apparently, the baby I have been looking for all these years is Alvin, Clara’s friend. Her mother knew what happened according to this letter but she couldn’t tell the authorities because her life was threatened all the damn time. She had a goon following her around and blackmailing her life and that of her family. She was living with Clara illegally too so she was at fault as well. Your mum kept telling her that she was her abettor after making her help her with the odd jobs.’’

‘’Ooh my God!’’ I exclaim and everyone turns to look at me.

‘’What?’’ Mum and Aliana ask in unison.

‘’Could she have been a human trafficker?’’ I ask scared all over. ‘’You know, she apparently paid for Alvin’s upkeep. His family is one of the wealthy families in the village. Maybe it is because of the money your mum offered them for Alvin’s upkeep.’’

Harry waves his shoulders carelessly. ‘’My mum, I don’t feel her. I don’t like her. She was there blackmailing Jeddah. They have apparently stolen many kids and killed their mums. You Aliana was lucky enough that you are still alive. She never cares about human life.’’

Well, this is crazy. A woman being so wicked until she is trafficking other women’s babies? Didn’t she give birth to any of the babies that she has? Didn’t she feel the pain that is coming with it? Women feel a lot of pain. Giving birth isn’t easy and it is not a joke. I doubt she ever had any labour.

‘’What next mum?’’ I ask mum and I tense when Harry throws a glance at me. He has no idea that Mrs. Jones is my biological mum. I pretend that nothing happened because he doesn’t ask me any questions.

‘’We call your friend. In fact, you call him. Let him come here and we will reason as big people. I want all of us to be on the same page.’’ Mum explains patiently.

‘’Alvin how are you?’’ I ask when he picks my call on the very last ring.

‘’I am fine, my sweet pie.’’ He says and the frown on Harry’s face is palpable. ‘’How are you doing today?’’

‘’I am fine. Um ... I need a favour.’’

‘’Anything for my princess.’’ He is on loudspeaker and Harry is literally burning with jealousy. I like the way his face is looking uneasy. Well, it is a lot of fun.

‘’Please come over to the address I am texting you. Do it as soon as you can and we will be waiting for you here.’’

‘’We?’’ he asks worriedly. ‘’What is happening there and who are we?’’

‘’Can you not ask questions?’’ I ask and terminate the call without saying another word. I text him the address and we resume the wondering and the chit chat about Harry’s wicked mum.

Harry and I are seated on the same couch. Mum is standing beside Aliana. Janet comes in with Aliana’s hot tea. She used to take it a number of times to calm her nerves and Janet told me that it helps a lot.

Everyone in the house seems to be sad. Janet mentioned earlier that she would like to start her studies and I felt happy for her. I never knew I could do this but I did it. She can do it too.

The doorbell rings after several minutes of waiting and I excuse myself to go get it. Harry comes with me.

Alvin is standing there when I open the hard wooden door looking like the Greek god himself. His hands are heaved and jostled inside his black jean pockets. He is in a nicely fitting t-shirt and trusts me when I say he looks really good.

I am sure his girlfriend will be a proud one. Walking across the streets with him, she will be smiling all over the place and showcasing him to everyone.

I break loose from Harry’s hold and I run to Alvin. He hugs me tightly for a few seconds and pulls back too soon. He says a cold ‘hi’ to Harry and I ask him to come with us.

His face lightens when he sees my mum and Aliana and trust me I don’t know who amongst them excites him.

Aliana stands up with tears shining in her eyes and rushes to Alvin, who opens his arms wide and she falls into them.

‘’You are alive.’’ Those are the last words she says before she breaks down. She is crying and there is nothing any of us can do. Alvin is stranded and must be wondering what the hell is going on here.

He lets Aliana cry leaning on his shoulder and drenching his nice t-shirt but he doesn’t move a finger to stop her. She takes her sweet time getting it all out. I bet she has been quiet and holding these tears all this while. I understand her and she has all the rights to whatever she wanna do.

He leads her to a couch and the confusion written all over his face is unmistakable.

I hate it because it ever happened to me. I have the experience. Finding your parents at an old age is totally boring. Well, not totally because it has its merits and demerits.

‘’What is the problem? Why did she say that I am alive? Did someone tell her that I was dead?’’

‘’Calm down, Alvin.’’ I choose to respond to him. ‘’Aliana has something to tell you,’’ I say very gently. He is standing close to my mum.

‘’You are my son. The son I have been looking for all these years, you are the boy I never set my eyes on. I don’t know if I want to take Clara’s late mum’s word for it or if I should go have a DNA test done.’’ Alvin doesn’t seem to be surprised.

‘’So, it’s you?’’ he asks and all of us turn to give him attention.

‘’What do you mean?’’ Aliana asks very quietly. Her voice raucous and gruff.

‘’Yeah, I know the story about some rich woman who sold me or rather gave me out to some to people who I grew up knowing were my parents. The people who raised me up. They never wanted to get babies of their own or whatever the story is. I never wanted to locate my real mum because of what she told me.’’

‘’Who?’’

‘’My foster mum.’’

‘’Spill what she said.’’

‘’When I went home, I wanted to find Clara. I had missed her and I literally felt like a fool for not telling her from the word go that I had feelings for her.’’

‘’Really?’’ Harry asks looking at him straight in the eye.

‘’Yeah, really. And please, do not interrupt me!’’ he responds harshly to Harry. If I am not wrong, I feel like Alvin is about to cry.

‘’I spoke to my mum about it and many other issues. Amongst them, I also told her about my ex-girlfriend’s attempt to murder me. Mum really freaked out and began crying. She made me feel so awkward and I had to ask her what was going on.’’

‘’Forgive me, my son.’’

‘’But why, mum? Why should I forgive you? Ooh! Don’t tell me you are the one who tempted to murder me?’’

‘’Don’t say that, son. I wouldn’t do something like that. I wouldn’t bring myself to doing such a thing.’’

‘’Then why are you sorry? What for?’’

‘’Because ... you … I … I … mean you … you know … you aren’t my son and I am not your mum. You will probably hate me after this for the rest of your life but I just wanna live with the truth. I want you to know it from me even though I am telling you about it late. You …’’

‘’that’s a joke, right, mum? Please tell me you are joking.’’

‘’No, my son. It isn’t a joke. We had you from some rich woman in the city. We just did our investigations recently and she never adopted you legally. She is a cartel in the city and she messes people up.’’

‘’Wow!’’

‘’That’s all I could say, she tried touching me but I sent her away. I didn’t want her to commiserate with me. I couldn’t just let her feel pity for me. I was shattered, devastated and frustrated. I was totally broken and disoriented.’’

‘’I am so sorry, son.’’

‘’She said once again and this time she was crying. I felt pity for her. I wanted to embrace my mum and tell her that it is well. That it’s never that serious but I decided against that.’’

‘’Why did you decide to do it? I mean why are you telling me about it now?’’

‘’Because I don’t wanna die with the guilt of knowing I never told you the truth. I don’t want you thinking that I am a monster when I am not. She duped us and we just found out the truth a few days ago.’’

‘’I felt totally grassed. I wanted to run to the deepest river in the world and dive as deep as I could but I never did it. I felt there was more than met the eye at that particular moment.’’

‘’Why now?’’ I asked almost harshly and she tensed. ‘’I grew up here and I don’t know any other home. I know I am a grown-up but I am and was very okay with my parents. What the hell is this? Does dad know?’’

‘’Yes, he does.’’

‘’I felt like fainting. I didn’t want to believe any of that because I thought they were lies. I made sure that I locked myself in my room for several days. I only came out when I wanted to escape without being seen in the city. The papers given were literally legal but the place of adoption wasn’t registered anywhere it was totally none existent.’’

‘’I am so …’’

He cuts me off. ‘’Don’t be. I am over it. And more so now that I just found my mum. I am so mad that your mum knew the truth but hid it. I understand her though, she might have been under pressure not to speak.’’ I nod at him.

‘’That’s true.’’

‘’Anyway, as I was saying, mum and dad convinced me and I forgave them. I promised to deal with that woman and since I already know who she is, I will make sure she rots in jail. I hate it when people think I want to joke with them. She deprived me of my parental care and up to now, she might still be thinking that I should be as far for my mum to keep suffering.’’

I am amazed at how easily he has accepted all these. He is a great guy. I am so happy that Aliana will finally stop suffering.’’

Harrison’s arm is sling around me securely. I am glad that this is happening because I feel warm and safe with him.

‘’Some wine to celebrate this?’’ Harry asks walking towards his sister

‘’Where is my dad?’’ Alvin asks and I see Aliana tense. This is really gonna be torturous for her.

‘’Let’s talk about that later.’’

I walk to the living room without saying a word to anyone. My idea is to go out and get some fresh air. My eyes fly to the big TV mounted on the wall.

The words BREAKING NEWS are plastered on it in red and in capital letters.