Chapter 194: Chapter 194

Chapter 194

~Itches of Guilt~

Mr. Coleman, grandma and Brian were midway having dinner when Mr. Coleman noticed Brian had been playing with his food, worst still his fallen countenance. With the corner of his eyes, he stole a glance at Brian and saw that his pasta had not been touched for straight thirty minutes they had spent at the dining, Brian had been digging his fork into the dish of pasta and pretended to be eating. His lips paused, jaw clenched, face went crimson and his brow often furrowed at his pasta; Mr. Coleman need not be told his son was being possessed by heavy thought.

Grandma noticed same thing with Brian but it wasn’t something she would love to deal with at the time. She committed herself to the discussion she was having with Coleman about his job, enjoyed the pasta in front of her, sat back in her chair, kept mute and watched Brian do nothing about his food.

“You don’t seem to like pasta or what?,” said Mr. Coleman, putting the last spoonful into his mouth and masticating carefully while he waited for Brian’s response, “When you were much younger I could recall your mom caught you eating a raw pack of pasta.” He chuckled briefly and saw the forced smile that came on the face of Brian.

At the time grandma was gulping down a glass of chilled milk shake. She didn’t want to utter a word to Brian because she wasn’t interested in him anymore; since he started seeing Ella. She knew Brian had been sleeping with Ella and she wondered if Brian knew that Ella’s husband was a distant cousin of the family. As for the disappearance of Ella’s husband, grandma suspected Ella knew something and Brian might be aware of the whereabouts of their cousin, even though she wasn’t interested to ask him.

“So I wonder why the mouth that ate the raw pack has refused to eat the well cooked one,” said grandma staring at Mr. Coleman, not wanting to make Brian feel she was referring to him.

“Your love for pasta is as lightning to thunder in the underworld, so why are you not interested in the meal?” asked Mr. Coleman after sipping at his cup of milkshake.

Brian’s thought had been about the other day with Ella; he couldn’t believe he had called it a quit with Ella, and for the names and words Ella cursed him , he least expected them from a girl he had come to adore and protect so much. As he stared into his bowl of pasta thought of their past possessed him so much that he almost had tears well up his eyes, if not for the presence of his father and grandma. He could recall how he fed and provided for Ella and her little kid, while they were at the farm and the days he almost fell out with grandma just because he took care of Ella and her pregnancy. Most of all he wouldn’t forget how he helped her put to bed in the farm when she had lost hope of having a safe delivery; how he named the baby Khally, after her first husband that got drowned in the river. Ella was a girl he thought he could spend the rest of his life with; he had nurtured this pretentious love for her and expected fate to be kind to them. It was for her sake he murdered her husband and he never expected Ella to be using it against him today. He wished he could turn back the hands of time and right his wrongs; he wished he could listen to grandma and avoid Ella like leprosy; he wished he could keep himself for Kate and focus on building up his heart and feelings for her, despite staying apart now; he wished a lot of good things now, but if wishes were horses…

“I…I” Brian stuttered, snorted, sniffed and gazed at his father and grandma, “I can’t say how I feel as the day passes by without getting to know if our cousin is alive or not,” he lied, stole a glance at grandma and noticed she was staring suspiciously at him, perhaps wondering if he felt the same way when he had sex with Ella.

“Perk up, son, I am here now,” said Mr. Coleman, stirring his milk shake and sipping, “Wherever my cousin is , whether dead or alive, I just want you to know that I am going to find him, and ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are brought to book. For now I just want to believe he is still alive.”

Brian winked uneasily at his pasta, wishing his heartbeat could compose and quit making him feel much guilty than he was already. He nibbled at his pasta and wondered how he would be hated and punished if his father got to find out he was the murderer of his cousin. Brian knew nothing was impossible for Mr. Coleman to achieve and he sensed time was working against him, the moment he ended it with Ella. He had not seen it coming but if it would add to his peace so be it.

“The department of Miami police has given their maximum cooperation to get to the root of all this. Yesterday I was at the police station and thorough investigation has commenced to that effect.” Mr. Coleman said, left his seat and came over to Brian. Gently he had his hand on his shoulder and nursed him, “You don’t need to worry, son, soon we will find out whether my cousin is alive or dead and if he is dead, oh,” he shook his head, “I promise to make life unbearable for the perpetrators,” he threatened through gritted teeth.

And Brian stared at him fearfully, with his clenched jaw, and grandma noticed instantly.

“Brian !” grandma called frowning at him, making Brian wonder why she called and what she wanted to ask, “Do you know anything about your missing cousin?” she asked.

And Brian stared in the space thoughtfully…