Amidst her tears, Amy recalled Liam calling Cole by his name. Cole? She wondered where she had heard that name from. Then, it dawned on her when she remembered the conversation she had with her mother after in one in a lifetime call. Her mother had said Tris looked like a celebrity in the business world named Cole and she had called her mother bluff. She did not believe her son looked like someone whom she haven't met before. Despite her mother saying she had hit a jackpot if truly the celebrity was Tris father, Amy did not bother to look him up on social media until today.
Struggling to pull out her phone from her back pocket, she typed Cole's name on Google search, not knowing his surname, but, it worked as his pictures and biography appeared on her screen. Cole Darrel, eight years old CEO of Darrel's Corp. Her heart began to skip as lumps filled her throat. She went through his pictures and there she could truly see the resemblance he had with Tris. Those striking green eyes and jaws.
The phone slipped from her hands as she realized what it all meant now. Cole was here to take her happiness away from her.
~~~~~~
"Amy, please open up," Kayla groaned tiredly as she tapped on the locked door for the upteenth time.
"Go away, Kayla! I don't want to talk to anyone!" Was the response she heard from inside.
"Well, I'm not going to go away. I'm going to be at your door until your ready to open up. If I get tired of waiting, I'm going to call the handyman to unscrew your door, and I'm not joking," Kayla threatened and sat on the floor, her back against the door.
Amy had been in her room for two consecutive days. She hadn't come out at all. Initially Kayla thought she was only going to be down for a while, but when minutes turned to hours, and hours to days, Kayla became very worried. The drama that occurred at the house took a toll on everyone, but Amy most especially.
"Amy, I'm beginning to get tired, and do not think that I said what I said to scare you. In a few minutes, I'm going to be on the phone was the handyman, telling him to come here with as much tools as he can bring," Kayla warned.
Two days had passed, and Amy had neither taken food nor water. Kayla was downtrodden by the encounter she had with Cole too. She had barely been able to catch any sleep in the last two nights, but Amy was her top priority at this point. She was the one who took the brunt of the situation, and Kayla was scared that her friend was going to do something irrational like kill herself.
"Okay. I tried my best," Kayla sighed as she stood up from the floor and dusted herself, "I was patient enough, but I can only wait this much. I'm leaving your door right now, but when I come back, I'll be back with the handyman. Just you see-"
She was interrupted by the sound of the door unlocking.
She was both surprised and relieved. Surprised the fact that the threat got to her, and relieved by the same reason.
The unlocking was done, and the door was pulled open, revealing a pale, thin Amy. Her eyes were red, and her nose were so red and big, she looked like she was just involved in a fight. The eye bags under her eyes were deep and dark. Her hair was roughened.
Kayla stared at her friend in silence, fighting back the tears that dared to fall.
Amy went back into her room, while Kayla entered inside with the tray of food in her hands.
"You need to eat," Kayla muttered as she gently dropped the lukewarm meal on the bed and settled down across Amy.
"I don't want to eat anything," she looked away and blew her nose.
"Why?"
"I'm not hungry," Amy sniffed.
"Amy, I'm not going to have that. You've been in this room for the past two days without food or water, and you're telling you're not hungry? You need to eat something,"
"Take the food away from me, Kayla. I don't have any appetite,"
"You need to have an appetite, Amy-"
"How do you want me to get an appetite? Where do you want me to get an appetite from? I've been nurturing my son since his birth alone. I've loved and given my all. Now, his father has come for him. How do you expect me to eat when they want to take my son away from me?" Any couldn't help but break down in tears.
At the sight of her best friend crying, all the tears Kayla had been fighting to hold back came trickling down her face like a waterfall.
Kayla dropped the food and went over to Amy. She settled down beside her and held her hands.
"Look at me, Amy. Look at me," she directed Amy's face to her teary eyes.
"No one is going to take your son away from you. Tris is going to be with us till he's old enough to leave and become a man. As long as I am alive, I won't let them take Tris away from us, you hear me?"
Amy nodded, and Kayla made her rest her head on her shoulder.
"Please, eat something, Amy. You need to feel better. You've been crying nonstop for two days, and you need to regain your strength," Kayla pleaded and Amy reluctantly brought the tray close to her.
"It's your favorite," Kayla said as she helped her to uncover the meal.
Amy white lips broke into a light smile at the said of a plate of Mac and cheeseshe couldn't thank the Moon Goddess enough fit the kind of friends that she was blessed with.
She took the first bite and complimented Kayla before eating some more.
"Where's Tris?" She asked as she filed her mouth with a spoonful of? Mac and cheese.
"He's with our neighbor," Kayla replied.
Kayla hated the fact that Tris had to witness that frame two days, so she sent him to stay at their neighbors, just in case another drama was going to unfold today. "I searched online about Cole," Kayla broke the silence.
Amy paused for a minute." What did you find?" She asked before taking a bite once more.
"He's wealthy, Amy. Extremely wealthy, not just from his father's money, but his too. He's literally a billionaire. A low profile one," Kayla replied.
Amy swallowed. "And?" She urged her.
"There were pictures of him and a model called Shantel Jackson. Rumors has it that they're dating, while some say they've broken up or in some kind of issues,"
Amy swallowed hard, her heart beating faster than before. "Why?" She inquired, not knowing why she was keen to know if he was in a relationship or not.
"She said on national TV that she was single and focusing on her career," Kayla replied.
Amy shrugged nonchalantly. "Good for them." She responded and there was silence.
A knock on the door interrupted the silence.
They both stood up to check who the person was.
Kayla opened the door to reveal a letterman.
"Good day. Does miss Amy live here?"
"Yeah. What do you want?" Kayla asked.
"Are you miss Amy?" He asked. Amy walked over to the door when she heard her name.
"I'm Amy," she replied.
He brought a letter out from his bag. "This is for you," he said as she stretched forth the letter to her.
"What's this about?"
"I was only instructed to give the letter ma'am. Please sign here," he brought out a small handbook, and Amy signed. Once she did, he left the house.
Once it was just two of them, Amy opened the letter.
"What's the letter about?" Kayla asked.
To her surprise, she saw a tear fall down her left eye.
"What... Why are you crying, Amy?" Kayla asked worriedly.
"They want to take my son away from me!" She kept on repeating in tears.
Kayla needed to understand what was actually happening, and she snatched the letter from Amy's hands.
She stared at the letter.
"From the Lawyers of Mr. Cole - LETTER OF PATERNITY."