Was Jade really jealous of the way Juliet and I have become close? If it really was jealousy then I'll make him more jealous, wait for him to come around for foot. I'm going to give him lots of time to work and torture, I will divert all of Juliet's attention to myself, when he stays for days without being able to interact with his daughter, he'll remember how he spoke to me in that room. That's the best way to punish Jade.
Dinner time, I made Juliet sit beside me, instead of her normal sitting position, on the pretex of feeding her. It went well, infact Juliet turned to a baby and won't touch her food unless I fed her.
"That's enough! Juliet, quit acting like a baby and eat your food alone," Jade ordered. Did I tell you Juliet ," I begged but she didn't listen, she pushed plate of food away and left the room.
"Seriously? Now look what you've done, I chose to feed her, it's not like I've not been feeding her in your presence before, why do you have a problem now? You know I don't understand what is bugging you, first you lashed it on me and now you're raising your voice at Juliet, whatever is disturbing you, fix it. Do not throw your anger at us. Enjoy your meal," I said and went after Juliet.
I saw her sitting at a corner of her bed, hugging her stuffed unicorn. She didn't even look at me when I came in, her face was pink because she was crying. I climbed on her bed and hugged her, "honey, don't cry, mommy's here," I consoled.
"mommy UK, am I a bad girl?" she asked
"no, why would you say that," I said
"does daddy hate me?" she asked again
"of course not, he's just upset about something," I replied
"is it me?"
"no no no,"
"then why is daddy angry at me?" she asked and started crying again. It took me a while to make her stop crying.
"Why don't I asked Hannah to heat up your food, you can eat it here if you want," I told her but she shook her head
"I am not hungry," she replied
"but you had very little food. okay, why don't I prepare noodles for you, I promise to make it really tasty," I said
"okay,"she replied in a dull way.
I kissed her forehead and went to the kitchen to make noodles for both of us, after eating we watched a movie and then I tucked her and read a bedtime story for her.
The following morning, instead of going for my early morning run, I went to the kitchen, took permission from Hannah and took over the kitchen. I made one of the heavy breakfasts eaten in my country, for myself and Juliet. Dodo (ripe plantain which is sliced diagonally and fried with groundnut oil), fried egg (plain omelette), sliced bread with generously spread butter and a cup of hot tea.
When I took the tray of food to Juliet's room, she was still asleep. I placed it on the bed stand and woke her, "Juliet? wake up mommy made you breakfast," she stirred and went back to sleep. I shook her lightly and she fluttered her eyes open, she looked at me and said, "Mommy UK, were you sleeping in my room?"
"No I didn't but I brought you breakfast," I answered smiling.
"but isn't it too early for breakfast?" she asked
"nope, this is mommy's special treat. It's one of my country's food," I said
"okay then, let's go," she said and started to get down from her bed but I stopped her
"go where?" I asked
"to the dinning room," she replied
"I brought the food here, eat it on the bed," I told her
"but I'm not sick," she said. "who said anything about you being sick?" I asked
"but I only get breakfast in bed when I'm sick," she said
"well I will change that, you can have breakfast in bed whether you are sick or not. Now enough with the talking, start eating your food, I'll go get mine, we'll continue our dance lessons in an hour. That is, if you want,"
"yes I want to continue dancing,"
Throughout that day, I and Juliet stirred clear of Jade's way. I didn't want him getting angry at me anymore and Juliet was just scared, Hannah made us lunch and I made dinner for Juliet and I.
For days, we didn't eat with Jade, Juliet enjoyed breakfast in bed and dinner in either her room or mine. Sometimes Jade will come back very late when I'm watching a late night movie and will go straight to his room. in fact he stopped torturing Christy, he stopped going to the gym, he looked disheveled. I felt bad, maybe I've punished him enough, I miss the way we were before. I'd do anything to go back to that time.It was a Thursday afternoon, Jade had gone to work, and Max just left with Juliet for her violin lesson. I was left in the house with Hannah and her staff, I was in my room, going through NYU website if there was any new information that would be of importance to me, concerning my admission, when someone knocked the door to my room.
"come in," I answered and Hannah came in. "If I'm not disturbing, I'd like to talk with you, UK," she said
"No problem, have a seat. I'm all ears," I said and she drew the chair besides my reading table close to the bed.
"You see UK, I've been in this house, and I've taken care of Jade since when he was as small as Juliet, you can say I've known him all his life. And if there's one thing I know about Jade, it's that he doesn't tell people his personal problems even if it's eating him up. Lashing out his anger at others is also a character in him which hasn't changed, I'm sorry for the way he was with you and Juliet the other day. I've also noticed what you are doing, staying away from him, not eating in the dinning room when he's home. If it's a punishment, don't you think you've punished him enough? Even Juliet is avoiding her father which is a new thing.
"I think if you go to him and try to make up for the way you behaved, he might open up to you and tell you what his problem and who knows, you might have a solution to his problem."
"You are right Hannah, I feel bad for acting like this and even isolated Juliet from Jade. I will make it up to him tonight," I replied smiling
"that's what I wanted to hear, thank you. I'm sure you know what to do but if you need my assistance…"
"I'll come straight to you," I interrupted. she nodded and left.
I and Hannah made Jade's favorite food, garlic lime chicken with fresh herbs quinoa, I took them to his room since he's been eating there recently. When I got to his room, it was dark, I touched the wall until I found the switch, I was shocked to see it looking filthy. Empty cans of beer laid on the floor, his mini fridge was open and empty, cartons of pizza laid on his already scattered bed. His wardrobe was wide open with few clothes on the hanger and more on the floor, table and bed.
I took the food back to the kitchen and went back to arrange the room. It took me about an hour to make the room look like it's usual way, most of the clothes needed laundry and I did it. One of Hannah's staff, Elizabeth, helped me in ironing the clothes. Because of the cleaning work, I didn't have time to make dinner for Juliet, luckily when she came back, she said Katie's mother took her and Katie out and they ate so she wasn't hungry.
It was almost 8 and Jade wasn't home, I called but he didn't answer, I decided to watch a late night movie while waiting for him but fell asleep immediately the movie started. It's been a while since I did that amount of cleaning, my body was sore and I was very tired. When I woke up in the morning, I was on my bed, I smiled thinking Jade brought me here. I went to his room to meet him but he wasn't there, in fact the room was still the way I left it, I went downstairs to the living room and met Juliet having breakfast alone, she looked at me and smiled, "I hope you slept well Mommy UK. I didn't want to disturb you so I left you to sleep in,"
"thanks honey, I was really tired," I replied. Hannah looked at me and shook her head, "he didn't come home," was all she said. I knew that already but saying it out made me feel really sad, I couldn't help but think I pushed him away.
God… what have I done?