I don't want to question why Iseah's forbidding his sisters to go to the mall. First, I don't have a right to enter into their lives, especially in raising the kids. I didn't mention it to him too, because I don't want to make it a bigger issue.
"Kuya Iseah, come with us so it's fun!" Kesha said. She wasn't contented, jumping into Iseah's arms.
"I can't, I have a lot if things to do at the plantation..." he said and carried the ten-year old Kesha.
"Behave, okay? Don't make your Ate Mary's head hurt," he reminded the youngest.
"Ate Mary, are we going with Kuya Ellwood?" Zia asked innocently.
Iseah and I looked at each other. His eyes were black, pure black. I can't read any emotion. His jaw clenching was the only sign that told how he didn't like what he heard.
"I-it's just the three of us," I quickly answered
I saw dismay in Zia's face. When Hezekiah disappeared, Ellwood rarely visits the kids too which I didn't bother to think much.
"Then just come with us, Kuya! Hurry, come with us!" Kesha insisted.
His mouth witched, and I'm pretty sure he was fighting a smile. I rarely see him smile so I ended up getting infected and smiled, too. "Come with us, for the kids..."
His face turned into a grimace. "I prefer to swim in the river. I don't like going to those places." He put Kesha down and looked at me.
"The kids still have school tomorrow, they shouldn't go home late," he said seriously. If earlier, he was about to smile, now he looked like he wants to fight with someone because of his knitted brows.
I immediately thought of it. The ride to the beach takes hours, so I made a decision.
"Ate Mary, swim with us!" Kesha called ne from the shallow part of the pool.
"I'm preparing your food first, then I'll go!" I shouted while putting ham in their sandwiches.
Because the beach is quite far, I decided to just take them to the Villa. I could look for them more if they just swim here. Also, it's more comfortable because we don't need to travel, especially that the kids have school tomorrow.
"Let me take over. Go to the kids..." Iseah muttered closely.
He stood beside me and snatched the bread knife from my hold. He continued what I was doing while I remained stunned.
"Go, enjoy yourself. I'll take care of everything here." His face was still serious while spreading the mayonnaise on the bread.
"How about you? Don't you want to swim?"
He stopped what he was doing and glanced at me. His stares had the same intensity. I don't know if I said something wrong that he reacted like this.
"I'm fine. Go, enjoy yourself with the kids. They missed you a lot..." he muttered closely.
"Thank you for giving me a chance to spend time with the kids," I said while looking down.
"I couldn't just flip the world upside down and forget that your my sister-in-law. You're still my brother's wife. Even if I get angry and blame you for his disappearance, I still can't change the fact that you're a part of our family."
I raised my head in awe of his remark. I need a moment to process everything I heard before I thought of smiling at him.
"Thank you, Iseah!" Because of so much happiness, I couldn't help but to hug him. I closed my eyes when he raised his hand to hug me back timidly.
When I pulled away, he just nodded at me to push me towards the kids. And so I did, removing my shirt and leaving my shorts before jumping on the shallow part of the pool.
"Ate Mary!" The two cheerfully went to me.
***
I silently closed the door where Kesha and Zia were sleeping.
"Have a coffee first before you go home..." Iseah said.
I saw him at the terrace, sitting in front of the coffee table. I wasn't in a hurry, so I decided to accept his offer.
We were silent for minutes. Only the sound of the insects filled the place.
"Thank you for the time you gave the two. I know you couldn't say no to them, so I apologize for their nosiness," he started, raising his cup and sipping from it before placing it down.
"It's nothing, I want to spend time with them when I'm here in Queensland."
Again, we were enveloped with silence. Until I heard his heavy sigh.
"How's Hezekiah?"
I was startled from my seat when I heard his question. I weakly sipped my coffee.
"You didn't come back here without a reason." He glanced at me, eyes looking so dim and serious. "Tell me, did something bad happen?"
I took a deep breath and leaned my back against the chair weakly.
"I don't know... He's very different from the Hezekiah I knew..." I said with a lace of bitterness.
"I know that his memory's slowly coming back. He met Rupert who's now working for him..."
"Rupert? He came here a few days ago with groceries and an invitation."
My eyes flew to him. "Invitation?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what that invitation was for. I declined it at first, but when he mentioned Kuya Hezekiah's name, I accepted it."
My heart contracted in pain when I realized what he said. Hezekiah wants to see his siblings while me? How about me? Didn't he thought about how I'd feel? He knows that he left a wife but he can easily ignore me?
I stopped my tears from falling and stood up. "Uh, I'll go now. I need to be early at the office tomorrow..." I said with my shaky voice.
While driving home, my mind's still filled with what Iseah said and the real reason why Rupert came to them. The invitation, what is it for?"
I chose to just sleep early because I planned to visit Dad in his office tomorrow. I know he's already sulking because I've been here for almost a week, yet I haven't met with him.
I laid down comfortablly. That's when I remembered to open my phone.
My forehead creased when I saw Alessandra bombing with messages.
"I've been calling you all day but I couldn't contact you."
"Call me when you receive this message."
She had a lot of messages aside from that but I chose not to read it, but one message caught my attention.
"We're here in Queensland.
I went to Dad's office early in the morning because I don't want to stumble upon Mom there. I'm still not ready to talk to him, especially now that Hezekiah's in Queensland.
"I heard the news about Hezekiah. Your mom told me everything," Dad said to me while shaking his head.
My eyes stayed at the coffee in front of me. I'm expecting this conversation to happen, I know I can't escape this forever. Even if I don't want to reach the point that he'll find out, I can't do anything. Dad had the right to know the truth about Hezekiah. Even if I don't tell him, I know that the truth will be revealed in the end.
"I'll apologize for what your mother did to you. I didn't expect that it will reach to this point. She's eally desperate, she didn't even considered what you'll feel!" he said through gritted teeth.
I could feel his deep sympathy over me, but it can't change anything. It's done, it happened and I can't change the fact that Mom deceived me and that my husband married another woman.
"Uh, Dad, I'll go first. I need to stoo by the mall and the jewelry shop!"
I quickly stood up and kissed his cheek. He didn't manage to reply because I already left his office.
The truth is, I don't want to talk about what happened. It just hurts more whenever I think about what Mom did.
And my burden became heavier because of the meeting with Alessandra and Gabriel.
"Good morning, Miss President!" the staff of the mall cheerfully greeted me.
"Meredith? Oh My God, it's you!"
"Zuay!" I greeted back.