As a teenager, I used to always run to my mother’s room and sob whenever I was bullied ruthlessly by Crystal and Yvette. And I would always take advantage of my father’s good mood to question him about my mother’s whereabouts. Despite that, he would often fly into a rage and slap me across the face. Gradually, I stopped asking him.
“I’m a grown-up now, Dad. You said it yourself before that once I become an adult, then I don’t need your care and concern anymore.” After saying that, I took a long deep breath. It was late summer, and the air was warm and humid. However, I somehow felt chilled to the bones.
Nathan’s face darkened at my remark. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. There was no remorse on his face, only calmness.
“You’ve grown up indeed, Yvonne. I can’t tell you what to do anymore.”
“You’re wrong again, Dad. How can I pretend I didn’t see it when you’ve already said so?” In the end, I couldn’t ignore his opinion.
When Christopher returned, I told him about the conversation I had with my father. There was a weird expression on his face as I recounted the conversation. All the while, he kept sighing at me as though he was at a loss of what to say.
“I’m a fool, ain’t I? Is that why you have nothing to say to me?” I asked as I scratched the back of my head. Not waiting for him to reply, I leaned over and wrapped my arms around his waist, and rested my head on his back. “I often think of myself as a fool. You were the only one who came to see me when I was in prison. None of my family members were there for me. He brought up the news about my mother, and I couldn’t refuse him.”
“He told you about it?” Christopher asked as he tapped the tip of my nose lightly with his finger.
“I didn’t agree to his terms.” The truth is, I’m a little surprised by all this myself. I said with a wry smile, “Chris, maybe I don’t miss her as much as I thought I would. So what if I know about her whereabouts? Am I supposed to go and find her? It’s been so many years, and she would have started a new family of her own. She probably had forgotten about me.”
“Well, that sounds reasonable. You should think of a way to win over my mother. I promise you, once you’ve won her over, she’ll shower you with love and warmth. You’ll love her to bits,” Christopher said earnestly and went on to speak highly of Julia.
According to Christopher, Julia would rouse them every morning and serve them breakfast. And instead of having high tea with her wealthy friends during her spare time, she would stay home and play online computer games with them.
I couldn’t imagine Julia as someone with such high levels of motherly affection, partly because she always seemed like a snobbish woman with a successful career.
“Alright, I’ll try my best,” I said with a shrug. “Don’t put so much hope on me. I don’t expect her to shower me with love, but I’ll be more than happy if she treats me the same way she treats Shelley.”
I could always rely on Christopher to do his best to take care of things for me. The next day, he went to inquire about the lawsuit against Crystal. Once he had the information in hand, he called me to relay the news.
According to Christopher, things had gotten out of hand for Crystal. She had become the talk of the town, and many of her fans had grown to hate her. And since she had a high-profile career, it was impossible to deal with the matter discreetly.
I was surprised to see that even Christopher thought that this was a critical problem at hand. Feeling stumped, I asked, “What are we going to do now?”
“Silly woman. There’s nothing that money can’t solve. Well, all it takes is to pay those who sued Crystal so that they will drop charges against her. Leave it to your father to deal with that. If he can’t even handle that, then I have nothing else to say,” Christopher said and chuckled over the phone.
“What if money can’t solve this? You have to know, some artists regard their artwork more valuable than their own lives.”
“If that’s the case, then too bad. That will serve her right.”
