CHAPTER ELEVEN: FAMILY

It’s morning; time for Oli and me to get ready to go back to school.

"Geez! we're gonna be late!" Oli shouts, from the bathroom. I quickly put my things in my bag and shout back,

"I know! Hurry up!" I shout back.

I stand up, checking myself in a full-length mirror.

Oli and I used only the guest room, which has two king-sized beds. This guest room has everything anyone could ever need: extra clothes, robes, towels. Everything! From foods to drinks to clothes.

Jeez! How wealthy is this family? Could it be that this is where the money of the people disappeared to?

"NOOOOO!!!!" Oli shouts from the bathroom. I jump in surprise, and quickly run towards the bathroom door. I bang my fists on it as loudly as I can.

"Oli?! what happened?!", I yell at the top of my lungs.

I was about to knock on the door knob again, when suddenly, Oli opens the door with a very disappointed look on his face. He still has shampoo in his hair but he's donned a robe already.

"Lara!" he calls out, as though I’d done something wrong.

"Geez, what?" I ask, staring at him. “What’s all that shouting about?”

He puts both hands on his waist and sighs. "Today is Sunday," he said.

I look at him in surprise.

"Oh!”, I replied, blinking. "Right, it's...Sunday,"

Oli and I look at each other and laugh.

"Oh my God, I almost forgot, hahahaha!" I giggled.

"Girl! I forgot about it too! Like, If I hadn’t memorized my schedule then I wouldn't know that Sunday is church day to our school. Oh, my goodness!

I’m holding my tummy because it is hurting because of laughing.

"How could we be so dumb?" I say, walking towards the bed.

"I’d better wash this shampoo out of my hair. Geez, two dumbasses in one room," Oli said, closing the bathroom door.

I lie down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I notice it's really high. It's just plain white, with a big fan on it. The chandelier in the middle is so modern that I’d bet it cost a million dollars.

I sigh as I roll my body to one side, and I spot Zhena's mom through the window. She's watering the plants and I notice she's wearing a Gucci coat and hat. I shake my head in disbelief.

I hear a knock on the door, so I rolled out of bed and walk lazily toward the door, and slowly opened it.

I jump in surprise to see Zhena; her eyes are red and swollen.

"Zhena... What's wrong?" I ask, and quickly embraced her. I close the door and slowly walk back to the bed with Zhena, now crying, in my arms.

We sit and she leans on my shoulder, crying, uncontrollably. I gently pat her head, trying to calm her. But she just kept on crying, and sobbed, "I miss my dad… I miss my dada, Lara."

"I know...I know..." I responded, still trying to calm her down.

"I'm gonna seek for justice… I want justice for my dad… I want justice!" she whines in a heady mixture of anger and vengeance.

I nod slowly and turn to look at Oli, who’s just emerging from the bathroom, looking at Zhena, looking very shocked.

He quickly drops his towel on the bed and runs towards Zhena and hugs her. When I see this, my mood suddenly plummets.

Zhena cries and cries until she fell asleep. Her mom suddenly enters the room, stares at her distraught daughter.

"My baby..." she croaks, sadly through her own tears.

Oli and I look away, fearful that we might start crying, too.

I gulp and gulp, desperately try to hold back the tears. But my tears betray me. They suddenly well up and fall. Soon, I am sobbing. I cover my mouth quickly, and try to wipe my tears away.

"Zhena and her dad were super close. They spent so much time bonding with each other ...laughing and eating... until the day that my husband decided to run as a city mayor..." Zhena's mom blurted out through her tears.

Oli and I turn to look at Zhena's mom to listen,

"Zhena was sad and became a bit of a rebel once her father had won the election. That's really only because she was jealous; her dad didn’t have time with her anymore. She was mad, and decided to enroll at a university where she could live away from us. I know that she's crying because she feels guilty... She hasn't forgiven her dad yet... They never spoke to each other ever since. They no longer laughed or bonded. The worst thing is, a week ago they had planned a seven-day trip to Australia...so they could have time together... But now that isn’t going to happen." With that, she stopped talking and carried on crying.

I turn to Oli. He's covering his mouth, to stop himself from crying.

Me, I am already crying. I can't stop myself anymore...my tears have now become a river, a torrent.

"My poor baby," she murmurs as she hugs Zhena, who is now sleeping, peacefully.

I sigh and slowly stand up. I go over and hug Zhena's mom and then Oli did likewise. Dinner time came. Zhen hadn't woke up yet. We decide to stay for the night to be with Zhena until she leaves tomorrow.

"You sure this won’t be too much trouble for you two?" Zhena's mom asks.

I nod and explain, "I have classes only tomorrow, afternoon until evening; my morning is free... So nothing to worry about,". Meanwhile, I help her prepare the table.

Oli then adds, "I have classes in the morning but I can explain to Mrs.Reyes; she will understand, and she's very kind."

"Oh, thanks, the both of you. I don't know what I could do with Zhena if you guys weren't here," she says.

We nod in agreement.

Then, Oli suddenly asks,

"Hey, how about you? You’ll be left all alone tomorrow... What will you do?" Oli asks, softly.

"Well, I'll be going home...to my mom. Zhen will stay with her friends, or at the university; she will be studying and I will be back to my homeland. And after she graduates...both of us will travel away from here..." she explains,

"I shall bring my dogs with me; I couldn't leave them behind", she added,

"But what about this mansion?" I ask.

"Well, I shall sell this house... The other properties we own are now named after Zhena. So she will decide what she'll do with it. I can't stop her from doing what she wants, because her dad named it after her," she explains.

I slowly nod my head and stay quiet for a minute.

I clear my throat and smile to Oli and to her.

"Let's eat?" I offer. They both smiled back at me and nod their heads.

I sit down on a very expensive chair. We started eating dinner. Zhena is still asleep and we feel we can’t wake her up, for the maid told us that she hasn't had any sleep yet.

"I trust my daughter with you wholeheartedly. I know she's fragile and too much to handle but...you guys are here, looking after her and making sure she's okay... I’m so grateful for that," she said after the dinner, her eyes moist with tears.

Oli and I exchange glances and smiles with her.

"Zhena is a good friend, she deserves the best of all we can do for her", I add.

"I can't imagine how much pain she's handling right now. I'm in pain too but I know she's more hurt than I am," Zhena said, sadly.

Then, Oli then responds

"Zhena is normally a very happy-go-lucky girl; it hurts me to see how sad she is"

"yeah, I agree, " I shot back, sighing.

"Well, that's enough, ladies. Time to go to bed. You have to be up early tomorrow. Your school is miles and miles from here", she said, faking a smile. It feels like she wants to wind up the emotion-filled conversation.

We nod and slowly stand up, making kindly eye contact with Zhena's mom. "Thanks for the dinner; you cook very well"

"Thanks," She said, slowly looking down rather sadly, "Now, I miss cooking for my husband. How I miss him”, she added.

So, with that, we ended the dinner and bade our goodbyes to each other.

As Oli and I enter the guest room, Oli quickly visits the restroom for a pee.

I look at Zhena. I’m about to cover her torso with blanket, when she suddenly murmurs:

"I didn't...do it...I didn't do it....I didn't do it...I didn't do it,"

She was shaking her head and shivering. I try to stroke her cheeks, trying to calm her down, when she suddenly slaps my hand as though she were scared I might hurt her.

Maybe she was just having a nightmare; her eyes are closed she's sweating and shivering.

At that moment, Oli, emerges from the restroom and looks at us in surprise.

"Is she... having a nightmare?" he asks in a whisper. I just nod, trying not to make any noise that might wake Zhena.

"We should wake her up, she's having a nightmare"

"Dad...Dad...I didn't do it...no...I didn't... I'm sorry..."

Zhena continues to murmur words. Oli and I look at each other; we are shocked by what we are hearing.

"Geez, wake her up, bitch. She's creepy," Oli says as he chuckles and heads to his bed.

I smirk and shake my head. I reached over to Zhena, and gently wake her.

"Zhena...Zhena..." She slowly opens her eyes and suddenly sits up.

"Lara..." she calls, I smile at her and caress her cheeks.

"You were having a nightmare," I said, jumping over to the bed and then heading to the mini refrigerator to get some bottled water to give to her.

"Here," I said, as I offered her the water. She accepted it, and took a chug from it.

"What were you dreaming? You looked very scared...And you were sweating," I said as I sit down at the edge of the bed.

"Oh dear, Xian was looking for me," Oli suddenly reported.

"Why though? I thought you'd asked permission from him?" I asks,

"He wants me to buy him a pair of shoes,"

"Red flag," Zhena and I said, in unison. I look at Zhena, and wink at her.

"I know, right. He kept on asking money from me, should I dump him?" he asks,

"As you know perfectly well, you should," Zhena replied.

"But how?"

"Just dump him, Oli!”

"…but with a twist!" I add. They both look at me with a quizzical look.

"With what?" they ask. I shrugged my shoulders and replied,

"Like, before you dump him, throw money into his face, and tell him that's what he looks like. Be a drama queen," I said.

Oli snaps his fingers and smiled at me.

"That's a good idea!" he said, I smile and give him a mischievous look,

"Our girl got some evil idea, huh? here did you get that from? haha!" Zhena jokingly said, I raised both of my eyebrows and laughed.

"Maybe she's used to dump guys! omg, hail to the queen! queen of dumping guys!" Oli added, I laughed and threw the pillow to his face, we laughed and teases each other.

"But...would that be easy for you?" Zhena suddenly asks, and in the blink of an eye, everything went silent.

"yeah...I hadn’t thought about your feelings. Sorry, Oli", I said. He gave me a bitter smile.

"Just like you, Zhena...It wouldn't be easy to accept...But I know that I have to accept the fact that no one would love, me because I'm gay..."

"Oli, that's not true...we love you," I responded, quickly.

"I know, but the thing is, it will be hard for me to find a guy who truly loves me,"

"And It would be hard for me to find peace and to accept my father's death..." Zhena shot back.

Oli then responds,

"But all we have to accept it...as the saying goes...."

"Acceptance is the key”, we all said as we smile and hug each other.

-to be continued...