Filed to story: Dumped by Scumbag Adored by Billionaire
“Mother!” Kim sobbed.
“I w-want you, two sisters, to take care of yourselves while I’m gone,”
“Don’t confess that,” I said to her barely above a whisper. I was tired. I just wanted to lie down and wake up to realize this was all a dream.
“P-promise me?”
“Mother….” Kim cried further
“Promise me!” She said a little too sternly, vomiting up blood instead.
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
Kim and I said at the same time, sharing a brief gaze. We couldn’t argue at the moment, not when she was like this – her last memory shouldn’t be of us fighting.
“T-thank you,” Angela said, but the way she was staring at me, I knew instantly that the compliment was reserved for me specifically.
“T-tommy,” she started to ask for her grandson when a group of doctors rushed into the corridor, led by Niles.
Before I had the chance to say another word; to tell her that I loved her too even though I buried the feelings for years and that she had to stay strong to see her grandkids – Allen and Ailee – she was ripped from us by the doctor.
They put her on the stretcher that was rolled in by one of the nurses while the others held back the emotional Kim.
“I want to see my mother,” She cried and kept going after them like a fool each time they rejected her.
“Kim, stop it!” I pulled her away but she yelled at me,
“No, leave me alone! I can’t lose her! I’ll be all alone if I lose her!” She pushed at my chest.
“No, you’re not alone. You still have your son to live for!” I drew her into my arms. However, Kim resisted me at first but I refused to let go until she began to weep on my shoulder.
I didn’t know when Niles had her son, Tommy in his arms, the boy must have been shocked at seeing his grandmother in a pool of blood. That must be traumatic for him at that age.
One would ask, how am I so strong? Why am I not bawling my eyes like Kim? Well one word, nothing. I felt nothing but one seething anger.
I couldn’t wait to get my hands on whoever did this. This time, I would end his or her life with my hands. My hands have never been stained with blood since I haven’t taken a life yet – father wouldn’t let me – but not this time. I would torture that person so greatly he wished for death.
Hours later, we found ourselves outside the operating room. Tommy has been sent to our place to stay since Kim lived alone and the boy couldn’t be on his own with the rest of us here. Kim had calmed down but I knew that was just a facade – she was just holding on to hear the final result.
“How are you feeling?” Niles finally asked me. He has been so busy making calls here and there to track down the perpetrator and as well settle the detectives who had come to investigate the scene.
“I’m fine,” I replied.
“You don’t look exactly fine to me,” He pressed, “Reina, don’t try to hold it in, tell me if something’s -“
“I said I’m fine!” I snapped at him unintentionally. I’m okay, what more does he want to hear or see? Me hugging my knees crying so he could be the perfect husband who consoled his wife?
“I’m sorry,” I took a deep breath, “I’m just stressed and on edge right now and would really appreciate it if you stopped pestering me with questions,” I begged of him
Niles was just about to answer me when the surgery light went off and the doctor came out.
“How is she, doctor?” Kim rushed him, a tight frown lining her face.
The doctor took off his surgical cap and even before he said it, I saw it in his eyes – that disappointment.
“We tried our best. I’m sorry, she couldn’t make it. Her body was frail and unsuitable for surgery at the first -“
Kim didn’t wait for the doctor to finish, she fainted while I stood numb, as if nothing that was happening was real.
The third point of view:
“Did you know the instant mom commented about the television, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. I thought she found out,” Ailee narrated her ordeal to her twin brother, Allen.
“Your heart was still performing?” he snorted and then said, “I?died at that moment,”
“Oh,” Ailee was stunned at the comparison.
“You know, we would be dead and buried all together if mom found out we didn’t only destroy properties but went to the base too,” He told her.
“Exactly. Thank God Grandfather has quick thinking,” She breathed.
One might ask, why were the kids so much scared of their mother, Reina?
One: Their mother was immune to their acts. No matter how much they faked feebleness before her, Reina could never fall for it and would punish them to her heart’s satisfaction. But then their father Niles was just too sweet. The man could never afford to punish them; they were his little pumpkins. How cute!
Two: Reina punishes them where it hurts the most. Perhaps, because they spent the longest with their mother, she knew them like the back of her hand. Hence she knew where to punish the kids and it would hurt the most, unlike their kind-hearted father – if only they knew he was crueler than their mother.
In conclusion, to be on the safe side, better to piss off Daddy than mamma. Their fake tears can save them from papa’s hands, but not from mommy dearest.
Ailee turned to Isabella who was relaxing on her bed, and said, “Why did you accept mommy’s compliment? All you ever did was take care of your boyfriend Pedro instead of us,” she charged her.
Allen added, “Just like you’re doing now,”
Isabella glanced down at them from the bed with a condescending brow, “If you’re that dissatisfied, try becoming the eldest child then?- I wouldn’t mind being taken care of by you both,” and infuriate you for the rest of your life just like you’re doing to me, Isabella intentionally didn’t say that one out loud.
Well, she and the kids decided to call a truce till everything’s calm down. Which means no fighting with each other or setting traps. Any who breaks the treaty would be punished and as a gesture of goodwill, Isabella invited them into her room – something that has never happened before without them getting attacked by the mechanics she set in place.
However, unknown to Allen and Ailee, She did so to prevent them from ruining another stuff before Reina’s back. Isabella has planned her weeks with places and things she would do with Pedro, those cockroaches would not get her grounded – not in her watch.