Chapter 4

Emily’s POV

My grandmother gets up to open the door and I already feel my legs shaking when I hear the voice that I hadn’t heard for five long years.

“Are you letting us in?” said a female voice that I recognized immediately.

My mother.

My grandmother steps aside a little to let my parents pass.

I freeze when I see them. Five years I haven’t seen their faces! Five years I’ve waited for them to come and visit me in prison! Five years I have suffered from their absence!

When my mother finally notices me, her eyes immediately fill with anger and contempt. I smile at her to annoy her and I think it’s successful considering the way she clenches her fists.

I’m glad you’re here too.

“Mary! What is she doing here?” she shouts at my grandmother.

Grandma opens her mouth to yell at my mom, but I cut her off immediately.

“Good evening. I’m also very happy to see you again after five long years. You haven’t changed at all. Still so stupid, arrogant, immature, and greedy for money. Do you want a coffee? A tea? With or without sugar? Or maybe milk? Or chocolate?” I say sarcastically, giving her a triumphant smile.

She turns red with anger and glares at me, clenching her fists. If she had horns on her head and smoke coming out of her nostrils, she would be the perfect copy of the devil!

“That’s enough!” shouts my grandmother.

“Mary, what is this bitch doing here?” my ‘mother’ asks again.

“She lives here and if you’re not happy and against it, get out of my house, my door is wide open!” shouts my grandmother.

My parents are throwing flashes at me. I wanted to insult them and hit them, but seeing granny’s look, I immediately changed my mind.

However, an idea comes to my mind and I believe that this evening will go wonderfully finally.

My grandma asks my parents to move into the kitchen and looks at me weirdly as I smile stupidly thinking about my genius plan.

“Why are you smiling stupidly? I thought you weren’t happy to see your parents. What is going on? Are you sure you’re alright?” she asks me.

“Yeah, Grandma, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

She squints, trying to figure out what I’m doing, then heads for the kitchen. I follow her and see my parents sitting at the table whispering to each other. I knew it! These fools are surely up to something against me. Besides, I think Grandma thinks the same thing as me considering the face she makes.

“They look like children, those two,” she whispers, shaking her head.

I laugh softly seeing the face she makes. She seems so exasperated by their immature behavior.

“What are you talking about?” I ask them loud enough for them to hear me.

They jump before turning around and throwing lightning bolts at me. Apparently, they only know how to do that.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Come on! Tell me what you’re up to with your daughter. It must be so funny with your expression!”

My mother takes a deep breath, clenching her jaw while my father smiles hypocritically at me before speaking.

“Well, we were talking about Leo. We’re so glad he found a woman more beautiful and smarter than you, and at least she didn’t kill anyone on her wedding day.”

“Richard!” shouted my grandmother.

How dare he say that to me? I feel the anger rising inside me, and I clench my jaws and fists with all my might not to jump on him.

My father gives me a triumphant smile, surely happy to have pissed me off and silenced me. However, the game has only just begun and I won’t lose to them, not this time!

I quickly calm down so my dad can get his smirk off before I lose my patience and my fists land on his lined face! Yuck!

“Enough now! Stop behaving like four-year-olds! If you came here to make this mess, get out of here now!” shouts my grandmother.

Poor people. She screamed so many times I don’t think she’ll have a voice tomorrow.

“You’re right, Grandma. I’m really sorry for my behavior,” I say, lowering my head.

She sighs and takes me in her arms. “It’s alright, my dear. Can you serve the meal please? I’m tired,” she said, sitting down in a chair.

I smile and go to serve them, starting with my grandmother and then the two idiots who didn’t bother to thank me.

When I sit down and quickly enjoy my meal, I notice that my parents have not touched their plates. Shit! My plan will be useless!

“So, Louise, what did you want to tell me?” my granny turns to my mother.

“Well, we found Elisa,” my mother said.

My grandmother immediately spits out the water she drank and it lands on my mother’s face. Oh fuck!

I can’t help bursting out laughing under my mother’s dark gaze. Her makeup is smudged and, my God, her face looks horrible!

“What are you laughing at, bitch?” she exclaims. Don’t tell me that idiot dared to call me a bitch?

Annoyed, I take a piece of bread and stuff it in her mouth before spitting in her face.

My grandmother pulls me by the arm while my father removes the piece of bread from my mother’s mouth and gives me a murderous look, and if he could kill, I think I would already be dead.

“How dare you do that to your mother, bitch!” shouts my father. He’s not going to get into it, right?

He approaches me dangerously and slaps me violently. The slap was so violent that I fell to the ground, slightly dazed.

I caress my cheek as Grandma helps me up before yelling at her son.

“Richard! I didn’t raise you like this! It’s your daughter!”

“It’s okay, Grandma, he’s just an irresponsible father!”

He walks over to me wanting to smack me again, but I pick up the pitcher of water from the table and spill the contents over his head.

“You little…”

I don’t let him finish his sentence as the contents of my plate land in his face.

“Enough now! Get out of here! Now!” shouts my grandmother to my parents.

They head for the door but first my mother whispers something to Grandma and turns on her heels.

When they finally leave the house, my grandmother looks at me sternly.

Ha-ha! Grandma is not very happy from what I see.

“You’re going to clean this up for me, Emily! Look at the state of my kitchen! Did you think it was a dump or what?” she growls.

“Sorry, Grandma.”

She sighs and fixes her gaze on mine. “She came back.”

“Who?” I ask, lost.

“Elisa.”

“When you say Elisa, do you mean my sister? The daughter of those two idiots who just left home?”

“Yes, Emily. It’s your sister who came back and she’s the daughter of your parents and not of ‘these two idiots’ as you say.”

I’m happy to hear that my big sister came back because I really wanted to see her. I missed her a lot! However, I also blame her for not visiting me when I was in prison.

I needed help, comfort, and support, and the only person who could give it to me was my grandmother. She was the only one who lifted my spirits when I was in prison. She helped me a lot and I’m really grateful to her, but I also needed my parents, my brother, my sister and also my ex-fiancé at the time, but none of them didn’t come. No one! I was sad and angry with them, they didn’t even think of me once. They didn’t even care what I had been through in that damn cell.

I shake my head at the bad memories and start cleaning up the mess I made in the kitchen.

“I’ll help you,” said my grandmother, picking up the dishes, but I immediately stopped her.

“No, Grandma. Go rest, you’re really tired and it’s my fault that your kitchen looks like a dump so it’s up to me to clean it all up.”

“Are you sure? Do you want me to help you out a bit?” she asks me.

“I’m sure, Grandma. Go rest.”

She nods and gives me a kiss on the forehead before going up to her room.

I jump at the mess I’ve made in the kitchen because of these two idiots pushing me over the edge. I then start cleaning before going up to my room, exhausted.

I remove my makeup, then undress and put on my pajamas. I jump on my bed and stare at the ceiling.

Even though my plan didn’t work out tonight since my parents didn’t eat dinner that I sprinkled with salt, I’m still satisfied.

Indeed, I had a lot of fun, especially the scene where my grandmother accidentally spat her water on my mother. She really looked like a witch, and even worse with her runny mascara. It was really awful!

***

The day after…

When I wake up, a delicious smell rises to my nostrils.

I was pretty hungry since I couldn’t eat last night so I got up quickly and ran to the kitchen where my grandmother was cooking breakfast.

“Hello, Grandmother.”

“Hello, dear. I made your breakfast.”

“Thank you, Grandma, you are adorable!”

I give her a kiss on the cheek before I sit down to eat. I eat the pancakes she made me when she sat across from me.

“Do you have something to do today?” she asks me.

“No, why?”

“I wanted you to go shopping, well, if you agree.”

“Okay, I’ll go shopping after breakfast.”

***

While I was quietly doing my shopping, I saw a face that was familiar to me. It’s the handsome guy I met at the snack bar! Andrew Nelson.

“Andrew!” I call him.

He turns around, frowning, but immediately smiles when he sees me. He recognized me!

“Oh hi! Emily, right?”

He remembered my name! I’m so happy, but I don’t let it show even if there’s the dance of joy inside me.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Uh… Logically, I do my shopping.”

He chuckles slightly, nervously scratching the back of his head. “Um… would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” he asks me, embarrassed.

Tell me I’m dreaming! He just invited me to dinner? A handsome guy just invited me! Oh my God, I think I’m going to pass out.

“So?”

I jump when I hear his hoarse voice. “Uh… huh? What?”

He laughs lightly and I have to control myself not to jump on him, he’s so hot. “So? You accept?”

“Yes! Yes! I agree!” I yell. I shouted so loud that some people turned towards us. Andrew laughs as my cheeks turn red. Why did I scream like a madman?

Suddenly, a little girl approaches us, a smile glued to her lips. She is so cute!

“Mom! Look, the gentleman proposed to her,” she said, pointing at me.

What?

“No-no. It’s a misunderstanding. He only asked me to have dinner with him.”

The people around us congratulate us, and while I try to contradict them, Andrew takes me by the waist and places his lips on mine.

What’s wrong with him?

I try to push him away but his lips are so soft that I don’t have the strength to stop the kiss.

He then pulls his lips away from mine and smiles at me. “You are a good kisser,” he said, giving me a wink.

Even if he’s very sexy, I’m still wary because I don’t really know him. I don’t want to relive what I went through with Leo.

***

I walk to my car thinking back about the kiss I had with Andrew. He is a really good kisser! I touch my lips and smile like an idiot when someone bumps into me, making me drop all my purchases.

“Shit! Watch where you will put your dirty paws next time!” I scream, picking up my stuff.

“Maybe it’s you who should stop dreaming in the middle of the parking lot.”

I freeze when I hear that voice.

Is it really…

I look up to be sure and feel tears welling up in my eyes.

No! I must be dreaming! Or maybe I went crazy after Andrew’s kiss? Yes, it’s possible! I lost my mind!

“How are you, Emily, after spending five years of your life in prison?”