𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔...

Another sunny day at Lara’s island. The sky was blue, the environment was warm and nice, it felt like a good day. A day for the beach and relaxation.

Sigh, it’s so good to live close to the ocean.

Weekdays were so stressful, especially with school and being the school council president, it wasn’t really easy for me.

Besides, I had no time for the beach since I had to help mom in the supermarket.

She had no shift today at the hospital so she had decided to spend it helping around at the supermarket.

 She and Amina had gone to the storage room to load up the carts with some goods to fill the shelves.

I sat at the counter going through the records. Seems like we were heading at a positive direction. 

With enough profits from this month, we can be able to pay our house rent and some outstanding debts.

We don’t really have any employees working for us. During the weekdays, the supermarket is always closed. Since we go to school and mom at work most of the time. If we had employees, we would have had enough profits to even have a vacation. Things had finally stabilized after so many years of hard work.

Things hadn't always been like this.

𝑆𝑖𝑔ℎ.

I was still a child and Amina was still a baby when my mom and dad came up with the idea of starting up a business. 

Back then my mom had gotten a job as a health assistant at the hospital, and my dad was still learning the hooks as a doctor since he had just graduated back then.

My mom got pregnant when she was still in high school senior year, it was a bit unplanned. My mom parents did not accept the fact that their daughter had gotten pregnant, so after she graduated from high school, she was pushed away to fend for herself.

According to what my mom told me; my father loved her a lot. His parents had stopped him from being with her cause they never liked her. She said they didn’t like her because she was black. 

𝑅𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝐻𝑚𝑝ℎ!

Dad didn’t care though, he severed ties with his family to be with her. Even with the struggle of having a child, they were still able to finish university. Dad was able to land himself a scholarship, the people from church had assisted mom, with the menial jobs they do, they were able to send me to nursery. Then our special bundle of joy, Amina came along when I was two.

We were a little family but we were living just fine. We had food, shelter and clothing. They were even able save enough to start the supermarket; they even gave their name to it. Mila and Stein supermarket. Which of Course have been changed to Mila’s now.

With all these, the love, the happiness I couldn’t help but wonder. 

What went wrong?

I was seven when the fight slowly started. It started from insignificant arguments, then it escalated to bigger fights. With crashes, hitting, dad not even coming home at all for a week or more. Even when he does, he would always come to my room. Hold me tight and cry. I have asked him what happened but he doesn’t ever say anything.

He even told me he was the one who gave my name, Ruby cause I was his gem, his precious flower. After that he would leave, then argue with mom. It kept going on and on. I always made sure to prevent Mina from seeing it by hiding her in the closet. She had protested back then, but after promising her with candy she complied.

Their arguments usually happens in their bedroom at night. Sometimes I would see mom with a swollen eye the next morning, and sometimes with stitches covering her arms or her palms would be covered with bandages.

I guess that’s what you get from having a doctor as your husband, right?

After this, I took the liberty to always stand outside their room door, holding my teddy bear. Like we could both go in there and stop the fight, to pour our fairy dust on them so that we could go back to the happy days. But I could do nothing.

Until one day. Recalling that moment, I couldn’t help but chuckle coldly. 

This time, their fight had taken place in the living room, were me and Mina were playing house. 

That ferocious gaze, the murderous intent in his movement, the sharp knife, mom on the floor crying loudly, shouting helplessly. 

That moment was stuck to my brain like glue.

 We lived alone in a quiet area, no neighbours. No matter how hard mom shouted, no one was going to barge in. so I did the only thing that came to my mind, I quickly rushed towards mom, but my little legs weren’t fast enough.

The knife punctured through mom’s jaw. Her face was ghostly pale, blood spilled on the carpet. Amina crying loudly, dad standing there shocked, me being confused. Fear gripped my heart.

I wanted to rush towards them, to stop him from doing worse but I couldn’t.

If I had, what would I have been able to do? I was just seven, scrawny and short. What were my chances against a 6ft tall man?

Dad looked at me with an indifferent gaze, he walked past me and headed towards the kitchen. Amina kept calling him a bad daddy, trying to hit him but he pushed her away and she fell on the floor. Luckily, she didn’t hit her head on the table.  

I rushed to my sister and held her up. She was crying, I tried my best to calm her down. Fear seized me up again when Dad came back with his medical box. 

This always happened, whenever he injured her, he always takes care of her. Has it always been a love-hate relationship between them and acted all lovey-dovey to make her oblivious to the fact that they had always hated each other? I wasn’t sure. I sat there on the floor with Amina, who was now quiet in my arms. We both looked at the way he stitched back her jaw like he was Frankenstein.

Then he left. He didn’t come back, weeks turned to months. He never came.

That day, to me, was the day I lost my father. The day he died.

After that, everything started going downhill.

He only came back to sue the supermarket for fraud and counterfeit goods and divorced mom.

To make matters worse, we didn’t win the case because we didn’t have enough money for a better lawyer. We were sure before he left, he already planted these loopholes, the fraud and the goods. He had already planned how to destroy us. He knew money was our weakest point and we wouldn’t be able to get a good lawyer.

He collected almost all the money we had; the supermarket was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Luckily, my mom’s parents weren’t that heartless. After years of not being in contact, they still cared about their daughter and lend her a hand to prevent her and her kids from living on the streets. But things weren’t as before, we lost a lot of suppliers, we weren’t able to pay the workers, the customers were scared that we would sell them fake products. I and Amina had to drop out from school, we lost our home because we weren’t able to pay the mortgage.

Mom lost her job, but she got a new one after five years at a little clinic. The incident from that night affected Amina psychologically. With help from my aunt, who was a therapist, she was able to help Amina. I never attended their therapy session, I always had to help mom. I didn’t have the chance to relax or play like other kids do.

I remember my grandmother telling mom that she knew it wouldn’t last. She already knew a day like this would come. 

As for my dad, he started becoming prosperous. Mom started to feel like maybe she was the thorn that made him stagnant. A few years after he became a renowned gynaecologist. Considered as a millionaire, even got himself a fiancée. Which surprisingly turned out to be the mayor’s ex-wife, that’s Riley’s mom.

Shocking, right? I only found out yesterday when I saw the news about how he had accepted Riley as his daughter. 

I olled my eyes.

What a small world even though its size was big. Sometimes I do wonder if Karma really existed. How come with everything he had done; we were the one suffering! We were the one sleeping in the supermarket and being chased around by debtors?!!

It is commonly known that the world was an unfair place. But people still argue, saying that the world isn't unfair, that we just aren't contented with what we have. How can one be content with hardship and stress?

I knew my dad wasn’t always like that. He was caring, nice, kind, very patient. He was the kind of dad anyone could look up to, a role model. I had always had the passion for music, but seeing my father I decided to become a gynaecologist. Right now, I am not even sure. That was the reason I stopped at RM to talk with the music teacher.

I had asked mom a million times, what exactly had happened to make dad act out like that. She always keeps her mouth shut or gives me some lame excuse. I gave up asking and the reason behind my dad’s behaviour has always been a mystery to me.

I do not want to believe that she was hiding something from me. Maybe he had schizophrenia or his mental health was just terrible or he was really a racist and just tolerated mom and she was holding unto that secret because she still loved him.

Her mom won’t still love a man who had hurt her countless times, right?

Beside was I any different? 

With that seven years I had spent with him, I thought… I thought we had a bond. It hurt to even think about him starting and worse to imagine Riley as my step-sister. 

𝐻𝑚𝑝ℎ! They were perfect for each other each other though.

Crazy step-dad and crazy step-daughter who needs to be taken to an asylum. They both can hate on anyone for no reason. It would make a good headline and ruin their image of their kind and sweet family. Riley hated me for no reason, my father hated his own family for no reason.

Or was there a reason that I don’t know? A little voice said in the back of my head.

I frowned.

Anyways, they were both insane and violent.

Ding-Ding.

The sound of the bell from the door opening broke me out of my reverie.

I looked up ready to hide my emotions and smile at the customer.

Instead, I was met with that indifferent gaze. The smile on my face froze. Who I saw wasn’t someone I expected to see in the next hundred years?

Dr Stein fucking Leblanc. 

My father.

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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

We have finally learnt about ruby’s past. Yay!

Please do share your thoughts, thank you.

Hugs. ☺🤗