IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS - EPISODE 22

Rominic’s viewpoint

I groaned with my hand on my forehead, rubbing the hot skin tenderly with hope that it would subdue the headache I woke up with. I woke up early to prepare breakfast myself so I’d surprise her. The previous night, Zachary advised me to make things difficult for her by showering her with love and affection no matter what stunt she pulls, that way, her buried love would uncover. I was more than happy to take the challenge.

After two flustering hours of trying to prepare breakfast and miserably failing, I finally prepared something nice. Slightly burnt but nice. I dropped the apron and made my way to the boys’ room. I knew Sera would already have Serenity ready for school but needed to make sure Zyaire wasn’t being a cry baby because he has to take a shower. I didn’t want Zachary to blow up again, or Sera to beat him up because he’s a lazy pig.

I opened the door to see Zayne trying to tie his shoe laces with the rhyme I taught him. He really was the most mindless among them. Himself and Serenity were just too cute and acted like babies. They are the babies of the family anyways.

“Zayne, good morning.”

“Morning, daddy,” he greeted, his focus still on his shoes. He had his tongue stuck out to the side and forehead puckered in concentration. I knew he would snap if I ask too much questions. He took his lace tying very seriously. “And before you ask and bother me, Zachary dragged Zyaire to the bathroom and is forcing the toothbrush down his throat. He’ll be fine.”

“Alright, be down for breakfast before your food gets cold.”

“Yeah, yeah, now shoo.” I chuckled, turned and walked away, never minding to shut the door. At least he was starting to act and speak more maturely than he did when I first met him. Same thing goes to Serenity and Zyaire. Maybe going back to school and mingling with people was helping them brush up on their maturity. Or maybe they were trying to keep up with Zachary and Serafina.

I went back to my bedroom where she didn’t sleep. Lavender must have slept in her room to avoid me. I took a quick bath and hurried to get dress so I wouldn’t miss when she eats or the opportunity to drive her to work. I wanted her to be there when I resign all my documents in my children’s name. It was time I do that. I was also making arrangements to hand her mother’s company back to her. I kept it the way it was and even more improved. I could have sold it, but something stopped me from and I knew why now. I wasn’t going to tell her about what I was already doing to the men who hurt her. I promised myself that I would destroy them and then save them by buying off their properties under our children’s names. I would make everything about them because they are the easier way to get to Lavender.

I hurried down the foyer to the dining room and paused at the door when I heard Sera say something about me using them as guinea pigs. “How on earth do you burn sandwiches? It’s literally sandwich. Since when do you put sandwiches in the oven?” She continued to complain. I rolled my eyes.

“Serafina, stop complaining, it doesn’t taste that bad. Don’t say mean words so you won’t hurt daddy’s feelings. He’s trying his best to impress mommy so don’t make him feel bad.” Serenity scolded.

“Don’t worry, mom is going to do all the feeling bad for him when he finds out she already left for work.” My heart plunged down to my guts after that statement left her mouth. I knew she would try to avoid me but not to that extent. All the effort I put into burning the breakfast was all for waste. But on the bright side, she won’t get to taste how bad my meal is… Not that she doesn’t already know.

I stuck my head in and smiled at the frowning children. “Kids, hurry up, Mara would be here anytime now. And don’t worry, I already know.”

“Oh, dad,” Zachary called, adjusting his glasses… Wait, glasses? Since when? “Can the driver take me separately? I promised Jewels I’d bring Perry over to play with her parrot and Perry didn’t let me sleep last night with his complaining. Now he’s giving me the silent treatment,” he pointed at the usually talkative bird quietly staring at me with innocent eyes. I don’t know how a bird can be this smart. He creeps me out but I dare not say a word or face the ultimate wrath of Zachary and Zyaire.

“You are almost late for school, go with your siblings. Just give me the address and I’ll drop him. It’s been a while I’ve seen my little princess,” Serenity frowned, making me chuckle, “don’t get jealous, Serene, you would always be my favorite and most valuable princess, my first princess…”

“Excuse me?” Sera gasped, “I thought I was the first born!”

“Yes, but not my first and most valuable princess, Serene is,” Serene smiled shyly, “Jewels is my second because she’s cute… Not as cute as Serenity but my princess and your little sister. And as your little sister and junior in the cute department, Serene, you should…”

“Teach her how to manipulate people with her cuteness and rule the world!” She said with a dramatic clap of her hands and a playful evil smile on her face. “If we unite our powers, we can take over the universe and become the goddesses of beauty and cuteness! I’ll be Aphrodite and she, hmmm,” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, “Psyche?”

“Isn’t Aphrodite and Psyche enemies?” I asked.

“Hmm, that’s true,” she said with a pout, “but we don’t have to be enemies, we can share the beauty, right, daddy?”

“Yes,” I smiled. She frowned and sent a serious glare my way and forwarded it to Zachary.

“You both have to swear never to love her more than me. I’m your princess, your first and most valuable, got it?” She declared sternly. Zachary rolled his eyes while I chuckled. I would never love anyone more than her. I loved the little Jewels, we instantly connected. But it remains what it is, she would always be more precious to me.

“Yes, madam.” I chuckled.

“Whatever.”

“Zachary, what’s with the glasses? Are you having issues with your eyes?” I questioned. He threw a glare at Sera asked who smirked triumphantly and slyly. I decided then that I didn’t want to know the story behind the glass.

~~~

I dropped Perry off and ended up carrying Jewels because she wouldn’t let me go. Since she was crying her eyes out, I had no other choice but to carry her with her father’s permission. I had her in my arms as she ate from the bag of cookies from my collection, cutely singing a nursery rhyme I’m not sure is a rhyme but never commented on it.

“Welcome, sir,” Paxton greeted. I nodded. I was waiting at the elevator doors to open. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, is Lavender here?”

“No, sir, she’s not. She usually comes with you…” He trailed off, eyes falling on the kid in my arms. That didn’t matter, what mattered was the new information that he revealed. I turned to look at Constantino, my personal and dearest bodyguard. He bowed slightly in confusion.

“Sir, I’m sorry, I thought you knew Miss Amherst didn’t return home last night…”

“What!” Jewels flinched in my arms. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry… Hey, hey, don’t cry, Water Prince is sorry…” I pinched her cheek to stop her from crying. Her lips trembled as her eyes gloss up. I rocked her to the side. “Don’t cry, I’m sorry. Water Prince is sorry and promise not to ever scream again.”

“Promise?” She asked with a sniff. I nodded, wiping off her tears. “Uncle needs cookies? Cookies make daddy feel better so maybe uncle would feel better too.”

“Just one,” I replied. She smiled brightly and brought out one cookie. I smiled bitterly. I couldn’t scream or shout. “Okay, so she didn’t return home last night?” He nodded nervously. “Damn that bastard,” I growled with a smile. I looked at gawking Paxton. “Get me in contact with Apollo Stine, now.”

“Y…y…yes… Sir,” the doors dinged open on cue. I furiously stomped in, pressed the floor button and tapped my foot. I promised not to get angry, promised not to jump into conclusion. There is every possibly that she went to stay at either one of her friends so jealousy would kill me. I’d keep calm and not overreact.

Once inside my office, I dropped Jewels on the chair, dropped the backup phone I bought just for Zyaire who loved using my phones to play game and instructed Constantino to download games of her level for her while I pace the office floor to get my mind in one peaceful zone.

Don’t overreact.

Don’t conclude.

The intercom beeped. I ran towards it.”Sir, Mr. Stine is ready for you now,”

“Put him thru.” I drummed my fingers impatiently, still mentally telling me to calm down. Don’t overreact, don’t snap.

“Nicky Bear,” his annoying shriek echoed in my office, “I’ve missed you!”

“Cut the act, Apollo, I’m not in the mood.”

“You are never in the mood,” he whined, “such a kill joy. Anyways, if you are going to warn me to stay away from your wife, don’t bother, I don’t have any intention of wooing her. Actually, you should be thanking me because last night, we had a serious talk and I told her something no one else did. If I’m correct, she’d be thinking very hard and love you back in no time!”

Wait, what?

“I don’t understand, how do you mean?” I asked puzzledly.

He sighed loudly, “don’t worry about it too much. All I’m going to tell you is that you shouldn’t give her chance. Now, she’s weak, the perfect time to penetrate through that walls of her. You owe me millions for the work, send me my money.” He said with a childish pettishness.

“She didn’t return home last night,”

“She needs time to take in what I told her, but call that Ferris Wheel friend of hers or the one that scares the daylight out of me; the very tall one.”

“Link?”

“Yes, that one!”

“Okay, thank you?” He gasped. I ended the call before he burst my eardrums with what he would do next. I kept staring at the table in confusion. Apollo didn’t take the opportunity to mess with me? He would usually jump at any opportunity to annoy and vex me. That was odd.

Shaking off the thoughts, I went on to call her friends, but each and every one of them denied knowledge of her whereabouts. With every call I dropped, my anxiety and anxiousness grew. By the time I called the last person, I was sweating profusely with quivering hands. I wasn’t going to jump into conclusion, maybe she lodged in an hotel or something.

“Constantino, please, I need you to call every hotel and find out where Lavender is staying, please.”

I’m going to calm down and not panic.

I’m going to calm down and not panic.

No jumping into conclusions.

Don’t panic.

But when I was informed she was not in any hotel, I panicked.

Lavender’s viewpoint

I can’t believe I slept in a cemetery for three days with no fear, food or water. Like literally, I slept, didn’t wake up. If it wasn’t for the caretaker who woke me up, I might have still been sleeping. The man was nice and generous enough to let me stay at his place with his wife and children. There, I got some food to eat and bought change a clothes to change into. I knew my children and Rominic would be worried, especially after I forgot my phone but I hoped Apollo would tell them and they would know I needed time.

What am I saying? I was scared to death because I was away for that long. I had no money on me but my car which I drove all the way to the cemetery. Immediately after eating and changing, I thanked the couple, forwarded some money to their daughter’s account after tricking her to give it to me and then drove away before they force me to take it back.

When I got home, the house was empty and with the way it looked, the kids and Rominic hadn’t been home for a while. I went in search of Roxy, found her in the garden with her father. They were both shocked when they saw me.

“Good evening, where are my children? And where’s Rominic?”

“Child, where did you go to?” Chef Russo asked, almost as if he was going to cry. “Master was extremely worried and so were the kids. He wasn’t in his right state of mind, he panicked…”

“Just tell me where they are,” I snapped impatiently. Roxy scoffed incredulously.

“You left this place for days, almost four days and returned out of the blue, without even telling anyone. Do you know how worried you made us all? And now you are back and you think you have the right to snap at my dad for worrying about you?” She spat disdainfully, “and I’m sure you will say I don’t have the right to question you but the fact is that I do!…”

“Roxy…”

“No, father, let me tell this unforgiving woman what her actions caused. Because of you, Sir Verlice is in the hospital fighting for his life! He got into an accident trying to find you and the news sent your youngest children into a shock!” The world stopped spinning, no, my world stopped spinning and the universe dropped on me. I knew what the universe was doing, I knew what fate was doing.

Remember when I said she hated me? She was manifesting it again. I was ready to move on, I was finally ready and now this. The ringing in my ears were louder than my heart beating against my chest and echoing in my ears. My whole body went numb, just like the time years ago. I could feel nothing, I could hear nothing, and I could think of nothing. The heaviness in my chest and the pang of pain in my thundering heart. I could feel my brain throbbing and slowing down, unable to understand what she just said and refusing to acknowledge it.

Slowly, the sound of my heart beating slowed down as fast as it started, my vision blurring out as fate betrayed me once again and threw me into an abyss of total darkness.

~~~

“Stop crying, Serene, mom is going to be okay.” I heard Sera said calmly.

“Just look at her, she has been here for five days! Just when dad woke up, she ended up in this position too. Damn that stupid lady for telling her lies to make mom feel bad! Now look what it has done to her! Mommy would never wake up!” Zyaire shouted angrily and from the sound of feet, he was pacing.

“Zyaire, calm down. Roxy was just mad at mom…”

“She had no right, Zachary, she had no freaking right to poke her nose in other people’s business! Mom is dad’s wife, not hers or will ever be hers! She intentionally said that to frighten her even if she knew mom would later find out that dad’s accident was just minor. He simply hurt his head and was unconscious for almost two days, it wasn’t a big deal! She scared the fuck off mom when she lied that Serenity and Zayne went into shock and you know mom will die if anything happens to either of us!” He was pissed, but I was trying to understand what he was saying. In fact, I was trying to understand why I couldn’t see but could only hear them.

Am I dead?

“First of all, stop swearing, Zyaire. Second of all, she only said what she said because she cares about dad just like every other fan girl out there and in her anger, she said what she said. She isn’t important right now, not after father already furiously sent her out of his house and threaten to fire Chef Russo if she should ever step her legs there again. Roxy is not important but mom is. We all need to be strong, smile and encourage dad because we are the only reason he hasn’t gone crazy yet. If he sees any one of us crying or fuming, it would affect him. So stop swearing and relax. Mom would be fine.” Sera finished calmly.

“And mommy wouldn’t want us crying, she would want us to be strong for dad, right, Zach?” Zayne said unsurely.

“Correct. Serene, baby, stop crying, mom would be fine. Zyaire, stop making your little sister cry and comfort her instead. Doctor George said mom would be up in three to five days…”

“That’s so far,” Zyaire whined, “I miss her so much. I can’t keep watching her like this, I can’t.”

“She’ll be fine.”

What happened?

I could still feel my head pounding and spinning even with my eyes close. I tried to remember how I ended up in such state, but the more I tried to think, the harder the pounding in my brain. When I couldn’t think of anything anymore, I settled for what I could remember and connecting it with what they said. I remembered returning home after agreeing to accept him back, but nothing else. According to what I heard, Roxy told me Rominic got involve in a fatal accident and was fighting for his life and my youngest children went into shock. That triggered something which resulted to me staring into darkness and listening to the voice of my children.

I listened to the other sounds. The beeping machine, the noises at the background and the words being said, I was in a hospital. Well, obviously. Where else would I be? Then I heard the opening of a door and from how well I heard it, it was my ward’s. I was proved right when the children greeted him, Rominic.

“How is she doing now? Any improvement?” His voice was hoarse and weak, like a tired old man pleading for something. His dry voice was filled with plea, a desperate plea that wanted to hear them say yes. I wanted to wake up so bad and tell him that I’m fine and instead hold him. I needed him, I needed this whole thing to be over and no more would some stupid fate mess with me. So I channeled all my strength or at least, hoped I did. I focused all my energy in trying to fulfil one task and that was to open my eyes.

I felt my eyes twitching along with my hand, meaning it was working. You know that feeling of you wanting to wake up from your nap or sleep but can’t because there is an unknown force pushing you down, like your eyes have been sealed shut and body made to disobey every command of yours? It takes all your mental strength and will power to force yourself up or when someone wakes you up with force? That was it.

I could hear my voice screaming at my body and my mind commanding my eyes to open. And it was working. “Zachary, get the doctor! Now!” My eyelids trembled and I felt my body trembling as well. It might have been in my head because when you are in that state, you feel like you are moving sometimes when you are not.

“Laverne, baby, please don’t do this to me, please, don’t leave me,” his crying voice filled my ears, “hold on, the doctor is coming.” I guess my trembling alerted them wrongly. I could hear my children wailing in the background and it was starting to annoy me. I wanted to wake up, not make them cry. How long will I keep doing that? How long will I keep causing my family pain? How long will I keep causing myself pain?

“Sir, can you please step aside for a while so I can check on her?”

I can’t let them cry once more.

“Please, save her, I beg you…”

No more.

“Mommy, please don’t go away…”

Never again.

“Clear!” And then there was the help I needed to jolt back to life. The sparks flowed through my veins and tighten around my heart, spreading heat across my chest to my stomach. Like fire to ice, it melted my stiff body and the invisible force holding me down. Another bolt of current flowed all the way to my head and kick-start my brain, causing me to snap my eyes open with a gasp.

The world was hazy and the ringing in my ears made my brain feel like it was being strangled. All I could think of was the pain and all I heard was the incessant ringing. Church bells were better off listened to than the one disorienting and causing me pain. I blinked my eyes rapidly as tears flowed down, trying to stop the pain coming from it sockets and stop the blurriness.

God, please, make it stop. Please, haven’t I suffered enough? Please!

Then everything went silent. The incessant ringing that felt like it had been going on for hours finally stopped. It became unbelievably peaceful, like nothing ever happened. There was no pain, no noise, no thoughts, just peace.