Reunion

(Author’s POV)

The phone rang, waking Olivia and Denzel from their slumber. They had both slept off in great exhaustion and didn’t wake up when the alarm rang. It was a Saturday morning and they were both supposed to be at home resting before the weekend passed over them like it never came at all.

Who could it be that was disturbing their peaceful time together?

“Babe, pick it up; it’s your phone that is ringing,” Denzel said, nudging Olivia by her side.

“Who on earth is it that doesn’t want me to get a good night sleep?” Olivia said, searching the bedside table for her phone and when she found it, the call had ended.

She sleepily checked the caller ID and it turned out to be her kid brother, Victor. Sighing, she called him back and Victor picked up almost immediately.

“Ollie, why didn’t you pick up?” Victor said, sounding hysterical on the other end of the phone. Troubled, Olivia quickly sat up straight.

“Calm down, Victor, what is the problem?” Olivia said, slightly afraid that something bad might have happened.

“It is mum; she was baking in the kitchen when she collapsed. We didn’t know what had happened until I went to get something from the kitchen and that’s when I saw her immobile body on the floor,” Victor said, breathing heavily.

“Oh my goodness,” Olivia said, getting up from the bed and running to the closet to find anything presentable to wear and go to her parent’s house “Where is she? Did you guys go to the hospital?” Olivia said, with her phone placed on the left side of her ear being supported by her left shoulder.

“No, we didn’t because she got up after a while but made us promise not to tell you because she knew that you will be worried and come down here but I couldn’t keep it in any longer and I had to tell you. As I speak to you, I’m at the backyard talking to you so they won’t hear me,” Victor said.

“I am on my way right now; thank you for telling me,” Olivia said, hanging up the call and putting on her black flats that matched her yellow short flare gown that she wore. Tying her hair in a scattered bun, she turned to look at Denzel only to find him standing my door, all dressed up in brown shorts, black polo shirt and his black slides.

“Don’t just stand there, let’s go already. We can brush and bathe when we get there or when we get back home,” Denzel said, leaving the room and heading out to the garage.

(Olivia’s POV)

“Yeah, my family house is at George Murrel Avenue; it’s a 45 minutes ride from here,” I said, after inputting the location of my family house on the GPS.

“Okay, let’s go then,” Denzel said.

All the way to my parent’s house, I kept thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong with my mother. She’s been baking for years and collapsing shouldn’t come as a surprise to me but it still did. I loved my parents very much and I didn’t want something bad to happen to her.

Coming out of my thoughts, I realized that we were almost at home.

“Take a right turn and stop in front of the house with the yellow picket fence,” I told Denzel. Immediately he stopped, I hurriedly got out of the car and dashed into the house without knocking and yelling my brother’s name at the top of my voice—to hell with being discreet.

“Victor….Victor! where are you? Where is mum?” I yelled but got no response, I was about to go up the stairs when I caught a figure leaning on the door that lead to the kitchen.

“You know, you really shouldn’t scream that much, Olivia; this is a very quiet neighborhood and you know that without being told twice,” My mother, Mrs. Giselle Jones said to me with a stern expression.

What did I do wrong this time?

“Mum, mum, what are you doing up? You should be resting and not stressing!” I said, trying to push her to the parlor without creating a scene again.

“I am fine, Olivia; the Lord knows that if I didn’t pull that prank on you, I would probably never had seen you for another 10 years or 20 years,” my mum said, with no expression whatsoever on her face until she starting walking towards me.

“Mum, you mean you didn’t collapse this morning? Nothing bad happened to you? Then why did Victor make it sound like you were dying? Do you know how worried I was on my way here? I held my breath on the ride here not knowing what to expect and to my surprise, you tell me that it was a prank?” I mean, who plays prank using people’s health?

My brother spoke from behind and I turned to give him my deadly look but couldn’t because dad was there also giving me the stern look.

“This was the only way to get you here. After college, you just took off. If not for the fact that you send money to us monthly, we wouldn’t know that you are still alive! Mum and dad misses you and I know that you know that I don’t give two shits about you but I miss you too; you are my sister too, the only sibling I have,” Victor said, not before casting a side glance at Denzel wherever he stood and went to my mum’s side while I waited for my dad’s scolding too.

“No Easter, no thanksgiving, no Christmas, no holiday visits from you whatsoever, you just disappeared; I am disappointed, I really am because I expected more from you no matter what,” My dad, Mr. Richard Jones said before walking past me to wherever and leaving me standing all by myself like a stranger.

I turned towards where everyone stood to render an apology. They were all right, I didn’t handle the situation correctly; at the very least I should have called.

“Mum, dad, Victor, I am so sorry. I know that I shouldn’t have cut you all like that like we had some sort of fall out which we didn’t. I let our financial problems and the need to solve them weigh me down and get the best of me. My apologies may never be enough but it comes from my heart; I am sorry,” I said, lowering my head and looking at my feets.

“We just missed you, that is all; come here,” My mum said and I looked at her to find her extending her arms for a hug which I gladly ran into—I missed the hugs. I was still hugging my mother when Victor’s words brought me back to reality.

“I am happy for the reunion and all that but who is he?” Victor said, pointing towards Denzel who still stood at the entrance of the door watching the whole thing and then back at me.

“Ah, I nearly forgot; mom, dad, Victor, meet my boyfriend, Denzel and Denzel meet my parents and my brother. My dad’s name is Richard while my mum’s name is Giselle,” I said, moving towards Denzel and intertwining our hands together.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones; Ollie talks about you all a lot and with admiration I must say and I’m glad that you are better and a quick one, I can see where she got her flawless look from; you really are a timeless beauty,” Denzel said, greeting my parents like a gentleman that he is and at that moment I was proud that he was mine.

(Denzel’s POV)

Well, when we got into the apartment or should I say i? Because she left me immediately I parked the car where she wanted me to and dashed into the house like a woman on fire. I watched everything from the sidelines and I was impressed with the way everyone behaved themselves.

I’m guessing that they hadn’t seen their daughter in months or probably years but only got cash flows from her. Watching their interactions inaudibly, I didn’t know when I was being dragged off to stand in front of her family and then I heard these words

“Ah, I nearly forgot; mom, dad, Victor, meet my boyfriend, Denzel and Denzel meet my parents and my brother. My dad’s name is Richard while my mum’s name is Giselle and of course, you already know who this is,” Ollie said, intertwining our hands together.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones; Ollie talks about you all a lot and with admiration I must say and I’m glad that you are better and a quick one, I can see where she got her flawless look from; you really are a timeless beauty,” I said, acting all responsible which of course is what I am. It was such a pity that I had to lie to them for now about who I was.

“Okay, well, let’s eat, because I am starving,” Mrs. Jones said, and we all headed to the dining table and had our dinner.

********************

A few hours after dinner…

A few hours after dinner, I remembered that I hadn’t showered or brushed my teeth throughout the day. I looked at Olivia who was having a girl’s moment with her mum and I was astounded. Did she forget that she hadn’t done the needful today or something?

I got up from where I sat in the sitting room and got to where she was and whispered into her ears.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Jones but can I talk to Ollie real quick?” I had to take permission first or else it probably would have been rude.

“It’s no bother actually, feel free,” Mrs. Jones said with a sweet smile on her face. Ollie did indeed take after her mother.

I whispered into Ollie’s ears “Babe, we’ve been here for a few hours,” I said, not knowing exactly how to constructs my sentence so she doesn’t feel weird.

“Yeah, is there a problem? Don’t you feel comfortable here? If you are not then we could go,” Ollie said, with a slight worried look on her face.

“No, it’s not that; it’s just that we both came here in a hurry and we didn’t exactly have time to brush or shower and I for one, am beginning to stink a bit,” I told her while waiting for the eminent blush to pop up which didn’t fail me.

“Oh my goodness, I forgot about it… this is bad,” She said, trying to secretly perceive her body why still trying to hide her flaming face away from me.

After I made sure that our predicament was made known to her, she quickly excused us from her mother’s presence.

“Excuse us, mum, this is a matter of urgency,” she quickly said then dragged me off through some series of hallways and as we were about to get into the room, I heard her father’s voice and we turned to see him leaning by the door to a room I had no idea about and he stood as though he was expecting us.

“Dad, you scared us,” Ollie said, stopping in her tracks.

“Oh, I am sorry honey but I just wondered why you both are rushing off like that, anything bad happened,” Mr. Jones said, still maintaining his position.

“No, dad, not something as bad as that happened. We just didn’t shower or brush before rushing over here and Denzel was kind enough to remind me,” Ollie said, holding my hand ever so tightly.

“Going off to shower, both of you? Honey, why don’t you let him use the guest room?” Mr. Jones was persistent and I understood where he was coming from and what angle he was driving at but it was just funny how he was trying to protect her from an act that we both have committed already. I had to bite my cheeks to contain the laughter.

“Not now, dad and it is not what you think and even if it were, I am no longer a child,” Ollie said, giving her father a half-hearted smile before pushing me into the room and shutting the door.

Oh well, that was a moment..