Everyone looked at Priscilla while she pointed at the beer
cooler behind the bar.
“Hey, rich lady. Give me a Corona,” Priscilla demanded with
a glee.
Amaan handed her a bottle of chilled beer and asked, “Isn’t
it a little early for a beer? We were going to have breakfast anyway.”
Priscilla touched the glass bottle to her lips and emptied
the half of it in one go. When she separated herself from her beverage, she
exclaimed, “Well, I need something to wake me up, right? Corona always does
that job for me.”
I let go of Mad and asked her, “What are you doing here
Priscilla? was this a plan of yours too? To crash our meeting while we’re away
from you?”
Her cheerful demeanor vanished, and she looked at me with
those foxy piercing eyes she possessed. I retracted to a safe distance where
her bottle throws won’t hit me.
“Don’t get worked up this early in the morning, Chink. I’m
not here for a meet and greet. I was here for business. And since I knew you’d
be in this town, I thought of paying you a visit. Besides, this guy sitting
next to me was a big name in Velocity Cars, which I have been a very good
customer of. If you think you’re special and I paid YOU people a visit, you’re gravely
mistaken.”
Priscilla continued to drink her beer while everybody in the
room continued to look at her.
“W-Well, people, the breakfast will be ready soon. Why don’t
we sit at the proper table,” Amaan broke the silence, and everybody was plenty
thankful for that.
Everyone stood up and started walking, while Mad held on to
me tightly like she was never going to let me go again. It felt good when the
pillar of my household showed cracks of care directed at me. It felt good to be
in her attention again. In that moment, I had preferred a bedroom above the
breakfast. Nevertheless, the short walk from the bar to the breakfast table
filled me with joy and bloom.
The table in the middle was made of fancy wood with
beautiful engravings all over it. Some of them felt like scratches, but the rim
was exceptionally artistic. There were exactly five chairs surrounding the
round table, which made it a little awkward for Mad. One way or another, she
would be sitting with her ex. And I was not ready to entertain that thought. The
chairs were placed in such a pattern that anyone sitting in a particular chair
could see two people in front of him/her without turning or
moving.
Lucky for us, Priscilla was the one looking at us, whereas
Brad sat next to me and Amaan took the seat next to Mad. I had thought Amaan
would sit next to me, but I brushed off that thought for my
own sake.
there were bigger things on the line here, I reminded
myself.
The table was filled with bread, scrambled eggs, biryani and
juice. Everybody started filling their plates, whereas Mad was looking down at
her legs. I poured her some juice and scrambled eggs, then pushed a fork into
her hands. She looked at me with no power in her body, but I couldn’t help her
due to Priscilla’s lunatic tendencies.
And I was proven right when she asked Amaan where the bacon was.
Amaan set her cutlery down and explained why bacon will
never be present in a Muslim’s house.
I was equally terrified and surprised at Priscilla’s lack of
social awareness. For somebody whose job description required to travel the
world, her social IQ was definitely low.
“So, Kiyomi, and Professor, what are we all doing here?”
Brad threw the question on the table.
“Well, you see- “Amaan started to explain, but I signaled
her to be quiet. I wanted to explain out reasoning for her summon.
“Mr. Brad, we’re here for forgiveness. I know the past has
been hard on you. But the same pain has been incurred by my wife, Madonna. And I
can assure you that the changes in her attitude and perspective have been for
the better.”
“Cut the shit. I am not here for an interview. So, you can
pocket your spiritual liberation bullshit in your back pocket and get out of my
face. What I want is very easy. And if you can do that, I will be able to bear
your fractured morality for a limited extent. Maybe.”
“Well, that makes it easy for us too. Please tell me what
you desire, and we will take one heartfelt forgiveness from you.”
Brad started to chuckle. So did Amaan. They started laughing
hysterically, while Mad reached out for my hand and clenched on to it. I was
confused. The laughter continued for a long time before Priscilla smashed her
hand on to the table floor. Everyone’s focus was onto her once more.
“Listen to me, you Kylo Ren knock-off. If you want that
beautiful set of teeth stay inside your mouth, I want you to start naming your
price. I’ll help you pay it all. But this laughing crap won’t sit well with
me.”
Her statement about helping us made me think if she still
harbored feelings for Mad. My question got answered when Brad asked her the
same question.
Her nonchalant reply was,” Eh. Look at it this way. You tell
your share of story makes the Joan of Arc more miserable. Not even accounting
the sorrow smile her wifey gives out. I cant wait for that reaction, and you
better start blabbering.”
“Allright. I want $250,000 and I never want to see this
tramp’s face again.”
“Done deal,” Priscilla had made a deal with Brad without my
consent, which adding, “Only if you promise to meet her once more. Just once.”
Priscilla and Brad shook their hands. While they shared
smiles amongst them, Madonna was starting to break down. I tried to console her
but she up and left the table, leaving us four sitting around. I knew her appetite
was gone. Mine was too. But I knew I had to take in so much more tonight.
Brad’s story coupled with Amaan’s was going to be a bumpy ride.
And addition of Priscilla was an unpleasant surprise on its own.
I realized that we had to start from somewhere, so I thought
of taking the first step.
I turned to Brad and said, “So, Mr. Brad, unfortunately I am
the only one on this table who doesn’t know about you. Would you tell me a
little about yourself?
Brad said he’d happily oblige if I passed him the biryani, and
so I did. Once he was done serving himself, he spoke, “I was the CEO and the branch
manager of Velocity Cars in Nepal. Our plan was to introduce higher end vehicles
to people who can’t generally afford them. Needless to say, our company made a
good turnover by kickstarting our business in smaller countries. It was good
for national economy, and we made good relations with the native government.”
To be honest, I was not listening to her all the way. But the
pretext was required for my following question.
“It seems like you and Priscilla are already acquainted. How
did that happen?”
“Velocity cars has a sub-division, Velocity Red. It’s main
focus is on high end cars with big price tags. Luxury vehicles, race cars and
novelty cars. I bring this up because Priscilla is one of the financial
supporters of the division. She is also the official spokesperson for that part
of the company.”
Priscilla raised her hand with spoon in her fingers up in
the air and said, “Financial security. Out there, there is a rich kid with a
silver spoon ready to swipe his father’s credit card for one of our cars. And I,
who owns 20% of the Velocity Red will have royalties coming into my account for
the rest of my life.”
Priscilla gloated her wisdom with a bright smile, which she
completely overturned into a growl.
Between her gritting teeth, she said, “I hate to admit, but
that woman of yours lodged that idea into my head. She was always too careful
with the money, and never let me buy any bling. In stead. I own three
restaurants in Miami and my own clothing line.”
Priscilla stood up from the chair and slammed her spoon on
the table. She screamed GODDAMNIT before storming off.
I was confused, but Amaan was smiling and Brad was calm as a
cucumber.
“Wh-why was she like this?” I posed the question for the
ladies sitting around.
“She hates to admit, but Madonna helped her career in more
than one way. She was always particular with details. The one who angrily left
the room is a live example. She knows she owes a lot of things to a lot of people,
but she tries to balance out Madonna’s betrayal by claiming all her success as
hers. Which isn’t entirely wrong, but its not true either.”
I continued to look at Amaan, who was explaining P.A.’s
mentality to me. I swung my head and looked at Brad, who was grudgingly agreeing
to Amaan’s claims.
What I witnessed was one person’s impact and the power of
their presence on another individual’s past.
“Madonna’s absence helped Priscilla because she met new
people and had different experiences. It was almost the same for me,” Brad gave
me a peek into his life. “It was tough, seeing Madonna exit the front door,
never to return. But in her absence, I found a new friend, Professor Amaan. She
really helped me out after the operation.”
“Operation? You had some major illness, Brad?”
Brad looked at my face with surprise and disgust in his eyes.
He posed me a question: “Tell me, Mrs. Kiyomi House, what do you know about
Blessing Witman?”
“Uh… she is one of the people we were supposed to meet. Instead,
Amaan asked Madonna to fetch you. Since you both shared the same last name, I thought
you’d be siblings or a couple. Was I wrong?” I was swinging my head from side
to side to get a single reaction out of them. I was confused and afraid of what
was about to come.
And suddenly, realized what was going on. And it filled me
with horror.
Please god, don’t let Madonna be a reason for this!
Brad let go of his spoon and pointed his finger at his chest
and exclaimed, “Mrs. Kiyomi, I am Blessing Witman.”
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