HIS TIME

CHAPTER 2

Julian stared through the bar session for the last time and inhaled heavily with many thoughts in his mind.

Within seconds he found himself at the bar entrance with no option but to head home with bad news to meet his wife and his "In-laws."

Thunderstorms echoed, and splashes of thunder lit all over the streets. Without further words, Julian knew it was about to be a heavy downpour of rain. But that wouldn't stop him from heading to his family in-laws' residence.

Julian was making attempts to flag down any approaching cab heading his way.

Suddenly a voice broke out from behind. "Julian?" The voice sounded familiar but he needed to ensure he wasn't mistaken.

"Julian?" Lilian hastily spilled out, breathing heavily, from how she was gasping, it was crystal clear she had been racing to catch up with him.

"I just resumed work and learned you got sacked," she said, her hand stretched on his embodied shoulders. "I'm so sorry that Mr. Kevin had to do such a thing to you after half a decade of your premium service."

Lilian's words took Julian aback, he had been striving to shake off his reality of being penniless and jobless, but Lilian nicely painted the picture right to his face.

Julian's hands shaking profusely in agony, his palms were sweaty, and his heart banging so many conflicting questions.

Lilian had been without doubt the only ex-employee who genuinely cared for Julian, and with her concern after losing his job, he didn't need a soothsayer to enlighten him on the reality of who she was.

Lilian gave Julian a sense of comfort and calmness that he mostly shared his unpleasant experience of marrying a woman; who's the rich and working in one of the biggest companies around Manchester City with his family in-laws who detest the air that he breathed.

Lilian didn't hesitate to bless Julian with a warm hug to sympathize with him. "Julian you're strong, please don't let this pull you down," she calmly opined into his ears, Julian slightly nodded, breathing nervously in uncertainty.

Julian didn't utter a word but beamed at her, whilst she chuckled back, and both waved at each other; the two understood they mightn't be seeing each other for a longer time. He found himself in the next cab heading directly to his destination.

'What would I have done if Lilian wasn't a friend amongst the frenemies and foes that surround me?' he inquired inwardly, his mind engulfed with thousands of life events.

Julian arrived at his in-law's residence and had his finger thudded on the door to avoid the heavy rain wrecking his body with the building downpour soon about to bless the streets of Manchester City.

"Who's that?" A certain voice broke into words. "It's me…" Julian promptly responded.

That was the gatekeeper, a man in his late 40s, who was always alert of intrusion and needed to be certain even when he had a hint of who was knocking.

The gatekeeper sneered deeply. "I hate my rest being disturbed." He quickly complained, stiffened his face whilst unlocking the well-fenced black gate, and returned to his abode before Julian interrupted with a persistent knock.

Julian headed to the main entrance and endeavored not to unleash a single word to the gatekeeper for his slight disrespect. 'I wouldn't blame him, I'm penniless and he's still got a job whilst I have lost mine,' those thoughts drifted in his heart as he rang the doorbell in anticipation.

'I'd need to inform my wife of the latest development. Lying to her isn't the best,' he uttered in his heart, still fixing his eyes awaiting the door to be creaked open.

In less than ten minutes Julian saw his body inside one of the best houses in the province where they resided. Well-tiled floors, portraits of his in-laws hung strategically.

Good sense of color blends enticing for the eye to behold. His in-laws took their time to part the door open with a direct hint of how his stay made them uncomfortable.

"The poverty-shrinking son-in-law is finally back," Mrs. Dianne Petersburg, his wife's mum, blurted out, her eyes glued on him. "We've waited for you, our only penniless son-in-law," George, his wife's younger brother, joined in the mockery adventure as they always did.

Julian paid no significant attention to the shrinking sarcasm and ridicule oozing from his in-laws' mouths, but fixed his stare on the love of his life, seated comfortably on a yellow couch with her legs well crossed in her golden designer gown, still gazing into his husband's worn out facial expression.

Rihanna slammed a document on the table, placed a blue pen on it, and breathed out heavily in her glory. Her face stiffened, her eyes darkening.

"Julian the time has come!…"

"The time has finally come upon us all!..."