2025-01-31 19:14:04Just as she is going to wrap her hands around him, Jose steps aside. His head is hurting really bad now.
The woman ends up grasping the space. “J–Jo-Jose…”Jose shakes his head. He heads to the door. He can't stay here. He has to go.“Jose!” The woman calls after him.He stops walking. He will himself to walk away but he can't. Maybe because his body, every part of his body, has been wanting to hear this. Waiting to hear this voice all his life.“I…I…where have you been?” The woman asks, her voice cracking up at each word like she might break down in tears pretty soon.Jose swallows hard. He slowly turns around, he slaps a smile on his face. “Oh, it's a great pleasure to see you, ma'am. Your governance is dope. Ever since the beginning of your tenure, I have been enjoying life like never before. My account balance had been increasing in a very incredible—”“Stop…” Jose's mother says. “Stop.”“I'm sorry, m
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As far as he knows, not just anyone can be invited to a party like this. Weston must have gone extra length to get the invitation here. Jose sighs. He resumes walking. He gives Weston a punch in the arm as soon as he gets to him. Weston groans. “You should have given me a heads up,” Jose says. “What? She didn't want to meet you?” Jose shakes his head ‘no’. “I bawled my eyes out when I met her. I was hoping to look the part of a cool man when I meet her.” Weston chuckles. “You're okay, for real?” Jose nods. “Yeah. She even got me a wife.” Weston gasps. “I asked her out. We're going on a date tomorrow.” “Hey, chill.” “If she likes me, we can get married tomorrow.” “Why are you talking like you're going to die soon? There is a lot of time. Take it one step at a time.”Yeah, he's dying soon. And the least he can do is to make his mother happy before he dies. “
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“San is like…um…how will I put it? He's some crazy—” “Stop,” Lorette says. “I know you might have some grudge against him because he's one of the Achievers, but I will never condole you speaking badly of him this way.” Jose runs his hand through his hair. “Do I look like someone who tells a lie? What will I gain from lying to you?” “I don't know because I don't read minds,” Lorette says. “Were you in the hall the day the VC announced the death of those three guys?” “I was, but—” “You saw the way San was crying that day?” “He's faking it. He's—” Lorette laughs. Surely, cults are some shitty stuff she doesn't want to get involved in. “I don't want to say this, but I think I have no choice. Our second day in this campus was the day Santiago joined the Achievers. He came to tell me about it immediately. That's to show you San never hides anything from me.” “Is that w
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Weston taps on the window to the black tinted car waiting for him a few meters outside the campus gate. The door opens and Weston goes in. “Been a while,” Liam says from the driver's seat. “Sorry I had to call you in the middle of the day. You must have been busy.”“You could call me in the middle of the night and I'd gladly walk around nakedly if that's your request.” Weston chuckles. “I don't think there is any reason I'll ever have to do that.” Liam smiles. “What do you want to ask me?” Weston clears his throat and looks at Liam for some seconds before looking out through the window. “Why did you create this group?” “Why…are you asking all of a sudden?” “Nothing, really.” “Well…you heard about what the other groups want from their groups?” “What is that?” Weston asks, hoping the look on his face is curious enough to convince Liam that he has no idea what he (Liam) is talki
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“Left New York City to Los Angeles. My friend’s siblings helped me cart away a lot of money from my dad and made sure he couldn't find me no matter how he tried. But…really, I like the fact that I ran away, I love it, really because it made me bolder but…um, my siblings used to be some dick heads who manipulated me but…well…they manipulated me again when I met them some weeks ago. You get what I'm saying?” Coben nods. “So, that friend I was talking about, we met some weeks ago and he asked me if I was ready to forgive my siblings, something like that. So, I kind of thought about it…I really would love to forgive them and move on with my shit. I guess I did but well, I…I promised myself I wouldn't get too close to them that they would mess with me again.” “You're not telling me to forgive my ol' man, right?” Weston shrugs. “It's up to you what you do. But if it kind of keeps holding you down, I guess you have no choice other than to let it go.”
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Weston shakes his head. Coben must be crazy. Only a crazy person rambles like this. Or maybe, he could be drunk. Coben smiles at him. “Avoid him for the next two days. We all are coming after him and I don't want you getting in our way.” He smiles again and walks off. Weston is seething with rage as he storms to Santiago's room. Mad at himself for believing Santiago might be one of the Achievers, mad at himself for not wanting to believe it, mad at Coben for making him this way. Just as he gets to the door, he hears Lorette's voice, she seems angry with the pitch of her voice a bit higher than normal. “Chill, I'll tell him,” he hears Santiago say. “I'm going to tell him if you can't. How long are you planning to hide it?” He hears Lorette shout.“Look, I have a few things to sort out first. I swear I'm going to tell him when I'm ready. And, come to think about it, we are going to leave the campus pretty soon, what use will i
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Weston smiles. All of a sudden, Jose looks at him and says, “he's my best friend. Wait a minute.” He takes off the headphones. “What?” “That's the girlfriend you wanted to get married to?” Weston asks. “Yes. She suggested we FaceTime for our date since she's a little busy.” “Sorry to interrupt, but someone important is waiting for us,” Weston says. “Who is that?” “A surprise. Get dressed, not suit, any cloth will do. But we need to go now,” Weston says and goes to his closet.Jose groans. He applies the headphones on his ears. “I have to go now. Save my cereal till I come visiting, mom. I love you…” Ten minutes later, they are inside a restaurant. The only woman in the restaurant stands up as soon as she sees them. “Welcome, sirs,” she greets. Jose stops walking. He grabs Weston's hand. “What are you doing this time around?” “Helping you meet your stepmother, of course,” Wes
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“It's this musician…Wesley, he's the one holding a concert tonight.” “Tonight?” This is just a few minutes past one.“Yes. I think the concert is by ten p.m.,” the driver says. “But…if he's holding a concert by ten p.m. isn't it too early for people to be gathering there. That's like eight hours plus before he comes.” The driver chuckles. “I guess you haven't heard about him.”“Is he some ancient musician?” Even from where the car is, Weston can still hear the shouts of people in front of the hall. The car moves a little further before it stops again. The driver chuckles. “He's not ancient. He's just twenty five years old.” Cool, right? A guy his age is causing a commotion in Atlanta and he (Weston) can't even keep his family together.“He's some musician who suddenly rose to fame two months ago and since then, he's been holding concerts around and people are running after him like flies.” Weston
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Shit. This is getting way too long. Weston walks closer to one of the security men. “There is a little girl in this house?” The security man looks at the second one. “Who are you to ask that—” the rest of the words stuck in the second security man's throat.Without looking at the second security man who Weston is now grabbing his throat, Weston asks again, “is there a little girl in this house?” “Yes, sir. Yes, sir,” the first security man, seeing his colleague grasping for breath answers quickly.“What's her name?” Weston asks.“Hannah, sir. Her name is Hannah.” Weston lets go of the man's throat, pushing him against the wall. “Open the gate,” Weston says. Immediately, the first security man opens the gate. “Thanks for cooperating,” Weston says and he does mean it. If they prolonged things more than they already did, one or two dead bodies would have been lying on the floor right now an
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“I have now,” Weston drops the picture frame on the sofa and carries Hannah in arms. “How is that? Did they disappear and come back?” She asks. “Daddy, how do people become people? I have not seen anyone jump down from the sky. Are there places where people go to pick babies? Daddy…answer me…” she whines as he carries her in the car. “Which of them should I answer first?” “When I grow up, can I become an actor? I will be on the screen. Will you watch my movies?” “Of course. Why won't I?” About two hours later when Weston drives to his parents house, Hannah is sleeping in the back seat probably tired of rambling for hours. He smiles as he parks the park and wakes her. “Have we arrived?” She asks, looking at him sleepily. Weston nods. “Big pop and lala are waiting to see you.” He helps her get out of the car and holds her hand. He's barely climbed the first step leading to the house when his mother rushes
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Later that evening, Weston is in the sitting room, watching Lorette and Hannah have one of their long funny conversations as they prepare for a visit to his parents. “When I grow older, I want to be a museum tour guide,” Hannah says. “Didn't you say you want to be a make-up artist some minutes ago?” Lorette asks as he helps her into her shoes. “I can do that as a side job. When I don't have clients in the shop, I'll quickly go to the museum,” Hannah says. “What about the online cooking tutorials? How are you going to have time for that?” “Oh…that? Daddy, I can shoot videos at midnight, right?” Weston frowns. “When are you going to sleep then?” “I can sleep for two hours.” “Two hours?” Weston asks in horror. “Yes. I am going to shoot the cooking tutorial videos for like two hours. Another two hours, I'll use it to shoot videos for my dance clas
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Three days later, Weston knocks at the door of a hospital room before going in. The patient on the bed raises his head. He stares at Weston then at Hannah whom Weston is holding.“You're okay?” Weston asks before realizing it's the dumbest question to ask a person on a hospital bed. “Yes…?” Jose answers. Weston can't really tell if Jose is trying to play dumb too or he doesn't know what he's saying. “Hannah, meet Jose, he's one of the best friends that daddy has,” Weston tells his daughter. “And, Jose, this is my daughter.” Jose's mouth parts slightly. He closes it a few seconds later and smiles. “She…she looks young.” Weston chuckles. “Young? What's a five year old supposed to look like? Old?” “I…sorry. I mean. Shit. You have a sure way of taking me by surprise.” “You think so?” Weston strides to Jose's bed. He drops the fruit basket in his hand on the table. “Last time I checked, you did some
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“Hey, Santiago,” his godfather says once there is an answer at the other end. “How are you, sir?”“I…I'm sorry.” His godfather shut his eyes. “What the fuck did you do again? I already told you I got Weston and Lorette covered. I have Weston's kid with me, I'll use her to—” “That's not it,” his father cuts in quickly. “I…um…I told Weston about Dylan.” For a lot of seconds, there is silence at the other end. “Where are you?” Santiago's voice is unbelievably too calm for the revelation. “Home, of course.” “Let's talk face to face.” Then the line goes off. The phone falls from his godfather's hand. He runs his hand through his grey hair. “You have a kid?” “Am I supposed to answer that?” “If I knew you had a kid, I'd have abducted her and used her against you. I had no idea at all.”What? Is he out of his mind? His godfather raises his head and looks at Weston. “Once San
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Weston can tell from the look on her face that there is something more. He waits for her to tell him. “I stumbled in on San and his father arguing one day, San was kind of telling his father to keep shut if he doesn't want his ass in the pool.” Weston waits. He's sure she isn't just telling him just for telling sake. There must be something more. He waits a while longer, forcing his damn brain not to think his daughter is five and she's with fucking Santiago. “He hates it when people snitch on him,” Lorette adds. “Kind of…he…” she lets out a deep breath. “Sorry. I just…I had no idea I'd be telling this to anyone.” For some seconds, she stops to get her emotions back together. “Even if San tells me something as little as what he ate last night that nobody knows about, he doesn't want me to tell anyone. When…I think we were sixteen when I first realized it. He told me he was fooling around with a girl and I kind of jokingly told the girl to tak
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Weston stops the car and runs his hand through his hair. “I begged you, apologized to you, did all sorts of things but you still didn't agree to get married to me, so why do you keep asking about your daughter?” “When did you apologize to me?” There is silence at the other end before Ivy starts to talk. “Okay, since you want to hear it, I'mma tell you. If there is anything I regret, it's having Hannah. I thought you would dump me for some other women later if I didn't have a child for you since you don't really seem all that ready to get married to me. I needed something to assure me you're not going anywhere and getting pregnant seemed like the best deal.” Weston bites hard on his lower lip. “You must have figured this out but I stopped using contraceptives without telling you. But I'm starting to realize it's all stupid now. If I knew Hannah was going to be a burden to me, I wouldn't have gotten pregna
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With rage, he dials Santiago's number. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” He shouts. “Hey, you wanna make me deaf or something?” “Whatever shit you're up to, you should know better than to involve my daughter.” “What can you do?” “Where the hell are you?” “Not so easy, bro. Not so easy. I need to spend some time playing with Hannah and getting to know her before we come to an agreement of what to do. Till then, stay anxious.” With that, the line goes off. Weston dials the number again, it doesn't ring. Obviously, Santiago blocked him. He dials another number. “Find out where that fucking bastard is.” “Alright, sir.” He dials his father's number. “I need to find out where Santiago is.” “Okay. Is everything okay?” “No but I don't have the
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Weston comes out of his car. It's been more than thirty minutes since the cop pulled him over but he's not responded to him since then. The other cars he pulled over before Weston's are long gone and the cop doesn't seem like he has anything he's doing at the moment. “Excuse me,” Weston calls the cop’s attention. The cop glances at Weston. “I'll attend to you soon, I'm quite busy.” “If you're not going to come check whatever it is that you want to check, I might as well start going. I didn't do anything wrong in the first place.” “You didn't do anything wrong?” The cop scoffs. “Was that how you were supposed to put on your seatbelt? Was that how you were supposed to fasten it?!” Weston frowns. “What?” Is there a certain way to fasten seat belts? “Come with me,” the cop says, already walking to Weston's car. They get to the car and t
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“Daddy was smiling in the picture Abigail gave to me. And, daddy only smiles when he is with people he likes.” Santiago chuckles again. “How old are you?” “I am five years old. How old are you?” “Me? I'm the same age as your father.” “Daddy is…um…twenty five. You're twenty five?!” She asks in surprise.Santiago nods. “Yeah. Why?”“Daddy said monsters are old, like five hundred years old. And Father Richard said only monsters kill people. Does that mean you're a young monster?” The smile dies off Santiago's face. “I'm not a fucking monster.”“‘Fucking’? What does that mean? Do you have a dictionary? I'll look up the meaning.” “I mean, I'm not a monster. That's the meaning.” He glances at Hannah to see her staring at him. The glasses on her face feel like some gadget she's using to scan his thoughts. “What…” he clears his throat. “You can't see without your glasses?” She sighs. “It's a lon
