" Oh! Sweetie. It's you. I just came back and didn't see you. Don't just stand there come give me
a hug" she said as I sat down beside her and hugged her.
" Mum,why do you love treating me like a child? I'm too old for all this" I asked her as she
laughed
" It's said that a child never grows old in the eyes of the mother. And you my dear are still my
little boy. You're all I have so why won't I treat you like gold?" I just looked at her and just saw
the same old vulnerable mother of mine. My mum and I are just literally bestfriends. I tell her
everything. I honestly look at her and think of how other single mums like Julia's mum treat their
kids and how she treats me. I just can't help but appreciate her and love her endlessly. This
time, I hugged her without her asking for it.
" Okay. This is new. What is going on?"
" I love you mum. I love you so much. Just have that somewhere in your heart that I love you."
She just chuckled.
" I love you so much Ricardo" she then hugged me back. I felt so happy being engrossed in her
arms .
" Baby, what's the problem?" I looked at her, feeling surprised.
" What do you mean?"
" Ric, there's something that's on your mind. Something's making you unhappy. What's
happening?" She was right. Something was on my mind. I had to tell her the truth. Afterall, I
don't hide things from her and I don't intend on starting now. So I took in a deep breath_______
" Ok mum, you caught me. Yeah,there is something on my mind"
" ... What's it?"
" Mum, it's about Julia."
" What's wrong with her? Is it her mum again?"
" Yes mum. You know, she's been my best friend for as long as I can remember and I've grown
so attached to her. Today, I took her for some rebranding and got her for some manicures and
even changed her wardrobe. She's trying so hard to make something out of her life. I just hate
the fact that her mom doesn't value her" my mum then put her hand on my face.
"That's why I love you. You put yourself in other people's shoes and believe that everyone
deserves respect and love. See, Ric, Julia's mum went through a whole lot while giving birth to
her. Imagine being rejected by your own family. Believe me it's not something anyone should
pray for even for their worst enemy"
"Is Julia to be blamed for that?"
" That's not what I'm saying. She went through a whole lot. With what she went through,not a lot
of people will be happy with the child . Remember,she went through a lot and with all she went
through, it'll definitely be hard for any woman to still show love to that child. At least Julia should
be grateful that she didn't terminate her pregnancy. It's just how she feels. She's still not out of
the psychological trauma " this statement made me think so deeply. The thought I had made me
ask her a really sensitive question______
" Mum, can I please ask you something?"
" Yes son. Please go ahead "
"... Mum, if you had gone through the exact same thing Julia's mum went through, would you
have had tendencies of treating me the way she treats Julia?" I asked her as she went dumb for
a while. That silence spoke a lot to me.
" Son, honestly I don't know the answer to that question. Reason why I can't answer the
question is simply because I wasn't in that situation. Maybe it might have been different but all
the same, I'm glad to have you as my son Ricardo. I love you with all my heart. Thank you for
being such a sweet person. Especially to Julia" she said as I simply hugged her. But the thought
couldn't leave my head. Would my mum have been so cruel to me if she had gone through the
same thing Julia's mum did? If not,then why can't she answer me?
" Son,so what do we have for dinner? Should we go out for dinner or should we prepare
something here to eat?"
" Mum, I actually went to Giovanni's before coming here. I went with Julia. So I don't think I
wanna have anything to eat for now. If you need me I'll be in my room." I excused myself and
just walked up to my room. Due to the fact that she didn't give me a definite response to my
question, it just made me lose the appetite for food. For the whole day, I couldn't stop thinking
about it. The thought just made me so weak. So weak that when I got to my room,I just
inscribed myself into my bed and forced myself into a deep sleep...
3RD PERSON'S P. O. V....
****. ****. ****. ****.
Now, we're at Julia's house. Where she's trying to keep the house clean. She's just humming to
herself at least to give herself some level of entertainment while doing the chores. She's still
happy about what Riccardo did for her. While still doing this,her grumpy mother walks into the
house, looking angry at her. Once she notices that her mum has come,she then paused all she
was doing just to greet her_______
" Mum, you're here. Wel____" she then tossed her bags at her and Julia's reflexes were awoken
as she caught it with immediate effect_____
" Wipe that useless smile off your miserable face. NINCOMPOOP! " She insulted her as she
rolled her eyes and left the living room.
" Did she have a bad day at work?" She wondered to herself as she carried the bag to her
mum's room. When she got there she saw her mum sitting on the bed______
" Mum, what's wrong? Did anything happen at work?"
" Why do you wanna know? It's not like if I tell you anything's gonna change. It might even
become worse" she just decided to chest in everything.
" Mum, Ricardo took me out today and he got me some new clothes. And he took me for a body
massage."
".. so what am I supposed to do? Celebrate?"
" I thought you'd be happy for you."
" Happy for the person that ruined my life? No way"
" For once, can you just for once treat me nicely? Mum, I'm your daughter "
" The daughter that I never wanted,yes. Please Julia, I had a really rough day at work so please
don't make things any worse. Just get out of here the same way you came in and don't let me
loose my temper." She ordered her as she once again chested it and let her mom be. She got
into her room and couldn't help but just think to herself about her relationship with her mum.
Yes, despite the fact that her mum behaves wrongly to her,she still wishes the best for her. But
she always cries feeling sad all the time.
" I honestly wish that things could be different. My mum has been through a whole lot in life. I
know that deep down she loves me. Because she gave me a chance to live. If she didn't give
me that chance then she would have been with her family but she gave me anyway. At least she
trained me till high school. I've been trying to see how I can save for the university but it seems
like it's going to take a whole lot. I really wanna go to STANFORD UNIVERSITY. It's the
university of my dreams. Maybe if I get into that university then maybe mum will be proud of
me." She thought as she carried her old and cranky laptop and started making her own
research...
12:30 p.m...
*****. *****. *****.
Let's see what's going on in Ricardo's house. It seems like he's just waking up from his slumber.
He rose himself up from the bed and went straight to the bathroom to quickly freshen up. Once
he was done, he just changed up and went downstairs to the living room. He saw his mum in
the dining room waiting for him. He was obviously not in the mood to eat________
" Mum,good morning" he greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
" Morning sweetie. How's your night?"
" It was a bitter sweet experience"
" ... What's that supposed to mean?"
" It's not an issue."
" Okay if you say so"
" I've gotta go," he said as he was about to leave the room.
" Wait, where're you off to?"
"I'm going to Julia's "
" Well at least have your breakfast."
" I'm not hungry. I'll have my meal when I come back. " He said as he rushed out of the house.
He picked up his car keys and quickly jumped into his car before his mum could say anything
and just zoomed off. For some reason,the discussion he had with his mum the previous day
couldn't leave his head. He then decided to pick up his phone and then placed a call across to
Julia. The phone rang and then she quickly picked the call. When she picked the call____
" Hey Ric"
" Hey, what's up?"
" I'm cool. I'm actually at work" she replied. He then breath out a sign. She felt uncomfortable on
hearing his voice. Ricardo is more or less a talkative but he sounded unusually calm.
" Hey, Ric. Are you alright?"
" Why did you ask?"
" Your voice. What's going on? Did anything go on at home? Hope your mum is okay?"
" Calm down baby. I'm fine. I just wanted to know. Did you go to work today?"
" Yes. I did. You wanna hang out?"
" Yeah. What time will you be done? I'll come pick you up "
" Okay. Pick me at 2pm."
" Okay, cool. See you "
" Yeah bye" she said as Ricardo hung up and started wondering to himself______
" How does she know me so well? Just with a phone call,she knows I'm not fine" he
soliloquized. He just stopped and kept driving. Meanwhile, back at Julia's workplace,she couldn't
stop thinking about why Ricardo was sounding strange on the phone. She looked so disturbed
that even her colleague noticed and tried asking________
"Julia!" She immediately snapped out of her thoughts and replied
" Oh! Hey Sasha."
" What's up with the long face?"
" I don't know Sasha. It's my best friend."
" Ricardo? The guy who mostly comes to pick you up?"
" Yeah. He just spoke to me and his voice didn't sound so good. He just didn't sound like
himself" she said I'm weary.
" ... Did you try asking him?"
" Yes,but he just brushed it off"
" Is he coming to pick you up today?"
" Yes "
" Then maybe you should ask him when he comes." The idea made so much sense to Julia and
she took the suggestion.
" Okay. You're right. I'll ask him. Thanks Sasha."
" It's cool. Hey, it's time for our lunch break. Let's go get lunch." Her mind wasn't still at peace
" Don't worry. I'm not so hungry. Thanks for the offer."She said as she was about to continue her
work. But then Sasha was so persistent.
" Uh,huh. No ifs and buts. I insist we need to have lunch together. I'll pay ok. I know your bestie
will get you something to eat even more expensive than what I will but let's go. " She insisted as
Julia realized that she had no choice and just had to give in.
" Fine Sasha. Let's go" she agreed and decided to go along with her which made Sasha really
happy. But she still needed to figure out why Ricardo sounded different. At least the best she
knows is that his mum doesn't give hime as much trouble as her mum. So what could possibly
be the problem? She just wondered to herself. Life is indeed a big adventure...
JULIA'S P. O. V...
****. ****. ****.
I was outside the nail salon patiently waiting for Ric. I was actually worn out cause work wasn't
smiling at me at all. It has just been so stressful and tiring. Gosh I needed rest. While I was
twitching my head, I heard the sound of a car coming into the compound. I raised my head up to
see that it was Ricardo's car driving in. I immediately struggled to raise myself up and got into
the car without waiting for Ric to come open it for me_________
" Julia, are you alright?" He asked
" Yes. Just so stressed. I'm really tired. Work is making me so exhausted. I wake up as early as
6am and I sleep late at night. "
" Good thing I got something planned." She looked really surprised.
" What did you plan now Ricardo?" She asked. He then brought out a shopping bag and handed
it over to Julia.
" What's this?"
" Open it" she just opened it.
" Is this a bikini?"
" Yes"
" Wait,where are we going?" She asked, feeling curious.
" Do I really need to spell it out that we're going swimming?"
" What! Okay Ric, I think you're gradually doing quite too much for me. Like swimming? This is
too much please."
" Look, let's go. I've already paid for us to have the entire natatorium to ourselves . Please let's
just go cause the money definitely won't be refunded. I've got you a bikini so what else could
you possibly need. Let's just go. You need to relax so please just go. The bills are on me
alright?" I then thought of it. I indeed needed to rest and relax_______
" Okay fine. You know I can't refuse you so let's go " he didn't even seem excited but I also
asked myself a question. Ricardo has been doing unusual things lately. When I mean
unusual,the kind of things he's been doing are things guys do for their girlfriends. Is it just my
mind? Afterall, he's my best friend so he's just been friendly. Suddenly, his phone rang. He took
out his phone from his pocket and once he saw the call he simply put the phone back. So I just
felt it wasn't important. But, it rang up to three times and he still wasn't picking the call.
" Ric,why don't you answer the call? Your phone has rang thrice now, it could be important"
" Don't let it bother you. It's not important" he said as he kept driving. Why's he still behaving
strangely? What could have happened ? He's not always like this...
2:40p.m...
*****. *****. *****.
We had already started our swim and it was honestly what I needed. After some time, I came to
the bar to sit down while Ricardo was still swimming. He got us some soft drinks to keep
ourselves busy along with some smoothies. For the first time in a long time,my nerves were able
to relax. When he was through with swimming,he came and joined me to sit down and have a
drink. But still I noticed that he was still looking so unexcited and my mind was still on thinking
about who the person who called him was and why he didn't want to pick the call. So I decided
to ask him. Of course he'll tell me. We're so close that we don't ever hide anything from each
other________
" Ric, thank you so much for all you've been doing for me lately. I've been really eased off my
pains and that's basically because of you" I said in appreciation.
" It's alright Julie. You're my best friend. In the future believe I'm gonna do more"
" Really? What's your future wife gonna say?"
"... She's gonna understand that you're my best friend. She won't be jealous" I was able to start
realizing that this was taking over the main topic of discussion
" Ric"
" Yes"
" What's wrong with you?"
" What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine"
" You've been acting strange today. Even on the phone. I wasn't comfortable with how you
sounded on the phone. It just wasn't sounding like you. What's the problem? You know you can
tell me anything." He was about to answer till his phone which was placed in the middle of the
table started ringing again. He still wasn't picking.
" Ric,why aren't you answering? Who's calling and why are you seriously ignoring the person's
calls? Your phone has been ringing for a really long time now even before we got here"
" Julia, I already said it wasn't important. Just don't disturb yourself." It rang again. This time, I
decided to not listen to him. Even though it was wrong, I picked up his phone with the intention
of knowing who was calling_______
" Julia,what are you doing? Give me back my phone" he shouted but I ignored him and checked
who was calling. I was in shock to see that the person who was calling all this while was none
other than his mum. She's been calling him even before he came to pick me up. Why was he
ignoring her on purpose?____
"Why are you doing this? You're ignoring your mum's calls?"
" She just started calling."
" That's a lie Ric. She's been calling you for more than an hour. Your mum's like your best friend.
You love her so much but what's going on? I've never seen you ignore your mum for any
reason. Did anything happen between you guys? Does it have to do with why you've been
acting strange? Tell me Ric what's going on. Talk to me. Aren't I your bestie anymore? What
happened at home?" I asked as his countenance went deem again. He then took a deep breath.
He then placed his hands on mine. For some reason he did that. I felt the butterflies in my
stomach awaken but I tried my best to snap out of it.
" Julia, yeah you're right. I'm kinda upset with my mum"
" Your mum? What happened? She's one of the sweetest single mums I know. What could have
possibly been the problem?" I asked again. He then started narrating all that happened to me. I
was able to see that it wasn't really a very serious issue but Ricardo was just taking things too
personal. His mum was just being really honest______
" It made me feel so bad that she couldn't give me a definite response. But why?" But the truth
was I could just see my vulnerable old bestie.
" I've heard everything you said. I understand why you're sad. Look,your mum wasn't lying. You
know the saying that goes " you never know how hard someone's life is till you go through it yourself". It's the fact Ric. See,in the same irreversible sequence,maybe my mom wouldn't have
been this harsh on me if she was accepted by her family and was rich. It doesn't mean your
mum is heartless and all. Your mum is a really sweet woman, Ric. You should be grateful to her.
She treats you with so much love and care. She takes good care of you and makes sure you
don't lack anything. Even though she has a really tight schedule,she always tries her best to
make sure she makes out time for you. Ric, your bank account is always full, it's never empty
Ric. Yes, even though some of them are from your trading but still,isn't she trying her best?
She's doing this on her own terms, Ric. Even though she's wealthy,she doesn't have support
from anyone. Please you owe your mum alot for giving you the best life. Please,be grateful. At
least your mum even calls to check up on you. Mine doesn't. Infact, she might as well love it if I
die. This isn't necessary. She's so sweet Ric, sometimes I even wish she was my mum. Just
please don't harbor any sort of hatred towards her. That woman loves you,her entire existence
revolves around you. If she loses you, she'll be shattered and even God won't forgive you if you
ever think of hating her cause she doesn't make you feel bad at all. So please,stop being upset,
okay?" I said as he held my hands and kissed it
" That's why I love you. You've always got the right advice to give me. You just want me to stay
connected to my mum. You're right. I don't even know what I was thinking of ignoring her calls. It
wasn't right of me "
" So why don't you call her back and talk to her?"
" I'll call her later but for now come give me a hug." We both then stood up from our seats and
gave each other a really tight hug.
" At the count of three" I snapped out of the moment and was confused_______
" At the count of three? What are you talking abo___"
"1... 2... 3..." He counted and we suddenly dived into the pool. I didn't have the space to shout in
fear till we landed inside the pool. When we came out, I was almost in tears______
" Gotcha" he said as I started hitting him and he kept swimming away from me.
" Hey stop hitting me"
" Why did you have to do that? You should have told me so I would be ready. What if I actually
drowned?"
" How will you drown when I'm here? Of course you know that I won't let you drown"
" Even at that. It was wrong "
" Okay fine. I'm really sorry baby. Is that what you want to hear?"
" Yes, thank you " he then hugged me again and for some reason, when he robbed his chest
against mine,my heart fluttered_______
" Thank you Julia. I honestly bless the day I met you. Thank you so much for understanding me
and loving me so much."
" It's alright, Ric. You've done way more than anything I've done for you. I'm really grateful to you
for all you have ever done for me"I said while resting my head on his rocky chest. It felt so
comfortable and the best part was he didn't take advantage of the fact that he was literally
seeing half my boobs and half my ass. He really has so much respect for me. Any other guy
would have taken advantage of the opportunity and might have caressed me but not
him_______
" You know you don't have to thank me. I care about you and for now that I'm still single, I think I
need to use you to learn how to take care of my future girlfriend and my future wife." I
immediately feigned a frown and looked at him______
" Did you just say you're using me?"
" No Julie, I didn't mean it that way. It_____" I started hitting him again. He shouted
" Julie,stop stop. Where did you learn to hit like this? You're so brutal"
" Wow! Now I'm brutal?How dare you use me?"
" Hey! " He held my hands while saying this.
"Why are you such a brute? I didn't mean it in a bad way. You're my bestie okay" we both
laughed and he pulled me in for a hug______
" Come here sweet cheeks" he said as he pulled me into his arms. And honestly, nothing felt as
peaceful and as sweet as that moment. He wasn't even touching me inappropriately. He only
touched my back. It was one of my sweetest moments with him. Honestly his future girlfriend or
wife is gonna be so lucky..
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Beneath the Shadows 
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