At the end of love

Unicorns and rainbows were all that mattered to me. What else would matter to a six year old?

I smiled to myself and held the tiny hand of my little sister.

"I'm your Mommy now, " I said sweetly to the two year old that was only interested in drinking from the juice box in her hand.

Snatching the juice box from her hand I said, "call me Mommy."

She opened her little mouth to cry, but I quickly stuffed it with her pacifier and placed a kiss on her black hair.

"You are a man whore!" The woman from the building opposite us yelled with a voice, harsh and tight with emotions.

I'm guessing it's the Richardsons having an argument again. This has always been a hobby for them, fighting. The worst part was Mrs Richardson's voice was as loud as a trumpet and could be heard from miles away. I was not exaggerating, I could hear every fowl word she called him from my room whenever they fought.

Today's evening was a beautiful one. Mommy, Eliana and I just came back from our daily walking routine.

Mother stood in a black leggings and pink shirt with a phone glued to her average sized ear. She stood in front of our milk colored gate and chatted with who she was on the phone with.

My little self walked over to where mother was with a lot of curiosity bubbling in me.

"Mommy." She looked down at my six years old figure, took a mouth full of bottle water and smiled. "What's a man whore?"

She coughed and spilled the entire contents in her mouth, meaning the water entered the wrong pipe.

"Sorry." I patted her right lap with my tiny hand because I was too short to pat her back.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"From-" I didn't get to finish my sentence because the gate to the Richardsons flung open with Mrs Richards standing in front of it and guarding it like she didn't want him out.

Our gate was just opposite theirs so it gave me direct view to what was going on.

"You're not walking out on me!" She yelled, but he didn't reply.

This scared Eliana and it made her cry out loud. Mr Richardson got into his car and the engine roared to life.

Mommy picked Eliana up and pushed our gate open for me to go in first. Mrs Richardson howled abusive words at her husband and I registered every word in my head.

"Cover your ears honey, " Mommy said sweetly and I obeyed.

I sighed when I finally got into the house. I ran to the sitting room and jumped on my big sister.

"I missed you!" I hugged her tightly, earning a nudge enough to break my ribs. "Okay, if you don't like me say you don't! I'll appreciate if you let me grow up with complete set of ribs."

I pouted and folded my arms against my chest. She didn't even act like I was there, she just glued herself to the carton, brown sofa. Her big, bottle green eyes never left the screen of the smart phone she was holding. I wished that phone would fall into the toilet someday, I was so a better mom than Sam.

Sam had no time for me, all she cared about was her phone.

One time I was running then I bumped into her. Sam's phone and I fell on the floor causing her to scream. I thought she was afraid I hurt myself, but she picked her phone and inspected it for a broken screen then heaved a sigh when she saw nothing.

I glared crossly at her and wished I could yank her jet, black hair.

I got down from the sofa and walked over to where mom was preparing dinner. Pulling my chair out, I sat on the dinning with a pack of crayon and drawing book in my hand. I drew a very ugly and funny looking figure of Sam and scratched my rich chocolate hair for the spelling of a word I heard.

I finally wrote what I felt like was the correct spelling for it. Sam walked into the kitchen to help Mom set the table.

Sam is a hore

"What's this?" Sam yanked the paper from my hand. "Aww is this me?" She asked sarcastically.

"Sam is a whore." She read out loud with a look of disbelief, causing me to clutch my stomach and laugh out loud. "Oh, I'm gonna get you!"

I screamed and ran to hide behind my mother. Sam handed the paper to Mom and she told Sam maybe I just wanted to write Sam is a horse, but missed the s.

Father arrived and the usual running to hug him happened. We sat on the dinning to eat so I told father Sam wanted to break my ribs.

"And that's why Sam is a whore!" I yelled out loud.

Father stopped chewing his pepperoni bruschetta and glared at Samantha. "Samantha Madeline young." His light green eyes shot tranquilizers at her. "What have you been saying in front of your sister?"

"No way, I've never said that before." Sam deflected.

"Then who?"

"No idea." She replied dryly and he looked at mom, but mother shook her head.

"You know I wouldn't say such in front of my child, " mother said.

I didn't care because I was too busy drinking my milk in a noisy manner and enjoying the fun of dad blaming Sam. She deserved it because she almost broke my ribs so maybe I'd just allow my tongue to be glued to the roof of my mouth for a while.

Finally, I decided to cut Sam some slack. "It wasn't Sam, I heard it from Mrs Richardson." I beamed innocently.

"Honey, that word is bad. Good girls never use such words, " father said.

"So Mrs Richardson is a bad woman?" I asked, my curiosity bubbling.

"What? I mean well mannered girls don't use such words. Remember you said you wanted to become a gentle lady with class when you grow up, so don't use them."

"So Mrs Richardson doesn't have class and she's mannerless?"

Father pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and sighed. "Help me." He whispered to mom.

"No honey, your father never said that." Mother held my hand and squeezed it gently. "Don't use that word again, okay honey?"

"Okay Mom." I grinned.

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

The past few weeks had been normal. Mother and father argued a lot these days, but not as loud as the Richardson.

I woke up with my throat feeling dry. Sitting on my bed, I rubbed my eyes with the back of my palms and pushed the blanket that was covering me. I placed my feet on the floor and shivered at how cold it was.

I went over to Eliana's bed to see if she was fast asleep. She was and she looked like a little version of Mommy. Eliana still slept in a baby's crib because she rolled a lot. A small smiled formed at the corner of my lips and I covered her with her little blanket.

Little things like this made me feel responsible like I was her mother.

My little feet took me to get some water, but first I had to ask Mom or Dad to help get it.

Approaching their room, I heard arguments and for a minute it made me sad because I hated to see Mom and Dad argue even if they always pretended they weren't.

"Mommy?" My tiny voice came out almost like a whisper.

"Hey baby." Dad picked me up from the floor. "Why are you up?"

"My throat is dry, I need some water." I scratched my chocolate hair. "What's going on between you and Mommy?"

"Oh baby, nothing." Mother smiled at me.

"I was just telling her about a rough day at work." Father lied and I knew it. He handed me to my mom and went to get me water.

He came back with a cup that I assumed had half amount of water in it. I drank a little and gave it back.

"Why don't you kiss Mommy anymore?" I asked out of nowhere.

"What?"

"Yes daddy, you don't give her goodbye and hello kisses like you used to."

"Of course I do." Father held mother's cheeks and placed a thousand and one kisses on them. He ruffled my hair and placed a lot of kisses on my cheeks, while saying he was going to eat them, causing us to laugh.

He left to his working room after telling me how much he loved me. Mother stroked my hair gently and sang me my favorite lullaby.

My lids became heavy, causing my long eye lashes to hug each other and they took me to a world, where everything was possible-dream world.

"I believe in love." I mockingly mimicked the stupid cheesy romance movie that was playing on my curved screen TV and rolled my eyes.

This was something I would have said if I was actually in a perfect relationship. Plus, there was no such thing as a perfect relationship. Never have I ever had a guy that gave me peace. Instead, I always ended up with brutal and selfish men.

"My love for you is like a rainbow." The ginger head boy said to his supposed lover and immediately, I picked up my remote and switched the TV off.

"Love my ass!" I spat, laughing hysterically then I sobbed-what a drama queen.

I laid on my black leather sofa with my head resting on the arm. One of my leg was on the top of the back rest, while my hand covered my forehead. My other hand that was hanging from the sofa searched for my bottle of vodka.

Sadly, unicorns and rainbows weren't all that mattered to me now-resisting the urge to jump off a cliff was my number two priority. Number one was living a comfortable and happy life, but joy was somewhat far from me.

"I try to break the chains, but the chains keep on breaking me." I sang a song by-I didn't even know her name and I wasn't sure if those were the real words of the song.

Finally, I made contact with the bottle and grabbed it from the floor. I sat to take a swig and wiped the tears that were beginning to dry off on my cheeks with the back of my palm.

My eyes lingered on my phone that was plainly laying on the phone, hoping that his call or text would come in. Relationships were stressful! Why did I even get into this one?

I gulped down more vodka and got to my feet in an attempt to get my phone. Picking it up, I decided to call him but his darn line was switched off! How on Earth would you leave your girl for almost a month without contacting her?

"Diana!" My thoughts got cut off by the irritating voice of my best friend who was currently snapping her fingers in front of my face. "The hell have you been thinking about that you didn't hear or see me come in?"

"The man whore I'm dating." I croaked, sitting and folding my legs on the chair.

"You're dating yourself." She shrugged and joined me on the couch. "He's probably being generous with his dick out there, I don't see why you shouldn't be generous with yours."

"Cause I'm not a whore, Tcee." I dry toned, rolling my eyes and wishing she'd not do the 'I told you so' talk today.

Tcee was my best friend and her mind was always in the gutters-nothing good ever came out of it.

"This is why you're still a virgin." She laughed like a drain, clutching her stomach and snatching the bottle of vodka from my hand. "Stop drinking alcohol-" she hesitated with a small frown. "Without me!" She pushed her head back and drank from my bottle.

"Oh, I'm sorry I am a virgin. Would you like to deflower me dear Cindy Timothy?" I threw my hands in the air and my voice had a drip of sarcasm in it.

"Yay! I've been waiting for this day." She clapped her hands like a kid and my brows bumped together in a scowl. Say what now? "Hold on."

She zipped open her bag and pulled out a yellow long thing that looked like-oh, my goodness! Was that a-the fuck?!

"The fuck is that?" I narrowed my eyes at it.

"A vibrator bitch! Now give your ass to me so I can break your fucking hymen!"

"Tcee!"

"Just kidding. It's an umbrella." She laughed her gut out and pulled the cover off the thing that mirrored a vibrator. "See." She pressed a button and the umbrella unfolded.

"Better, you almost gave me a heart attack." I held my chest and she laughed more. "I hope you choke on your spit."

She smacked me with a throw pillow and got to her feet to do a three sixty for me.

"What do you see?" She struck a pose and I scanned her from head to toe with my eyes.

Tcee had on a black jumpsuit that hugged her body like it was a second skin. Her frosty blonde hair was packed in a messy bun and she had her edges perfectly done. She looked beautiful as always.

"I see a beautiful Tcee." I stated, a bit confused. She only did this whenever she had a make over or a date. "Why?"

"Look harder!" She face palmed and spun again.

"Are you pregnant?" I asked with cow eyes and she shot me a death glare.

"Must you always mention pregnancy?"

"Okay, your edges are good?"

"Damn it! My ass increased, blind bat." She turned and bent with her hands resting on both knees and before I could say Jack, she began to twerk.

"Eye sore!" I rubbed my eyes and drank some vodka. "It's still the same size."

She stopped clapping her butt cheeks and turned to face me. "Are you for real?"

"Yes, why?"

"I've been squatting. I can't believe I've been wasting my time." She dramatically held a hand to her head and slumped on my sofa. "Ohh! Why me mother nature, why is my ass flat?"

"Stop being over dramatic. How long have you been squatting?"

"Five days!"

"What?" I held in a laugh. Was she serious? "Just five days and you think you'll turn out to be Cardi or Nicki?"

"Isn't that how it's supposed to be?" She sat upright and viewed my face.

"Well..." I surpressed a smile and stared at my milk ceiling before bouncing my gaze on my grey painted walls. "You're so dumb." I fell about and she stood up, grabbing the umbrella.

"Okay, give me that ass!" She stormed towards me and I hid my face in my throw pillow, screaming for help.

My doorbell went off, interrupting Tcee and I. Our heads snapped up and I was slowly suffocating because Tcee was sitting on me.

The handle twisted and the person I never expected made her way into the sitting room, drawing a red box behind her.

"Oh, I didn't know you were busy. I'll just wait upstairs." Eliana tittered and Tcee got off me.

"Eliana?" I squinted my eyes and rubbed my temples. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Just as I didn't know you preferred female-"

"Eliana!" I exclaimed and looked sternly at her, cutting her off of what ever unholy sentence she was about to complete.

"Sorry." She zipped her mouth. "I missed you so much."

"I like this girl! She's as dirty as me." Tcee remarked, going over to pat Eli on the back.

"Come here..." I stood up and pulled her in for a hug. "Why are you here?"

"Long story." She sighed and I sensed something was wrong.

"What if I wasn't here?"

"But you're here."

"Damn! I like this girl." Tcee grinned and Eliana reflected it.

"Stop it, Tcee." I warned and turned my gaze back to my baby sister. "You don't embark on journeys without informing the person you're going to visit."

"But I wanted to surprise-"

"You know I hate those." I threw my hands in the air, refusing to believe that she traveled from Nashville to see me.

"C'mon, cut her some slack. At least you have a sister that loves and visits you. I'm the only child and it's pretty lonely." Tcee stated, sitting on the couch and putting on the TV. "Looks like she's here to stay. At least you wouldn't think so much about Eddie."

"Go freshen up, " I said and Eli left.

This girl was unbelievable. When I was in college, she'd just drive all the way to my school without informing me. This moment I'd be sitting on my bed and the next I'd get a call from my sister asking me to get my butt out. This used to piss me off back then.

My phone vibrated beside me before my ringtone filled the entire room. The moment I took in the caller ID, my jaw slacked and my heart skipped a beat-maybe it skipped two.

I stared longly at my screen and the call ended. My gaze went higher to Tcee and found her engulfed in the movie that was being played.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated again-he was the one ringing my phone after how many weeks of abandoning me. I gulped and tapped on the answer button.

"H-hey." I held the phone to my ear and awaited his response.

"Hey, muffin." His husky voice made my stomach tie itself into knots. "I missed you so much. You wouldn't believe what happened to me."

A lump sat in my throat and I struggled to swallow it down.

"Muffin?"

"Yeah? What happened to you?" I managed to say, feeling my throat slightly becoming dry.

"I was robbed and everything was stolen from me. I got fucking stranded on the streets of Florida. Thankfully, my aunt lives there." He continued giving excuse upon excuse.

"Were you hurt?" Foolish me bought his excuse and in that moment, I knew I was in for another ride of a relationship that was like chopping onions!

"No, I missed you so much and I want to see you." He sounded throaty.

"I thought you abandoned me."

"I love you, I can't abandon the future mother of my kids."

This melted my heart and an uncontrollable smile crawled up my face and my cheeks got stained-I turned crimson.

Lightening flashed and illuminated my symphony blue room that was neatly arranged by Curt and-my eyes involuntarily rolled themselves at the mention of his name. I needed to get rid of everything that reminded me of him. Sadly, I couldn't throw my room away. Maybe, I could sell my house and travel to Hawaii-definitely a big no.

My body was weak and I couldn't explain just how bitter I felt inside of me. Why didn't I just end the relationship if I wasn't happy with it? Well, you guessed right. He was a silver tongued devil! That was why trying to end it was like squeezing water out of a rock.

Taking in a deep breath, I turned to face the door with my body secured under my warm channel duvet. I was a sucker for that designer. Heck, I even got a channel vibrator. Okay, there was no such thing as a channel vibrator-I was lying and no, I definitely did not own a vibrator.

The soft knock on my door drew me out of my self induced trance and I sat up, directing my eyes to the door-it opened and Eliana poked her head in a way that her body could not be seen.

"Are you up?" She asked with a small smile on her face. Her shoulder length chocolate colored hair fell to her face, covering one of her eyes.

"Nah, it's just nine o'clock." I answered, tapping on the bed for her to join me. "Are you okay?"

"Mm..." She hummed, stepping into my room in a pink silk night wear, mirroring the look of a kid that was caught stealing candy. Her gaze was lowered and she drew circles with her feet on my grey forbo mamoleum floor. "Yeah, just that the weather reminds me of something."

"Come..." I gestured with my hands, urging her to join me on the bed. "What did you remember?"

She reached my bed and drew down the duvet before sitting with her legs folded. I used a remote to turn on my blue ceiling lights and fixed my eyes on my sister. Were her lips wobbling?

"What's wrong?" I inquired, bumping my neatly carved brow that was above bold grey eyes and tilted her chin so she could meet my gaze.

"Remember that night when we were kids and mother left?" Her voice shook a little and I was shocked.

I never expected my sister to remember that night because she was little and all she did was to cry and request for mother.

"It was this exact weather and when she finally left...it began to rain and I feared she was never going to return." She swiftly swiped a tear off her cheeks and I blinked mine away. "I thought something bad was going to happen because of the rain. You promised she was going to return...she did, but then she left again-forever."

"No... Don't say that." I reached for my sister's head with both my hands and pulled her in for a warm hug. She rested her head on my chest and I could feel her tears soaking my shirt. "I'm here for you...Sam is too."

I raked my fingers through her coconut shampooed hair and placed a kiss on it.

I stared at the window, watching as the breeze increased and blew the trees violently. It shook my ceiling angrily I feared it'd take off my roof.

It definitely reminded me of that night too. My sister sobbed on my chest and I hated what it felt like to be constantly reminded of a sad moment.

"It's ok." I patted her back, staring into nothingness.

Mother and father hadn't been the happy couple they used to be. My family that seemed like a role model to people was not so perfect. My father was no longer the kind of husband I wanted.

He became scary. He was always taking a swig out of a transparent bottle that had what seemed like water. I was seven, but I knew it wasn't water because it smelt funny and always made my nose wrinkle whenever he spoke to me.

"I'm gonna kill you someday." He growled, staggering out of their room.

I stood by my room door way and watched everything with glossy eyes. Were they bitten by the Richardsons? I didn't understand why things turned inside out.

"Maybe if you do it now, you'd be happy and have the freedom to be frolicking as much as you want." Mother fired, hot on my father's tail. "But I'd leave before you kill me!"

Mother exclaimed with a small bag strapped to her back. The weather of Williamsville was cold and chilly. The angry wind blew things around with an eerie sound that made the hair at the back of my neck stand in fear. It was going to rain. Where was she going?

I hid behind the door and watched as they argued. Father slapped-

I jolted back to reality when my phone rang and vibrated on the side table. Looking down, Eliana was fast asleep on my chest so I gently shifted her and placed a pillow under her head.

I swung my legs to the ground and picked up my black Samsung Galaxy F41. My eyes took in the caller ID and a small frown crawled up my face. Why was my boss calling me by this time of the night?

"Diana Young." I took the call and held the phone to my ear.

"I need the file of the account receivable now." His hoarse voice boomed and I widened my eyes. I was more than abashed. Was this man serious? "I also need you to assist me with something."

"Mr Mitch, it's-" I paused, brought down the phone to check the time. "It's nine forty in the night and it's Sunday."

"Sunday and nine forty do not pay your bills, do they?" He asked with a drip of sarcasm in his voice. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, he answered his question. "No and that is why you're going to be at my porch, ringing my damn Bell in ten minutes because I pay you."

"Ten minutes?" I stood up, frustration evident on my face. "Sir, I had a headache and that prevented me from going to church today... Plus, you asked me to stay at home and my little sister-"

"Where do you live again?" He interrupted what I was saying like it made no sense to him.

"182 Thompson street, house twenty three, Greenwich village."

"Good. My driver would be there soon."

"But-"

"Ten minutes," he said sharply and hung up.

My jaw clenched and I searched the bed for my remote. Securing it in my hand, I changed the bulb color to red-it mirrored the rage I was feeling inside. Mitch was a pain in the ass and I'd prayed so much for him to get a girlfriend or a damn wife.

First, it was Eddie running back to me. Now, my asshole of a boss. Could my life get any worse?

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

After grabbing the files from the office, I quickly hopped into the latest brand of Lexus Jeep he sent his driver to get me with. New York was definitely the most beautiful city to me. The streets were always mesmerizing and I didn't think I'd ever leave it for anywhere.

The car halted and the driver pulled out the key from the ignition. "We're here ma'am." He locked gazes with me from the rear view mirror and I nodded, tipping him with what I could find in my purse.

Mr Mitch's house was a jaw dropping penthouse and it didn't sweep, but blew me off my feet. It was everything masculine from the outside and screamed rich with it's black glasses.

On reaching his porch, I rang his bell and it automatically opened. My head went up unintentionally. Yuppers, he was watching me from the camera that was mounted above the steel door. I resisted the urge to wave my middle finger at him.

The moment I got into the house, I was fascinated to stupor. Well, it wasn't my first time of stepping foot in here, but it always felt like the first. The grand foyer of this prick, mirrored the color of my milk colored pants. Lord knew I disliked my boss especially when-

"You're late." His deep voice interrupted my thoughts. "I said ten minutes and this is what?"

He strode down from the twin staircase in a white robe and had an egoistical look etched to his face. How would he like if I punched that look off his face?

"Uhm..." I raised my wrist to look at my wrist watch. "Fif-"

"Fifteen minutes!" His voice echoed and I jerked.

"But, it wasn't my fault... Your driver came late." I composed myself and spoke. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me even if he was my boss.

"So whose fault is it?" He stood so close to me that our lips almost touched.

"Your driver's." I took a step back and his thin lips opened-an irritating laugh escaped from them.

"You know you're charming right?" He stroke his boxed beards and winked at me with beautiful ocean blue eyes. "I've told you so many times to leave that looser you call a boyfriend."

"Is that why you called me here?" I arched a brow.

"No." He thumbed his Greek nose.

With a smug smile, he turned and disappeared into the place I assumed to be his living room.

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

"So now that I brought the account receivable," I dropped the files on his glass table and stood upright. "What's the other thing you need help with?"

He rested on the back rest of the eerie black sofa and widened his legs like the egoistical bastard billionaire he was.

"Well..." He trailed off, raising his leg and resting his ankle on the knee of his other leg. "You see, I've been having this terrible back ache since last week."

My eyes widened as I awaited what he was about to say. I hoped it wasn't what my mind was whispering.

"And?" I held my hips with both hands and narrowed my eyes at him.

"I need your magic hands baby."

My jaw dropped.