The second wife of our Daddy

CHAPTER ONE

JACK'S POV

I look out the window and then the drive way. I sigh and look at Kitana. My little sister isn't as worried as I am. Maybe it is because she is hungry and has chosen food over worrying about our father's absence. She pushes back her thick, red hair from her face and looks up at me. She looks down at my plate and then my face. I knew what she was going to say.

"Why aren't you eating, Jack?" She asked in a low voice. "You haven't eaten since you had breakfast and we have to go to bed soon."

She is such a loving five-year-old even though she is so young. I am only seven, but I have to look over her and myself. Dad doesn't seem to have much time for us right now. I'm pretty sure he is with a new girl. There have always be long line of girls waiting for him.

"Don't worry about me, Kitana." I sigh. "Go ahead and eat; I am not hungry."

She looks at me with worry on her face before she drops her fork and supports her face with her small hands. I know that she is not going to eat anymore; irrespective of what I say to her. I stand up from the chair and walk to the refrigerator to pour her a glass of orange juice. She takes it when I hand it to her and she sips from the glass occasionally. For nearly ten minutes, she kept sipping from her cup while I glance outside every now and then, waiting for my father.

"You are waiting for Dad, aren't you?" She breaks the silence.

"No." I lie and fold my hands to hide the uneasiness in lying to my sister.

"He is not coming back today." She traces the rim of her glass and looks at me.

I know what she is saying is the truth, but I don't want to believe it. I don't want to believe that my father has chosen, yet again, to spend the night in Los Angeles with his numerous girlfriends instead of coming back home to his kids. I don't want these horrible thoughts that are running through my mind to run through my sister's, so I motioned for her to get on her feet; which she complied to without asking. We should be going off to bed now. It's better than letting her see just how true her words are.

Why do I even bother? If he comes, so be it. If he doesn't, then ... fine.

"Kids?"

I look up to see Mrs Moore-the housekeeper and Chef who looks after us whenever my father wasn't around. Can I say she is my father's henchman? She has been working for our family since my father was a little kid. But she is our helper, since dad decides to live his wayward life, she either forbids them 'my father's girlfriends' entrance or make an excuse. Her glasses looks fogged and her hair is a mess. Her dress seems creased and she adjusts it as her curious eyes dashes from Kitana to me. Her eyes shifted to the table and I see her brows dip into a frown. Her eyes rests on me, just like my Dad, she believes everything that goes wrong is my fault even before she gives me a chance to listen.

"Why didn't you touch your food, Jack?" She frowns at me.

"I wasn't hungry." I tell her in a lazy voice, I don't give a hoot what she thinks of me.

"If you don't feel like eating that, all you have to do is say it and I will prepare something else for you." She points at my untouched food.

"I said, I AM NOT HUNGRY. " I said, my voice cold and fierce. She looks at me with anger.

It doesn't matter what is going through her mind right now, for I know that's the best way to get her to shut the hell up and let me be.

"Alright then, suit yourself." She adjusts her glasses and shrugs.

She is so right. That's exactly what I am going to do; suit myself.

"I need to speak to you two about something." She announces.

The way she looks at us afterwards made me get chills. Those kind that you will get just before something bad happens. That unique taste at the back of your throat just before tragedy strikes you like a bolt of thunder.

"What is it about?" I ask.

"It's important."

"What is it?"

"You two will have to sit down before I say a word

Let's go to the sitting room." She puts her hands behind her back and walks away.

If not that I am so anxious to hear what she has to say, I would have ignored her and gone to bed already, but I don't know why I held Kitana in a protective manner as we trailed behind Mrs Moore towards the sitting room. She is seated on the beautiful circular sofa and arranges the arm rest like it was not perfect enough. She takes her sweet time which only adds to my anxiety. Ready to speak, she clasp her hands and turn to us.

CHAPTER TWO

Jacks pov

"What I am about to tell you two is very important." She looks at both of us. "Your father called this evening and told me that he is not going to be home tonight ..."

"Bastard." I murmur under my breath, I don't care if she hears or not, I don't care at all.

"... he has asked me to announce something very important to you two, and he is asking that you two be on your best behaviour when he comes back." She tells us.

I get this strange feeling under my skin that I already know what she is going to say, but I can't find myself to place my finger on it.

"If it's so important," Kitana's innocent voice makes me to turn around to look at her. "why don't you let Daddy tell us himself?"

"He was going to get pinned down at work," Mrs Moore shrugs. "and he has bestowed it upon me to convey the news to you two."

"I wish you would just come out with it already!" I didn't realize when I raised my voice.

She turns around with flames in her eyes, as if she was going to kill me. Then she lets a smile.

"Fine, Jack. This time is not an announcement about the new girlfriend. I know you are tired of hearing this. It is about you kids. Since you are so eager to hear it, your father is immensely tired about your spoilt attitude and deficiency in your academic performances; hence, he's going to appoint for you two a teacher who's going to be helping you two academically and in other ways necessary. She's resuming here tomorrow after school, so you two need to be in your best behaviors." She has the most sinister smile I have ever seen on her face. "Your father is asking for you two to process it right now and be nice to the lady tomorrow.

Mrs Moore is making the beds for us.

I feel like something has snapped on the inside of me. I don't know what it is, but I haven't had that kind of feeling before, but it makes me so angry and calm at the same time. I can see Mrs Moore's eagle eyes watching me, waiting for a reaction from me. I didn't give her what she wants. I offer Kitana my hand and she takes it. We leave for our bedroom act afterward help Kitana into her bed and tuck her in. For the first time since Mrs. Moore broke the news to us, I manage to look at my sister's face. Her beautiful face looks confused and her almond-shaped eyes are looking at me, searching for answers.

"Is Daddy really appointing a teacher to come stay with us, or is he trying to make another woman become our mother?" She asks me.

Mrs Moore interrupted : "I'm on your side, kids, we will face it together."

I wish my father is here right now so that he can hear her question and answer her himself. I know that he won't be able to look into her eyes or to even answer her.

"Don't let that bother you." I tell her and pull the duvet over her. "Just go to sleep, we will talk about this tomorrow."

"But I don't want Dad to bring another woman into our lives. I do not want any other Mom asides ours!" She complains.

"I don't either." I said truthfully.

"Why does daddy wants to get married to her?" She questions. "He is married to Mom."

Yeah, but Mom is dead. She died in an accident last two years, and we weren't allowed to attend her funeral or visit her grave. It's so surprising that Dad had chosen to move on like that. I kiss Kitana on her forehead and the way she giggled with pure joy made me repeat my action.

"Go to sleep, kids." Mrs Moore stops the talking. "You have school tomorrow."

She nods and obediently shuts her eyes. I turn off the light and climb up the upper bunk and pull the duvet over me. That's when the tears starts to flow out of my eyes. I bite my lips shut so that my sister won't hear me cry. I have to be strong for me and her.

"Good night, Mrs Moore."

"Good night, kids. Oh ,by the way, the lady's name is Camila"

CHAPTER THREE

•••THE PREVIOUS DAY•••

KEVIN'S POV

I brought the car to a halt and stared at the apartment surrounded by cross-wood work to serve as a little wall. It was small, but I could tell from the exterior that it was comfy.

"Wow!" I whispered, staring at Camila's apartment.

Camila chuckled and seemed to get what I was marveled by.

"Thank you." she said and stepped out of the car. "I still don't know why you insisted on bringing me back home. Your driver could have done that, or better still, I would have gone home by taking a taxi." she said, unlocking the padlock that was bound by a heavy duty chain that was bind to the both side of the cross-wood walls.

I chuckled, still marveled at Camila's apartment. The white color could have faded or be stained by constant downpour and dirt from the main road which was just a few feet away.

"Oh please, don't try to sound so humble now." I chuckled. "The driver needed to ... you know, take my kids home. I can't just let an old school buddy go just like that." I smiled, following Camila into her apartment.

Camila smiled, reaching for another key that I supposed was to unlock the door to her apartment. "You can always see me there. I mean, I am Kitana's class teacher." she smiled as she popped the keys into the door lock.

"You and your insisting self," I teased, laughing. "I don't really show up at their school; I always leave it to my driver to come pick them up. I only show up at meetings and ... oh yeah, wait." I motioned for her just to call her attention to a question I was curious to ask. "I always show up for my children's school meetings and terminal school parties. How come I never got to recognize you?"

Again, Camila smiled widely, opening the door and motioning for me to get in. "I only resumed working in that school four months ago." she said, her footsteps beginning to sound distant.

I looked around the living room and was gob smacked. Caramel colored walls, complimented by a chandelier that had a twilight feeling to it. The chairs seemed to compliment the color of the walls; red velvet sofa and couches with their heads and arm rests having the same color as that of the walls. The rug was a dim brown, and the center table? Quite exquisite. I was busy admiring the whole thing when I noticed Camila wasn't anywhere around the living room.

"Camila?" I called out.

"Coming!" I heard her yell from where sounded like her bedroom.

I smiled and sat down on the sofa, engulfing the comforting feeling I felt as my butt graced the succulent feel of the seat.

"I shouldn't get too distracted," I thought. I also had an important request to make from her.

•••

CAMILA'S P.O.V

My heart kept beating so fast whenever I heard Kevin calling out to me, and I realized that he had been saying something that I wasn't paying attention to. It's been over 12 years since we all went our separate ways from High School, and even when I was a class lower than Kevin's graduating class, I didn't stop fantasizing about him. He was the talk of the school, every girl was crazy over him. Thanks to the digital word and social media, we were able to connect after a school reunion, but I'd be immediately broken when I found out he was married. The disappointment, coupled with his absence from social media afterwards was difficult to cope with.

I was surprised by how sunken I felt; I mean, it was supposed to be a High School crush and obsession thingy and let the feeling die later on. No man has ever interest me after the bad thing happened. I couldn't tell.

"Camila!" Kevin yelled. "Are you even listening?" he motioned to his ears.

I immediately realized that I had zoned out again and bobbed my head rather nervously, tittering. "Goodness, don't mind me. I'm so sorry." I said, hoping he'd let my weird reaction go unnoticed by him.

He rolled his eyes and asked, "It isn't like I'm gonna talk about my ordeals after High School, but then, I knew you intended to become a nurse. What then happened? How did you suddenly become Professor Camila?" he asked, pronouncing my name mockingly which made me laugh.

"Well, I wouldn't say you're completely wrong, but you aren't completely right either. It is a long story. No matter what, I became a teacher finally" I said, trying my best to avert his gaze.

I noticed Kevin's expression turn serious. I could sense he wanted to discuss something.

"Camila,"

"Yeah?" I quickly adjusted my emotions.

"I might just have offered to drop you home and stay behind for a while not just to revisit the old times and all," he sighed. "I also need your help, Camila."

I was already curious at this point.

"What is wrong, Kevin?"