"I’m not giving up…..I’m just letting go…..adjusting my present state of mind to accept things, things that are beyond my control…my grasps.” utters Ezekiel as he place back Oasis into his new gigantic crystal bowl.
“I don’t understand…” trails Yasmeen.
“It’s funny though……throughout our friendship, not once have you ever mentioned those words to me…!” utters Ezekiel, as he bit his lower lips while shutting his eyes. The anger which he had once felt for Yasmeen, came back to haunt him.
“Ezekiel, if your attention of calling me to argue and fight…..I guess, we might as well call it for a day.” exclaimed Yasmeen. There was another silent moment between both of them…..however Yasmeen was still awaiting for Ezekiel’s response to her comment. Yasmeen give a huge sigh as she wipe her tears off from her cheeks. “Ezekiel….are you letting me go?” asked Yasmeen at last tearfully.
“I’m letting go of myself….but I’m not giving up on you…our friendship still stands Yasmeen.” utters Ezekiel breaking his silent.
“No Eze….you can’t let yourself go. Come back to reality Ezekiel….don’t fall and be trap with your own sentiment.” cried Yasmeen as she knew Ezekiel’s soul is breaking up.
“My soul is tired of pretending….pretending to be someone whom I’m not supposed to be…” utters Ezekiel.
“Ezekiel…I’m still in love with you.” whispered Yasmeen…as she felt crestfallen upon hearing those spoken words of Ezekiel….she knew she’s losing him as her knight….her prince. Ezekiel, clenched his fist by his side….as he closed his teary eyes.
“Yasmeen, I do not have the heart to disappoint you…it’s better for us to end our relationship now, rather then in the future when things might not work out for both of us…things will just get worst.” utters Ezekiel. Yasmeen, held on to her pillow much tighter to her chest….his words is killing her spirit. “Yasmeen, I still do treasure our friendship….I still care about you. You are still my best gal friend.” continues Ezekiel as his voice quiver. A state of guilt begins to filtrate right through his mind…he had definitely breaks her heart..due to his blindness upon his own anger and ego for the muddles of her words…his secrets which Yasmeen had deliberately been revealing to Bashir.
“Thank you Eze….you still care.” utters Yasmeen…as she fight hard to infuse some delightful essence inside her soul….however deep inside her thoughts….she swear, she will never give up on him…cause there’s always a color of hope in her dictionary for Ezekiel’s interrupted flipping life. Can’t solely blame him for his misleading inner flipping side of his mind…losing his beloved grandma…losing his home due to the excessive loan which he can’t possibly recovers, and her betrayal with his trust…and this sucks.
“Eze, actually I’ve bought something for you….I wanted to give you on our last meeting….but things turns out unexpectedly unright for both of us, therefore, my attention of passing that gift to you just slip of from my mind.” said Yasmeen, as she place her tiny pillow by her side and took the paper back novel of Beauty and The Beast…in her hand while looking at the classic illustration of the cover page itself.
Ezekiel smile to himself, as he took out his notebook and look at a photo which he had taken with Yasmeen before their platonic relationship headway into something much deeper. “That gift which you had thought of giving it to me on that last meeting which we had, might actually could appease my anger though..” express Ezekiel with a grinned….as he was enjoying his moment of teasing Yasmeen.
Yasmeen giggles and she knew Ezekiel is accepting her back as a friend…her amazing and wondrous platonic relationship with the guy that she had fallen in love was finally saved…..but to be hopeful for something much more deeper to evolve…Yasmeen knew, she needs a miracle for that one fine day to happen.
"So how’s life out there?” asked Yasmeen.
“I feel like a loner at first…my mind kind of going berserk, but things are not so bad being here after all.” said Ezekiel as he focus his sight towards Yasmeen’s picture….it feels so close like home. “And another funny thing is, me and Riley…we could be good friends. Things just work out fine for both of us.” continues Ezekiel as he sat on his couch bringing the photograph along with him.
“Oh…I see,” utters Yasmeen feeling unpleased…she did not know why but she felt kind of intimidated by Riley’s good intention towards Ezekiel. “Or am I jealous?” thought Yasmeen to herself. “ Damn it, come on Yasmeen, Riley is a guy….what was I thinking anyway?” her mind begins to linger playing with words of uncertain notion of her own doubtful inquisition.
“Yah, he bring me around this place, showing me where my new school are located, the nearest malls and other cool hang out places within this area….I’m quite surprised myself, Riley he was chirpy and humorous…he’s filthy rich, but there were no airs about him. Such a cool guy!” utters Ezekiel.
“Ah! Huh!” state Yasmeen…and Ezekiel could sense that annoyance in her voice.
“Ah! Huh? Huh?” said Ezekiel with a grin.
“Is that suppose to be a question or some kind of a remark?" asked Yasmeen frowning as she cross her right arm over her tummy.
"Well....you sound jealous!" utters Ezekiel with a smile.
"No, I'm not! What makes you think that way?" asked Yasmeen as she tries to deny the real fact. Cause it seems Riley was Ezekiel's, new found branch of hope and strength....a perfect replacement over her.
"Yasmeen, no matter what, you are still my number one...!" utters Ezekiel as he reassured Yasmeen doubtful on him.
"By the way, how's your mum?" asked Yasmeen again.
'"Not talking much with her though. I don't know..it seems hard for me to relate certain things with her. This worries me, and it keeps me wondering if I will be able to adapt to all this. My doubt about my cold relationship with my mum has been circulating in my mind..and that hurts."
"Eze, I'm sure things will work out well for you, just be yourself." said Yasmeen.
"Thanks Yasmeen." utters Ezekiel. "I've got to go now...I guess my mum is back." continues Ezekiel as he could hear her mum's car approaching towards the front yard of his new home.
"All right Eze, you too...do take care. Please do keep in torch okay." said Yasmeen with tears in her eyes...it seems so hard for her to let go.
Ezekiel knew, Yasmeen was in a verge of tears. "Yasmeen, I will beyond doubt..come back to our homeland....once, I've graduated from my college. I reassure you that." utters Ezekiel hoping his statement might bring in some delightfulness for Yasmeen to content. Yasmeen smile and hung up her phone after saying goodbye.
Ezekiel step out from his room, as he reaches out for the stairways to meet up with his mum and Riley at the dining area. And true enough, there he saw both his mum and Riley were deeply engrossed in a conversation...but somehow or rather, they seems to be in some sort in a middle of an argument. Ezekiel begins to fall in dilemma, should he be hanging around with them or just walk out towards the back door which lead him to a pool and a mini garden. Ezekiel stood by the stairway for a few moment until finally he decides, it will be the best for him just to ignore them and leave by the back door.
The pool was pretty deep to Ezekiel's perspective...however, he took off his sandals and sat by it as he place his feet into the cool water of the pool. His mind begins to wonder what was his mum and Riley was arguing about...was it something to do with him? Thought Ezikiel to himself with a sigh.
"Ezekiel, there you are. I was looking for you in your room." said his mum as she came closer towards him with a frown on her face. She seems to look upset or simply annoyed with something. Ezekiel looks up towards his mum and then he decides to had his sight looking at the tiny waves of the pool instead. "I'm sure you know where I've been from. Regrading your school....I managed to get you into this private boarding school...therefore, it will a much better accomodation for your well-being, as you do not need to travel to and fro...for your classes." said Eva again with her arms by her side.
"A boarding school?" asked Ezekiel as he could not believe, his mum had actually decides things for him and not even bother to consult for his personal opinion in the first place.
"Yes, this is for your own good." continue his mum firmly...making a point....there's no need to argue about this matter.
"Mum, you might as well, place me in an orphanage home...or just place an advert, foster home needed for a son name Ezekiel." snapped Ezekiel sarcastically.
"Eze, I have fork out lots of dollars to get you into that school...so please try to be complacent about this." replied his mum with intensity of anger in her voice. Ezekiel shuts his eyes, as he tries to contain his own feeling of frustration in his mind. His mum was not even bother to display, or noun some words of comfort towards him....she ignores him and left as she enters back into her home. A sudden notion of loneliness and guilt begins to filtrate inside his soul as he knew....coming with his mum to States was a bad idea.
For the first time..they were having dinner together as a family, it was another disastrous occasion. It seems his mother, was the one who was taking charge of everything in that home...and this was suffocating for Ezekiel's thoughts. Eva had set the time for dinner, was to be at eight in the evening and she had expected, both Ezekiel and Riley to be at the dining table five minutes before hand. Ezekiel...came out from his room...ten minutes after eight, whereas Riley was even later..somewhere around half past eight..and this had simply blown his mum's displeasure right at the tip of her boiling point status.
"Eze, you are excuse for not complying with the time given, but don't let me warn you again." cried Eva with a sharp tone in her voice. "Riley, for goodness sake...what is wrong with you?" hurled Eva as she looks intensely straight into his eyes.
"Eva, please don't start again..all right! I was caught up due to the last minute conference, which I was need to attend....so please, don't argue about this." cried Riley wryly. Eva remains silent, but on the way how, she had place her mash potato on her plate with a loud slam onto it....it tells them all..she was simply unpleased with all this. Riley shakes his head and then he turns his attention towards Ezekiel instead..who seems to look lost and confused by all this commotion....which is actually nothing at all, but his wife seems wanted to make it as a big issue.
"Eze, please help yourself with the dinner." utters Riley, as he brings the salad bowl and place a scoop of salad with the mash potato onto his plate.
"Thanks Riley." said Ezekiel with a smile of relief....despite the small confrontation which Riley had with his mum....Riley seems to care and understand the uncertain emotion of fear and confusion which Ezekiel was facing right now.
"I hope, you will prepare yourself, for your admission to that boarding school by next week." snapped Eva..as she tries to inject some tension.
"Eva, maybe this discussion should not be brought into our dining area." warned Riley sternly.
"Riley, this is between me and my son...so for you, just stay out of this." replied Eva, not wanting to give in to herself ego.
"Ezekiel, is my family...so he is part of me now." exclaimed Riley, ignoring the intense stare which Eva is giving to him right now.
"Riley, you don't have children of your own...so you wouldn't understand...the concerned which I had always felt for my son." retorts Eva, as she threw her dinner spoon roughly onto her plate. Riley clenched his fist by his side, as he stood up and walks away from the dining area .....as he headed towards the back door .....slamming the door shut behind him after he left. Ezekiel looks grimace about this whole thing as he too, stood up from his seat and decides to leave.
"Eze, you have not even touch your dinner." cried Eva feeling concern for her son's reaction.
"I'm not hungry anymore mum." said Ezekiel, as he headed towards the stairways and went into his room....with hunger and dejected emotion lingering in his thoughts. Pacing towards the side table where Oasis bowl has been place, he put his fingers into the bowl, and bring Oasis out and place it on his palm....as he slowly sat onto the couch, while he gently pets Oasis soft head and hard shell. "Have I done the right thing to be here Oasis?" asked Ezekiel to himself. Suddenly. there was a knock on his door. Ezekiel stood up and came nearer towards the door as he opens it...and what a surprised cause it was Riley. In his arms, he was holding two plates of dinner....the untouched food left by the both of them.
"Care to join me...or can I come in....so we could have dinner together." requested Riley with a grin. Ezekiel, took his left-over untouched dinner with his hand while the other hand he still had Oasis in his palm. Oasis seems to be sticking and stretching his neck longer with interest.....Ezekiel belief due to the nice aroma of the food.
"Yeah, I'm famish." utters Ezekiel with a smile, as he welcome Riley into his room. And soon both of them sat on the floor by the side of the couch, placing their dinner onto the table...and begins feasting on their meals.
They chatted for a moment as they both enjoy their dinner together….it feels like spending a leisure moment with a long time buddy. After clearing their meals away, Riley soon realized Eva had left again…probably to attend to some community works, which she had been currently involved recently.
“It seems your mum had left again….maybe she might be back home somewhere midnight.” said Riley, while he wipe the clean dishes and neatly stake them into the kitchen cabinet.
Ezekiel picks an apple and took a bite. “Are you happy being with my mum?” asked Ezekiel curiously as he chew onto his fruit.
Riley was stunned upon been shot with that question. “May I know, why are you asking me this?” he asked with a wryly smile.
“I’m just curious….that’s all.” replied Ezekiel while taking few more bites of his apple right to its core.
“We are doing fine….just like normal married couple I guess.” response Riley with a tinge of defensive memento in his tone.
"Yeah...I can see that." utters Ezekiel as he threw his apple core into the rubbish bin.
"The night is still early, let's go bowling....who knows, how many strikes we might get." cried Riley excitedly.
However, Ezekiel could easily simply figure out, Riley was trying to run away from that subject…cause the sign of rejection and dejected motion was clearly stated in his eyes.
“Riley, seems you have regard me as part of your family….please don’t hide certain things about my mum.” utters Ezekiel again. After all the dishes has been stake and clear, both Riley and Ezekiel decides to spend the rest of the evening by the pool, instead of going to the bowling alley which Riley had first suggested. Ezekiel heart was thumping hard against his chest, cause this curiosity is simply eating him up…there are so many questions and doubts running in his thoughts. “Was it only love that had actually binds Riley and his mum together?” thought Ezekiel to himself …a recurrence notion of uncertainty doubt.
The night was amazingly soothe with the entrance of the blessed wind….gushing it’s significant glory of it’s breeze. Riley sat by the long wooden bench, which has been place few feet away from the pool, while Ezekiel seems to be enjoying his moment of immersing his feet into the cold water of the pool.
“Don’t you have any family, or relatives other then my mum and yourself?” asked Ezekiel as he swipe his long fringe off from his brow.
Riley remains silent for a few moment, with his head hung low by his side. Ezekiel realized Riley was in a verge of tears…much to his dismay. “I’m sorry Riley…I did not meant to make you upset.” utters Ezekiel remorsefully, as he felt regret for been too nosy about Riley’s past life.
“Family? I wouldn’t even know if that word ever exist in my dictionary.” utters Riley.
“Care to share with me?” said Ezekiel with heartfelt of a genuine friendship lending it’s listening ears.
“I was outcast…a black sheep in the family….and the reason, I was an unwed-lock child. Got to know the battered truth, after almost seventeen years of my life. My mum, well she bore me..with another man….a man whom, she had claimed to be so deeply in love with. Load of rubbish! After her husband, figures out I’m not his real flesh and blood, things begins to get bitter and sore…each and everyday of my life. My mum she wouldn’t care less how I feel…her reaction to all this…it seems, this is all my fault…..I was a mistake ….I’m like a sore in her eyes an ulcer in her mouth. The funny thing was her husband forgiven her for her misdeeds but….he simply refused to accept me to be part of his family..” said Riley as he begins to unveil his previous chapter of his childhood life.
“I’m sorry, your life seems to be more complex then I could ever imagine.” response Ezekiel, upon hearing part of Riley’s heartbreaking life. “But how did you managed to get this far…I mean to have all this?” asked Ezekiel..cause it seems it doesn’t make any sense, for Riley to gain all this wealth since he was a pariah, the bad egg as that what he had claimed about himself.
Riley beam in amusement ….with a sign of content and pleasure written in his eyes..” Well, things just didn’t get better and there’s seems to be no sign, that my life will be at peace for being a part of that family, therefore….I have to come to a conclusion that will change my life a round…..I ran.” replied Riley.
Ezekiel frown, as his doubts and curiosity begins to work on his mind again. “You ran?” jumped Ezekiel with an inquisitor tone in his voice.
“All I had with me, few of my clothing and a fifty dollar note….with a lost mind, of not knowing where my next path will lead me to and I'm only sixteen of age during that time.” response Riley. Ezekiel widen his eyes with his mouth slightly gaping...as he was astonished with Riley's courage of moving ahead with his life, at such a young age. For Ezekiel. it seems impossible that he would have the guts to lead his own life...a perfect example...being back under his mother's care right after his poor grandma is dead.
"I knew, the very first thing which I've got to do is, get myself a job in order to get by with my daily expenses. I went from door to door, asking the town area people if they need any gardener or a cleaner, but I seems to be so lack of luck. I almost give up and just wanted to go back home....with a dejected soul. However, I pushed myself again, to try my next luck at this local restaurant....and true enough, I was hired as a housekeeper there. For my accommodation, the chef, had actually allows me to stay at the kitchen area, but I was to make sure not to let anyone knows about it. I was given free food and lodging, but with a mere salary. It was a struggle, emotionally and physically....but I managed to pull through. I save as much as I could, so that I could buy some new cheap clothes, from the second hand shop nearby, however...I begin to think more about my future....am I going to be a cleaner boy, for the rest of my life?" utters Riley and then he stop for a while as he begins to set his mind deeper beyond his past. "Until one day, while I was on my way to the market area....where I was told by the chef to buy few packs of flour and eggs, I met someone who will eventually turn the table round back to me." said Riley with a smile of enlightenment.
Suddenly, they heard a car was drove in, at the front porch of their home....Eva is back!
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