The Emancipation of a Fuckboy - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Valentine
Waking up to see Dominic curled up beside me was the reality that I was expecting, except it turned out to be a fantasy. The other side of the bed was cold and empty, which clearly meant Dominic had gone for several hours. I propped myself out of bed and quickly headed downstairs to check if Dominic had been down there cooking for breakfast or something. That's what I would do for him, wake up early and prepare for our breakfast together. Maybe he's doing what I should be doing. When I got to the kitchen, I found not a single soul, and even when I checked every single room that he could be in and yet there's still no sign of him. I went back to my room, thinking that Dominic could have woke up early and just went home. That's the only reason I could think of right now. I immediately checked my phone, hoping that he'd left me a message, but he didn't. I'm unwilling to feel it, but I felt terribly confused, and I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I took a heavy sigh and then went on my day.
While I was driving to work, I just remembered what happened yesterday. It was a lot, but now that I finally got to rest, my head is definitely back to normal. I haven't had the chance to think if I should forgive my mom or not, but I'm sure once I'll get the chance to, I will truly deliberate about it.
I got stuck in the rush hour traffic by the time I hit the metro, and I just decided to call Dominic to check on him. His phone is ringing, but he's not picking up. Maybe he's busy doing something, probably taking a shower or cooking something. I had put my phone down and decided to call him at a later time, but the slow-moving traffic made that decision unbearable. I couldn't resist the thought of hearing Dominic's voice. After five minutes and a short distance covered, I picked up my phone and called Dominic again. Still, he's not answering his damn cellphone, which is making me even more impatient. I ended up leaving him a message hoping he'd call back as soon as he gets the chance.
"You're super late," Ivana spat as soon as I showed up at the restaurant. She was already having her coffee and had probably finished her morning routine.
"I say better late than never."
"So what happened to your date?" She followed up quickly as I was taking off my coat and draping it on my chair.
"I just got here, and that's the first question you ask?" I spat.
"Come on, Valentine. You're already two hours late; we don't have time for some intro."
"Well, you have a point," I replied. "The date was good, almost too good, and oh, a lot of things happened."
"Hold up, you're getting me excited here." She raised her finger and then went on to close the door behind her. "Come on, tell me everything."
"I think we're close to the end," I admitted thinking about how I just unprecedentedly introduced Dominic to my mother.
"When you say close to the end, have you?" She asked inquisitively, raising her eyebrows at me.
"You know what, make me some coffee first because this is going to be a long one."
"Okay, I'll be back." Ivana nodded and went on her way to make my coffee.
Five minutes later, Ivana came back with my coffee, and quite surprisingly, she also brought some donuts. She's probably expecting to listen for a longer story. I took my first sip of caffeine, and I was simply galvanized to tell her about everything that happened yesterday. I began spilling what had happened, and she was sitting and listening so fervently as I tell the story. It almost felt as if I'm a storyteller telling some stories to kids with her raising her hand just to ask me some questions right in the middle.
"That's surprisingly interesting. But I just really can't believe you met your mom," She uttered, expressing her shock the moment I told her the story about my mom. She doesn't know everything about my mom except that I've told her I've hated my mom for a long time. And I guess that's enough background for her to be shocked.
"It was a hell of a day." I spat, taking another sip of coffee.
"Indeed. It was even more interesting than your date, to be honest." She added.
"Seeing my mom for the first time in several years definitely gave me a lot of emotions. I still felt angry, but I also felt sorry." I stated.
"You know what, I think you should probably forgive her." Ivana began adjusting herself to the chair. "When I was in hiding, my mom won't stop calling me, and I just couldn't pick up the phone because I know she would've killed me if my pregnancy had reached her. Growing up, she always reminded me to finish my studies first before letting someone inject their sperm inside me, and you know how it went for me. You know that because I've told you almost everything."
"Yeah, and I'm glad that I was there for you," I said. Ivana was the only friend that I had during college that was so open about what's going on in her life.
"But what I didn't tell you was she really almost killed me." She swallowed the donut that she's chewing, making a swallowing sound.
"Are you serious?"
"Not literally kill me, but you get the point." Ivana paused to chuckle. "When I brought baby Axelle to the world, I was extremely happy. The happiness that I felt completely erased all the hardships that I've endured, and then I just reached the point of my life where I know my baby needed to know he had grandparents, you know." Ivana went on.
"Right,"
"And so I finally decided to show up at home, and my mother literally tore me to shreds like a paper. But as soon as I introduced my baby to her, she had forgiven me almost immediately."
"You're too lucky," I said, and somehow there's a hint of jealousy to that. I'm scared to face my mom again, but I know I have to do it. Yesterday proved that I wasn't entirely ready for something unprecedented to happen, and I think running away from it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.
"Listen, Valentine, it always gets better in time, and I think this is the perfect time for you to let bygones be bygones," Ivana stated, perfectly setting the point.
There's probably a minute of silence before I opened my mouth to finally respond. "I think you're right."
I really have to face my mom and say the word sorry right to her face. I have to let this hate go. I know I'm not angry at her anymore; the crying and the punching of the walls let me realize that.
I rushed and finished my scheduled work for the day and then had to leave a little bit early to make things right. That short pep talk with Ivana did nothing but push me towards putting an end to this. I'm fully aware that my relationship with my mom will never reach the point where I can say I'm comfortable staying on a single roof with her, but I can definitely agree that I can eat what she had cooked. I went to the best cake shop in the city and bought a box of cake for my half-sisters, and I'm pretty sure this small gift will make them happy and full.
As I was driving towards my mom's apartment, I remembered Dominic. The day is about to reel to an end, but he hasn't returned my call yet. I called him again, and much to my disappointment, he's still not picking up. It starting to get to my senses that he's avoiding me. We were both enjoying ourselves just a day ago, and I just can't fathom the thought that he's not into me anymore. I'm not sure what went wrong. It doesn't make sense, and all I did was brush that negative thought off my head.
I pulled over at the nearest parking lot and had to walk a short distance in order to reach my mom's apartment. If this was a normal visit to a friend's house, it would've been so easy to just walk in and crash the party.
I stood in front of the door and felt like my knees are about to break. I took a deep breath before eventually knocking.
"Who is it?" I heard my mom speak in just a matter of seconds.
"It's me......" I replied. "Val." I should've said mom, but I'm sure she hasn't formally introduced me to my half-sisters, and I don't think I'm quite ready to face that mess.
"Val?" The door slides slowly, and as soon as my mom recognized it's me, she let the door swing open in a blink. "Is it really you?"
"Yes, it's me," I said, smiling nervously.
"Come in, dear." She pulled my hand and dragged me inside.
"I... I brought something for the twins." I said, giving her the box of cake.
"Oh, thank you. The twins would fight each other for this but thank you." My mom took the box of cake while leading me to the same table where we sat last time.
"Where are they?" I said, looking around, hoping to see the twins. The apartment is just a small space, and there's only one bedroom.
"They just finished their homework and had gone for a quick nap." My mom replied and thought, that's very much convenient.
"Oh, okay."
"Would you like anything to drink?" My mom offered.
"It's okay. I'm good. I won't be staying long." I replied quickly. I just feel like I want to finish this fast.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to..." My mom expressed, and I had to cut her off before finishing her second sentence.
"It's okay, and that's the main reason why I came here," I said, preparing myself for the biggest apology that I will have to say in my entire life. My mom looked at me with such a confused look. "I'm here to say sorry."
"Wh.."
"I'm very sorry for everything." I looked at her in the eye, and she was about to shed a tear.
There was a moment of silence before my mom eventually took over to speak. "No, I should be the one saying sorry to you. I should be the one apologizing to you, to Vincent, and to your father." She was already tearing up, but she's trying her best not to make any loud noises that could potentially disturb the twins. "I'm sorry for leaving all of you and ruining our family. I'm sorry for being a slut. I'm sorry for being a terrible mother."
She held my hand, and as a response, I just hugged her. She hugged me back as tight as she could, and I felt how sincere she was with how she held me. We both hugged each other for a good two minutes, and within that, I tried to keep my tears from cascading.
"I know I have a lot of things to make up to you, but..."
"Mom..." I spat, finally saying the word my mother had never heard from me in decades.
"You... you called me mom." My mom smiled, and it felt so light to the heart to see her smile in such a very long time.
"I know, mom." I smiled back. It felt so right and so light to finally say it and get a positive reaction from the person that I used to disown.
"You know wha.....hold up," My mom spat and went to get something from her drawer and came back almost quickly. "I'd like to give you this,"
"This is your wedding ring," I said as soon as I recognized it.
"I don't have anything to do with it anymore. I sold it a lot of times before, and I just got it back from the jewelry store this morning. I spent all of my savings to get it back."
"But..." I said, staring at the ring on my palm.
"What's the name of that guy again? The guy you were with yesterday?"
"Dominic,"
"You love him, right? I can see it in both of your eyes that you love each other. I want you to put this ring to good use. I think Dominic is such a good guy; take care of him."
I was almost speechless after all of that. I had to lie to my mom that I need to go back to work, but the truth is I'm just about to cry, and I don't want her to see me break down. I gave her a hug one last time and then walked away, still keeping myself collected but as soon as I got inside my car, I burst into tears. I have never cried this much in my life, and this is not because I'm in pain but because I'm happy. I am crying because of the fact that I finally said sorry to my mom, and I even got myself to call her mom again. I am thinking that I will feel okay after I apologize to her, but I got more than that. She apologized for her mistakes, and I know I never asked for that, but it felt as if there's a huge needle pulled out of my chest. I stayed crying for five minutes inside my car, and when I eventually calmed down, I immediately thought of telling Dominic everything that happened.
I started the engine and began driving. I'm not sure if Dominic's avoiding me or not, but I'm going to see him today. He needs to hear this.
It was already dark when I got to Dominic's house, only to be disappointed that he went out. Collene said he heard him talking with someone over the phone and that they're going to this bar. Gladly, Collene heard which bar they're heading to, and I ended up driving there. Thirty minutes later, I got to the bar, and I saw Dominic smoking a cigarette just outside the bar.
"Dominic," I called for him as soon as I got out of the car.
"Valentine?!" He spat, seemingly shocked at my sudden appearance.
"Hi,"
"What are you doing here?" Dominic asked.
"I'm here for you." I spat, and I was bursting with so much excitement.
"What do you mean you're here for me?"
"I have some things to tell you," I was about to hold his hand, but he casually shook it.
"What is it?" He asked, sounding colder than ever.
"Let's go get a drink inside first," I suggested.
"No, just tell it to me right now." Dominic spat, and his tone seemed to be pointed.
"Are you angry?" I asked as I was thrown into a labyrinth of confusion. Maybe I was right that he's avoiding me. "Are you really avoiding me? I've called you a lot of times this day."
Dominic was silent for a moment. He took a puff of a cigarette and eventually decided to pop off.
"Aren't you here to break my heart?" Aren't you here to destroy me?"