It's a battle both us
Juliana's pov
The screen of my phone was in front of me, displaying the missed calls from my fiance and daughter. Who should I call first? An instinctual question popped into my mind. Definitely my daughter. She must be extremely worried and eager to hear from me. I immediately dialed Daisy's phone number and held it to my right ear, hoping she would answer. My heart was racing.
Daisy picked up the call quickly, becoming the first to speak.
"Mum... where are you?" she asked, her voice filled with concern. What should I say? I rapidly searched for an answer and replied,
"I'm at home," trying to calm any potential panic. I thought that response would be sufficient, and she might ask why I hadn't been answering her calls. The conversation would then proceed smoothly. However, her reply surprised me.
"Mum, I vividly remember when I was growing up, you told me never to lie to the people who love me. Mum," she lowered her voice, "I'm at your house now, where are you?"
I couldn't utter a word for the next few seconds, and all my body could produce were tears streaming from my eyes.
"Daisy, I'm sorry for lying to you. Circumstances arose that were beyond my control. I went to see my ex-boyfriend..."
"Ex-boyfriend? Why? And you stayed out without answering my calls..."
"It's not what you think, my dear. Nothing happened..."
"But you spent the night away, Mum. I'm not a kid. I'm not upset about you staying anywhere, but I am upset that my heart couldn't rest. Throughout the night, I called you multiple times, but you refused to answer." Her voice changed, and she abruptly ended the call. At that same moment, Johnson emerged from the bathroom, wearing a towel around his waist.
"See what you've caused, creating a misunderstanding between me and my daughter."
As I paused, waiting for his response, he said, "I didn't do this because of your daughter. I did it because of the man you claim to love. We're both in a battle. I need to win because I knew you first before that man you claim to love."
"I will never give you this opportunity again. You're despicable! You might succeed in breaking up my relationship, but you won't win. This isn't the real you, Johnson. I never believed you could put me in such a predicament..." While I was speaking, he walked out of his room. It was then that I remembered I hadn't called Gabriel. What was I going to tell him?
I took a deep breath and found myself sitting on the bed, about to dial Gabriel's number.
"Hi, sweetheart," I tried to lower my voice, and instinctively, I became the one to ask him,
"Where are you right now?"
"I should be the one asking you where you are right now. Daisy and I have been calling your number.”
"I'm sorry, I was at my parents' place."
"Honey, why are you lying to me? You were never at your parents' place."
"How did you know that? When did you start monitoring my movements? Is it because I let you back into my life?" I suddenly became angry and said things I shouldn't have said, and then ended the call. What I didn't know was that Daisy was with Gabriel when I first called her, and he heard our conversation. As I was about to call Daisy, she called me first, and I answered the call.
"Mum, what did you tell Gabriel? He heard our conversation," she said.
"What?"
"Yeah, he heard our conversation."
"I'm coming home right now." I ended the call, and this time, Johnson was already dressed and said,
"Can I drive you home?"
"Isn't the damage you've caused already enough for you?"
"Okay," he shrugged, "see you at the party tomorrow."
"You weren't invited," I stood up and frowned at him.
"You never invited me, your mum did, and besides, it's not your party, it's your daughter's party."
"I'm glad you said 'my daughter.' That's precisely why you're not invited. She doesn't even know you and hasn't met you before, so there's no reason for her to meet you." I turned, grabbed my handbag, and walked out of the house, while he rushed to catch up with me.
"I'm sorry for anything I've done to you. I love you, that's why I did it..."
I didn't respond until I got into my car and said, "Johnson, there's no connection between you and me. For God's sake, I don't want you to come to that party."
"Are you serious about that?" He held onto the door handle of my car.
"Yes, I'm very serious."
"Okay, I won't come!" he said, and in my mind, I hoped he would never come. I drove away and went home.
Hours later, when I arrived home, I found only Daisy, who didn't come out to welcome me. The house was very quiet the moment I stepped into the living room.
"Honey! Honey!!" I called, but there was no reply. However, since the front door wasn't locked, someone was home. I decided to check my daughter's room and found her on her bed, curling her legs against her body.
"My sweetheart..." I approached her and sat on the bed.
"I'm so sorry for what I did. I was drugged," I said, pausing because of the way she looked at me, as if she thought I was lying.
"Believe me, he drugged me. He said he did it because he wants me and my fiancé to have a misunderstanding. He wants me back, but I don't want him. I've moved on with my life..."
"What is his name?" Daisy asked with a calm voice.
"Why do you need his name?" I asked surprisedly. "You will never meet him, and I don't see any reason to meet him. He was my ex-boyfriend before I met and married your dad." I stopped and looked at her because I didn't like the way Daisy was looking at me.
"Where is Gabriel?" I asked.
"He left, and I don't think he was happy when he left. We went everywhere we thought we could find you yesterday, and for the very first time, I saw that Gabriel loves you. We didn't sleep and were planning to go to the police station this morning before you called me. We even went to your parents' house, but we didn't actually tell them what was happening. If anything, Gabriel deserves an apology from you. Just be human because he cared, and moreover, that boyfriend of yours who drugged you needs to be arrested. He put all of us in a panic."
"No need. He has cut off contact with me himself. I'm not going to see him anymore. All he wanted was to break my relationship with Gabriel..."
"And I think he succeeded," Daisy interrupted me.
"Why?" I asked.
"Gabriel was so angry before leaving. I even told him you were on your way home, but he still left."
"What do you think I should do? Should I go to his house right now and try to explain?" I asked.
"Hearing that you spent the night at your ex-boyfriend's place must have pissed him off, and you initially lied about it. I would advise you to wait for some time, maybe later today, and talk to him. Or don't you want him to come to my party tomorrow?"
"I want him to come..." I said.
"Then do what needs to be done," Daisy said. Her words were touching, and I really needed to apologize to Gabriel. It's heartbreaking for him to hear that I spent a night at my ex-boyfriend's place, and I know he will never believe me when I tell him that my ex-boyfriend didn't touch me.
I went to my room, took a bath, and dialed Gabriel's phone number, but he refused to answer. Then I decided that I would go to his house to meet him at 4 pm, hoping that his anger had subsided by then.
It was 3:30 pm, and I was getting dressed to go meet Gabriel when my phone rang. I turned to my phone and what I saw was more than a surprise. It was Stephanie who was calling me. My first instinct was that Gabriel had gone to meet Stephanie , and this call was to tell me that she had gotten what she wanted.
"Why is Stephanie calling me?" I said out loud. I watched as the call rang and ended. A few seconds later, my phone rang again, and this time, I picked it up and waited for her to speak first.
"Hello, Juliana, are you at home?"
"Yes!"
"I am very sorry for trying to intrude into your life right now, but I have a very important message for you about Gabriel. Please, can I come over to your place?"
The mention of Gabriel's name made me so interested in what Stephanie was about to tell me, and I quickly said,
"Please come over, I am at home.”
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