ANGÉLIQUE

Chapter 14 (Part 1)

Walking down the stairs, I saw a few people in the living room, they all turned to me...

"Hello" I said with a friendly smile. Some said hello back.. Some remained silent, looking at me with varying looks, Curiosity, friendliness, unfriendliness?? I guess I gave them a bad first impression, like an ungrateful child, manipulative, selfish... they weren't completely wrong...

"Do you know where Nora is?" I asked looking at the woman who smiled at me, she seemed like the one most likely to answer.

"Shes in the kitchen" She said, smiling still ..i needed to get out of there, the tension was heavy, so I walked towards the nearest hallway, hoping the kitchen was that way, but as my luck wouldn't have it.

"Kitchen is that way dear." The woman said , I looked back at her amused face, she was gesturing towards the opposite direction I was headed... Juuust great! My second impression wasn't great, but still better than the first one. I walked the right direction without looking at anyone and mumbled a thank you.

The door to the Kitchen was open, I took a look inside, it was huge, like a restaurant's kitchen, Near the refrigerator were two females shuffling around, one had black hair and beautiful blue eyes, she looked about my age, she was realy pretty, the other one was older, she had brown hair and first I thought maybe she was Nora, but a closer look of her light brown eyes and her features said it wasn't her. On the far side was Toma, he was cutting vegetables on the counter while speaking to whom I assumed was Nora, she had her back to me, I couldn't tell what she was doing, then Toma looked up at me, she was watching him, she followed his gaze, The moment I saw her face I knew it was her for sure, I remembered her face, I remembered her voice ,I remembered her playing with me in the water while she washed my hair, I remembered her smile as she dressed me, as she dried my hair, I remembered her singing as she made diner , I remembered her, it was like i always had the memories in the back of my mind.

She looked tiered, her eyes were buffy with bags underneath them. I stepped inside the open door, everyone eyes were on me, then Toma and the two females started to walk out, I stepped aside giving them space to leave, the younger female with the black hair offered me a smile when she was beside me, the other woman whispered 'Good Luck' as she walked out ,Toma was the last to leave, he looked at Nora with a smile, then at me, he stepped out and closed the door behind him, giving us some sort of privacy, and then it was just me and Nora...

After a minute she looked away and resumed what she was doing, walking in further I saw she was stirring sauce in a big pot in the stove, I took a breath then spoke politely...

"Can I help?" I asked looking around the kitchen.

"You can cut the vegetables" Nora spoke quietly her voice shaking, like she was about to cry, I nodded then did as she instructed, I cut the vegetables into even slices in a record time, she looked surprised, then impressed, then sad again. She instructed for me to do more things and I listened, we were both silent, she only spoke when she needed me to do something, and I, when I needed to know where to find something, or to tell her I was done. After 20 minutes of preparing diner we were done, the tension in the air was more bearable.

"Thank you for helping" Nora looked at me and spoke her voice even. I gave her a small smile.

"Am sorry" I added in a small voice. She knew what I meant ... I was sorry about the scene I made when I first arrived.

"Am sorry too" She said, her voice no longer even. And I knew what she meant, she was sorry, sorry she left, she was sorry she wasn't there for me when my father died.

We didn't have the best mother daughter reunion, and that wasn't the best mother daughter conversation, but it was a start, right?!

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