Chapter 37 – It’s “Move On” O’clock… or not.
She pulled herself up from the floor and walked to the bed, picked up her phone and called her Father, her phone pressed to her ear while it ranged lowly.
“Hello, Pa.”
“Isn’t that my one and only lovely daughter?” His voice answered through the phone and immediately she heard her Mother’s own, from a distance as usual.
“Isn’t that my one and only daughter,” she mimicked him sarcastically. “If you were half as passionate for the investors meeting we had today, how good that would have gone.”
“I could say the same about you in some other things,” he teased. “When it comes to our daughter, I’m doing the work for the both of us, Sweetheart.”
“What?! No. Rominto and I are as close as we are supposed to be,” then her voice started getting really distant than it had started out to be, Ivy could hear some background noises like as if her Father was sneaking away, then she heard a door close silently.
That confirmed it.
“I have escaped for now but she will come for me soon to make her point. Let us quickly make the best of this moment before she finds me,” He said hurriedly and she suppressed a laughter that was bubbling in her throat.
She hadn’t even told him anything yet and he was already making her feel better.
“Okay. All good?”
“Yes. I just missed you. That is why I called.”
“Missed me?” her Father repeated in a suspicious tone. “Ivy, do you need me to fly back home right now? It might take me an hour or two but you know I’ll do it.”
“No, no! Of course not.”
“Then what should I do?” He asked, his voice laced with worry. “I feel like all isn’t well. Are you still having troubles with Elsa?”
“No.” She quickly stopped him from making further guesses. The more worried his questions came through, the more she was starting to feel like just telling him the whole truth.
There was no rules against it. Not one that Chris or Elsa had told her, she just really felt that she shouldn’t say anything about it. She wouldn’t want anything happening to her parents as a result of a mere knowledge about a particular thing or anyone harming them because of it.
She didn’t want what had happened to Elsa to happen to them.
“A good joke will really go a long way right now.”
“What a coincidence. I’m just got ride of my work mood and put on the ‘Telling Jokes Mood’ on about some minutes ago.”
She chuckled, “what can I say? I’m the lucky one.”
She signed with relief that he wasn’t pushing. That was her father though, he knew how to be patient and he knew when to let things go…. even if it was for that moment and he would be bringing it up some other time.
“So there was this woman, she said to her doctor—” her started, telling her jokes and jokes, some she had laughed to and others she had questioned, telling him it wasn’t funny. Her Father had replied that it was, and that the only problem was that she didn’t have high enough humour IQ to have gotten the joke.
“So different jokes comes with different humour IQs and can only be appreciated by those with the adequate or exceeding humour IQs.”
“There are exceptions but that is mainly the general rule.”
“Oh no,” she laughed, her hand over her mouth, her cheeks aching from how many times they had rose up as she threw her head back in full laughter while on the phone with her Father.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.
Then slowly, the laughter died down, the mood light-hearted.
“You know you can always tell me anything, don’t you?” Her Father asked, this time his voice was not filled with worry but that of assurance. “No matter how ridiculous and cringy it may sound, I’ll always take your word for it.” He added on a lighter note.
“I know,” she whispered.
Tears welling up in her eyes once again.
She was lucky to have him, she knew it.
“Goodnight, I love you.”
She bit down on her lips, holding back her tears waiting for a couple of seconds till she was alright to talk normally, before she said,
“I love you too, Pa. You and Ma, I love you both very much.”
There was silence for a merely a second. Then he call her name out in worry once again, “Ivy–”
His voice was quickly interrupted by her Mother’s voice.
“There you are! I’ll have you know that my relationship with my daughter is splendid. I am the fun parent.”
“All you do is work.”
“And look for a suitable husband for her. Someone has to do it. I’m trying my best as a Mother with responsibilities and she knows it.”
Ivy bursted into laughter.
It must have been so loud because the next thing, her mother was requesting for the phone.
“Is she still on the phone?”
“She is tired for tonight,” he said, his voice light and cheery.
“Give the phone to me.”
“No way I’m letting you stop my daughter from having her full eight hours sleep because you want to prove a point.”
Instantly, the line went dead.
Her Father had hung up.
She put her fist against her stomach, laughing once again, the tears that had welled up in her eyes rolling down her cheeks.
She was indeed, really lucky.
Then there a ding.
A messge.
Was it from her mo– it was Elsa.
She opened the message, wondering what it might be, considering how they had left this off this evening.
“I totally forgot we had to agree on a lie.
Before you tell my Aunt anything, please run it by me. I won’t like us to have different stories.
She hadn’t been blowing up my phone yet, so believe you had already told her a couple of lies to cover up my sudden absence from home.
Don’t forget to text me what it is. Our stories have to be the same.
I love you.”
She put down the phone, suddenly feeling to drained to reply. When she laid back in bed this time, she only looked up at the ceiling, not trying to will her body or mind to do anything.
While everything stayed blank for that moment, before returning back to normal.
She came to a decision then.
Come tomorrow, she would be making her necessary move.
***
She had called Chris the next day but what she had to tell him had definitely not been something that he was pleased with.
She wanted to go back home.
He had tried to stop her, telling her that still hadn’t had that talk yet, but she had fired back, point blank, that she had nothing to say to him.
Surprisingly, after that, he had let her go. Even arranged a ride for her.
Maybe it was because he thought that she needed time to process everything.
She had tried to say goodbye to Elsa too but Chris had said she was busy.
Something that Ivy didn’t believe in but she hadn’t argued with.
Instead, she slipped into the car and Jett had driven her home.
Immediately she got back home, she locked the doors had a long bath, fall on her bed and slept off.
The next thing that woke her up was the doorbell and… police car sirens?