Dropping The Crown

Chapter 3: What Lies Beneath

Adani's POV

"Answer it and put it on speaker, right now!" he instructed.

I answered and put my mom on speaker.

"Hi sweetie, how are you?"

"I can't talk right now, mom," I answered.

"What, why not?"

"Mom.. I..."

"Adani, I haven't seen you in almost a year. You don't call. You don't visit me. You don't even send me a quick text. What is going on with you?"

The tears welled up. The tears always welled up and rolled down my face. Wayan had completely alienated me from my friends and my own mother.

I was my mother's only child. It had always been mom and I since I came into the world. My father left before I was born and I've never met the man. Mom was my best friend. We were close, until she made it clear that Wayan wasn't a good match for me.

I would never forget that blow up between the two of them at my twenty-eighth birthday get-together. Wayan was ordering me around and I did as I was told until my mother had enough of it.

Flashback

"Dani, get me a glass of water," Wayan said.

I stood up and my mother held my arm and pulled me back into the chair.

"Wayan, why don't you fetch your own damn water?" she directed to him.

"Is it a crime to ask my own fiancee to get me a glass of water in your house?"

"You know where the fridge is and the glasses. Get up and get it yourself. I've been watching her make the rounds for you since the evening started. You're not going to have my daughter as a slave!"

"Adani, come on, we're leaving."

"Adani, you're staying."

I had to choose right there and then and I chose to leave with Wayan.

Since after that encounter, he didn't want me communicating with my mother or even seeing her. He said she was a bad example and that must have been why my father left her.

End Of Flashback

"When are you going to visit me?" she asked again.

"Soon," I lied, "Look, mom, I have to go. I have some things I need to handle."

"Okay baby. Have a goodnight."

"Goodnight, mom."

Wayan ended the call and slammed the phone face down on the sink.

"What did I say to you about her, huh? See, that's why I have to keep on disciplining you because YOU DON'T LISTEN! You're like a bratty kid. Adani, I've told you time and time again that you are to stay away from her!"

"And I have stayed away but I can't stop her from calling me, Wayan."

"You damn sure can. You're going to change that phone number of yours tomorrow. Do you hear me?"

I nodded yes. He left and returned with an ice pack.

"Rest this on your mouth to reduce the swelling, then come into the bedroom."

He handed me the pack and I placed it on my lips, then I went back into the bedroom where he was standing by the bed.

His arms reached me and I flinched to get away from the hit but he wasn't attacking me now.