?Pretty’s On The Inside?
[The World thinks She’s ugly but He sees her Beauty?]
By Authoress Kamara
Episode 19
?Xavier Marion?
“Do you have anything to say, Marion?”.
I was about to reply when my phone rang interrupting me mid-way. I glanced at the screen and my heartbeat accelerated seeing it was Samuel calling.
What the heck?
Why is he phoning me now?
“Marion!!”.
I quickly look from the phone screen and gaze back to the projector as my Dad glare at me.
“Who’s calling?”.
I gulp a little nervously. “No one”.
“No one? I thought I already talked about keeling your phone on whenever we are in a conversation. I remembering saying to always turn off any of your devices when I am talking to you”.
“Sorry, Dad”.
“Turn the phone off”. He commanded me.
“But Dad .., “. I look up at him. “I thought you are done talking to me already. You were about to click off the video call”.
“I was about to__”.
I quickly tap on disconnect button as I sigh feeling exasperated by his talks.
G©sh! He’s really beginning to piss me off.
Setting up an ambassadorial deal for me without my concern.
And it involves me being in partnership with a girl at that!!
I don’t have anything against that! I just don’t want what happened in the past to repeat itself all over again. I just hate that process.
“Xavier?”.
I snap out of my thoughts to see the door open slightly and I know instantly who it is.
“Diamond?”.
A giggle followed and the door opened more widely with her stepping inside with Cheyenne in her arms.
“Were you just talking to Dad?”.
I arched my eyebrows. “How did you know about that? Were you eavesdropping ?”.
“Maybe I was “. She shrugged walking in with Cheyenne in her arms.
“You know I didn’t say you should come in, right?”.
“So? I don’t need permission to come into your room. Its not like you are hiding anything from me anyways and even if you were, it wouldn’t be my business”.
“Just leave, Diamond. Its almost lunch time so head on downstairs”.
“Dad almost caught you”. She whispered looking at me. “You know? When you had refused to sign that deal with that girl?”.
“Why did you eavesdrop?”.
“Is it because of him?”. Diamond continued talking referring to Sam as she pointed at my phone.
I grabbed my phone from the bed and then quickly put it on ‘do not disturb’ so as to avoid Sam calling me again.
“You know I never expected you to be g.ay, I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying this about you, but brother, you are so handsome , every girl out there is dying for you”. She chuckled shaking her head. “G©sh ! That was so awkward saying that “.
I groan standing up. “Just let me be. You have a performance at the city hall in two weeks time so go prepare for that”.
“I think you mean we have a performance because you are supposed to be performing too, remember ? For Valentine Special?”.
“Let me be!”. I snap at her.
Diamond rolls her eyes. “Its lunch time. I only came here to inform you. And to also eavesdrop by the way”.
I ignore her statement and take Cheyenne from her arms as my little sister giggles happy to be in my arms while showing off her pink gums with only a few teeth there.
“I don’t feel like going downstairs. Just being around__”.
“Maids?”. She completed my sentence looking amused as the corner of her lips curled up in a smirk.
I chuckle a little. “You know me so well, little sis”.
“Of course, why won’t I ? Apart from Violet , I’m obviously the only person in your life that knows everything about you including your likes and dislikes”.
I frown immediately at the thought of being reminded about Violet.
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?Paris Myers?
“Have you thought about falling in love with yourself? Maybe if you do that then others might just love you too”.
And with that, the words he said pierced through my heart like a sharp sword making me realize that what he said did matter a lot in my life.
“Think about it”. Rio continued. “How do you expect others to become friends with you with the way you downgrade yourself”.
“But I have a friend”. I protested. “She’s Elaine Gilbert. And I didn’t even approach her, she came to me herself so why all these talks?”.
“Paris. Then maybe she’s selfless. Maybe she herself is going through stuffs too, who knows? And you also said it yourself , that she’s the school’s president, yes? So thats why she felt it needful to talk to you”.
I fiddled with my fingers. “So you are trying to say that I’m not worth talking to or not ?”.
“No, sis”. He sighed taking a deep breath as he watched me. “Thats not what I mean at all. What I mean is that the way you carry yourself determines the way others will address you”.
“Huh?”.
“If only you’ll stop hiding your face from them, stop being ashamed of those scars, stop covering it with that dumb hoodie”.
“But the hoodie belonged to Dad. You know that fact”. I said tearfully.
“I know but sometimes we should learn to let go of some things, Paris. It been three months already, try to forget the past , try to forget everything that happened”.
“I can’t forget it”. A tear slipped down my eyes as I sniffed. “Like, I can’t even sleep without having nightmares of what went on that day, of not having sad memories “.
Rio flinch a little bit. “I have memories too, sis. The ones that trigger you and make you blame yourself for what happened. I can’t sleep without thinking about what would have happened if I didn’t__”.
“Rio, don’t. Its not your fault in any way at all. I take part of the blame too, okay?”.
“Yeahh”. He whispered and then snapped his head back up as if remembering some-thing. “But Paris. Wouldn’t it be better if you trash that hoodie ?”.
“I can’t. Even if the hoodie reminds me of Dad. Others things do, like, whenever I look at myself in the mirror, I see the fact that I tried to save them but I couldn’t. Instead, I ended up having these scars”.
“And there we go again. Its all about you in the end”. Rio flopped back on his bed. “I too lost something, remember? You think you lost your beauty while I lost my legs”.
I remained quiet as he said that. For a while, there was just silence.
“I was never beautiful in the first place so there was nothing to lose”. I joked and he chuckled cracking up.
He crackled up a little bit. “Tell me about it”.
“We both might have gotten Mum’s blue eyes but you certainly got Dad’s facial look, it became worse back then in Stoneflies High when all the girls wanted you”.
“Not all the girls”. He muttered as his mood changed all of a sudden.
“This is about Rebecca, isn’t it? She broke up with you ?”.
No response.
I sighed. “Rio. Just forget about her. She’s nothing but a btch”.
“Don’t call her that. She was my everything and I completely understand her if she does not even want anything to do with a crippled like me”.
“You are not crippled, Rio Myers”.
“Tell that to every doctor that Aunt Jenny has taken me to. They all confirmed it, they all confirmed the fact that I won’t be able to walk again”.
“Rio. You haven’t gone to all the doctors or specialists yet … “.
“Don’t do that, Paris, don’t give me hope, you should have been there with me. Every hospital I went to, every time a test was run on me, I usually had this hope that I will walk again but it always eventually turns out hopeless and my dreams crushed”.
“But… “.
“I hate this”. He glances at the wheelchair with tears in his eyes. “I hate that too. I hate being like this, I hate depending on an object to walk but what can I do other have hope? I’ll just keep on hoping that I’ll walk again”.
“But what if…?”.
“What if my hope gets crushed again and again and again? When I get to that bridge then I’ll cross it”.
I sigh and blink back the tears filled with sadness in my eyes as I leaned towards the bed.
I move to where he was and laid beside him turning to face him while staring at him.
My heart churned at the sight of tears rolling down his eyes slowly.
“Rio?”. I called tearfully.
“Pray I don’t lose hope, Paris. ‘Cause if I do then I lose my life too”.
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