ANNA
The room was silent as the only thing that I was able to hear was the sound of Alfred's endless footwalk and the heavy panting that was breathing out of his nose. I could see his dead eyes glancing at my body from my head down to my toes but I didn't flinch at all. He grunted and kept on stomping his feet on the floor as if he had a lot to say and from the way he kept on behaving I could see that he had a lot to say. “Anna, I want you to tell me the truth.” He finally spoke out for the second time. This time around it felt as if the world was about to crumble right in front of my eyes as I heard the question escape out of his mouth. I was dumbfounded and speechless at the same time lost in between what it's expected of me to say or what I need to say. My head was thrown to the ground with my mouth fidgeting, fighting so hard to say a word to him. I saw him walking right in front of me with his hands tightly squeezed with his phone that he had on me. He made use of his index finger to raise my neck a little bit so he could stare into my eyes but my neck was stiffened and wasn't able to move up. I could see the anger and the rage staring up in his eyes as he tried lifting up my head for the second time and this time around my confidence level was up ahead. “Didn't you hear the exact question I asked you, Anna?” He questioned me trying his best not to transfer his aggression on me. I looked at him and gulped down the saliva I've been hoarding in my throat before finally saying something to him. “You have no business knowing who these kids are.” I finally summoned up the courage to respond to him with a condescending tone. “Really?” “Anna, you have all the right to tell me who the father of these kids are unless you want me… .” He hasn't even finished pouring out his words to my ears when I took it out of his mouth, “Unless what? You can't do anything to me Alfred. I don't know why you are so keen to know who these kids are when you and I both know that you don't care.” He chuckled out loud with a mixed feeling of ecstasy and exasperation, “Can you even hear yourself talk at all, Anna?” He took a deep pause with a deep sigh of relief. He continued, “The last time I checked you were nothing but a weakling to my eyes and seeing you raise your shoulder at me all in the name of being confident makes me wonder who exactly is behind your confidence.” I looked at him from his head down to his toes groaning with pain and anger with my right hand pressing down the wound that I had on my legs without uttering a word at all to him. Alfred was getting pissed by the silence I kept on feeding him with despite the fact he was the one engaging me with different questions yet I wasn't entertaining him at all by granting him the audience. “You better speak up before it's too late. I don't want you to drag these innocent kids into your mess. So, do yourself the favor by telling me all that's expected of me to hear.” “Fine!” I exclaimed with my voice screaming at the top of my lungs. “Good girl! I know you'll always act like the Anna we all know before.” He kicked a chair that was a little bit closer to where he stood to sit on it with his legs crossed in between. He rested his back on the chair with his ears wide open to hear all that I had to say to him, “Start talking, I am all ears.” a wide smile etched on his lips as the words escaped out of his mouth. My back was leaned on the wall as I slowly and quietly sat on the ground with my mood changed as I placed a sad smile ready to spill the truth he has always wanted to hear. “I don't know how best to say it to you but..” “Listen to me Anna, you don't have to look for the perfect words for you to spill out the truth. All I need from you is to know the father of these kids and how they came into existence.” He spoke calmly to me with a subtle tone of voice as I could see his eagerness to know the truth glaring evidently on his face. I raised my head up and maintained a straight face, “Thank you very much, Alfred. I appreciate the kind words and the words of encouragement but that won't still gear me up to tell you who those kids are. It's none of your business and the earlier you start keeping yourself out of my business the better for you.” I yelled back at him. Alfred wasn't expecting to get such a response from me at all, not after I lured him into believing that I was ready to give out information to him. He stood up forcefully in rage with his fist clenched together as he held my phone tightly closed in his palms. His feet were shivering in rage while he kept moving back and forth in anger. I could see the anger in him and the only thing I could do at that moment was to tear a loud sardonic laugh. I wasn't stupid to that extent of dishing out such information to him, not after what he made me go through. Alfred wasn't expecting to get such a reaction from me and out of anger he moved closer to me, picked me up from the floor and pinned me to the wall with his hands on my neck. His lips were too close to mine as I could feel the heat of his breath brushing through my skin. “What exactly are you doing, Alfred? Why are you so pained with what I said?” I snorted out my words with a cracky tone of voice struggling to speak out. “Do you take me for a fool, Anna, that you think you can keep on playing with my emotions and feelings like this?” his lips were getting closer to mine as he threw the question to my face. “I owe you no damn explanation, Alfred!” I spat out my words to his face, throwing my face to the other side of the wall. Just when I thought the whole drama was about to end by clearing him out of his entitlement to know every tiny little detail of my life. I heard the door sound creaked open and was shocked to hear the voice that came after that. “Are my eyes deceiving me?” A thick masculine voice was heard from behind.
