Your Mom....

The glass doors of the stadium finally slammed shut behind us, cutting off the deafening roar of the crowd, the flashing lights, and the absolute humiliation of the basketball court.

I didn't say a single word as I stumbled toward the parking lot. My feet felt like they were filled with lead. Every step felt heavy, like I was dragging the weight of the whole school behind me.

Isabella didn't ask questions. She didn't scream or curse at the air. She just stayed right beside me, her steps matching mine, acting like a human shield against the few lingering students walking toward their cars.

When we reached her sleek white sedan parked in the student lot, Isabella hit the unlock button. The lights blinked twice.

"Get in the passenger seat, Jess," Isabella said softly, her voice missing its usual fiery edge. She looked at me, taking in my pale face and the way my hands were shaking. "You are way too out of it to call your driver. I'm driving you home."

I didn't argue. I just opened the door, slid into the passenger seat, and pulled my knees up, staring blankly out the window as Isabella jogged around to the driver's side and hopped in.

The engine roared to life, the air conditioner blowing cool air onto my burning cheeks. Isabella pulled out of the parking space, moving away from the chaotic stadium crowds. For a long time, the only sound inside the car was the hum of the tires against the asphalt.

Then, Isabella glanced over at me, her brown eyes full of worry.

"Jess..." she started slowly, keeping one hand on the steering wheel while merging onto the campus exit road. "Are you okay enough to tell me what the hell just happened back there? Why did you suddenly accept Aaron as your man in front of the whole school before he... you know... pulled that weird stunt with Emilian?"

I turned my head slowly, looking out the tinted window at the blurring trees. I didn't want to talk about Aaron. I didn't want to think about his hands, his voice, or the way he had manipulated me. The memory of him standing there, announcing me to the world and then tossing me aside for Emilian like I was cheap garbage, made a fresh wave of nausea roll through my stomach.

"Just play my song, Isa," I muttered quietly, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. "Please."

Isabella sighed, knowing better than to push too hard right now. She reached over and tapped the touchscreen on the dashboard, connecting her phone.

Within two seconds, the smooth, rich bassline of Burna Boy filled the car.

“Every day, I just dey give thanks for life

Know how to move ′cause I know sacrifice

Lose control, still hold on tight

Won't be the only time

I′m a soldier, I know how to fight

I make fire when it's cold in the night

If you need a shoulder to cry, then I'll give you mine

Chorus:

And, if I′m lyin′, let the ocean and seas start dryin'

Let the birds in the sky stop flyin′

All the trees in the world start dyin', all start dyin′

And, if I'm lyin′, let the ocean and seas start dryin'

Let the birds in the sky stop flyin'

All the trees in the world start dyin′, all start dyin′

Verse:

Won't be the only time

Only time

Only timе

Won′t be the only time

That you'rе gonna get your heartbroken

You got to learn how to ride the motion

Chorus:

And, if I′m lyin', let the ocean and seas start dryin′

Let the birds in the sky stop flyin'

All the trees in the world start dyin', all start dyin′

And, if I′m lyin', let the ocean and seas start dryin′

Let the birds in the sky stop flyin'

All the trees in the world start dyin′, all start dyin'

Verse:

Zero, all that I get is zero

Rain fallin′ on my window

That's why I sleep under my pillow

Woah, woah, woah

These days I don't sleep no more, no

Oh, so, my eyes open wide

At least I’m alive….

Burna’s voice wrapped around us like a warm blanket, instantly cutting through the thick, suffocating panic in my chest.

Isabella smiled a little, shaking her head. "Oh! You and that African man. You know, I heard he's having his show in the biggest stadium in North America, that Michigan campus, by the 25th of this month."

A tiny, genuine spark of life flickered back into my chest. I turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"You think I wouldn't have known before you?" I muttered, a ghost of a smile touching my lips. "The stadium is sold out already. And the funniest thing is, I got two tickets. I wasn't even sure you'd want to go..."

Isabella’s eyes went wide. She slammed her hand down on the steering wheel in mock excitement.

"Will you go with me though?!" I asked and she gasped, practically squealing.

"What do you think?" She.fired back, letting out a small huff of laughter. "Seeing how obsessed you are about him, your room plastered with his pictures and wallpapers, buying all his merch, and literally using every product that has his face as their brand... I gave him a listen because of you, and I must say he deserves all the hype and more. So yes, girlie, we're going together."

I beamed, looking genuinely happy. 

She reached across the center console, grabbed my cold hand, and gave it a tight, reassuring squeeze while steering the car smoothly with her other hand.

"Best road trip ever," she declared. "We are going to Michigan campus, we are going to scream our lungs out, and we are going to forget about every single toxic, miserable boy in this country."

I squeezed her hand back. For a second, just a tiny second, the dark cloud over my head lifted.

Then, right on cue, the universe decided to ruin it.

Rrrrrring. Rrrrrring. Then…… “When it's raining, you wish the sun was shinning, when the sun shines….

My phone started vibrating loudly inside the front pocket of my oversized black hoodie.

I froze. The warm feeling in my chest vanished instantly.

I slowly pulled the phone out and looked at the screen. Flashing brightly across the display was a name that made my heart drop straight into my stomach.

Dad.

Instantly, a horrifying wave of memory hit me like a truck.

I remembered my phone lighting up in the dark, dusty locker room while Aaron was standing between my thighs. I remembered Aaron holding my wrist, whispering those cruel, filthy words right into my ear:

'You answer that call, you have to talk to him. And what are you going to say? Hey Dad, sorry I can't talk right now, I'm getting fingered in the boys' athletic locker room...'

A violent shiver ran through me. I wanted to gag. I wanted to throw my phone out the window and pretend I was dead. That monster had tainted everything,even my relationship with my own father.

Isabella noticed the way I stiffened. She glanced sideways at the screen, saw the word Dad, and raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" she asked gently. "He's been calling you all day, Jess. You told me earlier he must be worried because you didn't answer when he called you earlier today."

I swallowed hard, my throat feeling dry as sandpaper. My thumb hovered over the green button. I had ignored him all morning because I was too busy dealing with Wade's cowardly betrayal, and then falling headfirst into Aaron's trap.

With a shaky breath, I swiped the screen and brought the phone up to my ear.

"Hey, Dad's only angel! You didn't miss old Dad?"

My father's warm, deep, loving voice boomed through the speaker, filled with that familiar, comforting energy that always made me feel safe.

Hearing him hit me like a physical blow. A massive wave of guilt ate at my insides, sharp and raw. I hadn't called my dad once since he departed for his work trip. I had been so wrapped up in my own stupid fantasies that left me in the middle of nowhere, worrying about university gossips, then finally getting my ass whooped by Emilian, and letting Aaron wrap his toxic claws around me that I had totally neglected the only person in the world who genuinely loved me without conditions.

I had been too busy thinking about that coward Wade. Wade, who had taken off running the second he got caught cheating, leaving me to deal with the fallout.

The house had felt completely empty ever since. It was just me, the echoing hallways, and the ghost of a family that had shattered long ago.

A lump rose in my throat, massive and burning. Tears stung the back of my eyes, threatening to spill over, but I forced them back. I couldn't cry. Not now. Not in front of Isabella.

"I missed you, Papa. A lot," I whispered into the phone, my voice cracking horribly. "I'm sorry I didn't call... I'm really, really sorry."

I waited for him to yell. I waited for him to lecture me about being irresponsible or ignoring his calls.

Instead, there was total silence on the other end of the line.

A heavy, lingering quiet stretched between us, filled only with the faint sound of his breathing.

Why isn't he saying anything?

For a second, I hated the way my life was set up. If I wanted to, I could have had my own apartment outside campus. I could have rented a cool hostel and lived completely free, away from my dad's overwhelming influence.

But my dad would never allow it. He had made it clear a million times: Even when you grow grey hairs, Jessica, you will always be my only PRINCESS. There was no way in hell he would ever let me live on my own, not even with an army of hired bodyguards. That was why the compromise was always that I had to go to university straight from home, wrapped in his protective bubble.

"It's fine, baby," my dad finally said, his voice sounding a little strained, lacking its usual cheerful bounce. "I missed you too. Sorry I called late... and... your mom..."

My entire body went ice cold.

The moment he said that word,mom all the oxygen vanished from the car.

The terrifying, vivid memories of that night rushed back into my mind all at once. The screaming. The broken glass. The slamming doors. The horrible, soul-crushing night my mother had packed her designer bags, looked right at me with cold, empty eyes, and walked out of our lives forever to chase her high-powered career across the ocean.

The pain of it hit me just as hard as it did years ago.

My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles turned pure white. My eyes turned hard, locking onto the dashboard.

"What about her...?" I asked, my voice dropping into a freezing, lifeless tone that made Isabella instantly glance over at me with deep concern.

"I'm not sure how to say this, Princess..." my dad sighed heavily on the line, sounding deeply troubled.

Before he could finish his sentence, Isabella's car suddenly jerked.

Screeech.

Isabella hit the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply, making a fast, aggressive right turn straight through the tall, wrought-iron security gates of our private residential estate.

The tires crunched loudly against the paved driveway of my house, bringing us to a sudden, bumpy halt right in front of the grand front steps.

I stared out the windshield at the big, lonely house where my dad and I lived. But my mind wasn't on the house. It was stuck on my dad's unfinished sentence.

What did he mean, he wasn't sure how to say it?

What did my mother have to do with anything? Why was she suddenly being brought up while my life was already falling apart at the seams?

I sat there in the passenger seat, phone pressed tightly to my ear, holding my breath as I waited for my dad to break the silence.