CHAPTER 003: PAIN AND FLAMES

RONAN.

I couldn't believe it. I almost couldn't believe Dad was thinking about wife-ing that lady he met just a few months ago. The thought had kept me up most nights.

He had broken the news like it was something I should jubilate over. Was he expecting me to applaud him after I had seen how much he adored her? A forty-three-year-old woman! Same love he never gave Mom. Gave her the same care he denied Mom.

I had seen how he laughed at every lame joke she made. How he gifted her even the smallest things. All of that he never did for mom. She had died lonely, her hands curled tight around my fingers till she went cold.

She spent weeks in the hospital but Dad only showed up once, paid the hospital bills, and vanished. Not once did he stay by her bed. Not once did he care.

I was only eight at the time. Grandma Julie, Mom's mother, and I, took care of her till she passed.

And now, Dad knows how to love someone? When he broke the news of his marriage to Marielle, and that her daughter, June, would be in the same college as me, my blood boiled.

“She has a daughter?!” I snarled. “You're settling for a forty-five-year-old woman with a grown-up daughter?!”

“You would watch your language when you speak about her, Ronan. She's forty-three, and I'm forty-eight. What's more important is that we make each other happy!” He gritted.

“And Mom?” I asked, a knot formed in my throat. “Didn't she make you happy?”

I hated that he never thought about her. I hated that another woman was coming in to take away the little peace we had.

I was not in the best father-son relationship with my father. I have had grudges against him since the death of my Mother, but this marriage? It would be the death of the little relationship we had.

He rested the fork in his hand against the plate. “It's complicated, son.”

I scoffed. “Don't call me that… That's what you have always said. When will you ever admit you were a cheat, and now you can't wait to bring in your other family?” I hadn't intended it that way. But what else would you have me think? He never mourned my mom.

He had hit both hands hard against the table, so hard that the porcelain creaked against it. I stood up, and ran upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. His eyes followed me all the way up.

That night, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned. I wanted to know who she really was, what her daughter looked like. I wanted to know if they were Dad's second family.

I grabbed my laptop. It was easy to find her profile on social media. I typed in her name, Marielle Rourke, only a few profiles had that name. I scrolled till I found her picture.

Then I swiped into her pictures, she had quite a number of them. Then I stopped at one, her daughter, on her graduation day from high school, a few months ago.

I paused. Then I zoomed in on the picture. There was something about her, her hazel eyes, her bright smile. I felt my lips part as my eyes fixed on her smiling face.

No! Ronan. That was not the reason for the search. I clasped my laptop close at once. Shifted it away from me like it was some sort of evil. Then I fell asleep.

I found myself going back to the same profile every other day. I would scroll all night, rewatching every picture of the young girl till my eyes became heavy.

Luckily for me, I had found a comment from her profile under her Mother's picture, June Rourke. I smiled to myself. Then I swiped into her profile. Savouring every one of her pictures, my dick throbbing hard at some.

There was something about her beauty that radiated even in the simplest of dresses. I hated myself each time I came back to this page, but I couldn't help it. Her smiles had made me less cranky, and even Dad noticed that this morning. But I wasn't going to let her Mom break our home.

I lay in my room, lights off, laptop in my face, just the way I liked it. My thoughts flew back to some hours ago. I had met June at the college.

Dad had mentioned they were moving in today. But nothing got me ready for when I met her in college. Her bravery had caught me off guard, only then did I know I was in for a ride. A pretty long ride!

I could still see her lips rattling as she questioned me. A smile formed on my lips, I closed my laptop, both hands formed a pillow under my head as I stared at the ceiling. Every other person had allowed me. Of course, they knew my father was a co-founder of the college.

But she? She was definitely cut from a different cloth, and I honestly could not wait to unravel her, she was a mystery.

I chuckled lowly, I had caught myself doing that ever since I discovered June Rourke.

Then the door was pushed open, fast. I stood up, a ray of golden light fell into the room from the hallway. I wondered who it was. Dad never entered my room without calling out to me first.

And the maids? They would always knock and wait for a response. Then, click!

The light came on. There she stood with her luggage still standing in the hallway. Her eyes narrowed at me, eyebrows puckered at once even before she found her voice.

A laugh almost tore out of my throat at the way she screamed the moment she realised it was really me, the boy from school earlier today, but I swallowed instead.

I was expecting her at the mansion, but I wasn't expecting her in my room! Then her eyes flew to my boxers. Gosh! I loved that her eyes widened at what she saw. I already knew this whole arrangement was about to get messier.

Now we sat at the dining table, all hands clasped tightly on the table, awaiting the arrival of the princess, Princess June.