A Man In Distress

“I can see you got a call from someone. Is that my father calling?” Dexter asked Kelly the moment he noticed the phone ringing. 

Kelly didn't utter a word. He kept staring at the phone and wondered if it was cool to answer it. 

“Have you suddenly gone deaf that you can't hear me? I don't want to believe that I was speaking to myself, was I? Is that my father calling your phone? Why don't you just answer the damn phone and tell him I want to speak to him?” Dexter screamed his lungs out.

 He hates it when someone gives him a silent treatment, and that's precisely what Kelly did. Kelly didn't just ignore Dexter, he did it deliberately just to spite Dexter. 

Tired of waiting for Kelly to speak up, Dexter snatched the phone from Kelly. He couldn't wait for Kelly to speak anymore.

Seeing the name of the caller showing on Kelly's phone, Dexter hissed. “Oh, it's your daughter. I thought it was my father calling. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you make me go through that stress of trying to find out who was calling? Damn, you Kelly! That was so childish of you.” Dexter returned the phone to Kelly. 

“You’ve satisfied your curiosity. I sincerely hope you are happy now. Perhaps, if you were patient enough to let me speak, you wouldn't have been disappointed. Speaking about childishness, I doubt if you truly understand the meaning of what you just said. The only childish person in this story is you. You have never beaten the allegations.” Kelly snarled. 

Unbothered by Kelly's ratings, Dexter revisited their discourse and commanded. “I don't care what you think about me. I just need you to call my father right away. I wish to speak with him. Don't you dare waste my precious time? Trust me, you won't like my outcome,”

“Even when my daughter is calling? Is that supposed to be a threat? Do you expect me to ignore her call just to please you? You should have thought about that before speaking.” Kelly argued. 

"Who cares about your goddamned daughter? When has she become so important than my Father? It's not as though you wanted to speak to her anyway. If you wanted to do that, you would have answered the phone a long time ago. So what the fuck are you spitting now?' with a loud voice, Dexter screamed, to the extent where he nearly drowned Kelly with his saliva.

Kelly went mute for a while to regain his momentum. Not for once, did he yell at Dexter or retaliate violently. 

He figured that engaging Dexter in a heated argument wasn't going to solve the issue. For that reason, Kelly controlled his temper even though he was so mad at Dexter. 

_________

“Can you see for yourself now? Thank goodness, it all happened right in your very eyes. I warned you about this, but you wouldn't listen to me. My Father, your friend, has refused to answer the phone. What do you suggest I do now?” Ciara lamented to George, who had already prepared himself to speak to Kelly. The disappointment was what he never for once, expected. 

"Call him again. You don't expect me to give up now, do you? I don't want to believe your father would intentionally ignore your call. Something might be wrong somewhere. This was the exact reason I wanted you to reach out to him because I had a feeling that he might not respond to my call,' George commanded. 

Unlike Ciara, who has lost every hope of her father answering the phone, George is optimistic. His faith was stronger than ever.

______

“Why are you refusing to call your father yourself? He's your father, he won't snub your call,” Kelly suggested. He was getting tired of taking orders from Dexter, who has been nothing but rude towards him.

“I should call my Father?” Dexter mimicked Kelly jokingly. He also did it in some kind of rude manner to spite Kelly and get on his last nerves.

“Oftentimes, I wonder what you think. 

You do think my father would want to speak to me. Damn! I thought you were wise. A while ago, you accused me of being responsible for my father's heart attack. I ask you again: Would you answer the phone if you were my father?” He asked Kelly. 

It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Kelly provided the most provocative response ever. “I wouldn't answer the phone if I were your father. Do you know what I am going to do? I will report you to the cops for stalking me,” 

After the response, he edged backward and returned the missed calls from Ciara. To his greatest surprise, Ciara answered the phone once as though she'd been waiting for him to call. “I missed your call, my beloved daughter. Are you home now? What do you want to talk about?”

“Dad, sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't go home. I went back to the hospital,” Ciara revealed.

“You returned to where? When? How? Is this some sort of joke? I thought you wanted to head back home. That was precisely what told me. Why the sudden change of mind? What are you doing in the hospital? When did you suddenly become a liar? I didn't raise you that way, and you know that,” Kelly doubted if Ciara was telling the truth. 

 Kelly was also stunned at how Ciara got back to the hospital. Kelly would have sworn that Ciara went home. Her response was shocking to him.

“Now this is the height of it all. I can't believe you would doubt me. 

Dad, I've got no reason to lie to you. Why would I want to joke with a delicate situation like this? As we speak right now, I am in the ward with your friend, George,” Ciara added, as she made a more shocking revelation.

Before Kelly got the opportunity to speak further, Dexter snatched the phone from his ear.