Chapter 5: Back At It

Roughly two hours later, Mario jerked awake, drenched in his own sweat. It was getting dark outside. 

He tried to get up, but he fell back on the bed. His neck was hurting, and he did not know why. 

"What am I doing here?" He soliloquized, and helped himself off the bed. Then, he slowly began to remember why he was here. Annette had called him first, and then Caroline.

 And he had driven all the way from Rue de la Folie..

"Bad news..." 

He thought, flipping off the bedspread from his body. He walked out into the living room, and shouted Caroline's name. But, no one answered back. 

"Caroline!" He shouted. He had a mild headache that rested in his forehead. "Caro?"

He heard footsteps walking in through the door, and when he turned around, he came face to face with his own mother, Aurelia. 

She was holding a bag, and dressed in a white jumpsuit. She had two maidservants by her sides. One of them was Caroline, and..she looked different. 

Faintly, he recollected that she had been wearing a black dress when he arrived at the residence. 

"Mario?" Aurelia gasped. 

"Mom?" Mario scream with delight, and ran into his mother's arms. "You are alive, Aurelia."

"My son...Est-ce vraiment vous, Mario?" Aurelia cried, pulling him closer to herself. She could not believe her eyes. She dismissed the maids and rocked his body for as long as two minutes. 

"Oh. Where have you been?" 

"I don't know, mom. I thought you.., Caroline...she..." Mario tried to remember, but the words caught in his throat. He started to cry instead. 

Was that a dream where his mother's servant told him that she had traveled? 

"I'm well, mon fils. What did Caroline say to you?" She pulled Mario to a seat, and caressed his gold brownish hair. 

"She said you went on a business trip. Is that true? I thought something happened to you." 

Aurelia sighed, and hugged him again. "Right. I arrived this morning. I can't believe you came home, tu m'as manqué." 

"Tu m'as manqué aussi. I'm happy you are fine." Mario said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"It's been what now...deux ans.  I haven't seen you in two years!" She rubbed his palm, and told him to wait for dinner. 

"Right. How is work too?" He asked, trying to distract her from talking about the thing he loathed hearing. 

But, Immediately the words rolled out his tongue, Mario regretted it immediately. They never talked about work.

 Apart from the fact that it had always led to an argument, it was all too private. Too private for two 'strangers' to talk about. 

"Work will be perfect when you take over it." She started, and Mario slowly got on his feet. He started to wonder why he was there in the first place- Did Caroline trick him?

 The last thing he remembered was crying and asking for his mother, only to wake up on her bed, drenched in his sweat. 

"Since you are doing well, I think I should get going. I have things to do." He did a quick bow, and started to walk out on her. 

"Come back here, Mario!" She barked, running after him, but he was too fast. He had no patience left in him. If Aurelia started to talk about his getting married, and taking over the hospital again, he might really lose it. 

Mario got in his car, and tried to start it, but it would not start. He must have run out of gas. 

"Hé!, how can you just walk away? Just when I thought you came back to your senses?" Aurelia was by his door, hurling hurtful words at him. 

"I have my home, mom." He said, with an English accent. "You need to realize that your son is a grownup. I fucking have my own life to live!" 

"Quand cesseras-tu d'être un fils prodigue?" She barked, as he tried to start the car again. 

'When will you stop being a prodigal son?' 

It was the same thing Caroline had called him. She must say it often in the presence of her maids. She must talk about him to whoever cared, as often as she could. 

"When you stop forcing me to marry Annette and run the hospital!" He responded, his voice louder than he had intended. "I mean, I don't get it. I don't get why you are so keen on making life hard for me!" 

He laid his head on the steering and cussed. Someone must have done something to his car. It was not starting. 

Aurelia rounded his car and jumped in quickly. "I wonder how you have managed to survive for this long. What are you living on? Vegetables?" 

As if her words were not annoying enough, she added, "Haven't you come to succumb to my wishes? I thought for a second that you had changed."

Mario rubbed his head, seething with anger. ' feel so stupid. So stupid.'

"Oh. You have come for your credit cards then? No, I don't think so." Aurelia laughed, "I'm sure you remember you can't work a normal job too, since I have all your credentials here." 

"Mom, stop." Mario whispered, seething. "Just stop." 

"And what happens if I don't? You are going to yell at me, and walk away from everything, like you did two years ago, right?" 

Mario fought the urge to do just as she said. His whole body shook with something stronger than anger. 

"I mean well for you. For us. Annette's family is bigger than ours- they have control and connections everywhere, more than we would ever have." 

Mario shook his head. He was tired of hearing that story. He could not wait to get back to Rue de la Folie, and bury himself in his bed. 

"Why would you choose to be homeless and poor, when you have the whole world at your fingertips? Just why, huh?" 

Mario shook his head again. He suddenly felt some adrenaline surge through his veins, so much that, he fought back the urge to push her down the car and drive off.

"You got lucky, huh? Where on earth did you get this car, huh? Tell me?" She shook his broad shoulders and yelled in his ears. 

"I don't owe you that explanation, mom. Just let me go," He lowered his voice, "Please."

"You know how our profit is running down lately, after the defamation incident. We are lucky to not have the hospital shut down by now." She whispered, making attempt to persuade him for the umpteenth time. 

Mario held in his breath and asked, "So what if it shuts down?" 

"Excuse me?" Aurelia fired back. She could see Caroline leaning on a pillar at the portico. She had a smirk on her face. 

"I mean, we have investments, don't we? so what's the deal?" Mario found himself asking. It's not like his family could ever go broke. At least not in the next five years. 

"You won't understand, tu n'es qu'un enfant immature." Aurelia scoffed, staring at him, even though he wasn't staring back. Immature child. Prodigal son. 

"How can you understand when you have never worked so hard for anything?"

Mario scoffed and sent a deathful glare her way. Unfortunately, she was right. He had never fought for anything. He either had it or didn't. 

"I will make you understand. Ce n'est pas mal, to have more wealth, Ce n'est pas mal, is it?" She started, "Annette's family wants to grant me a contract. It will go a long way with finding back my feet. Annette loves you. It's only right that you marry her, because that's what they want." 

"And you don't care if i love her back?" He said with a small voice  

"What man wouldn't like that chick? She's perfect, Mario. Have you lost your eyes?" 

"It will do us both a lot of good. We will be happy and they will be happy. That way, I will still have my reputation, even after I hand over to you. Double profit for me." 

"I don't think that family means well for you." He whispered, but Aurelia laughed briefly, and said, "What are you talking about? Tu dois être fou!" 

'You must be crazy.'

Only in a few hours of visit, she had called him three to four different names. 

"If it hadn't been for her, I would be rotting in jail right now." She admitted.

"They only want to take the hospital from you. They don't have any international property, mom. They simply envy you." He said, matter-of-factly, but she was not having it. 

"What? They have a higher net worth, Mario. You know this. I can't possibly afford the new car Sylvia gifted Annette on her last birthday. You need to see it!" She said, pausing for effect. "Okay, I can afford it, but I would have to bust my life savings. I bet Sylvia didn't need to lift a hand to get that done." 

"I really hope it won't be too late when you find out who they really are."  Mario affirmed, holding the door open. 

"Stop saying nonsense." Aurelia sighed, and shut her eyes. For a second, she seemed vulnerable. 

"So, you don't wanna marry anyone, marry Annette?" She began, unusually calm. 

Mario furrowed his brows and sucked in some breath, before responding,

"No." 

Aurelia sighed and looked away. For a moment there, he thought he had her, but she turned to him again, and said, 

"Well, feelings don't matter. It is a marriage contract. Get married to her, and you can decide what to do with her after. I think all they want to do is make their daughter happy, and I don't see anything wrong with that." 

Mario was silent. He was going to stop trying to change her mind. 

"Maybe give her a mini version of you, and that might be enough for her." She blurted nonchalantly. 

"What? You are joking, right?" Mario was  taken aback by his mom's statement. Did she even care about his feelings at all? 

"It's simple. Marry her, give her a baby, or two.  Who knows? You might fall in love living with each other. It will make you responsible too. I'm sure you will stop drinking." 

With that, Mario got down his car, and punched it hard. His mother also got down and started to walk back into the house. 

"You cease to be my son from today." She shouted at him before slamming the door behind her.  

Mario sighed, and hit the steering with his fist. He watched her go, and somehow he caught a glimpse of the tears resting on her eyeballs.

Somehow, It didn't add up that his bossy and intimidating mother, had tears in her eyes.

Mario looked down at his tires and saw the damage done to them.

"Fuck this." 

Luckily, he had a spare one in his boot, and soon, he was riding back home, fighting with his thoughts.