Chapter 16: Visitation

Justin.

"Why are we here?" Tiffany asks me.

"I told you, it's my mom's death anniversary," I reply as we walk towards her stone tablet.

"I mean, why did you bring ME here," she emphasized.

"I didn't want to come alone, I haven't visited in a long time," I lied, I visited her a few months ago.

That should count as a long time, right?

Tiffany didn't day anything, we stop in front of my mom's stone tablet.

"BRENDA HARRIS, A LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER"

Being a loving wife costs her her life.

"If I had known we were coming here, I would have brought flowers, and you didn't even bother to bring one either," Tiffany tells me.

"My mom hates flowers," I say, and she fell silent again.

"How did she die?" She asks after a while.

"Cancer, blood cancer," I reply, my voice a little hoarse.

She already suffered enough, and God just had to shorten her life with cancer, but I honestly don't know if staying alive would be worse than dying when it comes to her.

"Sorry," Tiffany sympathizes.

"It's alright, let's go," I say and turn away.

"Don't you want some alone time with her? We were barely here," Tiffany asked me as she followed behind me.

"Nahh, I'm good," I say, and she sighs. "Did you talk to Mrs Willow?" I ask, changing the topic, and I could feel her stiffened behind me.

"Yeah... im definitely not making the front page this week," Tiffany answered, The strain in her voice was evident.

"You should have," I say, because I know how much effort she put into writing that article.

She even fake dated me for it. Her name should be on the front page. It must really hurt.

"It's not the first time I'm losing to Larry, Not really bothered," she shrugged.

I pause and turn towards her. "If you weren't bothered, you wouldn't have run away and isolated yourself. All that effort you put only to amount to nothing must really hurt. It should hurt. It's okay to feel sad, Tiffany," I tell her.

"I'm not sad," Tiffany stubbornly replied.

"Yes, you are, and once you accept that, you'll feel much better," I say, and she chuckled dryly.

"I did everything, I wrote exactly what people wanted, just like Mrs Willow said, so why? I just don't understand," Tiffany pressed her lips together, clearly suppressing her tears.

I move towards her and engulf her into a hug. She stiffens in my arms, but at least she doesn't pull away.

"It's okay," I tap her back slightly.

Tiffany buried her face on my shoulder.

_

I came back to the house after I dropped Tiffany at the apartment she shared with Ava.

This was the first and only time I've seen her cry even though I didn't see her tears falling. Her eyes were pretty red by the time she pulled out of the hug.

I wasn't just comforting her with that hug, I was also comforting myself.

I really needed someone today, and maybe I was a little selfish for bringing her to see my mom with me when I know she already has her shit to deal with but I just didn't want to visit her today alone like always.

"I'm ordering Chinese food for dinner. Do you want some?" Aaron asked me after entering my room uninvited.

"Not interested," I say to him.

"Oh, C'mon, you don't have to starve yourself just because coach is kicking you off the team," He said, and I glared at him. "What? Everyone in the team knows you're getting removed after this season,"

"Get out of my room." I snapped at him, and he raised his hands in surrender.

"I would send your Chinese food to you when it's delivered," Aaron informs and walks out. Just when I thought he was gone, he put his head through the door. "If you play well enough this season, then couch won't kick you out,"

I picked up a pillow from the bed and threw it in his direction, but unfortunately, he was faster, and it hit the closed door.

"Dickhead," I mutter under my breath.

Aaron just don't know when to stop and that's one of his biggest problems.

His idea reminded me of Tiffany's idea, she said the exact same thing too.

I pick up my phone and message Tiffany but it seems she's already asleep.

I wonder why she didn't make the front page, Though I didn't read her article, I know she did a wonderful job.

I slump on the bed with a sigh, closing my eyes briefly.

Tiffany's image forms in my head, and I quickly open my eyes. Hell no.

My phone vibrated beside me, and I rushed to it. A little part of me hoped Tiffany had replied to my message.

My face fell when I saw it wasn't Tiffany but my dad.

Bryce: Today is your mother's anniversary. Did you go see her?

Why did he care all of a sudden? He never asked me this before because he had never once visited her since she passed.

He barely spent 30 minutes with me or her during her funeral.

My eyes slowly turned red at the thought, and I squeezed my phone in frustration.

He ruined her life till she passed, and now he wants to do the same to me, I won’t let him. Never.

I blocked him immediately. Something should have done a long time ago

Better late than never.

I stood up from the bed and walked to the bathroom to have a cold shower, I heard the door to my room open.

Probably Aaron came to drop off the Chinese food, I'm just glad I just don't have to see his stupid face.