Chapter 111 - A Step Ahead.

Chapter 111: A step ahead.

Elixir watched with a neutral expression and keen eyes as her son came out of her ex-husband's house.

"Took you long enough, Jason" she murmured to herself.

Elixir reckoned it was a good thing that he wasn't drunk or out of his mind with anger. She really thought he would confront his father sooner but he waited until he was clear headed.

Or maybe because of the argument he and Tamara were trying to hide from her.

She waited until he got into his car and drove off before she came down from her car. She was wearing her jean with a leather jacket that gave her the gangster look except gangsters don't have an apple and a pen knife like Elixir did.

She wasn't about to miss a healthy snack because of James.

Elixir made her way into his compound, well technically it was hers since it was paid for with her money.

It was deserted. There was no gateman or servant around, she knew it was James' way of cutting down cost.

She almost made it to the door knob when the door opened and James came outside the bungalow clutching what Elixir assumed was a check.

"Hi, Jimmy" she waved at him like he was still the intelligent mind she fell for years ago, even when as far as calling him by his nickname.

"Lisa, what are you doing here?" James appeared surprised to see his ex wife in his house.

"Can't an ex wife stop by in a house she paid for to say hello, Jimmy?" Elixir looked around the premises taking in the details.

The house was older than she remembered, it needed some renovations too.

The algae on the wall needed to be scrapped off and repainted. The fence looked like it was about to fall apart.

All in all, it wasn't a place Elixir Yagazie would be caught dead in but she still remembered the first time she came to this bungalow.

It was the first time she met her future son, Jason abandoned in a pile of clothes on the sofa because Miranda and James went out to party too hard and forgot they had a son.

Elixir didn't forget it was also the first time she met her husband's mistress, Miranda.

James watched his ex wife. One of the greatest regrets of his life was their divorce. She didn't even look a day older than the day they met each other.

"At least you aren't pointing a gun at me" James murmured and opened the door for her to enter.

"When have you ever seen me show up with a gun if I have no intention of using it. I thought I taught our son that, James" Elixir said causally and entered into the living room.

"You knew was coming Jason here?" James asked her.

"Of course. What kind of a mother would I be if I didn't? Can you pour me a glass of cold fresh Pineapple juice, I have sincerely missed your blend, Jimmy" Elixir told him like she was conversing with an old friend she hadn't seen in a while.

"I gotcha you baby girl"

As James went into the kitchen to grab a glass of juice for Elixir, she took the time to watch his living room. It had a lot of portrait of his daughter, Queenie. There was a big picture of the girl standing near a classroom carrying one of the biggest text book Elixir had ever seen.

The girl was brilliant and Elixir had fought tooth and nail to get her son's sister into the best school in the United States. She had been proud of her.

Next, was a portrait of Miranda and James in a restaurant. Elixir was almost done when she found a portrait hidden under one of Queenie's childhood photograph.

Elixir stared at it for a while. It was a portrait of Jason. It was at his graduation, there was a red thread hanging from it.

"I have the juice, Lisa. And don't worry, i didn't poison it" James told her but when he saw the look on her face, he stopped.

Only an insane person would see that look on Elixir Yagazie's face and not take a step back or stop to rethink everything.

"I really didn't poison the juice. Here, I will even take a sip from it" James took a sip to prove a point but Elixir wasn't talking about the Juice.

"You were at Jason's graduation and you didn't even bother to congratulate him? You let him think that you didn't remember, Jimmy" Elixir said and showed the portrait to him.

"I wasn't but Miranda was. She kept her distance of course since Jason didn't know then that she was his real mother" James answered.

Naturally, the idea of referring to another woman as the 'real' mother of her son has never really gone well for anyone who ever said it to Elixir but she was more curious about the fact that James lied.

"I would believe you except for the red thread on the portrait. The child we lost - Michaela, this thread was from the cardigan your mother made for her, Jimmy. Did you put it together with our son's picture because you are mourning him too? Are you really the monster everyone sees?" Elixir stared at him wide eyed like she was seeing his true character for the first time. 

Like he hasn't betrayed her over and over again, it wasn't like she didn't except it from him but somehow, she was always shocked when he did something devilish.

"I am not mourning Jason. His portrait is there because just like Michaela, the child you miscarried, I lost him too. Both that thread and his picture is there to remind me of the children I lost because of you, Elixir" James yelled angrily.

"You blame me for the child we miscarried thirty one years ago?" 

Even though Elixir was fuming with anger, she didn't let it show. Showing anger was a sign of weakness she couldn't let James see.

"You must have done something wrong because other women don't lose a pregnancy by doing nothing" James said like he was stating the obvious.

Elixir blinked and dropped the portrait intentionally, and it shattered into a million pieces.

"Oops" she said with a raised eyebrow while looking at James.

She took the glass of juice from him and took a sip.

"Just the way I like it" She murmured and took another sip.

The sound of the door opening made both of them turn around, it was Miranda.

"Hi, Miranda!" Elixir waved like she wasn't face to face with the woman that wrecked her home.

Miranda froze. She was holding a pizza box.

"Elixir…what a surprise! Why are you here?" Miranda asked and dropped the pizza box on the dining table.

Elixir turned around and looked at James.

"You've not told her? What's wrong with you, Jimmy?" She turned back to Miranda like she was doing a favor for her.

"I am almost certain that Jason just exiled his father…right Jimmy?" Elixir asked James and she blinked.

"You put him up to it, didn't you?" James accused her.

"Nope! I haven't spoke to Jason in two days" Elixir said with a smirk.

"Then how did you know?" The accusation in his voice was so thick and suffocating that Elixir coughed just for show.

"Oh come on, if I found out that you tried to have my child killed, I would send you into exile too. You keep forgetting, jimmy. Blood is not everything but nuture is. I mean, I can't expect less from my son" 

Miranda appeared confused. And she looked to Elixir for answer.

"What is going on?" 

"I am hungry. This discussion is making me hungry. Can we please have Pizza?" 

Miranda blinked. Was she serious? She literally just told her that the man she lived with for thirty years was being sent on an exile by their son and she was asking for pizza?

"Miranda, I am waiting… it's the least you can do for wrecking my home" Elixir told her spitefully.

"Okay" Miranda sounded defeated.

She turned to enter the kitchen when Elixir spoke up again.

"How about we all eat together? Let's call it the last supper!"

Elixir knew she was playing mind games, masking her true feelings and making James guess about her motives.

Soon, they were sitting at the dinning table like James and Elixir aren't thinking of ways to murder each other. 

Elixir took a bite and cleared her throat.

"Ten years ago, my son…our son got his best friend pregnant and James here, went behind our back including Jason's to have the child killed" 

Miranda turned to James sharply to ask.

"Is this true, James?"

James dropped the slice of pizza and turned to Elixir.

"Oh stop pretending that you wouldn't have done the same! You are as evil as they come too, people don't see your horn hidden underneath your beautiful face, Lisa"

Elixir dabbed her mouth with a napkin. James didn't see it coming.

She grabbed his left hand and she took the pen knife she used to eat apple. 

James screamed as his palm was suddenly pinned to the table.

"Ahhh! Bitch!" He yelled.