Chapter 150 - Chapter(Hundred) Forty Nine: A Stupid Little Girl

Silence.

Curtains closed, lights dimmed, Navaya's body sprawled on satin sheets atop the bed, her twisted ankle propped on fluffy pillows, in the clad of silence. Sweet sweet silence.

Peace.

Even as she slept, a smile still tugged at her lips but it was ephemeral. Her once unperturbed slumber shriveled to nothing and it was all because of the repeated dinging of her doorbell, the annoying sound causing her head to spin. It was either that or she was having a hangover. It was probably the latter, judging from how much alcohol she gobbled up the night before.

She stirred to lay on her side, planting her face on a pillow to drown out the infuriating sounds coming all the way from downstairs and at the same time, to stifle her own irritation. If it hadn't been for the skull-splitting headache or the ailing pain of her twisted ankle, then Navaya wouldn't have been this irked by the atrocious upheaval to her rest. She would have been more tolerating.

The dinging of the doorbell amplified, fleeting her precariously close to irrefutable chagrin.

Letting out a guttural groan, Navaya sat up on the bed and ran a lazy hand through her hair in an effort to spruce up her hair in its bedraggled state. Gently, she crawled out of the soft, cozy comfort the mattress bestowed her with, wincing when her feet met the floor.

With no one to assist her, the only option she had was to hop her way downstairs, making sure to maintain a proximity to the wall so she would have something to support her careening frame and deter the chances of falling.

"This better be worth it," Navaya grumbled under her breath. Clutching onto the railings of the staircase, Navaya hopped on one foot. The venture was onerous but by some incomprehensible means, she still managed to look lithe while doing it.

She staggered as she got to the front door— the source of the exasperating sound. Lurching, she unlocked the door but somehow, her already sour mood plummeted even more.

" Finally," said the woman at the door, pushing through the block that was Navaya and ambled her way inside the house. " I almost thought you wouldn't have the courtesy to open the door." 

Navaya's eyes twitched as she sucked in a harsh breath, shutting the door. 

" Is that perhaps another way to say 'long time no see' in one of the many languages you speak? Huh, mom?" Navaya retorted, leaning her back on the door frame for support. Although Navaya didn't expect her mother to give her a greeting hug— that would just be simply out of her mother's character— but the least she wanted was not to be anymore vexed by this impromptu visit or she vowed to make it transient.

Hopefully, her mother had taken the time they had spent apart to make some adjustments on her condescending attitude and probably isn't as closed-minded as she used to be. Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

Navaya's gaze stayed pinned on her mother, Kalisa Cole. Elegant in a knee-length straight-cut dress that gave unsubtle emphasis on the curves of her body. The golden sheen of her bronze skin was almost iridescent in the light of the room. Her lashes were thick and with her wooly hair held in a puffy ponytail, it was factual to say she was beautiful. But then again, how wouldn't she be when she allotted more of her time into improving her looks and public image than into caring and raising her own daughter.

Kalisa surveyed the place, her pale brown eyes scrutinizing everything in sight and the sight of her mother doing so now, instantly transported Navaya back in time. Back to a time when Kalisa scrutinized and criticized anything Navaya did as much as to lay her finger on. Back to her childhood.

From the way Navaya sat, spoke, dressed, down to what she ate and the sports she played, Kalisa always seemed to have a problem with everything, everything that could possibly make her look bad in the public eye. 

It was always criticism like; Navaya, don't eat so much. You are a young lady, not a starved goat. Or things like; don't join the football team, Navaya. It would just make you bulky like a man and we both know your small body is the only thing feminine about you. 

She constantly saw something to change, something to fix.

Something to correct.

So much so that the real Navaya— the part of her that she had always been made to stow away— would ostensibly never be enough for Kalisa.

" When you were adamant about forfeiting our family's business, I honestly thought you were chasing greater prospects." With full lips that were now thinned to a line, Kalisa swerved her gaze to Navaya. " I guess I was wrong." 

Still leaning by the door, Navaya's hands curled to fist, her nails biting into her palms in hopes that the stinging would quell her simmering temper. 

" How did you get my address?" Navaya asked, making sure the displeasure was apparent in her tone.

Kalisa stared at Navaya from head to toe. Dressed in nothing but a plain cream-colored top and gray shorts, Navaya was no way close to looking as chic as her mother did.

It made Kalisa's lips twitch in distaste.

" That should be the least of your concerns. After all, I don't think I would be able to stay " Kalisa gave the place one more thorough look, " here. But I suppose this is all your budget can afford."

The house was a five-bedroom duplex but Navaya wouldn't be surprised if her mother saw it as a paltry slum. 

" Then I guess you should be leaving now or perhaps you shouldn't have come in the first place." Right now, Navaya clenched onto the last threads of her sanity, the rage seething within, hot enough to fry her veins. But despite that, Navaya still made commendable feats to ape emotional equilibrium, her expressions composed. The last thing she wanted was to let her mother get into her head again.

Kalisa, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind Navaya's tone or her choice of words. She simply didn't care, she never did before and definitely wouldn't now. How Navaya chose to vent out anger wasn't the least of her concern because all that truly mattered was the pristine image of their family's name. For years, she dedicated her time into upholding that strong image, for years she had made sure to keep Navaya in line so she doesn't ruin what generations had labored to build from scratch with her ludicrous youthful needs and wants. Her tantrums as Kalisa loved to call it.

It was bad enough that she wasn't able to bear the son her husband truly needed, stuck with a brat of a daughter. But what she wouldn't tolerate is if that same daughter imperils the family's progress with her recklessness and personal desires. 

She gave Navaya time to become sensible, three years to be exact, now that time was up.

" I will leave in due time but right now I want to speak to you. Ever since you left, your father hasn't been the same." She took a brief pause. " Our family hasn't been the same." 

" And you just had to come to my home unannounced. Couldn't you have told me this over the phone?" Navaya shot back, channeling all the frustration she had endured in her parents' hands that had slowly accumulated over the years.

" Like you would pick up if I called." Kalisa clicked her tongue.

" Well, maybe I might consider picking up if you took a break from calling my decisions stupid." Navaya's anger rose, conspicuous in her tone.

" But they are stupid." Kalisa looked Navaya straight in the eye. " Stupid decisions made by a stupid little girl."

For a moment, Navaya stood frozen to the spot, lost for words. 

Stupid little girl? Navaya's heart squeezed as the derisive slur echoed in her mind over and over and over again.

A stupid little girl. 

It hurt to know that till now that was all she was in her mother's eyes, a stupid little girl.

Navaya's eyes burnt with the tears she smothered as she stared at her mother who was clearly void of rue, who clearly didn't regret her words. With her back straight and chin held high, Navaya would say her mother didn't feel a speck of guilt. 

" After all these years, Mom." The painful knots forming in Navaya's chest were so tight, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't even finish her statement.

" After all these years, I remained realistic while you, on the other hand, still seem to be doused in your make-believe world. When you finally wake up to reality and do away with that thug you call your boyfriend, you know where to find me. " 

Thug? Navaya wasn't in the mood to rebuke her mother's words about Ace or even tell her that they were no longer together, her parents' disapproval towards him was one of the reasons that instigated her to date him in the first place. She did it to provoke them. But right now, all Navaya wanted was to go back to bed and be alone but for that to happen Kalisa had to leave.

Navaya sucked in a harsh breath, wincing as she hopped to the doorknob. Gripping it firmly, she opened the door wide.

" You have said all you came here to, now I think it's time for you to leave." 

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