chapter 34

                                    

                                          
"Mum listen, I'm coming home for Ruth's wedding not to introduce someone into the family. So, whoever i come with is none of your business,"
Raymond said to his mum over the phone.
                          
Raymond was at a bar with Bright that night. Bright had excused himself earlier to use the bathroom.
                          
Raymond's mum had sandy hair like Ruth and brown eyes. Grey hair had started sprouting out as she was in her late fifties. Raymond was really close with his mum rather than his father. The only conversation he always had with his father was talks about business. His parents lived in their big mansion in Las Vegas.
                          
His mum laughed. "Look son, any woman you bring over to the house will always be my business okay. Besides,you've never brought anyone home with you for ages."
                          
"Whatever," he said with a scrowl on his face, tapping his finger tips lightly on the table.
                          
"So anyway, who will you be bringing? Is it someone we know?" His mum asked.
                          
Raymond let out a sigh and said. "You'll see her on Friday, so please stop calling to ask if I'll be bringing someone over."
                          
She chuckled lightly. "Alright son, I've heard. I guess, I'm just happy that you're finally bringing someone home,"
she told him.
                          
Raymond shook his head lightly, rubbing his forehead. "God! Can't she stop already." He murmured.
                          
"You know, i've really missed you son. You hardly come home at all," she said in a sad tone.
                          
"Really mum!" He raised a brow.
"I was just home last week."
                          
"And you only had to stay for a night."
She complained.
                          
"Well that's because I had to leave early for work," he told her.
But that wasn't the reason why he would always leave early. 
The fact was, Raymond always felt uneasy going back home because it reminded him of her.
                          
The beautiful, dead Ella.
                          
Ella was the woman Raymond saw in his nightmares. They grew up together since they were young and he loved her but she died before he ever had the chance to profess his undying love to her.
Since Ella's death, he had seldom gone back home. It was rare for him to stay more than two days, and he always came alone. 
                          
The first time he came back home when he heard about Ella's death, he was raw with grief and agony. 
Everyone expected him to weep like a madman while lying on her grave but he laid there, filled with pain, regret and a broken heart without shedding a tear, not even a tear drop flowed from his eyes.
                          
His love was consuming and his pain threatened to eat him alive.
Ella was his heart.
She was his breath.
She belonged to him.
But he never told her.
He never said goodbye to her.
In the end, death had taken her from him.
                          
He would wander around the house and her grave like a ghost, hearing her voice echo in his ears, catching a whiff of her scent everywhere, as if it was inside him. Her sudden death left him broken, bitter and miserable for months before he was able to pick himself up and move on.
                          
But he couldn't move on.
                          
Grief turned to fury, a raging flood of anger that he drowned with liquor and solitude. He was filled with anger, angry at himself for letting his selfish goals come between his love for Ella. He had the chance to be by her side on her last days but he ignored everything as he sought out to pursue his dreams, dreams of being a successful artist and a businessman.
                          
But even rage passes. The hole it left in him was consumed by loneliness. Loneliness that dug deep into his broken heart. To keep himself sane, he threw himself into his work and women. But the women eager to comfort him didn't interest him.  Sex had never driven him. Control had.
He had no wish to love another woman. There would never be another Ella.
                          
He used sex as an escape from his aching heart but sadly, he always ended up having nightmares. Nightmares that reminded him of Ella, reminded him that she was meant for him, reminded him that she was dead and he was never by her side. And then loneliness turned to fear.
                          
"You're always working too much Raymond. Look at your brother Michael, he always makes out time to come home with his wife despite their work schedules," his mum said, her voice dragging him away from his thoughts.
                          
Michael was Raymond's elder brother. Unlike Raymond and Ruth, Michael carried much of their fathers' feature.
He had beach blonde hair and hazel eyes. 
                          
Raymond let out a frustrated sigh as he raked a hand in his hair. "Well unlike Michael mum, i have a gallery to run. And besides he ....."
                          
"You always keep giving excuses." She cut him off quickly.
                          
Raymond sighed, arching his brows.
                          
"I've really missed you son." She sighed over the phone.
                          
He smiled."I know mum, I've missed you too."
                          
"Can't you come home on Wednesday?" She insisted.
                          
"I can't mum, I'll be going to France tomorrow and won't be back till Thursday. That's why I said I'll be home on Friday." He explained to her.
                          
"Alright then, have a safe trip and try calling me more. I'm always the one calling you."
                          
He chuckled."Look mum I'll call you back later, I gotta go," he said as he saw Bright walking towards their table.
He was glad he found an excuse to end the call or she would continue to complain and nag him.
                          
"Alright son, love you."
                          
"Love you mum." He smiled warmly and hung up.
                          
"Who was that?" Bright asked taking his seat as he grabbed his glass of tequila.
                          
"My mum." Raymond replied, placing his phone on the table.
                          
"Hmm." Bright nodded, gulping down his drink. "So, have you figured out who you're taking to the wedding?" Bright asked, placing the glass on the table.
                          
Raymond shook his head slowly as he leaned back on the chair, folding his arms.
                          
"Seriously dude!"
                          
"Look man, i'll find someone okay," Raymond said with a frown as he rubbed his temple.
                          
Seriously, he was getting tired of everyone asking him who he was bringing to the wedding. It's just a wedding not the Queen's coronation.
If only Sophia had agreed to come with him, he wouldn't be going through all these stress. 
                          
"Fine, but it better not be a stripper or Ruth's gonna kick your ass again," Bright told him. 
Bright was there on Ruth's graduation ceremony and he had warned Raymond against bringing in the stripper.
                          
"Shut up." Raymond laughed.
                          
"Do you still wanna go to the club tonight?" Bright asked.
                          
"Nah." Raymond shook his head and grabbed his glass. "It's raining like crazy out there and besides, I gotta head home and pack for my flight Tomorrow," he said and took a sip of his drink.
                          
"Alright then," Bright said with a nod and called the waitress to get their bill.