Chapter 16

                                    

                                          
The memory of Jake leaving our home was still fresh in my mind. A month after mummy's death, Jake has changed and turned into someone else. He became a quiet person and always spent his time doing his own work in his own room. We used to play together, but now he ignored me and I didn't know the exact reason why he was doing so. We were both no longer close and we behaved like a stranger.
                          
On one particular evening, I had been told by Daddy that Jake was leaving all of us and went to boarding school in Britain. Being a six-year-old child, I still couldn't understand everything that happened in our family. Daddy stated that my brother was sick and he needed a special treatment to regained his poor health. 
                          
"Jake! Jake, don't leave me. Please..." I cried out loud and pleaded with him not to go while running down the stairs and walked out the double door of my house.
                          
Jake was standing silently beside the vehicle whilst waiting for the workers to load his luggages. I approached him and hugged him very tightly from behind. "Why must you go?" I questioned, hot tears slipped down my cheeks. My face was buried in Jake's shirt, which was now wet with tears.
                          
I tilted my head back and shot a glance at Daddy and Jenny, who were standing infront of the door. I noticed every eyes were gazing at me in an apologetic look. I was waiting for Daddy to say something but all he could do was opening his mouth and immediately closed it .
                          
Jake slowly turned around and held my small hands in his palms. I tilted my head up and looked into those baby blue eyes. His eyes began to fill with tears and reddened, and there were dark circles under them. "Say something," I urged him so low that he almost couldn't hear me as I grabbed the hem of his shirt.
                          
Struggling to held back tears, Jake sniffed a few times. He wrapped his arms around me running his hands through my hair. "I'll see you soon." He said at last, his voice hoarse with suppressed emotion.
                          
Jake went into the vehicle and left our house compound, leaving me, leaving our memories, leaving everything behind. At that time, I plopped down on the tile floor, dumbfounded and cried his name under my breath. 
                          
I felt like someone was shaking me but there was no one beside me. A soft voice was calling for me, "Miss? Miss?" 
                          
As I looked up in the direction of the voice, everything went blurred and turned so bright.
                          
I slowly opened my eyelids, although it was hard because they were glued together. "Miss, are you okay?" A young lady asked, her voice was filled with concerned in a strong British accent.
                          
My head slowly turned to the right and her green eyes were fixated on my face. I shook my head yes and managed a weak smile, she offered a weak smile in return before stated, "Jake. You call his name severally."
                          
"I do?"
                          
"He must be a very important one to you." The young lady pursed her lips together in what I knew was meant to be a smile as she sipped her tea before putting it back on the table.
                          
Her word left me speechless for a few moments. I turned my head to the left and gazed out the window of the plane. I had a dream about Jake just now and that dream was so vivid. It was a devastating day for me where I lost my one and only brother after a few months of the death of our mother. He left me alone without the love and care from a brother to his little sister. Some night I cried all by myself under the pillow and hoping that he will came back and be by my side which I knew it will never happened. It took a very long time for me to accept that everything had changed after the lost of our beloved Mummy. Those four simple words of him, how could I ever forget it?
                          
I stared into the darkness while the plane flew deeper into the Pacific night, then turned my gaze inside, back to the young lady with cascading blonde hair. "He is my brother." I murmured.
                          
"I'm sorry, forgive my rudeness and intrusion before I did not introduce myself." She introduced herself as Monica and she was from Plymouth.
                          
We would talk about random topics from fashion, to interior design, to foods. Monica was younger one year than me and she seemed delighted to hear that I was into interior design. We mingled and really got to know each other as friends over these few hours. First time meeting experience with the young lady, she asked me to exchange our numbers.
                          
Our conversations were interrupted by the announcement made by the lead flight attendant as we were approaching our destination, Heathrow Airport. "Ladies and gentlemen, for your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign." Monica and I did everything according to the instructions and said our farewells before parted ways.
                          
I walked out of the airport and were embraced by the beautiful cold weather of the city. I hailed a taxi and the taxi driver took my suitcase and put it in the trunk.
                          
The taxi driver looked in his rear view mirror when he asked me, "where do you want to go, love?" I sat back and gave the driver the address where Jake's house located while enjoying my ride through the streets of London.
                          
As we drove up the street, the kernel of a thought flew into my mind. I just realized that I didn't know what to say to him. We weren't so close anymore because we were only met on special occasions like Mummy's funeral day and Christmas Day. If it were, then there would cease to be a need for the term. Without realizing it, we have arrived on the doorsteps of his house.
                          
I was standing firmly outside his front door whilst looking outside the house from the door and I saw a beautiful garden with flowers. My arm raised, finger pointing towards the doorbell, yet I was still doubting myself by having the courage to face the future that await for me from the other side of the door.
                          
"Hello, may I help you?" My train of thought was interrupted as I was astonished by the unfamiliar female voice and mistakenly pressed the doorbell.
                          
My eyes widened in shocked as I cussed under my breath. "Shoot."