The Roommate Episode 12 © Eunice Ansah-Agyeman
Mina was simply inconsolable as Auntie Cassie continued to hold her in her arms.
Tearing up inside, Sabastian watched the woman he now knew loved with his very soul, broken and suffering. And, what saddened him most about the whole thing was that there was nothing he could do to dull the pain Mina was going through.
This sight of the grief-stricken Mina was what he was trying to avoid by keeping the unfortunate incident bottled up and now there was no turning back.
“M, please I’m sorry. Forgive me, please.”
“I trusted you, Bas. I trusted you with my life and this is how you repay me? Tell me it was your way of getting back at me for taking her on without considering you in the equation. I can take that but to tell me you did not know who you were shagging is a little too much to take, please.”
“I love you, M. I can never hurt you on purpose, you should know that by now. This is very unfortunate and I wish I could tell you what you want to hear. I’ve told you the truth, it’s bitter, unbelievable even, but that is what happened. Please find a place in your heart to forgive me. I’m deeply sorry for causing you this much pain.”
After a while, Auntie Cassie left the still-weeping Mina to the kitchen and came back with a cup of tea for her niece.
“Take this, baby girl. Drink all of it. It will calm you down.”
Sabastian knew he had to leave the scene since his presence only fueled the raging fire that was burning in Mina’s heart but a big part of him could not leave Mina when she was that shattered and lost.
He wanted so much to gather her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay, that she was a good person who did not deserve what she was going through, that he messed up. But he knew he had to give her time to grief, enough time to process everything and most importantly, time to heal from the pain that had taken over her heart and whole being.
To distract Mina, Auntie Cassie encouraged her to take a bath and by the time she was finished, Mina was feeling sleepy.
Sabastian was worried when Auntie Cassie returned to the living area and when he heard that Mina was at least sleeping, he asked to leave.
“It is quite late, Bastian. I can get you a place to sleep if you want. That will not be a problem at all,” Mrs Freeman said as she looked at the time on the golden grandfather clock hanging on one side of the wall.
“Thank you very much, Ma’am. I’m sure I can manage to get home safely. Thanks for your help today and sorry for invading your space like this.”
“If you insist, son. But do call or text when you get home to set my mind at ease.”
“I’ll do that Ma’am. Thanks once again.”
Mrs Freeman reluctantly walked Sabastian to his car and waited until he was out of sight before going into the house. She checked on Mina for a second time and then she retired to bed for the day.
***
The night air whistled as the red Range Rover Sport cruised by with a deflated Sabastian Anderson at its wheels.
He was beside himself with worry and looked really lost when he was stopped at the third police checkpoint. Rudely, he was asked to park.
Angrily, he parked at the shoulder of the road and waited as the spectacled policeman walked leisurely to the car.
He let down the window to the front passenger side and stared into the unfriendly eyes of the policeman.
The policeman wanted to know where he was going at that ungodly hour and he repeated the same answer he had given the other police officers at the previous checkpoints.
“I was helping out a friend in need and lost track of time. I have a dog waiting to be fed that’s why I didn’t sleep over.”
The policeman asked to see the insides of his car boot, fire extinguishers and his license.
Satisfied he was not a threat to anyone, the police officer let him go with a caution to be careful as all kinds of crimes took place around that ungodly hour.
The streets lay desolate as if the whole town had gone to sleep, as the red Range Rover sped through the town, with the driver battling with his present quandary.
And as the car moved along, he played over events of the past weeks in his mind’s eye. The part that pained him most was falling face down to the schemes of that uncouth lady he would never have slept with if the circumstances had not been manipulated. The mere thought of her carrying his DNA for life made his blood boil and for once in his life he wished he had not been brought up to be so principled as to not hit out at a woman.
Too late, he had come to realize that excessive alcohol intake was very dangerous. He had heard so many tales, well he had always believed they were tales until he found himself staring into Julie-Anna’s eyes when he woke from his drunken stupor.
Helplessly, Sabastian tried to remember how it all happened and if at some point he realized the woman with him was not Mina but as hard as he tried, that memory seemed to have vanished into thin air and that made him even more scared.
His heart bled when the part where Mina broke down totally with the knowledge that her fiancee had had canal knowledge of her coursemate, someone she shared a room with and considered a friend under her watch. That sight was something Sabastian knew would never leave his memory.
For a spell, Sabastian was not sure money was the only motivation for Julie-Anna’s schemes. He was beginning to think that there was more to her behaviour than the eye could see. It was as if she found pleasure when others were in a spot of bother.
He had read about something like that somewhere. Psychologists called it schadenfreude or something like that and it was said that people with low self-esteem were more likely to have it.
He also could not help but wonder if he had wronged someone who wanted revenge and had contracted Julie-Anna to do just that because nothing was making sense to him at that moment. The way she had switched to destructive mode towards him was very unsettling.
He stepped hard on the accelerator when he realized he was losing the car ahead of him, a car he was using as a shield or companion of sorts.
About fifty minutes later, he turned into the street that led to the house he shared with his mother and the silence around made him uncomfortable. It was so dead silent that he was sure a pin dropping would be heard everywhere.
Not wanting to wake up his mother who was a light sleeper with the car horn, he picked up his phone and was about to place a call to the security station when his phone went off.
Without much of a choice, he got out of the car and walked a few distance to tap on the gates. Then, when he turned to go back to the car, he came face to face with Julie-Anna.
“What the hell,” he asked, very surprised.
“You didn’t have to disrespect me like that earlier.”
“Go to hell, Julie-Anna. Go grab yourself a trophy and hit town with your victory dance. You have achieved what you set out to do. You evil soul.”
“I’m not always this calculating, Sabby. I just wanted to feel loved and cared for. You don’t know what’s like to live without money and a father’s love.”
“And you think the only way to get that is to trick me into sleeping with you and break the heart of the very person who showed you some love by sacrificing her privacy to accommodate you?”
“Don’t judge me, Sabastian. You have no idea what’s like to be poor.”
“I might not know what being poor looks like but I sure know that there is no excuse for what you did. And there are poor people out there trying to the best of their ability to turn their stories around with dignity while you are here thinking that the only thing you’ve got to offer is sex. That’s very pathetic. If it was just money you wanted, you could have just asked for it without going to that length with your charade and hurting everyone else in the process.”
For a spell, Sabastian could swear he saw tears in Julie-Anna’s eyes and was touched for just a brief second. He moved around her and made for the car and then her next words made him stop dead in his tracks.
“No, that is not possible,” he retorted without turning around.
“Please, it’s late. Let me spend the night here. I’m sure you can get me your servant’s room or your pig sty if that’s what is available. I promise I will not be a bother,” she said pitifully.
“What is going on here,” a coarse female voice said from behind them.
Sabastian turned to see the gates open with his mom standing between the two security officers on duty.