It should have been like this episode 1

❌ Do not copy this work, I repeat, please do not copy. Not that I can stop you but please, gain some conscience. ❌

🤩 Kemmy B. Gabriel Present Another rom-nce Novel: 🤩

💔 It Should Have Been Like This 💔

👩‍💻 Book One: falling south 👩‍💻

💜 Lavender’s viewpoint 💜

I scrubbed the top of the table as I hummed, scrubbing it hærd to get the stains out. Some people can eat like pigs, horrible pigs. And unfortunately, it was my job to clean it. Okay, not exactly my job, but the person doing it before got sick so I was to clean it and take her salary, until she is back to her feet. I accepted the offer with open arms.

More money for me.

I work in a hotel as a bartender. Used to be a hotel porter, but after I complained of the male guest always finding a way to smack my ass, I was placed in the bar. The manager likes me, don’t want me to go and that is the most lucky I had ever been.

“Jamila, are you still here?” Speak of the devil. I gave the table the last finishing scrub before I stood up and place my hands on my h¡ps.

“People can eat like pigs, no, in fact, people are pigs.” I sneered. He laughed from behind me before I felt his hand on my shoulder.

“Jami, the real problem is you, not the table,” I turned my sneer to him, “you are a clean freak,”

“No, I’m not,”

“Have you cleaned that table yet?” He asked, pointing at the last table, the one I hadn’t clean.

“No, but I’m about to. I’ll just…” He pulled me back before I took a step. “What gives?”

“Jamie, that table is clean enough, leave it alone. I don’t see what’s wrong with it,” I rolled my eyes, he knew I would never listen. You know, when I first applied to work in the hotel, I was made a cleaner. He promoted me because he got too much complain from the customers. Apparently, I chased them out of their own room and nag about how dirty they are.

I do not.

“Just let me clean it,”

“What am I going to do with you, Jamila? Especially now that I’ll be going for vacation? My replacement will blow a fuss with you,” he said with a chuckle. I pouted because it was true. Mr. Miller was a good man, been working as a manager for years and he did a great job. He barely took vacations or do anything with his family until I came along and convince him to remember his family.

Finally! He was going to be getting the vacation for his marriage anniversary.

“I’m not doing anything bad,”

“Jamie, don’t you have kids to return home to?” The only thing he knew could stop me. I gasped and slipped away from him immediately. They’ll be waiting for me. They don’t have a babysitter, I couldn’t afford one. Luckily, I risk leaving them with my neighbor who loves children. But since her daughter gave birth, she seem to visit her daughter and forget my children more often.

“Gotta go, bye, Mr. Miller!” I shouted.

“Say hi to the boys for me,” he shouted back. Always the boys.

I took a cab home but made sure I got bribery ice cream and pizza for the kids. I stared out of the window with a smile, enjoying the view of the beautiful city of Las Vegas. Since my savior helped me move here after erasing my existence as requested from me, I had live in Las Vegas with my children.

I can never stop being grateful to that man, even if he ended up forgetting I exist. At least, he helped me find a home and gave me money to begin my life. Lavender was dead, I went by my middle name and mother’s maiden name and since everyone who cared to check on me thought I committed suicide, they didn’t bother searching and I liked it that way. I didn’t want my past coming for me or my children.

Especially him.

The car dropped me at my apartment, the block of flat I live in. The building was poor, very poorly built and not a good place to grow kids, but it was better than being homeless. I had too much to deal with, especially with five extra mouths to feed. Okay, six extra mouths to feed.

I made my way into the building with my bags, swinging my house key in my finger as I whistled. I lived in the second floor so it wasn’t that difficult to climb up. The elevator of the gray building no longer worked. It was better it didn’t work before it killed someone or some people like my stubborn daredevil children.

I took in a deep breath, straighten my smile. Seeing them always made me sad because I knew this wasn’t the life they ought to live. They should be living in a mansion with people at their beck and call, toys that they won’t be able to play with, proper medication, feeding and clothes. They ought to be going to a good school, not sitting at home and waiting for me to get enough money to send them back to school. Their father was a billionaire or even more, but they were stuck in poverty with me. Eating from hand to mouth, scavenging for toys in dumpsters, wearing unsuitable clothes and battling with their health. Because of my lack of money and procrastination, their lives were being endangered. And it hurt more that they were contend with what they had and living with me like that.

And the most painful thing is how much they look like their father.

I opened the door to see the second youngest, standing behind the door with wide eyes, hands wrapped around her big doll like she would always do. Everyday, she would stand behind the door with her doll and wait for me. She barely blinks, and would never move out of the way until she sees me.

I almost died from shock and cried my eyes out for nights after I gave birth to them. I thought I was having twins, I didn’t plan for quintuplets. It took me by surprise. I couldn’t afford to care for five children on my own and I almost gave in to adoption, to selling them out, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t bare to do it. When I remembered the hours I spent pushing them, the months I spent tolerating the pains and complications that came with carrying five offsprings, the sleepless nights I had and the money I spent, I couldn’t give them out.

So there I was, parenting them myself.

“Serene, I’ve told you to stop waiting at the door like a dog for me,” I chuckled.

“But if I don’t wait, who will?” She asked, bouncing on her feet so I can carry her. The other one, the youngest, would always sit on the couch and wait for me.

“Mother!” The third shouted, “guys, mom’s back!” The youngest woke up with a jump and in a matter of three minutes, they took my bags to get the tricks while I had Serenity in my arms.

The eldest was Serafina, My darling smart baby girl that acted like a mother. She cared for her younger siblings when I wasn’t around and when I was. She was smart and intelligent, just like her father. Mature, responsible, sarcastic but caring. She would always take my bag in,side, boil the water for me to bathe and heat up the food in the microwave. Yes, she knew how to cook and she knew how to do it very safely, even better than my stepmother. Unfortunately, she looked exactly like her father, though she had my gemstone green eyes and sandy brown hair, but her father’s skin tone.

The second, Zachary, was every bit as mature as Serafina, but extremely clever and witted like his father. In fact, everything about him was his father. The gentle way he speaks, walks, eats, stares and work. Since they were all identical, they all had their father’s face but he looked more like his father than the rest of them. He had that bastard’s creamy blonde hair, winter grey eyes and bisque skin. Zachary had a very high IQ and at his age, he was already inventing. If he hadn’t stop school or if he had all the materials he needed, he would have built greater things.

Just like his father.

The third, Zyaire, quiet, intelligent and just himself. Sometimes he acted mature, sometimes he did not… Most times he did not. He loved videogames, skating, robots and shooting people. He was a character, something I was yet to figure out. He had my eyes but the rest was from his father.

Serenity, the last daughter but fourth of the quin, the sweetest and most caring one. She was everything a last daughter should be, everything I wanted her to be. She was kind and loved sharing, would always hold me and wait for me as you can see. She acted her age, eight years old. Had my hair and golden tan skin, but her father’s eyes was what I didn’t like in her.

I wish they just look like me.

The youngest, my sweet little sleep loving muffin, Zayne–like I mentioned. He loves sleeping, food and cartoons. He would always wait for me to eat whatever I buy before hugging me. Plus, himself and Serenity couldn’t go to bed without me beside them. Zayne mostly acted like a mindless kid, but he was intelligent, almost as intelligent as Zachary but not when it comes to computers. He had my hair but the rest was his father.

Unfortunately.

“Mom, I heat your bath for you,” Sera smiled. I nodded, ” don’t worry, the others have all taken their bath but haven’t brushed their teeth because as you can see,” she looked at her younger siblings stuffing their faces with ice cream and pizza.

Wait, where’s Zachary?

“Zachary is trying to figure out a algorithm to… What he said. I would bring him some ice cream, mom?”

“Sure,”

“How was work today?” She asked, following me as I walked to my bedroom.

“It was good, very…” I stopped at their bedroom door, opened the door partly and smiled, “good evening, sir,” Zach flinched from his seat. He was really immensely studying.

“Mom!” He dropped his pen and ran over to me. I’m not allowed to carry him so I just let him hug my body. “Welcome home, how was work?”

“Work is as it always is, stressful. How did online classes go today?”

“As you can see, homework,” I could never be more grateful to God for giving them to me. Instead of giving up when they stopped school, they made use of their old laptops and surf the internet for daily educational videos. Zachary, Zayne and Serafina did the learning and then Sera would teach the remaining two. It was the only way they could learn for now.

“Do you want pizza, Zach? Mom bought pizza and ice cream,”

“And you didn’t tell me earlier! Zayne would eat it all!” And with that, he ran to the small living room to fight for his share.

“Boys,” we said simultaneously and shook our heads. Sera did everything like me, even took over my cleaning obsession… Ur, I mean, ability to know when something needs to be clean because dirtiness is bad. Yes, that’s it.

After bathing, I ate what was left of the pizza before taking Zayne and Serenity to my bedroom to sleep. Sera already helped me brush their teeth. I sang them to sleep, k-ss their foreheads and went to the kitchen to feed their pet parrot, their highly intelligent pet parrot. Specially trained by Zach.

Zach was in the kitchen, sitting on the small low island with his laptop, Perry watching what he was doing in awe while Sera stood on a huge stool, washing the dishes. If those two weren’t so helpful, I would never have been able to survive. They started taking care of their siblings before they turned four.

“Perry, I forgot to give you your own share of the snack, cream cracker?” He raised his head quickly and spread his white and yellow feathers.

“Ooh, ooh, can you dip it in hot cocoa, can you? Can you?” He pleaded. I rolled my eyes.

“Eat it like this, tomorrow, I promise to make you hot mush mellow cocoa,” I promised. He nodded in agreement. I tore the wrapper open and drop it on the island for him to find his way. I walked to the old refrigerator to get him a glass of cold milk.

“Mom, are we still going to The Houston apartment tomorrow for game night?” Sera asked. The Houston was the a family of four we spend every Friday with for game night. Their children was nine and eleven by age, but they were the only family we associated with. I limited the people I talk to because the less people know me, the lesser opportunity of them figuring out who I am.

Because of that, I dyed my hair glazed strawberry blonde and wore black eye lens and even dyed the kids hair black to make it more difficult for people to s₱0t the resemblance between my kids and the all famous Rominic B. Verlice. They all also wore glasses they didn’t need, just to make it h-rder.

“Definitely.” I chirped, shutting the refrigerator door. Sera sighed, the kind of sigh she normally did when she wanted to tell me something she knew wouldn’t please me. “Sera, what’s wrong?”

“Four things, mom, four things,” I quietly walked to the island to drop the glass and the milk while she climbed down. Zach shut his laptop to exaggerate how serious it is.

“Okay…?”

“Mommy, the landlord came today, and not the friendly one that have been letting us live for free,” my heart skipped. I heard our old landlord sold our house. He used to let me live for free but after he sold it, he told me I would have to pay the new landlord or be kicked out.

“And he talked about the rent fee?”

“Mom, the man just kept shouting and shouting at us, not even caring if we are just eight,” Zach winced, “he called you all sort of names, really bad ones that I do not wish to repeat,”

What more than how I’ve been sleeping with the old landlord to avoid payment of rent?

“And he gave us until the end of this month to pay or he would be force to evict us out of his property,” Sera murmured. I inhaled and nodded. House rent added to my list.

“How much did he scre-m about?”

“The water bill, light bill, the money for the house renovation…”

“The total is $66,056,” my heart sank into my stomach. I didn’t have that kind of money, not at all. “And number two, the org-nization you borrowed money for Zayne’s surgery, they sent people over today…” I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from scre-ming out loud. “And mom,” Zach sniff back his tears, “Zayne showed signs today, symptoms that his sickness might be coming back, seriously. Mom, you have to finish his treatment before it’s too late. If his sickness come back, he would die.”

“I know, but the money…”

“And lastly, mom, Serenity’s chest…”

“God, no! Don’t tell me! What am I suppose to do!” I cried. “She stopped breathing again?” I sobbed. They nodded. “How many seconds this time?”

“Mom, enough to kill her the next time it happens,” I slowly lowered myself to the floor to sit. Zayne and Serenity were not healthy. Few years back, Serenity was diagnosed with some kind of disease that temporary tighten her lungs and sent pang of pain to her chest. I didn’t have the money to stop it, so I bought drugs to bury it. The doctor kept warning me against delay, but what was I to do?

I spent everything, sold everything and borrowed money for Zayne’s surgery. He got a bone disease, one I can’t explain but it paralyzed him. The virus was eating into his bones, his spine especially. I spent it all but I didn’t finish the treatment. The doctor told me it was dangerous not to finish it, but money is a problem.

“What am I going to do now?” I cried. I can’t lose them, I can’t lose my two precious angels. The doctors told me when they were born that Serenity and Zayne would have very weak immune systems, that sickness would threaten their lives and might kill them. But if they could successfully cross over to ten years, their system would become stronger.

Two more years, two more years to go.

“There’s a way,” Zach said as he dropped to the floor to sit. He placed his laptop on my laps and turned the screen up so I would see. I almost had a stroke when I saw the post, the headline.

THE AMERICA SWEETHEART AND SINGLE BILLIONAIRE, ROMINIC B. VERLICE, COMING TO LAS VEGAS TO FINALIZE HIS NEW HOTEL AND CASINO. IS LAS VEGAS READY FOR THE HANDSOME BACHELOR

The first thing I picked out was the single part. I never checked, never bothered to look at the magazines or watch the news about him, so I thought he was married.

What happened to Peyton?

“Wait, he is coming here!”

Yes, they knew.

Like I said, they are really smart and Zach is clever. He was able to see the resemblance between him and his father at six years old. Then he intentionally showed me magazines, talked about him to see my reaction. I failed. He found out and then made Sera force the truth out of my mouth. You can never lie to Sera, she’s like a truth hunting machine.

I told them everything but made them promise to keep the truth away from their younger ones. It wasn’t capable of scarring them because they are them, but it could break the others.

“Yes, mom, next week. Mom, I know you don’t want him to know about us, I know you rather remain dead to him and the world, but, mom, your children’s lives depend on him. He is the only way…”

“No!”

“Mom, listen to us, you need him because no one else would help you…”

“He can reject you all or try to take you all away from me through the law! I don’t have any money for a lawsuit! I can’t…”

“Mom, what choice do you have!” Sera scre-med, “mommy, Serenity and Zayne could die, I don’t want them to die.” She burst into a silent tears, same as Zach. They were kids after all.

“I will find a way, I will find a way to get the money but your father don’t need to know about me or either of you. Don’t try to force me, I won’t listen…”

“But, mom…”

“Enough!” To him I am dead, and I will remain dead. I rather watch my children die than have him find out about and claim them.

And that’s final.

💔

💔

💔

💔

To be continued.

And there you have it, the first chapter. What do you think of Lavender? Would you call what she is doing stubbornness or is her hatred and anger justify?

Drop your comment about her and remember