Second

I returned to the house after my walking session around the neighborhood and saw my aunt seated in a wooden chair near her flower garden outside. I approached her.

"Where have you been, Gianna?” She asked me.

“Hello, Aunt, I’m strolling around the neighborhood," I said and kissed her cheeks.

“And then you get upset because they’re backstabbing you? Let them be, Gianna; they’re minding other people’s lives because they don’t have a source of income.”

“But I can’t help myself, Aunt, I want to punch their faces one by one,” I grumbled.

“Don’t pay attention to them; they act like that because they are insecure. You have grown used to it,” Aunt remarked.

“You should come inside and change your clothing, Gianna.” Then, as my aunt had instructed, I went inside my room and changed my clothing.

After that, I take my soiled clothes to the washing room to be washed. When it comes to my dirty clothes and undies, I wash them myself since I’m embarrassed if my aunt does them. I’m going to turn off my phone so Geoff doesn’t call me and insists on seeing me at the bar. He’s been acting like a jealous jerk the last few days, constantly questioning where I am, what I’ve been up to, and everything else.

Which terrified me; what if she expects something from me in return for her efforts in providing me with things? But I didn’t ask for it; he gave it to me of his own free will.

Meanwhile, I was sitting on my office couch, staring at the woman I didn't want to see. She is Maureen, a family friend who has a thing for me and continues suggesting that the two of us should be married soon. Is she hallucinating? I’d like to marry again, but not her. I usually tell her that we are simply friends and nothing more, but she is stubborn because all of my children are in her favor.

They have no sentiments; they don’t understand why I don’t desire Maureen and instead want someone else. She always follows me like a tail. She reminds me of a teenage girl who is obsessed with her crush. Right now, I want to send her on her way because the longer she stays, the more irritated I become.

"Please, Maureen, are you going to come here and bother me?" I asked.

"You are extremely inconsiderate," she said.

"You know, it’s office hours."

Then I saw she was disturbed by my words. I hurt her with my words for her to understand that I am not interested in her. She and my ex-wife are the same in that they are enthusiastic and loyal at first, but then they will abandon and never return.

So it’s frightening to gamble, not on the same person but on the same habit. I don’t want to go through it again after giving everything I had, yet she suddenly left me. Right now, they can’t even fool me. They are attempting to seduce me with their flirting techniques because they believe I’ve given them what they want. That was before, but that is no longer the case. They were not given a single centavo because from now on, I’ll stop dating women just for a fling.

However, Maureen's flirtatious voice interrupts my thoughts.

“What are you thinking, Marcus?” she asked.

“It’s as if your mind has wandered into another universe; I keep talking here but you don’t listen.”

“I don’t have time to entertain you, Maureen. Can’t you see I have a lot of papers to check?”

“You injured my feelings, Marcus.” She sobbed.

I was embarrassed by her outburst, it was so dramatic I didn't even hurt her physically.

“Don’t be so emotional here, Maureen. My staff thinks I harmed you. You should go home right now. I’m not paying attention to my work because you keep staring at me. The way you look at me, it’s like you’re trying to choke me to death."

She ran towards the door and slammed it hard after I said those words to her.

She has the tantrums of a spoiled adolescent. I was embarrassed since she didn’t act her age. I felt relieved when she went out and went home.

After that, someone came into my office. Luca was my firstborn.

“Hello, Dad," she said, kissing my cheeks.

“What brought you here, Luca?” I asked her.

“I’m only here to visit you. What is aunt doing here, Dad? I walked right through her, but she didn’t notice me,” she added, her gaze fixated on me.

“What have you done, daddy? Aunt Maureen seems angry.”

“I didn’t do anything, Sweetheart. Sit down,” I said.

“And what do you want, coffee or juice?”

She smiled and said,

“No thanks, Dad, I’m on a diet.”

She is a petite woman but she wants to go on a diet.

“Why is that?” I said.

“Does your lover leave you when you gain weight?” I asked her.

“No, dad, he is so in love with me for him to do that.”

I laughed because of her words.

Luca was a surgeon, and her lover was a lawyer.

“How are your siblings? They don’t come here often.”

“They are so busy, dad, and they said they would pay a visit if they had time.”

We didn’t live in the same house, so now that my only son, Timothy, is married, I'll give each of them their own house. My second one is Winter. She lives in a townhouse with her designs.

Winter worked as a fashion designer in another country but she stayed with us for good. When their mother hasn’t left me yet, the two of us live with Luca in my house. After Timothy married, they didn’t come to see me as often because he was occupied with his career as an architect and as a father. I have a grandson with him. That is why I wish to remarry because my children are preoccupied with their own lives and do not always look after me.

“You don’t have any work at the moment? That’s why you are visiting me?"

“Even though I’m busy, dad, I won’t forget to visit you. I know how to manage my time properly.”