Chapter 5 - Regret

Steve pulled his Mercedes to a halt and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose to what was across his window. He got out of the car, his mouth agape and behind his hand.

There, where Whitney’s beautiful house once stood, were ruins of ash and rubble. Police tapes ran across the yard like a crime scene on T.V. Steve put his hands in his pockets and shook his head slowly in pity.

A paperboy rode by and caught sight of him. He stopped his bike and gazed upon the ruins too. The big-boned boy took off his hat and put it to his chest.

“What a tragedy, huh, mister.” his innocent boyish voice sounded and startled Steve. “It’s a pity that both babes died.” his sympathetic words continued.

“Both of them are dead?” Steve asked back surprised. “You mean to tell me that both sisters are dead?”

“Yes mister, the youngest one died in the fire while the older one’s body was found in the woods. Because the sisters had no family apart from themselves, the whole neighborhood is holding the funeral this weekend. Did you know them?”

Steve slowly nodded his head with a distant look on his face. He tucked his lips and walked back to his car. Still in thought, he opened the door but paused before going in. Turning his head back to the boy, his eyes avoided the ruins.

“Do you know where the funeral will be held?” he asked.

The boy quickly gave him a nod and pointed forward. “It will be held at the neighborhood chapel.” he answered.

“Thank you.” Steve got into his car and drove away.

****

The funeral took place on a rainy day. Concerned and grieving neighbors were full in attendance. Alongside the neighbors were Mr Martin, Rose, Steve and Asher.

“We are gathered here to say our final goodbye to our beloved Whitney and Britney Stewart.” the priest said to the weeping group.

Rose tucked her lips and hugged herself. As soon as the priest said his prayer, men started to lower the coffins into the ground. Rose’s teary eyes caught sight of Whitney’s coffin going down.

A tight knot formed in her throat, and she took off running in despair to Steve’s surprise. She got into her car dripping wet and cried deeply.

The rain got heavy and the people dispersed back into their cars. Written on the tomb stone was;

‘HERE LIES TWO SISTERS OF LOVE, WHITNEY STEWART AND BRITNEY STEWART. RIP’

****

Back at the office, everything went back to the usual. All the interns were busy with their respective assignments. Most of them kept pacing all over the place carrying folders, books and perhaps balancing a cup of coffee at the same time. Phones rang, paper shredders shredded while clocks ticked. It was your average busy day at the firm.

Rose strutted majestically, as usual when she approached her intern, Rajat Mandhan. Rajat nearly splashed coffee out of his mouth at the sight of Rose staring down at him in his cubical. He adjusted his neck tie and swallowed hard whilst the other interns turned their gazes away.

“Do you have those files ready for me?” Rose asked him with boldness that dominated the air.

“N-not yet Miss Peterson but I will in a half an hour.” he stammered in a mild Hindu accent.

Everyone around stopped what they were doing and with pity in their eyes, they got ready to see another intern get fired for not meeting Rose’s deadlines.

Rose glanced at the clock and shifted her gaze back to Rajat. “Make sure you do.” her response dropped jaws and off she went.

Rajat breathed a sigh of relief and was met with a few pats on the back from his friends. “I know, I know, next time I might not be so lucky.” he laughed with them.

****

Rose swiftly made her way to the restricted lounge room. Upon arriving, she set her eyes on Steve who sat alone at the table with a distant look. His head slightly jerked to the side at the sound of Rose closing the door.

“I can think of a reason as to why you look so lost in thought, Stevie.” she teasingly remarked, but he maintained his silence.

Rose got a cup from the cupboard and flashed a smile at Steve who just continued to silently sip his hot coffee. All the coffee was out in the bowl so Rose was forced to brew up a fresh batch.

The awkward silence persisted between the two while Rose waited for her coffee. As soon as it was ready, she tilted the jug to her cup and allowed the hot content to flow.

It was only when the coffee spilled to the counter and got on her foot had she realized that her cup was full.

Rose wiped it away feeling flustered for having allowed herself to get lost in thought. She rinsed the cloth at the sink feeling even more awkward.

“You never really hated her, did you?” Steve broke his silence and Rose’s back stiffened.

With her back still turned to him, she hung the cloth by the sink bowl and picked up her mug. “She and I were not always foes. As a matter of fact, we were once best friends.” she turned and joined him at the table.

“What happened to you two?” Steve probed but soon dropped his brows in regret. “Never mind, please, I’m sure it is personal. Forget that I asked.”

“No it is alright. I do not mind sharing our tale with you. In order to answer your question, I must go down memory lane.” Rose smiled faintly at Steve and he got ready to listen.

“Hey, would you like to come with me to my house for lunch today? I promised my mom that I would bring the first friend I made home to lunch.” Young Rose said to Whitney.

“We’re friends?” Whitney asked her back confused.

“I’m sorry,” Rose shook her head nervously. “You are so nice to me, so I thought that we are friends.” she blurted out to which dropped her brows. “I have never had any friends before, so I don’t know how this works.”

Whitney cracked up laughing. “It’s okay, I have never had any friends either. Everyone here is too afraid of me to even consider me but whatever I guess.” She said and Rose stared wide eyed at her in surprise. “I’ll come with you for lunch. You will have to wait until I get out of detention though and maybe have your mom call mine.”

“I will be happy to wait for you and don’t worry, my mom will do just that.” Rose smiled widely.

Classes went fine throughout the day. Rose proved to be smart in class to which others murmured because Whitney was the brightest in class. Whitney on the other hand, rested her chin in her palm and looked on uninterested. As soon as class was over, she walked out without giving anyone attention.

“She is going to detention. I must follow her.” Rose quickly packed her books and dashed out after her.

Rose followed Whitney unnoticed down the halls until they came to a classroom filled with delinquents. Whitney pulled out her Walkman and swayed to the music with her eyes closed.

The moment she opened them, she screamed at Rose staring at her so close to her face. Whitney pulled out her headphones and placed her hand on her racing heart dramatically with her jaw dropped.

“You! What are you doing here?” she looked around and fixed her inquisitive gaze at Rose’s innocence.

“I am here to wait for you so that we go to my house for lunch. Isn’t that what we agreed on?” Rose fixed her glasses in place and took hold of her backpack straps.

“Yes but couldn’t you have at least waited outside, like in the library?” Whitney stretched her neck and looked over her shoulder.

“I am sorry.” Rose tucked her lips with moist eyes.

“Just sit down, here comes Mr Martinez. He isn’t a teacher you want to piss off.” she warned and Rose at down.

As soon as the other children saw him, they stopped their shenanigans and sat down like obedient toddlers in a Sunday school. Mr Martinez shot daggers at them and picked up a piece of chalk. With it, he wrote ‘Detention’ on the board and snapped the chalk in half at n.

“I better not hear a word from any of you for the next two hours.” he threatened and sat at his desk.

After two excruciatingly boring hours, detention was finally over much to Rose’s delight. Whitney got up and headed for the door with Rose right behind her.

“Hey kid, Rose right?” Whitney asked Rose and she nodded her head. “How far is your home from here?”

“Oh don’t worry about that. My driver will take us there.” Rose cheerfully dismissed.

“Driver huh, you must be rich.” Whitney lazily commented.

“There he is!” Rose waved at a middle-aged man standing by a Benz.

“Whoa! Look at that car. You really are rich.” Whitney marveled at it.

Getting to Rose’s home, Whitney looked in awe at the fancy white mansion. The yard was green with beautiful flowers. Water fountains of Greek gods added grace to the stunning home.

As soon as the girls were out of the car, they were welcomed by a red haired slender woman. Whitney took notice that there was a resemblance between Rose and her. Judging by the way she embraced Rose, Whitney concluded that she was her mother.

“I wonder what could make two girls such bitter rivals as adults.” Steve said after Rose was done narrating.

Rose sighed, “Well it all started when Whitney advised me to wear contacts instead of glasses. I followed her advice and looked pretty. My new-found beauty got the attention of the popular kids in school. They invited me to parties and sleepovers. Being an only child, I found comfort in having a lot of friends. I bailed out on Whitney but for some reason she understood and said nothing.”

“So, you spent lesser time with Whitney.” Steve remarked to which Rose nodded, ashamed.

“I only saw her once a week and that was only for a few minutes. One night during a sleepover, I told the other girls about Whitney’s crush on our homeroom teacher.” Rose finished her coffee and stared at her empty mug. “The girls decided to humiliate Whitney once and for all. I wanted to stop them but I was afraid to lose my new found popularity. So with a heavy heart, I watched them humiliate her during homeroom.” Rose wiped the tear that escaped her eye and she sniffed.

“How did she take it?” Steve beckoned.

“She confronted me but instead of standing up for her I,” Rose croaked and Steve patiently listened to her cries. “I told her that I never liked her and that it was impossible for me to continue being friends with a black girl. Whitney didn’t come to school for two days after that incident. Full of guilt, I rushed over to her house only to find no one. Her parents had died in a car accident and Whitney and her sister were taken into foster care.”

“That was awful.” Steve sympathized.

“I lost my chance to apologize to her. The next time I saw her was at Harvard. She ignored me and spoke sternly to me whenever I approached her. She called me racist and what not and it hurt me deeply. Whitney got so rude that I retaliated. In time, our rivalry grew but I didn’t mind. I was just happy that she was back in my life again. I planned on apologizing to her at some point but I guess I have lost that chance forever.”