The Reason For Secede

          'Is Drew our father?' Mac asked. 'We've had a long day, we'll talk about this tomorrow' Ville said.

          Ena sat on the comfort of the sofa in the sitting room, waiting for Mac and Ville to step in, she wasn't pacing because she had expected them to come late, Ville had told her in a letter earlier that they had gone to see their optician at Maryland for their checkup, which was a little bit bothersome because they go for their checkup quarterly and it was just about two months ago they did their latest.

          Ville stepped in first, Ena immediately turned her head towards the door from the locked posture it had been; hovering above her phone, 'welcome' she greeted.

          "Hi" Mac greeted Ena, "What's up", "How're your new lenses," Ena asked, Mac was looking confused, as he could not decipher what she was trying to say, Mac, replied, "new lenses?". Ville came in, we didn't go to change the lenses, just a minor checkup, Mac now understood,*ville must have told Ena, they went to the optician at Maryland* that's okay because no one wants Ena pacing around, her health could be at peril.

          Mac skimmingly moved up the stair to his room, he locked the door behind him and fell on the amenity of the bedding. He took off into the land of his delusion.

          Ena woke up early as she does on most Saturdays, she was supposed to accompany herself with waking Mac, but she wouldn't, *Mac and village should have had a long night* she felt, although her interpretation of having a long night was doubtlessly different from what it really meant.

          She let herself into the kitchen which embraced her in its warm aura, she reached for a bottle of cold water from the uppermost compartment of the refrigerator, ingested a gulp of it and left to begin her morning trot, she was already dressed in her sweatpants and a tank top.

          She left the house, the door closing up to the frame, she ran through the stair and started her jog up the alleyway.

       Mac woke up with the terror of the nightmare that he continuously had about what happened the previous day. He rose up to sitting position resting his back towards the soft-feathered pillow that found its support on the wall. When he gained full consciousness, he stood up, went to the bathroom to freshen up, and left for the sitting room. Ville greeted from the kitchen "Hey man", "morning mum" replied Mac.

          He walked into the kitchen to meet Ville, so they had egg benedict together during which Ena returned.

          "So about yesterday's question," Mac said. "Yes, about that", "huh, Drew is your father" Ville replied.

          Ena was just arriving on the landing of the stair when she heard Ville say "Drew is your father", although she had guessed he was, a million times in her stormy mind, she was still a little bit aghast. Mac on the other hand wholly knew the truth about his father, but furiously hates the fact that his father had left Ville during his birth. Mac stood up abruptly and walked directly to his room, his thoughts were like Titanic, where all his concerns had drowned into the anger he had for Drew.

          Ville was broken, She was the only one who had truly loved Drew 💯. But later turned all her love for him to hate.

********************

          "Hey man, it's been a week..." Tori said "...and I've never missed you more" Mac replied. Tori shortly blushed and hid it. They both walked to their homeroom reluctantly. "Guess what Tori, I was right about Drew been my father". Tori raised her eyebrow and neck, "you don't really get guesses, you know". "And won't you say anything", "about what..." Tori asked, "...what I just said", "there is nothing more to say", "except that, he must have a reason for leaving, so chill out".

          They hastened their steps following the bell ring order, all the students that had continuously revolved in the space of the hallways quickly drained themselves into their respective classes.

          Mr. Lounge their History teacher banged a massive history textbook on the metal table that was positioned at the front of the classroom, signifying the start of his class.

          "How was your impromptu break," he said,  every one muttered with no one giving him a direct answer, but all seem to use the moment to finish their earlier chat. The sound of Mr. Lounge voice caught everyone's attention back to the white marker board, which read "PROJECT III". They all knew the meaning, obviously, they had it in their scheme as a 3-week project, and most of them have been briefed by the seniors what the project is all about.

          "This is a project that you all are going to be dealing with for the next three weeks, which means it's has to be really comprehensive", a little murmur crossed the class and halted in a little time. Then he continued "You all have to write a minimum of a 30-page booklet about the history of your ancestors continent and compare it with the present happenings in the same continent".

          At the end of the class and he explaining all that they have to talk about in the project, he handed over pieces of paper that emphasized the project's content and left the classroom.

          The classroom turned into a cluster of students, it now seems as if more students have been added to the previous number. They all scattered themselves and formed a series of friendship groups. Some discussing the project, some about the school previous shutdown, while others gossip.

          Mac and Tori walked away out of the class, "This is a really difficult project for me" Mac said, "I'm an Asian African American" *poof* he busted out air from his mouth. "I can offer some help," Tori said. "Says the girl that won't start her project until next two weeks".

********************

          IN VILLE'S OFFICE: Ville was all around the place taking all the notes of the important information about the court case she has to handle. Her client will be appearing with her in court the next day so her work is so overloaded today. When she was almost through with her work, she went for lunch, during which her phone buzzed. She took the phone and unlocked it, and read the message from an unknown number. "Hey Ville, its Drew. Please, we need to talk about everything, when can we meet.

           Ville took a deep sigh, dropped her phone, but she definitely could not continue with her lunch, so she stood up and barged out of the glass door that kept ringing every minute. She walked up along the street pavement to her office building and took the lift to the twelfth story of the building. She walked straight down the hallway and open the door of her office, she was almost done for the day, so she picked her bag and went all the way to the parking basement to leave.

          She saw the Lauren neon sign that constantly flashed its light upon passers-by, she entered the door of Lauren restaurant and saw Drew sit at one of the round tables that were at the middle of the room that was covered in the aroma of different kind of staple french dishes. She walked straight down to him and opened her eyes, she was resting her head on the steering while she had dozed off, she sat for a little bit, then zoomed off home. Ena and Mac had been back from school before she got home.

          Mac was home when Ville arrived while Ena had gone for a house party"How was your day" Mac asked, "It was so tiresome", "I have a court case tomorrow at the D.C court of appeal". "Yh, that explains it all" Mac said.

          Ville went to her room and came out changed into her night robe. She and Mac ate dinner together while Ena came later in the night.

********************

          Mac strolled down to the library as Tori joined him along, and walked by his side. They secured their space on the upper floor of the library, while Mac stood up to the second shelf westward from where they sat.

          After the court case which was adjourned till the next month and gave her more time to super prepare to win.

          She drove down to DeLauren restaurant that was north the District Court, she took her phone and called the number that had sent her a message the previous day. "Heyy" sounded the voice from the other end of the call.

          "Are you still up for discussing, DeLauren" Ville replied. "Yeah" he repeated as many as he could in seconds and said, "I'll be with you in a bit". He drifted his car right along the road where DeLauren is, although he was not heading there previously, but how could he miss such a faint opportunity.

          What raced through his mind was how he was going to explain all that had happened, seeing her will give him a shadow of hope that his family is going to receive him back. But the same is going to have him say everything thing he has to, partially excluding classified information. As he stepped into the warm and delicious air of the restaurant that welcomed different aroma of French dishes from all corner of the building, the bell that rang above him, pressured his heart into pumping as fast as it possibly could.

          Sighting Ville increased his heart beat a little more. He paused to take a deep breath, then walked straight to where her table was. Immediately he sat down, a waiter came to him and requested for his order, he looked down to the table space in front of Ville and answered "same".

          "How have you all been," he asked. "We've been doing better than you'd expect" she answered. He paused for a little while and then to his surprise Ville said calmly "Why did you leave?". He looked directly into her eyes timidly, seeing her wanting to cry, busted his own eye as well. The waiter walked up with Drew's order, breaking their moment. Then Drew spoke, "I needed to leave, it was very urgent and import..." "...what was more important than staying by my side at the hospital when I was groaning a fading away in tears, trying to bring Mac to this world, then you didn't show up until after fifteen years" she laid emphasis on fifteen with tears dripping down to the top of her mouth.

          "I did it for our safety...", "here he comes again, you've said that a million times, before you finally disappeared for our safety"."iirhabiun were on my tail". They were trailing me and I had to flee from anyone that I ever wanted to be safe" I fled to Quantico's base to hide for fifteen years until it was clear I could come back to D.C, I would never have left you if it was for a less serious reason" He looked down to the table and continued "I love you" the words stroke Ville's ears and fifteen years became nostalgic, that was the words he has always been saying every day since they were together.          

The words brought back memories of old back, displaying it at her front. She excused herself to the ladies and cried so hard draining her eyes. She wiped her face and moved back to the table where Drew was. "I'm so sorry for everything, I didn't wish it to go this way, please forgive me". Drew said She raised her head to meet his eyes and said "I will never forgive you if there is a next time" then a smile crept onto her lips. Let's go home. They both led themselves out of DeLauren and drove their vehicle to the front of that American craftsman bungalow.