9 Chapter 9

When Alex came out of the room, she came looking for Sasha but she was not there in the living room. She figured Aunt Bernie drove the kids to the mall.

She smiled. Eversince she was a kid, Aunt Bernie had always been generous. She used to buy her some clothes as well and had helped her in so many ways since she lost her mom when she was only eight. Her father was an alcoholic and had barely provided enough for her.

Her older sister was the only one she had as a closest relative and had basically raised her. But when she got married, she moved to New Zealand, leaving her alone again with her dad.

Life could have been better since Robbie and his family were there to support her somehow. But then, because of a stupid mistake she had made, it had never been the same.

Especially when she had Sasha... everything was differrent since then.

Suddenly her phone beeped and a text message came in. It was Sasha.

SASHA: Auntie drove us to the mall. She said she will be the one to buy me new shoes and clothes since I told her it is my birthday yesterday. Sorry for not telling you mom.

She smiled. Sasha never failed to tell her where she was and what she's doing every time in which she truly appreciated as a mom. She never had to worry about her every time she was out. She always sends her a message.

She texted back.

MOM: It's ok, honey. I'll see u later. Have fun!

She placed her phone back in her pocket and sighed. It was still surprising for her to think that in one day, their life changed. Yesterday, she was not even planning to bring Sasha to meet Robbie. It was never part of her plan and had always made excuses of not going.

But yesterday, she couldn't make up any more excuses not to go. Her bills piled up and they got evicted from their apartment. Her manager fired her because she wouldn't let a customer take her number, and he tried to harass her. The patron was a close friend of the owner and instead of filing a lawsuit, she decided to just leave.

She thought it was the best opportunity to see Robbie after ten years... and it was. Only if her pride didn't get in the way at first. But now, she didn't know if it was really the best decision she had made for both of them, especially on what Robbie said.

He didn't know the whole story of why she had to leave... and she wanted to tell him. Yet, with his accusation, she didn't know where to start. He had always been indifferent with Miguel eversince they were in high school.

Miguel was her first boyfriend... first love.. first everything and Robbie had seen it all. He knew everything about her and she couldn't hide the fact that Miguel broke her heart several times but she still clung onto him. But then, that was all she knew until the incident. It all changed after that...

She was busy on her thoughts while sitting on the swing. That swing was a witness to endless nights of her crying on Robbie's arms whenever she was heartbroken. This was their swing. It had been there for years and it's amazing how it never got torn down over the years. It might have been repainted and repaired several times, but it was still the same. It was restored to its glorious beauty.

She smiled. She was glad that Robbie had kept this swing no matter what. She leaned back and pushed the swing a little with her feet. The breeze blew on her face and somehow the stress of the day just slowly passed away. She closed her eyes, feeling the cool breeze throughout her body as she leaned her back against it.

Robbie stopped in his tracks as he watched Alex from afar. She had her eyes closed, head back on the swing and the cool breeze brushing softly through her skirt, exposing a little skin.

He tried to look away but he just couldn't. He remembered how that soft creamy skin felt under him before and he resisted the urge to just trail his hand once again on that thigh.

"Sht!" he cursed himself for even having these thoughts now.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, and started walking towards her. She didn't even move when he sat beside her on the swing.

"Alex..." he whispered, taking her hand in his. She turned her head towards him and opened her eyes.

"Did you finally come to your senses?" she asked straightening up, and she took her hand from him. "You're being an a-hole, you know."

Robbie sighed.

"I know and I'm sorry," he said.

"Good, you admit it," and she crossed her arms.

"Look, Alex, I didn't come here to fight, okay. We have a major problem we needed to solve."

Her eyebrows crossed. "What problem?"

"Mom is coming this weekend."

"What?!" That made Alex stood abruptly. The swing moved quickly as well and Robbie almost fell from it. "What did she say? Why is she coming? Did you tell her?"

Robbie stood up.

"I didn't tell her anything, Alex. Tito Bernie called her while we're both inside my office. He told her that Sasha is our daughter."

"Oh god!" and she placed a hand on her forehead. She suddenly felt everything around her was spinning. The last thing she ever wanted to see was his mother.

She wasn't ready to face her yet after all the things that happened before. She didn't even know how to face her.

"Alex... hey, look at me!" and he held her shoulders. "Breathe, Alex! Breathe!"

She was starting to panic and he could see how her breathing was going too fast.

This was not the first time he ever saw her panic like this. She used to have so much stage fright when they were kids and he was the only one who could calm her down every time.

Alex looked up to him and started following his breathing. Slowly, deeply, she inhaled and exhaled along with Robbie and soon enough, she was calm.

"You okay? Feel better now?" he asked after a few seconds later.

She nodded.

"She hates me, Robbie," she said.

"No. Mom doesn't hate you... maybe a little-"

"See.. oh god!" and she started breathing faster again.

"Hey! Don't worry, okay. Everything will turn out great."

"Turn out great?! How can you say something like that?! I cannot face her, Robbie. Not yet."

"I know. I actually didn't plan to yet. But it's already happening and we got to think of a way for her to convince that we're in good terms. She cannot know about our agreement."

"Yes, of course. So what do we tell her?"

"I have a plan."

"What's your plan? You got to tell me something, Robbie."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Trust you? I'm panicking here already, Robbie. You got to tell me what to do."

"Alex, it's going to be okay. We got this. Just follow my lead."

"Fine. But make sure this plan of yours work or I'll definitely carve out your balls, fry them and feed them to the birds."

Robbie scrunched his face in disgust.

"Are you serious?"

"Damn right, I'm serious!"

"Don't worry. It will work. It has to be."

But deep inside, Robbie was getting anxious, too as he started counting the days of the dreaded day that his mom will arrive.