ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN

SHIMMER'S POV

"She's awake! Dad please come, mamma is awake!" I heard from far away, Arianna's high pitched voice calling.

My eyelids were heavy but I still managed to force them open. The light shone brightly in my eyes, and it was too much for me, so I shut my eyes tight and winced in the pain that came from my throbbing headache.

"Switch off the light. Close that curtain, Dylan. The light is too much for her," I heard a voice giving instructions.

"I saw her opening her eyes," Arianna said.

"Did she?" Roderick sounded doubtful.

"She's awake! I saw her opening her eyes and she closed them again."

"Ok, Dylan, call in her doctor. Let's take a look at her."

***.

In a very familiar place, our own de Milo Hospital VIP ward, I lay on a bed, feeling very sick. What happened to me? I looked around and saw right next to me, Roderick, smiling. Next to him I saw Arianna, and I saw Dylan standing at the foot of my bed. What happened?

"W...what hap..happened?" I stammered in great pain.

"Take time to rest, Shimmer. Don't strain yourself," my husband rubbed my shoulder gently.

A sharp pain struck across my forehead, feeling as if someone had hit me hard with a sharp axe. Oh, I winced in pain. I wanted to touch my head and rub it, but my hand seemed to be too heavy for me. It totally refused to move when I tried to move it. What the hell happened to me?!!

"Mum? Mum, how are you feeling?" Arianna came close to me and rubbed my hand. She took my palm in hers and sat on the chair next to my bed.

And slowly…a video started playing in my mind…I saw myself smashing a laptop on the walls. I did that? Did I; or I dreamt about it? Why did I smash the laptop? And a painting too? Did I smash the painting of Dylan? Why? Why did I do that? Dylan, my lovely only son; why on earth would I smash his portrait?

Oh…oh ok. I remembered. Oh…there was a wedding. There was a wedding? Did the wedding happen or it was yet to take place? Who did he marry? Who did my son get married to? My eyes went to Dylan. I looked at his ring finger. Yes. He had a ring. He was married. My son was married. Tears flooded my eyes and escaped through the corners of my eyes. They felt hot and slightly itchy on my temples.

"She's crying. Don't cry, Shimmer. Children, please give us a moment," Roderick took my hand, the one that Arianna was holding, and he squeezed it gently to reassure me. I saw from the corner of my eye, Arianna, Pete and Dylan exiting the room.

Roderick tried to comfort me. He said a lot of comforting words, "you're stressing yourself, Shimmer. Your blood pressure is too high, you will kill yourself at this rate."

He took his hand and placed it gently on my forehead, as if to feel my temperature.

"I...I have accepted her," I whispered in a tiny voice.

Roderick's eyes widened in shock. I believe he had not expected me to say those words; not on a hospital bed.

"You have? Well, that's great news, Shimmer! That's great news! You don't know how long I have waited for this day. I have prayed and prayed, for peace between you and our daughter-in-law. This is the greatest news ever. Thank you for making that decision, Shimmer.

He hugged me tight, only to let lose when I winced and groaned in pain. He sat with me and spoke a lot of issues.

I was hurting inside. I felt like a little mouse trapped in a corner, with three giant cats sneering at me. I felt cheated. I felt defeated. Never by my own will would I have accepted Anisha as my daughter in law, but then, it was done. I had to like her; or at least pretend to like her, until I finally liked her for real. Roderick only left when Ciera came in. My daughter sat next to me and said softly,

"Mamma, I think it's best to just accept Anisha. They're already married. They had a beautiful wedding."

"Is that so?" I forced a smile.

"Yes, their wedding was exceptionally beautiful. I've seen many great weddings; but none as grand as theirs. And they would have been on their honeymoon now, if it wasn't for your sickness. They rushed back to be with you." she explained.

"Anisha too? Did she too worry about me?" I asked in a weak voice.

"Yes, mum. She is not that bad. I feel bad for how we treated her. I don't like her, as such, but I can live with her. I don't really dislike her so much to the point of saying I hate her. It's just that, I dislike the fact that she makes you sad." Ciera's frowned a bit, seeming to be in deep thought.

"I see," I mumbled.

She hugged me and kissed me on the forehead, "it shall be well mamma. If Dylan and Anisha have kids, we will have no option but to love her. I mean, how can we hate her when she is the mother of the de Milo kids?" she smiled sweetly at me.

"I know," I whispered.

Ciera pulled the bed linen and covered me properly. She tucked my hand inside, commenting, "your hands are too cold. Let me adjust the temperature."

She came very close to me and smiled.

"Mamma, even if she comes from a poor family, let's cover up for her. I told Keith Junior that she may come and work at K JNR PRODUCTIONS. Her program is industry-led, the university requires them to be hands on, so I guess we may help her. Dylan already opened a boutique in her name. She may end up doing much better than we think." She smiled encouragingly at me.

"Oh, he went ahead with the boutique? I had totally forgotten about it." I said truthfully.

Ciera nodded her head. "Yes, he got space on the third floor of the Rockridges' mall. A very beautiful space. It's stocked already, and has been working for some days, if not weeks. You know about it mamma; you have just forgotten. Dylan and Anisha plan to have an official opening after their honeymoon."

"Wow," I smiled a bit.

I kept telling my heart OK Shimmer, accept her, accept her now. Yet the bigger part of my mind reminded me that I was defeated. I was giving in to defeat. And my mind stubbornly flashed at me the image of young Anisha, dressed in a worn out sky blue dress, with a badge on it written 0028. I hated that image. I hated it with all my heart. The girl in that image was not worthy to become a de Milo. Oh how much I hated that my only son married that girl 0028!

"I'm happy that you've accepted her, mamma. It makes life easier. Dylan was very stressed. Now they will be happy that you have blessed them," Ciera smiled.

"True," I whispered.

"For once I was so worried that I asked myself, is the war between mamma and Anisha ever going to end?" Ciera laughed out loudly, which was very rare.

Ciera hardly ever laughed, she was just a serious person, naturally. She went on,

"I felt caught in between. I could not show too much love to Anisha, for I feared to hurt you. And I didn't want to hurt you, mamma."

"Thank you," I smiled, wondering to myself what had made Ciera so talkative on the day. Was she that happy because…

"Are you this happy that I chose to accept Anisha?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yes! I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It was very stressful, mum. Dylan is my brother, and I have hurt him a lot, all the times that I have hurt Anisha. I'm happy that we can be one big happy family now." she smiled.

"It's good to see you smile," I commented.

"I'm happy. I am truly happy. Once you are well, we can plan a huge weekend away for all of us! Dad and yourself, myself and Keith Junior, Dylan and Anisha, Pete, Arianna and the baby! We should go and have lots of fun! Just to erase all the bad times we had before," I was shocked to hear Ciera talking that much.

Not that I had never heard her speaking a lot. I had; but then, Ciera was usually a one word answer person. She must have been really stressed out by my hatred for Anisha. I felt bad, knowing that I caused that much harm to my family. The emotional trauma must have been too bad to bear, especially for Ciera, the quiet one. Arianna…I don't think she had time to ponder on it to the point of allowing it to stress her. She had more time for happiness and laughter.

"You know what mum; after I chased Anisha away from Elite K JNR PRODUCTIONS, I felt terrible. I failed to sleep. I felt very bad. I even asked myself, so will I be treating her this way until I die? Or maybe until she dies? Considering she is part of our family now, it means one of us has to die before this bad vibe dies…..thank God it's all sorted now." She smiled brightly at me.

Ciera continued to talk and laugh. She poured some juice, helped me to sit up, and I drank it. She gave me fruits and chatted with me. But one phrase which she said kept playing in my mind. I could hardly hear what she was saying, not that she was saying it in a low volume, but because my mind was busy processing the sentence. Ciera said a sentence that refused to leave my mind…one of us has to die before this bad vie dies…

"Here, take a bigger bite," she encouraged me.

I opened my mouth for the bigger bite of the food which she insisted on feeding me, and with each slow chew I took, the sentence seemed to echo even louder in my mind…one of us has to die before this bad vibe dies…one of us has to die before this bad vibe dies…one of us has to die…one of us has to die….one of us….one of us…..to die…has to die…one of us has to die…..to die….to die….die…die…