How Have You Been?

{ARMANDO}

Should I go or should I not?

It is a very simple question but my life depends on it. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating it a little bit but truly the question is very simple yet I feel like if do one of them the other would suffer.

If I don't go to therapy my father will surely hunt me down and make sure I get myself into that room with that woman. Well, at least I don't have to go to her office because if I had to go back home and drive to town to her office, trust I wouldn't do that.

That would give me a gateway and I would drive back to my place and locked myself in for the next one week or so.

And I think my father realized that and that is why he had taken the liberty of asking the therapist to come to our house and she had done that not that she was going to say no, I am sure my father pays her tons of money.

"Hello, sir." Someone greets me and I turn around slowly to look at whoever has greeted me, it is one of the men who I remember working at our farm. "Hi," I answer back and continued to walk, I am not being rude but I don't really want to stand and talk to him.

I have somewhere else to be, somewhere that if I don't get myself there as soon as possible I will have to face the fury of my father.

I continue walking and when I am almost home, I look at the back door of the house and think it would be nice to use it. If I use the backdoor, then I won't have to meet the cook and the cleaner and whoever was at the house at the moment.

It was early in the morning and I am sure lots of them were still busy in the house doing the house chores.

For the farm boy, it was easy not to talk to him without him seeing me as a stuck-up person we never used to talk that much anyway, so yeah, even if I didn't talk to him past the hi, I am sure he didn't mind. If I had not greeted him back, that was when it would have mattered.

It was something else for the cooks and the cleaners though because they have been there since I was born and they have seen me growing up, we were close like we could ask each other how we were and I could ask them how their family was

For them, our talks passed the greeting stage.

And since I have not been home for long, they would want to know I am fairing. And I don't know how I will dodge their questions without making them feel like they are prying on me.

"Armando." A voice called, I turn around and I am sure whoever called me can see that I am turning as slowly as possible.

"Son, it is me. There is no need to turn around like a robot." Mr. Jaime said and Armando sigh a relief and said, "oh, thank the heavens."

"Come on, are we that bad?" Mr. Jaime asked with a serious tone.

"Hey no no…"

"Relax boy!" Mr. Jaime said and walk to Armando who has stopped walking as soon as he heard someone calling his name.

"The back door uh."

"Yeap!" Armando answered and looked at the back door.

"You are not going to an ambush or something like that Armando. There is no need to use the back door."

I stare at Mr. Jaime and wish to tell him never to use that term again, but I can't because it will raise questions that I am not ready to answer, hell I am not even ready to answer myself what about others?

"It is near." I say to him and he looks at me and says, "you can as well call me stupid."

"What no. I can't, I didn't." I tell him and he slaps me on the shoulder and leaves his hand on my shoulder, he raises his eyebrows at me and shook his head.

"What?"

"Boy, why are you so stiff?" Mr. Jaime says as he squeezes my shoulder. I didn't know I was stiff, and before I can answer him he looks at me and asks, "why are you breathing so hard?"

I look at him surprised, I didn't know I was breathing so hard. What does he mean breathing hard, oh no! I thought it was gone if it is back then I am doomed, like totally doomed. I always looked up to my mother's touch and Mr. Jaime's hugs.

"Are you okay?" Mr. Jaime asks me and removes his hand from my shoulder. I find myself releasing a relieved sigh, Mr. Jaime is still watching me and if I don't get away from him he surely will ask again if I am okay.

"I have to go," I tell him but before I can go I hear him saying, "Armando you know you can talk to me."

"That is already covered by the courtesy of my father," I say and continued walking.

I hear Mr. Jaime shouting, "I mean a family member.."

I wish I can turn back and tell him to go and tell my father that and ask him why he didn't offer that to his son before throwing him into the hands of another person.

Why wasn't my father like Mr. Jaime, he hadn't even asked me how I was before sending me to the wolf, sorry I mean the therapist. I turn back, wave, and smile at him. He did the same and I can see he is trying his best not to follow me and ask again if I was really fine.

I arrive at the back door and open it, and it seems like luck is not on my side, I find my father talking to the cleaner. I try to close it slowly before they have seen me and I am too late for that, the cleaner runs to me, and looks me up and down.

"Armando, I heard you are home but I couldn't believe it. Oh, I have missed you." She said and engulfed me in a hug.

She stops hugging me and held my hands in hers, she looks at me and says, "oh, you have to tell me everything, how are you? How have you been? Me I am fine, I am okay, my children are fine it is my husband who is still annoying."

I smile at that, she is always like that, very talkative, and by her saying her husband is annoying she is exaggerating it, they are one of that couples which people admire and want to be as.

Nope, not me.

"So?" She asks and I stare at her wondering whether I should ask her to wait for me to call everyone in the household and tell them how I am fairing because I think this will be the line of questions I will be receiving if I continue to stay home for the next one week or so.

"Armando. Have you seen her?" My father asks and I don't know if I should be grateful to him or not, he has saved me from asking the woman a question she has already given me an answer to, I was going to ask her how her family was.

"Oh, sorry sir. You are busy and I am here clinging to you, but I have really missed you dearly." She says and with one crushing hug she whispers to me, "talk later?"

Even though I want to answer her, "keep dreaming," I nod at her, then at my father who is looking at me as if, if I stand there for the next minute he will surely carry me to where the therapist was waiting.

I turn around to the door and my father says, "Armando, your room is this way." My father points in the direction of the room, I smile at the cleaner and walk away from them.

So my father thought I was going to escape or what?

Maybe I was.

I still don't get why he wants me to see a therapist but am sure as hell it is not like he cares, there is something that will come out of it, and trust me it won't be beneficial to me.

I arrive at my door and find my mother and Arthur standing there, "there you are we have been waiting for you," my mother says.

Arthur looks down and says, "Hey, so I was wondering when are we going out, I wanted to plan myself."

I chuckle at Arthur and I know that is not the reason he wants to know when we are going out, he wants to know if it is today, "I will tell you later."

Arthur nods away and whispers, "okay then call me." He walks away and my mother looks at me before she talks I tell her, "mom, I have therapy, talk later?" She nods and walks away, I hope she doesn't think I don't want to talk to her.

I walk to my room take a shower, and after I am done I choose some comfortable clothes to wear them walk out of the room and to the study room to meet the therapist, and as soon as she sees me she tells me, "hi, you are back."

I walk to the window all the while wondering the same thing, I am back.