I tried to fight for my place in my own home. Unfortunately, Keith seemed to fall deeper for Diana with each passing day whilst I became a stranger to him. He always picked Diana and her son.
Everything just kept going from bad to worse. Due to me being “difficult” since I kept trying to get his attention and I was “bullying” Diana, Keith had me move out of our house and sent to a separate home. I tried to stop him but there was nothing I could do.
I still continue to fight and try to get him to choose Anthony. However, he would reject my requests to see him whenever I showed up at his workplace or home. He ended up requesting a divorce from me and there was nothing I could do but accept it. He soon married Diana and made her his wife.
I was devasted. However, I didn’t want to give up, yet I wanted to keep fighting for my son. I believed my son deserved to the heir.
In my final years my son and I had become completely isolated and without anyone to help Diana had successfully shut us out. Then I died leaving Anthony with nothing.
********************
BACK TO MAIN STORY
JASMINE’S POV
“Mrs Acland,” Cassie the receptionist called out to me again however I still didn’t respond.
What was I doing here? How has this happened? I asked myself shocked. Was this a dream? I pinched my arm. I felt the pain. Was this real? I looked back at Cassie and my surroundings, taking in the situation once more.
This seemed like one of the many times I would attempt to see Keith to complain about how I was being treated or to discuss Anthony, and he would reject to see me every single time. However, that was more than 3 years ago. In recent years I had gotten ill and couldn’t move around.
Had I gone back in time? Had my wish to go back in time actually come true? What in the world was going on?
“Mrs Acland, unfortunately we’re going to have to call security if you don’t leave,” Cassie, informed me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I was still trying to process the situation I was in. How on earth was I still alive?
Whenever I came to see Keith, they always told me he wasn’t available but of course that wasn’t true. Even if he was busy he would allow Diana see him. He just didn’t want to see me.
Then a thought suddenly came to mind. Anthony! I have to see Anthony! I thought to myself. Whether it’s a dream or not I have to see my son. My mind replayed the memory of him crying over me in distress as I died in the hospital room. How I wished I had been able to comfort him. So let me comfort him now and show him I’m here.
“I have to go,” I said to the receptionist. I turned away from them and made to leave.
“Oh, and Mrs Acland,” Cassie called out to me.
“Yes,” I responded looking back at the ladies.
“We were told by Mr Acland to tell you not to go to his home demanding to see him either,” the woman said.
“Sure,” I responded uninterested. I then turned away and continued to make my way to the exit/entrance. I heard them talking about me as I walked away.
“Well today she didn’t put up a fight, did she?” the other receptionist said. “Yesterday she stayed for hours.”
“She’ll be back tomorrow,” Cassie said. “When will that poor woman realize the chairman doesn’t want her?”
Cassie’s words struck a nerve in me. That’s right, everyone looked down on me. I was seen as the poor abandoned wife whom was desperate for Keith’s attention.
I left the building and was met with the busy city street of Yorkshire City. An afternoon sun shone on my face as a cool breeze swept by. I contemplated the last thing Cassie had said. She said I shouldn’t go to his house meaning this was a point in time I had already been moved out of the main house and to a separate house.
I took out my phone from my handbag. I checked for the date and time. It was Saturday 3 April 2015. This was nearly a year since Keith had had my son, and I moved out of the main mansion and almost three years since Diana returned to Keith’s life.
Suddenly a car pulled up by the building entrance beside me. I turned see a fancy black sedan parked by the drop off point. The driver came out of the car and went to the passenger side door at the back. Two other men who were large and menacing looking came out from the passenger came out and rushed to the door where the driver was. As the driver opened the door a woman came out. The two men, her bodyguards, helped her.
My eyes widened in horror as I recognized the person. It was Diana. She was a beautiful, tall slim woman, with blonde curled hair and green eyes. She was dressed well looking like she was already the chairman’s wife.
She was definitely here to see Keith. He obviously suddenly wouldn’t be too busy to see her. Then our eyes met. My eyes widened in surprise as I realized that I was just standing on the sidewalk looking at Diana.
“Jasmine, is that you?” she said in that cold yet “polite” sounding voice of hers. If I didn’t know her well, I would have though she was nice.
“Diana,” I said.
“I see you’re here as usual. Another day successfully meeting with Keith?” she then asked before laughing hysterically. She knew dang well I hadn’t seen him. Then she got closer to me right till she was in my face. “I have taken back what belongs to me, no matter what happens he will never listen to you.”
She was trying to bait me into fighting her. In the past, it always worked, and I would always attack her and then get in trouble with Keith. Memories came to mind of the countless times she would bait me into making myself look bad and I would end up looking crazy.
“I have to go,” I said to her.
JASMINE POV
“I have to go,” I said to Diana.
“Not in the mood to talk today?” she asked me.
In my past life, I would have taken the bait and gotten into it with her. I absolutely couldn’t stand Diana. However, I should have always known that Diana would always win against me. It always angered me how she could smear my name, no matter what I tried. I hated to admit it, but she was good.
Without responding to her. I turned away from her and began to walk away. I knew better than to engage with her now.
I continued to make my way home. It was a Saturday, which meant Anthony was at home, not at school since it was a weekend. I had left him alone so I could try to meet with Keith. I was instantly ashamed of myself for having left him alone. Whenever I left Anthony at home, I always told him never to open the door for strangers or answer the doorbell, plus we lived in a gated, protected neighbourhood. Still, it wasn’t a good look. It’s just that I couldn’t take him with me and have him see me yelling at people.
I went to the bus stop and took the bus home. Like Diana, I too was supposed to have a car and driver to drive me around from place to place, but due to a certain situation, I couldn’t.
I arrived in the gated neighbourhood where I lived. Upon arriving at the house, I stood in front and took a look. The home Keith had Anthony and me move to was certainly not the massive mansion he lived in with Diana. However, it was still a beautiful home in a nice neighbourhood. I unlocked the door and went inside.
I found Anthony seated at the table in the dining room, drawing something. When he heard me enter, he looked in my direction.
“Mummy!” he said excitedly as he left the table and ran to me.
“Tony!” I greeted him excitedly. I opened my arms and picked him up.
“You came home early today!” he said, so relieved. “Last time you came home late, when you went to talk to daddy.”
Suddenly, the conversation I’d had with his older self about how I was never there came to mind. I then felt my eyes fill with tears, and I began to silently cry. I’d been doing it to him for a long time. No wonder he ended up resenting me. I hugged him even tighter.
“Whoa, mum, I can’t breathe!” he giggled.
“I’m sorry, don’t worry. I won’t leave you alone like that again,” I assured him.
“Really?” he asked me as we broke from the hug.
I nodded my head in promise to him.
“Why are you crying?” he asked me, concerned. The whole reason for me coming back was to be here for him.
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