Page 54 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)

“Hi Daddy.” Celina’s voice trembled as her father finally answered the call.

“Celina?” Her father sounded surprised but not very welcoming. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling?”

Celina leaned against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position on the floor. The long, coiled cord of the phone receiver stretched with her movement.

“I miss you,” she said, twisting the cord around her finger, her confidence faltering at the stiff formality in his tone.

Her father’s voice softened. “What has happened? Did you fight with your mother again?”

Silent tears streamed down Celina’s face, the still sore flesh of her right cheek stinging with it. She hiccupped, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles and feeling like a toddler who was complaining to her father about her mother.

“Will you come for my graduation?” she asked, her voice small as she wiped her cheeks carefully, acutely conscious of the administration staff standing by and eavesdropping on her conversation. She was sure every word would be repeated to her mother.

“Celina.” Her father sighed. “You know I can’t come right now. Things aren’t great between your mother and me.”

“But this is about me. Not her.” The last two words came out with venom she couldn’t mask.

“I can’t Celina.” Irritation lined the words. “You know I can’t.”

“Because you’re planning to get a divorce?”

Silence fell over the phone line before a heavy sigh sounded.

“This is not how I wanted you to find out but since you’ve apparently figured it out. Yes, I can’t come for your graduation because I am in the process of divorcing your mother.”

“But you’re not divorcing me, Dad. And it’s my graduation.”

If he would just come, Celina could tell him everything that was happening here with her mother and he could fix it. Her dad always fixed it.

“Celina, stop acting like a child. Okay listen, I have to get to work now. We’ll talk another time.”

“Why are you divorcing Mom?” She blurted out the question before she lost her nerve.

The silence on the phone line was conflicted but chilly. “Celina,” he began. “There are somethings as a child-“

The phone was ripped from her hand and slammed back on its cradle. Celina raised defeated eyes to her mother who stood over her, breathing fire.

“Get up,” Maria said frostily.

Celina pushed herself off the ground and to her feet.

“You want to know why your father and I are getting a divorce?” she demanded. “Why don’t you ask me directly. I’ll tell you.”

Celina pushed past her mother’s enraged form, exhaustion dragging at her feet.

“Celina!” Her mother shrieked.

She didn’t stop. She didn’t look back. She walked out of the administration block and to the housing block.

She braced herself against the banister and dragged herself up the stairs, putting one foot in front of the other.

When she finally made it to her room, she ripped the cover aside on her bed and fell into it.

Curling up in a fetal position, she hugged herself and sobbed, confused, painful tears streaming down her face.

She missed all her classes that day as she lay in bed, alternating between crying and staring vacantly at the wall in front of her.

Her roommate came in to check on her and then retreated, telling her to rest and not to worry about classes, she’d make Celina’s excuses on her behalf.

Celina barely registered anything she was saying.

At some point, she fell asleep. Only to have a gentle hand shake her awake.

“Celina? Your friend, Amay, was asking after you. It’s lunchtime. He wanted to know if you’d be coming to the cafeteria.”

Lunch time. Her heart surged with hope. Virat would be there in the cafeteria. Virat would make everything better. She nodded to her roommate, squeezing her hand in thanks and got up, slowly and sluggishly.

She walked down to the outer corridor where Amay was waiting. His eyes widened at whatever he saw in her face, but he didn’t ask any questions, just walked beside her, at her slow, plodding pace to the cafeteria.

And then he was there, Virat. She saw the worry, the fear, the concern, in his bruised, raw face and she looked away. She couldn’t bear it. Suddenly, she couldn’t bear any of it. Nobody would tell her anything but they kept expecting her to be okay, to just listen to their orders and keep going.

“Celi, talk to me. Please.”

The plea in Virat’s voice was too much for her. Celina turned on her heel and fled, wanting nothing more than to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. A place where she didn’t disappoint the people she loved by existing.