DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 4
By: Faith Lucky
“Come in” She heard his voice and slowly, she upend the door and went in.
He ws standing in front of the mirror when she got in, bu-ttoning the n£¢k of his shi-t.
She was scared and didn’t know what to say and hw also didn’t say a word until she left the mirror.
“What was the meaning of that?” He finally asked as he fixed his wrist watch.
“I’m so sorry Mr Rodney. I swear, I had no idea you were in. I…I knocked severally on the door but there was no reply and…and I thought there was nob©dy in the room.
plea-se forgive me. I promise it won’t repeat itself. But I didn’t see a thing; I didn’t. I swear.” She said without a pause.
Rodney sighed and took a seat and for a moment, Audrey let go of her worries and took out time to admire him.
That was the first time she was having such a close range at him and now, she could clearly see how cute he was.
He had dark curly hair, and the front p@rt flopped close to his eyes.
He had scanty but long eye lashes and his roseatel-ips looked like they nee-ded some k!ssing.
“Wow! Jocelyn is lucky to have someone like him tripping for her” she thought.
“You’re one of the contestants, right? contestant 102?” Rodney asked as he litted a cigarette and Audrey nodded affirmatively.
“So…After losing out in the audition, you went ahead to report me to my brother?”
“What? Hell no. I…I think you’re mistaken, sir. I’d never do such a thing.
“I…I just ran into him and explained things to him and he offered to help. That was what happened.”
Rodney didn’t say anything immediately but puffed out smoke from his cigarette and Audrey had to cough.
She wasn’t used to the smell.
“So, you really want a second chance?” He asked.
“Y…yes, Mr Rodney. Back then at the audition, I had just been a little nervous. But I promise you; if you give me this last opportunity, I’ll make it up to you” she replied enthusiastically, beginning to brighten up.
“Hmm. You sound so confident. You’re sure you can impress me?”
“Yes, Mr Rodney. It’s a promise”.
Rodney paused and puffed out more smoke again and Audrey felt like choking.
But she nee-ded to endure it at the moment.
“Well then, I’ll be giving you a second opportunity. You’ll sing in tonight’s audition. But if your song doesn’t impress me, you’ll be kicked out and even if you go ahead to report me to my dad, it won’t change a thing”.
Ouch! That was harsh. But Audrey’s face beamed with smiles as she learnt she was back in the game. She couldn’t believe she’d be taking p@rt in the contest again.
She might probably become a famed singer – just like she’s ever wanted.
***
It was a good thing she ws off duty that evening and the only thing she had to think of was getting to the competition venue.
She hurried home from work and didn’t meet anyone there and without any reluctancy, and headed for the venue.
The place wasn’t as crowded as the first time because a lot of them had been screened out.
Many people kept ma-king Sidetalks with her name.
“What’s she doing here?
She’s not one of us.
She didn’t pas-s the audition.”
They kept staring at her, but she didn’t pay attention to any of them. They were the least of her problems at the moment.
Soon, the competition started and since she was just being given a second chance, she had to perform last.
When it was her turn, she walked in, feeling more confident.
Rodney was sitting there, in the midst of the other as-sistants and had an inscrutable expression.
Audrey took the microphone and stood in front if them, taking in a de-ep breath. This was her last opportunity and she couldn’t lose it; never.
Shw stared at the instrumentalists and took her eyes back to the judges.
Taking in a second de-ep breath, She began singing her favorite- love story by Taylor Swift.
“we were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I’m standing there
On a balcony in summer air
See the lights,
See the p@rty,
the ball go-wns
See you make your way throu-gh the crowd and say hello
Little did I know
that you were Romeo, you went throwing pebbles
And my daddy said
Stay away from Juliet…
Rodney’s eyes grew wild as he heard her singing and his mind flashed to Jocelyn immediately.
At that moment, it felt like she was the one singing.
That ws her favourite song – their love story.
Audrey was the first person singing it to his hearing after he lost Jocelyn.
He kept starring at her with disbelieving eyes as she went on singing and she sang it so perfectly – just like Jocelyn.
Who was she?
DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 5 &6
By: Faith Lucky.
When she was done singing, even the rest of the judges began cl@pping.
“Where did you learn that song?” Rodney asked immediately and she flin-ched.
“Uhm…it’s always been my favourite. It was sung by Taylor Swift” She replied, a little surprised.
“And you say your name is Audrey? You…you grew up with your parents?”
“Of course, I did”.
The drama was getting much and the judges had started whispering amongst themselves.
Rodney knew he was over reacting and nee-ded to calm down.
She sings Jocelyn’s favorite song and reminds him of Jocelyn, but there was no way she could be Jocelyn.
He signalled her to leave and she did and in a few minutes, all the contestants were called into the hall.
The selected ones were 54 and Audrey was one of them. Her joy knew no bounds.
When Rodney was leaving, she followed him behind and kept calling him until she had gotten his attention.
“Thank you Mr Rodney” she said. “Thank you for giving me a second chance”.
“You don’t nee-d to thank me. Your reward depends only on your performance.” Rodney replied and walked away, into his car.
Audrey kept smiling and turned around to leave, but bu-mped into a lady who was said to be Megan’s best friend – Edith.
“I thought you didn’t pas-s the audition yearsterday? So, why re you back?” Edith asked with her hands crossed below her che-st.
“Well, Mr Rodney had a change of mind” replied Audrey, still smiling.
“Rodney isn’t the type who gets convinced easily. How did you do it?”
“I know it seems impossible but it’s a miracle” Audrey replied and tried walking away but Edith st©pped her.
“Whatever you did, don’t think that this is a game that can be won throu-gh little tricks. Only the best can be the winner” She said churlishly and walked away.
***
Rodney stood by the window, staring at Jocelyn’s picture.
Today, he met someone that reminded him of Jocelyn; someone that reminded him of all the memories he shared with her. He wanted her back so badly. He couldn’t do without her.
Oh, his dear Jocelyn.
Where could she be?
Could she really be dead?
A knock on the door broke into his tho and that was when he realised a tear was rolling down his cheek.
“Come in” he said to the knocked as he wiped off his tear and took a seat.
The door opened and Megan walked in, wearing a skimpy dress .
“Rodney, why haven’t you been returning my calls?” She asked as she took a seat opposite him.
“I’ve been busy” Rodney replied after litting a cigarette.
He smoked from it and it made Megan cough.
“Rodney, could you put it out? You know I don’t like it when you smoke” She grumbled but Rodney only puffed out more smoke.
“if you have a problem with it, you’re free to use the door” he replied vacously and Megan sighed at his nonchalant attitude.
“By the way,” she continued.
“if heard you reconsidered a contestant who had failed in yearsterday’s audition. Is that true?” She asked and Rodney chuckled.
“It’s funny how news spre-ads. Well, it’s true. I did give her a second chance. But it’s my problem and I see no reason anyone should concern themselves with it.”
“Rodney”, Megan called and placed her hand on his.
“I think you’re being too ha-rd on yourself and everyone around you. I’ve tried my best to be a good friend. What else do you want?”
“Megan, I appreciate your efforts of cheering me up. But, I nee-d to be alone”.
“For how long? It’s been years, Rodney. How long will you go on punishing yourself this way? When will you learn to forget about Jocelyn and move on with your life?” She asked and Rodney’s eyes dilated.
He felt a sudden angry ran across his che-st but he tried to calm his nerves.
“Not even in death” he replied.
***
Audrey spiffled up herself in front of the mirror, while Rachel stood by, thumping her legs.
Hurry up Audrey. You’ll definitely make me late for clas-ses today” Rachel groused but Audrey didn’t reply her as she parked her hair in a simple pony tail.
Just then, her mother c@m£ in from the kitchen with a little piece of bre-ad.
“Good luck Audrey” She said to Audrey as she arranged her collar.
“Make sure you ear when it’s lunch time”.
“Mum, this isn’t high school. I don’t nee-d to take lunch to school” Audrey paused and sighed.
“Anyway, thanks” She continued and collected the bre-ad from her.
“Hold on” Mrs salome said and hurried to the table, returning with a list and some money.
“On your way back from school, st©p by a sto-re and get me these items. They’re very important”
“Okay mum. Bye” Audrey replied and gave her a p@rting hvg and after that, ran off with Rachel who was seething with anger.
“I don’t think this is gonna work out Audrey” Rachel said as they scuttled to the bus st©p.
“This idea of leaving for school together, I don’t think it’s working”.
“What’re you saying? I didn’t take long. I don’t think I spent upto…”
“Of course you did” Rachel cut her off. “Just save the explanation. I’ve made up my mind and that’s final”.
“Hm. Whatever. You’re such a kill joy. This is my first day in college and you’re trying to ruin it.” Audrey replied and rolled her eyes.
Soon, they got to the main road and took a cab to school.
Audrey kept looking throu-gh the window, so excited about going to college. She kept staring at the beautiful trees and brightly garbe-d students that walked along the road leading to the school building.
In a short while, they got to their destination and left the cab with few other students that were in.
“Wow! This is amazing!” Audrey exclaimed to Rachel beside her.
“I can’t believe I’m finally a student of Cambridge university. Tell me Rachel, am I not lucky?”
“Well, maybe. But before you conclude on that, there are certain things you nee-d to learn Over here. This school is full of spoilt br@ts and it’d be best if you try avoiding them” Rachel said and immediately, a car coming towards them almost ran into them but had smartly held his br@kes and screeched to a halt.
“What the hell?” Audrey skrie-ked and waited furiously for the driver to come out.
It was a young charming boy.
“Oh, miss. Are you alright?” He asked sympathetically.
“I should be the one asking you that. Have you gone blind? Do you think we’re road blocks or what?” Audrey barked at him, not paying any attention to Rachel who was trying to st©p her.
Episode 6
“But you were the ones at fault. You had been careless on the road” he said.
“Oh! So now you’re trying to put the blame on me. You really have such nerves!”
“Audrey!” Rachel cut in and turned to him.
“plea-se forgive her” she said apologetically and ran away with Audrey.
“Why do I have a feeling I’m gonna be in so much trouble because of you being in college?” Rachel asked huskily as she rook her away from the scene.
“What’re you…”
“Don’t you have any idea who he is? That is doctor Davis – Rodney’s close friend.
Audrey g@sped and covered her mouth with her palm.
“Ro…Rodney’s friend?” She asked blenchly. “I had no idea”.
“Well, how would you?”
“Oh my God, Rachel! I completely had no idea. Wh…what if he reports me to Mr Rodney and makes him evict me from the show?”
“I guess that’s your problem. Anyway, come with me” Rachel said and led her to her first lecture hall.
The clas-s was magnificent and colorful and Audrey kept looking around, gobsma-cked. She even had to step on a lady’s toes, carried away by admiration.
“Oh, I’m so sorry” she apologized immediately and took a seat.
The clas-s was air conducive and each chair had its own locker.
The floors were tied colorfully and there were some decorations around together with some flowers.
“Cambridge is really the best” she thought.
More students kept trooping in and the next person she saw was Megan, coming in with Edith.
They sauntered to the second row and took a seat over there.
Audrey was surprised as she never expected she’d share a course with her.
She noticed Edith whispered something to Megan after taking a look at her.
Soon, the clas-s bec@m£ filled up and the lecturer c@m£ in, holding some hefty textbooks along. He was short and looked grumpy.
“Good morning, sir” few of the students greeted while others just kept staring.
“Morning students” he replied and adjusted his specs .
He looked carefully at them, as If being suspicious.
“Okay. So, what do we have today? Let’s look at…”
***
Audrey was walking around the school all alone when she ran into Leo.
“Leo!” She called in amusement and hw also smiled after noticing her.
“Audrey? What’re you doing here?” He asked as he rounded up what he was doing with his phone.
“I…I just got admitted here. I never knew you were also interested student here”
“Yeah, I am. So How’re you?”
“Oh I’m fine. I’m good”.
“And how’s Cambridge?”
“Hmmm. I think it’s fantastic. Anyway, I’m throu-gh with my lectures for today and I’m just waiting for my sister.
“By the way, Leo, thanks for the help. Seriously, you made me so happy by getting me back in the contest. plea-se, if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you…”
“Don’t worry about it” Leo cut in, chuckling.
“Come on don’t tell me that. I just nee-d to show a little appreciation” Audrey persisted and he sighed.
“Okay then” Leo said.
“If you really want to make it up to me, you could do so by treating me out for dinner”.
Audrey felt aloud ban-g in her head as she took a proper look at him.
“Uhm…Di…dinner?” She asked confused.
“Yes. I think we should go right away. We can use my car” Leo replied and led the way while Audrey followed behind with a nervous gulp.
He didn’t even give her a chance to say anything.
How on earth would she treat him out for dinner? She had no money with her.
Oh! The only money she had was the money her mother had requested her to get something from the sto-re for her.
Damn it! She was definitely going to be thrown out of the house
Maybe she should try convincing him to get rid of the idea.
“Uhm…Leo” She called nervously just as they got to where his car was parked.
“Yes. Is there a problem?” He asked with sincere eyes.
“About the dinner, I was thinking…”
“You don’t have to think about it. I alre-ady have a place in mind. Let’s go”
Immediately he brou-ght out his phone and started ma-king calls that Audrey couldn’t un-derstand.
There was no time for her to convince him at all.
They both got into the car and he started off at a dizzying speed, still ma-king some little activities with his phone.
It seemed he was trying to keep Audrey from saying much.
Audrey kept b!tt!g her nails, thinking of a solution to her quandary.
Perhaps, she’d use from her mother’s money and owe the sto-re owner p@rt of it.
But, how would she pay back? Her salary wasn’t due because month end was still very far.
This Leo of a guy was really something else.
If he were so hungry, why wouldn’t he eat from hus mother’s pot?
Soon, they c@m£ to a st©p and Audrey’s eyes glistened at the sight of the building in front of them. Was that an eatery or what?
She looked at Leo and saw him unlocking the doors. She got off the car with him and walked towards the building.
So, that was really the eatery they were going to?
“Uh…Leo, is this the eatery?” Audrey asked and he only nodded.
They first had to go throu-gh the securities at the door before walking into the place that looked like a paradise.
Audrey tired looking at herself from head to toe and wandered how she’d be able to buy as little as a bottle of water.
Leo took her to a table and they sat opposite to each other.
Audrey almost hesitated sitting down because she felt She might have to pay for it as well.
“Hm.” Leo sighed. “So, we’re here. Now, what do you think I should take?” He asked as he took up the menu from the table and started going throu-gh it.
Audrey also took hers and kept admiring the front page. Everything about the place was so clas-sic and beautiful.
“Wow! I think I’ll go with the pot roast” She heard him say and her eyes glittered.
“Pot roast?” She thought. “That sounded like something that could roast her life.
She quic-kly ran her eyes throu-gh the menu and the price she had seen on it jade her felt like throwing up.
The pot roast was worth over half of the money she had with her. Was this really a coincidence?
“What do you think, Audrey? Can you afford it?” Leo asked hut before Audrey could clear her head for an answer, a waitress had alre-ady arrived.
“plea-se get me some pot roast and something soft like an orange drink” Leo said to the waiter who scribbled it down on a note.
“Okay, sir. And you, miss?” The waitress asked, referring to Audrey.
“Oh me? Don’t worry about me. Just get me some water” she replied, trying to hide her anxiety.
“Just water?”Leo asked immediately the waitress left. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“No I’m not”.
“But I thought you’ve been in school all day?”
“plea-se don’t worry about me. I have my ways”.
Audrey took her eyes back to the menu, trying to hide her anxiety. She kept going throu-gh the price list and was amazed at the cost of their food.
The waitress showed up immediately with their orders In tray.
Audrey took out the water from the tray and stared at it from left to right.
“How much does the water cost?” She asked the waitress who was still arranging Leo’s food on the table.
“It’s on the menu, miss” he replied and Audrey sighed.
“Some eateries would always want to make others feel like they make their goods out of golden items” She said irritably and Leo laughed while the waitress just stared at her and left.
“Don’t you like the eatery?” Leo asked as he started eating from his pot roast.
“Why would I hate it?” She replied and drank from her water.
Leo kept bringing up little chats on the way but none of them could satiate Audrey enough as she kept thinking of the money she was about to lose.
She watched him as he continued eating happily while she drank tasteless water. At that point, she felt like choking him.
“He’s such a mean j£rk” she thought.
“This is all your fault, Audrey. You should’ve just thanked him and moved on with your life. But no, you couldn’t. You had to take the good girl’s p@rt and see where it landed you.”
“Audrey are you okay?”Leo asked, noticing the depressed look on her face.
“Oh I’m fine. plea-se go on” She replied with a perfunctory smile.
After a while, Leo was done with his food and they got re-ady to leave. They called on a waiter and Audrey had to pay a sum of $6
As she re-moved the money from her bag, she felt agony coming along with it and Leo didn’t even try to st©p her.
She paid the waitress, took her empty can of water and marched out of the eatery with Leo behind.
“Audrey, are you sure you’re fine? You…”
“I’m just having an upsetting stomach” She cut him off grumpily and got into the car the moment he unlocked the door and ad she did, she heard him giggle.
Leo tried to keep the drive lively by bringing up different stories but Audrey only replied with either a nod or a ‘Hmm’.
“We all learn from our mistakes” She thought angrily. “And today I’ve learnt that even thethe rich can be beggars”.
She felt he was no different from his brother.
“am in the right location?” He asked as he drove into a street that appeared to be hers.
“Yes. You’re in thet
right place. Just kept going” She replied.
Shw wasn’t re-ady to get off halfway. If possible, she’d want him to drive her into the house and st©p right at the be-droom. It wasn’t enough to cover up for her great stupid loss.
“By the way, Audrey” he ch!pped in. ” Thanks for dinner. You really made my day”
Audrey stared at him and felt like pu-lling out his eyes.
“Okay. You can drop me here” she said croakily a and he c@m£ to a halt.
Her snug little house was just beside them.
“So, guess we’ll see tomorrow” he told her as she got re-ady to leave.
“So, I can treat you for dinner again?” She asked, not realising when she said it.
But Leo laughed.
“Bye” she added rather perfunctorily as she opened the door and left the car.
“Oh, one more thing “Leo paused her as he inser-ted his hand in his pocket and brou-ght out some currencies along.
“Here . use this for transport fare tomorrow” he said to Audrey and handed the money to her.
Audrey was gobsma-cked and couldn’t even say anything until he had driven away.
The money he had given her for transport fare was triple of the money she had spent for dinner.
So, he had plans of ma-king it upto her afterall?
She looked at the direction he had taken and wished she could get a glimpse of him. It was a good thing she hadn’t put on a fowl mood around him.
“He’s such a nice fellow” She thought as she giggled and walked into the house.
Tbc