For the Dream of 5 years: Chapter Five: Blue Valley Mall

Michelle woke up late because she was tired the previous night. She was woken up by Dave's and Mike's chit-chat in the kitchen as they fixed breakfast. Before she went downstairs, she decided to charge her phone. Upon checking her phone, she saw three messages from Dan. Two inquired about her journey, and one asked why she didn't call her. Another one popped up; "I can't stop thinking about you," she felt cold chills up her spine and sat on the bed, thinking of how to respond. Instead of getting furious at Dan for texting her while she was with her husband in the city, she sat there thinking about Dan and how beautifully he smiled. "Hey Dan, I arrived safely; thanks for asking. I miss you," she typed and hit send. When she looked up, Dave was standing in the doorway, smiling. "Hey beautiful, did you sleep well? Breakfast is ready, courtesy of chef Dave and Chef Mike," he said as he moved toward her. He pushed her onto the bed and lay on her, kissing and tickling her. Michelle held her phone tight so that Dave couldn't see what messages she had just sent. She also prayed so hard that Dan wouldn't respond immediately and hated herself. They didn't hide anything from each other, but she would keep Dan private this time. Since Dan professed his feelings toward her, she had thought about him in a big way and didn't trust herself with him any longer. She thought about his scent, his height, his smile, his looks, and his voice. Once in a while, she thought about his sexual prowess, kissing, and size. Even though she tried to avoid these thoughts, she always longed to see him every time. She was disgusted with herself, she wanted to stop everything with Dan, but Dan seemed always to come back. Breakfast was good, black coffee and pancakes, just as they loved it. After breakfast, Mike went out to catch up with his other friends in the neighbourhood. He would meet up with Dickson during the weekend. Dave and Michelle had a lot to talk about since they didn't talk much the previous night. They had fallen asleep like two logs, unbothered until morning came. "Hey, love, I've made quite progress in my working strategy. I am so pleased with the hours I spent studying my strategies while you were away. I took some notes so you could go through them over your free time. Let me know when you settle down so we can go through them together," he said, rubbing Michelle's hand on the table. "Thank you, darling, I'll check them out before the week ends," she responded. They talked a lot about Michelle's work and other things about their family. ******* On the weekend, Dave and Michelle planned to take Mike to the Blue valley mall. Mike woke up so early and made his room. It showed that he was doing his best by cleaning after himself and not touching any electronic device. Michelle made breakfast, sour sorghum porridge, and sausages. They loved eating healthy, but sometimes they threw some processed foods into their diet. Mike was excited to meet up with Dickson because they had made it a routine to play together at the Blue Valley Mall. Dickson was always accompanied by Shanice, who always chatted with Michelle while waiting for their children to finish playing. The drive to the Blue Valley Mall was quite noisy, with mike shouting and singing all the way. He had some snacks and ice cream too. He always carried some for Dickson too. They always shared their snacks and played with their toys, even though they didn't live on the same court. Dave was on the wheel when Shanice called to ask how far they were. "We are pulling over at the mall. Find us at the bouncing castles," he responded. They parked the car and headed straight to the bouncing castles. Mike was so excited to see Dickson, and after minimal pleasantries, they ran off to start their day. In the meantime, the adults were busy doing some shopping for the two families before calling the children for lunch. They were having pizza, French fries, and some local soft drinks. "Dickson, where is your dad? Your dad never comes with you to the mall to play," asked Mike with his mouth full. "Hey, Mike. You don't ask people such questions. Some people have moms only, others have dads only, others have both, and others don't have any. We are lucky we have people we love and people who care about us," Michelle said to Mike, holding his tiny hand. He was too young to understand that people can never have everything others have or whatever they want. "I'm sorry," she said to Shanice after Mike and Dickson left to play video games. Dave apologized to Shanice as well. "No, don't mind him; he's just a child and curious about things," she assured them that she was fine. After their outing, they all hopped into Dave's car, and he dropped Shanice and Dickson at their place before proceeding to their home. Dickson asked her mother about his daddy, but Shanice brushed the question off by offering him ice cream. Mike was dead asleep when they pulled up to their house. Dave carried him to his bedroom and returned to the kitchen, where Michelle was already fixing some coffee. "Wow, did you hear Mike ask Dickson about his Dad?" she asked Dave. "Why would he even think about asking that?" she proceeded. "Well, I was shocked as you were, my love. Mike is becoming so curious lately, to say the least," Dave returned. After they had coffee, they jumped into the shower and made some sweet love before preparing dinner. ****** Shanice had become so close to the Daves since they met at the Blue Valley Mall a few years ago, where they all took their sons for fun games. A friend of Dave had introduced Shanice to them, and they kicked their friendship pretty fast. Later on, after a long chat, they discovered that Dave and Shanice came from the same rural area. They had a lot to talk about, all of them. Michelle liked her because on most days she would come to pick Mike so that Dickson had a playmate. She was so selfless, and she was so caring about Dickson as though he was her son. On two occasions, Michelle hosted Dickson for the night while Shanice was away in china for her business trip. She used to buy latex gloves and supply them in the country. According to Shanice, a good business afforded them a good lifestyle in a good neighbourhood. On the other hand, Michelle loved to work from home but occasionally volunteered to teach ballet dancing to children in a local children's home. Dave also worked from home doing his Forex trading and had classes on the weekends to teach a class in town about trading strategies and Forex trading in general. Michelle had never bothered to ask Shanice about Dickson's dad because not only was it insensitive, it was none of her business. Besides, Shanice was closer to Dave than Michelle since they discovered they came from the same place. Dave told Michelle he admired her hard work and the lifestyle she had afforded her son even though she was a single parent. Dickson, like Mike, went to a prestigious school. They were all in boys' scout in their schools, and they also performed above average.