Marie-Yvette Jackson was a jolly, nice woman. In an alternate universe, she would have made the perfect parent for me. She was sweet, she knew when to be strict and best of all, she could cook.

I do not think I’ve ever tasted such amazing food.

“What is this?” I asked, licking the perfectly seasoned oil off my lips.

Marie-Yvette wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing, and placed more dishes of absolute wonders on the kitchen table.

“This, my love,” she responded, smiling happily, “Is a dish from the Caribbean’s. It’s a Haitian griot. And the colorful salad you see over there is named pikliz.”

“Gree-yo? Pik-lease?” The foreign word sounded strange on my tongue.

“No, no, my dear. They’re pronounced gwi-oh and peek-leez.” she repeated, articulating each syllable with an accent I was not familiar with, “As you can see, it’s a dish who includes fried plantain, brown rice with beans, pork and I cannot forget to include the red sauce.”

I tried to understand what she was saying, but my mind was elsewhere. In Food Heaven.

Whatever that food was, whoever had invented it, I had to give them a mental high five.

I believe I loved griot almost as much as I loved Damian, and that was saying something because, well...Damian was my life.

Literally, I wanted to eat Haitian food until I exploded.

“Woah, slow down, dude,” Tony said, walking into the kitchen. He took a seat next to me. “You’re going to choke if you eat so fast.”

I replied by stuffing more fried plantain into my mouth. 

After Nicolas and Tony had approached me under the bridge, I realized that killing them off would not be beneficial.

They were Damian’s friends, whether I approved of them or not. Similar to his grandmother, these two were people he cared about. 

Besides, not only did Marie-Yvette agree to take me in, after Tony and Nicolas had dragged me to the house, but she'd taken care of my injuries. She hadn't even made a fuss about it. Didn't even ask about my whereabouts or my parents. 

Her three oldest sons were married and living their own lives, whereas the one born before Tony was overseas, in university.

Marie-Yvette had told me I could pick whichever one of the spare rooms I wanted, to sleep in. 

I watched the kind woman humming happily, while she dropped more pork into the frying pan.

My god. I could not believe I had been ready to kill her son and his best friend.

Honestly, it was impossible to tell whether or not I had made the right decision, with my following Tony to his house and everything. 

Getting myself involved with humans. Again.

For all I knew, this was a trap and I was going to wound up in more trouble.

Either way, those doubts left my head the moment Marie-Yvette placed another plate of griot in front of me.

“What a handsome boy you are,” she said, squeezing me like a lemon, “I bet you’ve broken multiple hearts with that adorable face of yours.”

“Mom!” Tony sighed in exasperation, clearly embarrassed.

“Thank you,” I answered her politely, slightly taken aback from her action. To my surprise, a warm feeling encircled me.

Ah…So, this was what motherly love felt like.

“Except, Jude, you are too skinny,” she remarked, after she released me, “Eat more so you’ll grow into an even better-looking young man, okay?”

I liked her.

“Come on, my love,” she pushed another full plate in front of me, “Eat more.”

I liked her a lot.

“Where’s Nicolas?” she asked Tony.

“In the livingroom. Playing video games as usual.”

“Good Lord,” she sighed. 

Despite my upbringing, and the harsh words my family had spoken aloud about humans, I could not bring myself to dislike Marie-Yvette.

I’d spent less than two hours in her presence, and already I wanted to live in this house forever. 

Tony was lucky. Anybody who was close to him was lucky. Why? Because they’d eventually get to meet his wonderful mom.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Tony as he ate his food, conversing with his mom about his latest exam grade.

For the first time in my life, I felt a twinge of jealousy and sadness. Why hadn't I been born in a normal family? Why couldn't I have been blessed with better parents? 

Deep down, I was happy I hadn’t gone ahead and committed the double homicide.

Otherwise, I would have never met Tony's wonderful mother.

                                                               * * *

As I was changing into another clean pair of pajamas, the door blasted open.

“Oops,” Tony said, “Sorry.”

A couple of seconds later, Nicolas entered the room and gave me a curious look. “How come you have so many marks on your body? They don’t look like anything else I’ve seen before.”

There was no point answering. For some reason, this guy really had a big mouth. I hastily finished dressing, and took a seat on the desk chair, while Tony and Nicolas opted for the bed.

“Anyways,” Nicolas was quick to jump back to business, “What were you doing under that bridge? How come you looked like you just came back from war?”

Tony pinched Nicolas until the latter cried out. “Shut up! He probably had his own reasons.” 

“We’re actually worried about Damian,” Tony explained to me, “We haven’t been able to contact him for a while.”

A look of shame crossed their features. I remembered how they'd ditched Damian after the entire school fell for my lies. Perhaps, they were feeling guilty because of their former behaviour.

“So,” Nicolas said, “Are you and Damian really a thing or...?”

“Nicolas!” Tony said angrily.

“What? You said you had your doubts as well! That you regretted the fact that we ignored Damian only because we found out he had a secret boyfriend.”

“Okay, but now isn’t the time to meddle in their personal business.”

“Yeah, except my best friend’s personal business is my business.”

“There are some limits to how far you can put your nose into someone else’s affairs, Nicolas.”

“Ah, shut up, Tony! Besides, you said you were curious about their relationship too!”

“Who are you to tell me what to do? And no, I never said – ”

And off they went. To be honest, there hadn’t been a moment in my life where I was subjected to such irksome yapping. The only thing I could do now was clear out my lie.

“Okay, you guys got me,” I interrupted their argument, “You’re right. I lied. Damian and I aren’t dating.”

Tony and Nicolas fell silent. They shared a knowing look.

“Seriously?” they said in unison.

“Yes,” I replied.

Tony shook his head, his black braids flying across his face. “If Jake had heard you admit the truth...”

“...His head would be in the clouds,” Nicolas finished.

Instantly, like a light who'd been switched on, my attention snapped towards the two of them.

“Jake?” I asked, curling my lips in what I assumed could be described as repugnance. “Who’s Jake?” 

Nicolas cocked his head on the side, his mop of curly red hair bouncing. “Oh, Damian never told you?”

“Nicolas…” Tony said in a warning tone.

“What?”

“Silence. Maybe he doesn't want to know.”

“Ahh, it's fine! It's old gossip anyways,” Nicolas shot me a look, “I mean, you and Damian are only friends, right?”

Friends? If intense make out sessions were part of friendships, then I guess Damian and I were friends.

With benefits.

My curious, sugary voice took over, “Could you tell me more about their relationship? I'm super interested in you know...gossip.”

Nicolas perked up, a happy smile on his lips.

“Alright!” he said happily, his gray eyes dancing excitedly from behind his thick glasses, “Back in seventh grade, Jake had, like, this HUGE - and when I say, HUGE, I mean really, really, REALLY huge - crush on Damian. Like, he made it so obvious, I can’t believe Damian never noticed.”

“Oh? Is that so?” The acid in my voice would have scared anyone shitless, but Nicolas was too busy babbling to notice.

What the actual fuck? 

Who the fuck was Jake? How come he'd never turned up on my databases? With all the professional stalking I'd done, how in the fucking hell did I never notice he existed? Let alone, that he had feelings for Damian?

I wondered how Jake’s family and peers would react on the day of his funeral. Perhaps, someone would make a speech about how he had been found, mysteriously washed up on a shore. 

“Yeah, dude, totally!” Nicolas continued, “Like, you’d never guess what happened on Valentine’s Day, two years ago.”

“Oh?” I said, with as much politeness and calmness I could muster. “What happened on that day?” 

Jake, huh? Jake. Jake...

I clenched my fists so hard, my nails dug into my skin.

All right. Alongside coming up with plans for the future and the brewing war, I had another assignment to take care of.