When I advanced to the villa, I noticed my feet couldn’t carry me further. The splendor that hung across the mansion overwhelmed me so much that I deemed myself not worthy of being anywhere around it; not even its flowers and ornamental trees, which looked healthier than me.
I quickly distinguished myself from smearing the expensive environment by my poverty countenance.
Suddenly, I came to a halt once I caught sight of a uniformed band of security men, all well-suited with strong facial features, who asked me a thousand questions with their hostile faces and hefty chests.
My entire body vibrated as I folded my arms in anticipation of what they intended to do. Now they surged close to me.
One of them stared at me from head to toe, and must have perceived the wretchedness that encompassed around me; I perceived they were bored with seeing the scraggly faces of the poor hounding the villa all in the name of seeking the billionaire’s help.
Noticing one of the security prancing towards my direction, my nose wrinkled before I came to a halt, lowered my gaze and pressed my trembling hands in front of me.
“Who the hell are you? Did you miss your way?” he queried, and his face scowled irritatingly at me before his jaw clenched.
I believed my scraggly auburn hair, dried scaly feet, and torn off-the-shoulders dress must have turned him off. I couldn’t have looked better than that.
Thankful enough, he wasn’t very close to me, my body odor would have taught him a lesson, after repelling him.
I bowed my head, fondled my finger in shame and was mysteriously dumbfounded and bewildered.
“Speak, you dirty looking thing!” another barked at me like a mad dog, almost at the top of his voice. He gave me a dirty look and almost forced words out of my mouth with those dark, brooding eyes of his that flashed at me.
I had flinched and trembled under his groaning and about returning to my sick mother. Having contemplated inwardly that this was a lost course and not able to convince them with my timidity to see the reasons I was at the villa, I turned to take my leave.
While trudging away under the heaviness of my burden, I heard a still voice.
“Hold on, young girl!”
That was the next command that pierced into my heart. All eyes came upon Opula as she cat-walked down the staircase looking dashing and charismatic in her customized Italian gown, with piles of diamond bracelet round her neck and wrists. Flamboyance hung over her. Her hair was golden brown and long on her slender neck. She was towering and curvaceous, exactly like that of those kiss-it models I often saw on billboards in Rio Rondo. A party of maidens flanked around her
Her presence alone courted respect and affluence as I noticed the security bow to her.
She stood, gawked at me from head to toe and shook her head in confirmation.
“Take this young girl to the chambers. Make her look beautiful and presentable before my father now,” she commanded the host of maidens that accompanied her.
“What is happening? What did she just say? Just like that! Did anybody tell her of my visit or what?” I queried inwardly.
What could happen to me?
Those words of hers seared my countenance that I thought I had committed a sacrilege by bringing my scruffy, wretched-looking self to the home of the richest billionaire in Rio Hondo.
But my thoughts were disappointed. The maidens advanced to me with smiling faces and decorum.
Salsa, who happened to be the chief maiden, directed me and led me away into the same villa. I was still lost. I wanted to ask the reason everyone was genuflecting and greeting me as I got into my chamber.
They made sure all of Opula’s words was carried out to the latter.
Not only was I given a warm bath, they took ample time to decorate me and adorn me in an exquisite Turkish grown that I might never afford in my time or in my generation yet to come.
“Please, what is happening? Why are you doing all this to me? I am not supposed to be here in the first place, let alone being handled as a princess.” I nagged with caution while they invested their time in peeling off the poverty on my body.
Nobody gave an answer. All they did was smile and keep to their duty.
I wanted to protest yet further, but their smiles made me look stupid. I was radically beautiful as well, when I appeared before the mirror.
I was led away into the largest, most decorated mainstream sitting room I have ever seen.
Everything that hovered around my eyes was gold and diamond. I perceived I was in the major sitting room.
In less than a few minutes, a handsome, white-bearded, luxuriously dressed man in his late forties walked in, flanked by gorgeous-looking ladies, including Opula.
I perceived the man was Fanny Luis and the ladies were his daughters.
All the maidens and security genuflected and greeted them duly.
I bowed my face in shyness and lost in what was about to take place.
“Isn’t she beautiful, father?” Opula queried and turned her gaze to the man.
It was then I knew I was standing before the famous billionaire in Rio Hondo, Fanny Luis himself.
I stood star-struck, frozen within myself as he walked around and admired me, inspecting me from head to toe and nodding gratefully.
“She is superbly beautiful for your brother. Where did you find this damsel, daughter?” Fanny groaned, smiling cheek to cheek.
Opula smiled hugely, “I told you never to worry that I would find the perfect wife for Brian.”
At the mention of that, I raised my head, dragged a furrowed brow across my face and scowled.
Wife? What are they saying? And who is Brian? Am I about to be arranged as a wife to someone? And come to think of it, so all that happened to me was coming from prior preparation to betroth me to someone. What is happening, and who is this Brian?
I wondered within me, and smacked my lips nervously…
Fanny shook his head in the affirmative and became all smiles. His eyes sparkled.“You are welcome to my humble family, my adorable sister-in-law,” Kate intoned, with a lop-sided grin.Kate was the second-eldest daughter of Fanny’s. She was chubby, short and with pink cheeks that often smiled. Her hair was auburn. She kept smiling and shaking her head just like every other person except Eva. Her nostrils flared, “Who is she? And who is her family in Rio Hondo?” Eva asked, gritted her teeth, shot her go-to-hell stare at me and walked around me as though I was some laboratory specimen.Among the girls, it was Eva who cherished Brian most. She wanted the best for Brian and wished her family could give Brian a better wife than she saw. Although she rarely showed it, the love Eva had for Brian was rare, and she could sacrifice her life for him if there was need for it.“No, no, Eva”, Opula, the eldest, protested with her hand, gesturing at Eva. She protested yet further, “You don’t have t
Fanny was unhesitant, after sliding out the credit card. His eyes gleamed and his jaw sparkled.A beam of smiles clouded his face before he flashed the credit card at me.Instantly my avarice increased at the sight of the credit card, and I winked nervously, wished he would gift me the card without conditions.“This is a credit card for half a million dollars. It is for you,” he sounded, with an emphatic chuckle that sounded from him.I was abandoned to doubt and argument within me. I gave a half-smile before a lopsided grin. My cheeks couldn’t stop curving. My hands fidgeted. I swallowed hard and winked more than a million times. This must be a dream! I scratched my eyes and confirmed that reality was actually smiling at me. It wasn’t a dream after all. A credit card for half a million dollars all for me! Fortune has fallen down to me. Mom, wherever you are start girding your loins to recover, because not only will I sort out your medical bills, also our family status is about to cha
Finally the billionaire’s order was carried out. Brian refused to wear his cloths.“Ah! Ah! Ah! Aye!”He groaned and wailed at the tops of his voice and I perceived they were whipping him now.But why would a rightful thinking person refuse to wear his cloths? And why would they whip a grown up in his right senses. I was beginning to suspect mental derangement.“Ah! Ah! Ah! Aye!”The wailing ravaged the entire mansion, and Opula was forced to go on her knees and pled on his behalf.“Father, please, I beg of you. Have mercy upon Brian you know his condition. If they continue to whip him with such callousness, they will hurt him and he doesn’t need to appear distraught since today is his day. I suggest we opt for gentler way of bringing him out…”Fanny interrupted her, “Enough of that!” his voice frisked. “That boy has cost me a lot pain and impairment. He has embarrassed me before Rio Hondo. He has dragged the name of my family in the mud and if he is not careful, I will disown him and
I returned to the hospital all tears and sucked into my gloom. My head heaved upon me and I felt withdrawn from this world. What was that? Can somebody remind me what just happened at the Fanny’s mansion?Am I dreaming or what? God forbid that I marry a mad man. How could they be so cruel and heartless? They knew I was in dire need of the money. They perceived the money meant the whole world to me right now and the only way they could rip me off it was to give me the condition of marrying their mad son.Who does that? Can you imagine! I can’t picture myself settling down for a mad man all in the name of marrying a billionaire’s son. I was often niggled by its impossibility whenever I thought of it.Mother’s health was plunging me into all this. I didn’t want my mother to die. Neither did I have money for burial. I was naïve and rudderless at the moment. I would be twenty two in few days and the last factor on my mind was marriage.What would become of me now?“You could still scuttle
“How would you feel if the son of a billionaire whose sanity is not impaired is given to you in marriage because his family sees you are in need of money and marrying their mad son is the only price to pay?” I almost chafed at Nurse Stella.At the time, I had taken my time to know most of the names of staff at the hospital.And it was the same Nurse Stella that took me to the Fanny’s villa some days ago to see if the billionaire could be of help. She was the only one I could complain to. I wanted to seek her opinion.All my life I have grown to be jaunty but this time I was losing it. What was going on in my life at the time was more than being trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea.“I would feel bad and even go crimson. Why would they do that to you?” she intoned, gritted her teeth and let a sullen look on her face.“The billionaire feels I can’t pay back half a million dollars so the only way I could do that was by signing to a contract marriage agreement with his mad son,
Nurse Stella and I stood staring at the Fanny’s villa while I was still all tears, with heavy sob which shook my entire body. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt sadness cloud my features.I felt like a kid that was about to be sold for slavery. I was daunted, naive, stolen and abandoned to an impending fate. I gazed upon my scruffy self and swallowed hard at the thought of the decision I was about to make.Nurse Stella grabbed me into her embrace, only wishing she could really be of help to me at the time. Had it been she could afford the half a million dollars, I believed she would have given it to me without a tinge of rejection.Although I saw no sense in the advice yet there was an awakening that accompanied it. Yes. My thought was opened into an unfathomable recognition of the fact that once my mother ‘kicked the bucket,’ I would never set my eyes on her again.She was all I had at the time, my essence, my now and future. She may not know the sacrifice I was about getting to becaus
“Who do we have here?” Fanny, who was the first person to catch sight of me, said. His face lit with uncertainty, and he gave a lopsided grin.Instantly every eye came upon me and I lowered my gaze and pressed my lips tightly in exaggerated shame. I paused at the door post, shivering and fondling with the torn hem of my dress. Certainly my intention was stated and I wondered with which face I would used to behold this wealthy family to remind them I was eager to sign to the contract marriage now.The entire Fanny’s and their laborers were having a delightsome dinner at the time, so everywhere smelled of roasted prawn, almond and strawberry. Heavy chuckling and clattering hung over them too.The hotness that churned in my stomach wasn’t inspired by hunger but by thought of what awaited me. All my life I had lived with sane people; people that reasoned properly and behaved with absolute rationality. I never associated with the rich having such short coming.What was I getting myself int
I sat elegantly yet shyly as I was superbly decorated more than the former. This time diamond bracelets piled my neck and wrist. On my feet was a pair of Italian stiletto and my wedding gown was shapely made from the Royal Home of England. The tailor-made wedding gown caught my shape so invitingly that my curves and hour-glass shot out at the right edges and corners.“Wow this is so much for a wedding gown that would worn by the mad man’s wife,” one of the maidens gossiped with another by the corner as they gaped at the POS slip for the purchase of the wedding gown.“How much is it worth?” another asked cheerfully.“Eightmillion dollars!” the maiden replied, and cast an inspective gaze at me, probably expecting my reactions.My eyes almost burnt with tears at the thought of my attribute hence forth; mad man’s wife. That was what I was brooding about inwardly not even the worth of my wedding gown. I wondered how I was going to deal with the reserved emotional trauma this marriage was g
Whenever I stopped by the hospital to check up on Brian, hope of seeing Brian again often increased in me. His coma was indeed repulsive. When I touched his warm palms, my fear dissipated only for a while; at least he still had an ounce of life in him.The moment I stepped into the ward, I began humming his favorite song, with the absolute intention of making him rise from the coma. I had done this several times in the past weeks, and it seemed I wasn’t making headway.But my instinct had often told me Brian would wake up, soon at a time no one would expect. I only wondered where I would be when it would happen.Would I still be in marriage, or would I be with someone else? Would this love I harbor for Brian tarnish someday? Or would it become increasingly stronger?“No, Brian, please, this is the time I need you most,” I mumbled as I grabbed his palms and went on my knees, “A lot has happened and more are yet to happen…” I paused to stamp a chaste kiss on his palms, “Your father is g
Fanny and James Benson were ascending the elevator to the penthouse when James intoned, “Wow, I guess I love what I saw. She is pretty for my son and if you can convince her to marry my son I will give you the two billion dollars diary contract in California.”Even before now Fanny had been full of contagious smile; the truth was out. Fanny didn’t want to offer his son, Brian as potential husband to the billionaire old daughter who came visiting his office the other day.And the only way he could escape it was by paying up his debt of eight hundred million dollars. And now James Benson had baited him with the two billion dollars contract, he would have to give me to Rod as wife so that he could clench on the contract and pay up his debt.Everything fell on me now. And I wondered how he was going to do it.On another note, James Benson was hiding my pregnancy from Fanny since Fanny had not known of it, it was a plus to him, so he would forever keep it a as secret while Rod fathered the
Salsa had nicknamed Fanny a time bomb that was about to happen. And indeed Fanny was. If not for Salsa, who made that revelation to me, some day Fanny would take me unawares and demand a divorce.I was midway putting my inner chamber in order when a servant approached my door, knocked shortly and said, “Melissa Fanny demands you share the table with him.”With my eyes shut, a wave of irritation swept over me and I wondered if I could keep low and not question his intention of getting Brian an older lady once he woke from a coma.“I will be with him in a jiffy,” I said, and swallowed hard to contemplate the audacity I would use to share a table with him.“If Brian wakes from a coma and Fanny threatens to deprive him of being the heir unless he marries this old lady be rest assured that Brian may divorce you.”Those words of Salsa resounded in my head as I got ready to go to Fanny. “Brian would never do that,” I said to myself, “He can never divorce me,” I said yet again as I shook my h
Shortly after mom had disgraced me, Opula and Kate hissed and walked into the villa. I knew they felt disappointed at my decision. They thought mom would have been the only person who would have convinced me to accept the annulment of my marriage. But my mind for Brian had gone rocky and not even my late father resurrecting from the dead, could convince me.“Pet Melissa and ensure she is well taken care of in her chamber, “Fanny ordered the maidens who had been part of the onlookers.Frankly speaking, I had gone soft in the head, my countenance displayed shame. Salsa and Eva surrounded me and I could hear Eva telling the maidens to disperse. As usual, she had taken my dilemma personally and wished she could save me from my fears.I didn’t expect this to happen; into the night I wailed bitterly and felt dejected. To an extent, Salsa and Eva grew wary of petting me.“Hence forth you cease to be my daughter. If you hear that I am dead tomorrow, please don’t come to my funeral …”Those la
With jerking hands, I wiped my cheeks, daring to comprehend what mom meant by one last decision. Everyone’s face dragged in frown as they stared at mom in one moment of bated breath.“Melissa,” mom called and said, “You are going to accept divorce this minute and join me home or you reject divorce and remain disowned forever,” she said through clenched teeth and impatiently waited for my reply.Opula and Kate shook their heads in approval as if, in a subtle way they would give me a warm handshake for finally agreeing to accept divorce.Fanny dimmed his watery eyes at mom and threatened her with his thunderous face. It was not only he that settled his gaze on my lips waiting for my reply, also Eva, Opula, Kate and Salsa wondered what my reply would sound like.I stood to my feet in one moment of payback. Mom had really bitten more than she could chew; what stopped her from inviting me home so we could figure this out. She shouldn’t have embarrassed me in this way. This was absurd.Thro
She had barely uttered out a word when mom’s voice shrieked at her, “May thunder strike that mouth with which you called me an in-law to a shameless billionaire who does nothing than lure naïve girls into unwanted marriage…”Fanny’s brow had knitted immediately as he surged closer to mom, with folded arms, “What is the problem, mom? Do you realize who you are insulting, huh? You can’t come to my villa and blurt out rubbish. Do I need to remind you that this is my compound and you have no right to insult me?”Mom couldn’t listen to me; my molded arms were still pleading with her but there was no stopping her. She hollered at a disheartening manner, which pulled out Eva and their husbands from where they had been in the villa.I couldn’t withstand this anymore; I lowered my gaze in shame and wailed uneasily like a child.“Even if I am in your toilet I will talk sense into your dumb head. You evil billionaire!” mom cursed, “So it is you that charmed my daughter into a marriage of no retu
A mountain of frown crept into my face as I shot an investigative gaze at Salsa. “What is happening, Salsa? My mom is here?” I asked, stood to my jerking feet and advanced to the window.I could hear voices at the third gate, and it was obvious the security had restricted her from barging in and they were yelling at one another now.“I should be asking you that?” Salsa snapped and shot crimson gaze at me. “How did your mom know that you are here? Did you tell her the last time you visited?” Salsa queried as she joined me at the window.A sudden rain of sweat descended on my body; nervousness enveloped me as my lips shook with anxiety. I stroked my French hair confusedly and paced up and down. I was locked in utter confusion.“I never did,” I replied at a breath, “Why would I reveal my destination to my mom, knowing how furious she would be? After I lied to her that I have reaccepted the divorce, I told her I had relocated to Ohio where I worked as janitor.” I paused as suspicion jumpe
Having waited for Salsa to show up in my chamber, but to no avail, I decided to check her up in the kitchen where I knew she could be found. I needed to appreciate her for saving me from being implicated the other day.Salsa gave me a second chance to stay at the Fanny villa; of course, she had saved my marriage the moment she told a lie about the gift.“Hey, I have come to say thank you for saving my marriage,” I said softly , standing at the door as she got startled under the sound of my voice.“You startled the hell out of me,” Salsa said calmly, her lopsided smile dragging from ear to ear as she turned on the gas cooker, “What are you doing here, Melissa? I hope you know I will be punished drastically if you are found in the kitchen.”I was all smiles too, as I glanced around for any onlookers, “I know family members are restricted from the kitchen. But it is taking you too long to take breakfast in my chamber,” I whispered and glanced around.Salsa seemed to be scared; it was evi
On this day, mom was in her garden harvesting some bunches of flower which had posed as weed to her vegetables, when a Ferrari sped and halted at her compound.She never expected a visitor and since she wasn’t expecting any, she busied herself with the weeding and didn’t consider checking who it was.“My mother-in-law! Where are you? I am here!” a voice called and my mom raised her gaze from the ground. Suddenly, she had familiarized herself with such name because she was certain I would get married to Rod Benson, whether I like it or not.And emphatically, no one called her by this name except Rod Benson. When she raised her gaze she saw a young man in a T-shirt and jeans, having dark shades on his eyes, with luxury hanging around him.Indeed, mom was aging; she couldn’t recognize who it was until Rod took off his dark shades and lit his face with a smile.“Rod Benson,” mom called, and tossed her hoe to the ground before dusting her hand on her wrapper to go forth to him. “My son-in-