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 My head heaved upon me and I felt withdrawn from this world.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
I halted my step and could hear voices whispering from ear to ear over the reason for my tears. Fanny Luis’s jaw dropped upon seeing my teary face and I doubted if it was for me or for his reputation.The voices were as the chirping of innumerable bees; they were murmuring about my fallen countenance. I just wish I could chin up and be matured before these gusts.“Why is she all tears?” a voice among the guest queried.“Isn’t she happy?” another replied coldly.“Oh it could be tears of joy,” another suggested.“Who wouldn’t be emotional? She is fortunate to marry the billionaire’s mad son,” that was another voice which sounded even more offensive than all the voices.The guests whispered among themselves, while the waited for the next line of action.I stood in my gloom, locked and pressed my hands in front, with my gaze lowered, at least with the intent to hide my sullen teary face from any careful onlooker.All of a sudden a lush silence hung over the entire building as piles of cha
“Why are you fidgety? Don’t you know you are married couples now, and soon you two would share same bed and roof?” Salsa snapped to me once I dared to withdraw to the wall as Brian advanced forward to sign on the agreement papers.Salsa’s words etched off every memory of what an ideal husband should look like and installed in me the belief that every husband was supposed to be insane; that I had no right to protest in this marriage.The two hefty men dragged him to come forth and he shuffled his legs, unwilling to make a move and throwing his face side ways to bite them since they seemed to be stronger than him. He was chuckling idly now and struggled violently with the two hefty men; to an extent the hefty men didn’t want to get much violent with him since this could result to hurting him.“Brian! Brian! You had better respect yourself and come forth to sign the papers. You are not going to keep us waiting. This is a time we have been anticipating as a family. You can’t ruin this mom
I wished the buzzing and merriment would continue forever, so that I could find reason not to return to my mad husband. For over an hour now I had stilled my sight upon a large mahogany door which I perceived was the entrance to our chamber. I sniffed and got swallowed into the heavy expression on my face.Shortly after we were legally joined together, Fanny approached me with the one million dollar credit card. I sobbed and dared to perk up as he spoke to me.“This is your gift for agreeing to marry my mad son,” he said and touched his face as though he was yet to forget the saliva Brian plastered on his face. “Once again, congratulations, Melissa Brant and welcome to the Fanny’s,” his voice brooded excitement even when his face said otherwise.I forced a smile yet I could barely keep the smile longer than normal. He handed me the credit card, grinned and joined the guests.“Congratulations, Melissa,” that was Opula’s voice right behind me.When I swirled around behold there she was
Opula and Kate found their way to the pent house where they chose to discuss in privacy. “I took you to the hospital and expected to hear something from you about your health but you never did. What is the reason for your throwing up? What does the test result say?”Kate queried.A contagious smile swept across Opula’s face as she rubbed on her stomach and later chortled hugely. She hummed and hesitated to speak.Kate’s suspicion churned her thought as she stared at Opula , “What does the test result say?” she asked yet further and added, “Are you pregnant, sister?” anxiety built up in her eyes.Opula lowered her gaze on her stomach and blushed, “Well permit me to inform you that I am one week pregnant!” she said excitedly and aloud.Kate gestured at her to bring down her voice, to avoid anyone form eavesdropping. But it was too late; at the time Opula mentioned her pregnancy, Salsa who was walking past, paused to gum her ears on the door and listen to their conversation.Salsa was dum
All the while Fanny Luis never knew the feud that was ongoing between Opula and Ken. To him, Opula and Ken were still married, not until he saw Ken walk into the villa with the divorce papers. Although fanny had never supported their marriage, yet he least expected Opula asking for divorce.From the onset of their marriage he knew Opula wasn’t just in love with Ken, but she outlived Ken and wouldn’t heed to any of his advice about Ken being a gold digger and a cheat.With the manner at which Opula loved Ken, Fanny never believed a day like this would come; a day when Ken would walk into the villa , with a furious , red face and plead with him to beg Opula on his behalf.“Please father-in-law,” Ken said, sinking on his knees, “I don’t want this divorce . I want my wife back. I am innocent of what she is accusing me of. I still love my wife.”“Hold on Ken,” fanny ordered him. He was having breakfast at the time, and losing his appetitive was never going to happen, “How long has this div
Upon hearing that Opula leapt to her feet and jumped in excitement, before tweaking her waist and danced around. Seeing how carelessly she jumped around, and danced, the doctor was forced to warn her, “Apply caution Opula. This is early pregnancy. You need to be careful to avoid miscarriage.”Bu there was no stopping Opula. She kept to her dance and tweaked to an imaginary song, “Oh my God! This is unbelievable, doctor. I am pregnant? Wow!”The doctor smiling cheek to cheek, said, “Finally, after ten years of barrenness you are pregnant for your husband. He must be a happy, fulfilled man by the time you share the news with him…”“No! Never!”Opula interposed him and rolled her eyes at her beholder, “I can never be pregnant for that bastard! I can’t recall the last time he shared the bed with me so I wondered how I became pregnant for him,” she rubbed her stomach appreciatively.The doctor dragged a knitted brow at her to question her guts, “I perceive separation in your tone. I hope a
When I said those gift items were for Opula , I didn’t know I was saying the opposite because what I just saw now baffled me . Finally Rod had decided to fool himself by presenting those gifts to me.Once I got back from the cinema, I was provoked by an offensive sight of the gifts which were kept at the entrance of my chamber with a stylish tag ; For my wife, Melissa.“What the hell is this? Who kept this rubbish?” I yelled, my gaze combing around for any servant and once one came in sight, I queried him, “Hey do you know who put this rubbish in front of my chamber?”Bowing to me, the servant explained briefly, “Ma’am these are heartfelt gifts from your prospective husband, Rod Benson. He deemed it pleasurable to present them to you in this manner.”Right about now I wasn’t infuriated by what Rod just did, I was mad at the servant for mentioning the word ‘husband’ when describing Rod Benson.“May your tongue get twisted and rot for ever referring to Rod as my husband. Are you blin
Opula couldn’t stop throwing up and already her chamber had been messed up. Kate didn’t hesitate to help her into the restroom where she continued throwing up. Opula had not had it this way before and Kate was as scared as a rabbit that stole a carrot.“What is wrong with you, Opula?” Kate queried, “I will invite the medical right away. This is getting out of hands,” she nagged and about to leave the restroom.Opula called to her attention. “Hold on, sister, just hold on,” she gasped and gestured at Kate to return, “I think it is just a churning in my stomach. You don’t have to invite the medicals. It will be obnoxious; I will visit the family doctor for a test.”Kate quarreled with her ridged brow, “Can you just listen to yourself, Opula? You have thrown up the potato and steak we had for breakfast and you are still sounding impossible. Is it until I lose you that you will know you are not feeling strong?”Opula placed her hand on her stomach. She hadn’t thrown up for more than a de
Opula and Kate were having itchy ears all through the hours Rod Benson spent at the villa. And although I had stayed in my chamber with Salsa yet the young chef never for once settled down without peeping through the window to see if Rod and Fanny were still discussing at the dining.“You don’t seem to be at rest. Anxiety has clouded your eyes ever since Rod got in,” I said to Salsa who was busy fixing some fresh fruit juice, which I had not seen her make for a while now.“I am looking out for Rod and Fanny who are eating at the dining. I just want to ensure they are lacking nothing and if they need the services of the chef,” she lied.I interrupted her, “Is that the reason you have been frequenting the window for the hundredth time? Besides, you are the head chef. If they need the services of chef, the junior chefs can attend to them.”Salsa protested with the shaking of her head; it was obvious that she was lying and she had been restless because of Rod Benson. For Christ sake her d
The wailing of the siren caught the attention of everyone at the villa and through the window, everyone peeped to behold the ambulance conveying my husband.I stood ghost-struck, chin soaked with tears , goose bumps ravaged my skin as I vehemently rejected the thought of Brian finally breathing his last; I couldn’t stop rejecting such thought because it had always been my undying desire to fulfill destiny together with my husband; to look into his eyes some day and remind each other we made it.Would such a day ever come or was I an ill-fated woman just as mom had assured me when she disowned me?”“Melissa,” Fanny called and gestured at the ambulance, “On your request we have decided to transfer Brian to another hospital. We hope this new doctor will perform better and help your husband wake from the coma.”When I stared around, I could see Kate smoking quietly by the pool side, Opula was submerged in the pool, and Eva was the only one standing by the ambulance to gaze upon Brian.
“Opula is just impossible!” I intoned and clicked my fingers irritably, “How could she do such a thing? Rumor is going round that Rod is her ex, but that doesn’t mean she should sleep with him just so she could make me his wife …”Salsa’s gaze was still settled on my tea. I perceived a lot was going on in her mind and most especially about the reason I was yet to sip my tea. Indeed, she actually wanted to retain her job as chef at the Fanny villa and to accomplish it she had to fulfill the task of putting me to sleep for Opula and Kate. She poured a fresh tea for herself and earned a sip.“Now between me and Opula who is better? She is married and from a famous family. If her infidelity should escalate will she be able to deal with it? She is mad at me over a romance I called off a long time. We are even now. Nothing stops me from letting Ken know she cheated on him just recently.“It is baseless,” I said and gripped my cup and about to have a sip; my first sip. I could see the quietn
“I made this fresh tea for us,” she said and handed me a cup before stirring hers, leaving heavy aroma of the natural herbs hanging over us.I shut my eyes to appreciate the unavoidable aroma of caramel which was too inviting; I guessed she took her time to fix this tea because of what she intended to achieve.I had noticed she often stole a glance at me each time she sipped at her cup; it was close monitoring and she expected me to drink up the tea right now so that she could hand me over to Opula and Kate for their evil intention.“There must be something unique about the tea, “I said and waited impatiently for the hotness to disappear while I blow at it, “The last one I had at the yacht party gave me a soothing sleep which I hadn’t had in a long time,” I said.“Oh really,” Salsa replied, lowered her gaze in suspicion and grinned briefly. A whole lot was pacing through her mind right now and she wished she could escape from this snare of betraying the only friend she had in the vill